The world needs to understand that the fight is against terrorism, not Islam; and Muslims are an integral part of the global effort against those who use vulnerable puppets to give an identity to terrorism
ALLAHU AKBAR, Allahu Akbar ... the muezzin’s call for prayer rang out solemnly in the small masjid, off Danforth near downtown Toronto. The faithful, all seated quietly at the tables arranged neatly in the foyer area, reached out for the dates to break their fast and a few minutes later, quietly proceeded to the prayer area. Once prayers were over, the men and women quietly filed out and returned to their tables where they were served a simple complimentary meal by young boys and girls, mainly Muslim volunteers from schools.
While the iftaar routine was not much different from what is practised in Muslim congregations everywhere else, what made an impact on me at this particular mosque was the expression of harmony. The devoted crowd included West-Indian Muslims, Somali Muslims, Nigerian Muslims, Indian Muslims, Ethiopian Muslims, Pakistani Muslims and a few other nationals, intermingling amicably, with men and women interacting on equal grounds.
But the picture of harmony soon became a little murky when it was discovered that ‘other’ Muslims frequenting other mosques in the same city did not look upon those who manage the Danforth facility with approval because of the liberal attitude, or rather the ‘enlightened moderation’, practised by its custodians. And soon the bubble of harmony totally deflated when I realized that the Muslim community even in a small town like Toronto cannot really be identified as one.
It is this Muslim discord which has thrown us in the war which appears to be against terrorism, but which is now specifically focused on Islam.
Though the dust has somewhat settled after the spate of terror in London, the anti-Muslim sentiment in the West has reached an all-time high. Hate crimes against Muslims have escalated and even in the most multicultural regions people now give a furtive second glance to a woman wearing hijab. In London, hate crimes, mostly against Muslims, rose six-fold after 7/7 when 269 such incidents were recorded in the three weeks following the London blasts.
Apart from the several stringent laws being adopted by the UK government to fortify the war against terror, the main, finger-pointing statement is singling out Muslims and capping Islam and terrorism as one and the same concept. UN diplomats will soon be revising the blueprint of proposed reforms that includes revamping the definition of terrorism which world leaders will eventually approve at the UN summit sometime this month. In this capacity, Muslim leaders should be compelled to assert the issue of disassociating Islam with terrorism while the reform blueprint is still being revised.
Criminalizing all Muslims in the face of severe torture on Muslim lands is a practice which has gone too far, and the UN body must attempt to separate Islam and terrorism. At the same time, it is an uphill task for true Muslims to convince the non-Muslim world that Islam has nothing to do with terrorism.
The UK government is grappling with the terror in their midst by adopting extreme measures and compromising on their much-prided civil liberties. It has decided to deport all those who pose a threat to their security and is beefing up its anti-terrorism legislation. The French authorities too have decided to place ‘radical imams’ under strict surveillance.
It is difficult to expect the UK government and the rest of the European countries to remain neutral in the face of threats made by terrorists who blatantly claim their actions to be a part of some Jihad against western imperialism. But unfortunately, it is the innocent bystanders who will get caught in the backlash of their new legislation. Terrorists, who are devious criminals, will always find other means to create terror. Totalitarian methods of suppression to silence dissent have never achieved any objective.
The Muslim world’s single voice is crucial, but absent. Discord marks Muslims which is compromising our dignity and the sanctity of Islam. Putting aside political interests and bias, Muslim leaders at this point must insist that Islam is not what is motivating these mass murderers to carry out crimes. These are not ‘Muslims’ per se, but the ‘face of terrorism’ which the true terrorists want the world to identify with. The true enemy is faceless, with only the quest for power motivating it to kill and create mayhem. This is the same quest that drives all power-hungry people to resort to terrorism to attain their goal — be it in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, New York or London — irrespective of their creed.
Religion has never been the only motive for war, there are always political, geographic and land mass issues involved. And particularly in the war against terror, there are many suspects with ample geo-political motives to resort to terror to attain their objective.
When the bombs exploded in the much-loved city of London, there were conflicting emotions from Muslim communities; the media; fundamental fanatics and the rightists, who amid the shock were sifting through motives, condemning, justifying and counter-reasoning, all at the same time. The worst damage, however, was done by those, who, while condemning terrorism, justified the terror acts by citing enough reasons for the Muslims to take revenge. This repeated stance by most Muslim communities has weakened the argument against terrorism for the majority of Muslims who believe that the teachings of Islam are not those practised by the terrorists.
With the stereotyping of terrorists as ‘Islamic extremists’ in the media, widespread anti-Islamism is the result particularly after 9/11. For years now, Muslims are dealing with an intricate conflict and are living in a world which sees Muslims as the ‘enemy’. From barbaric, fanatic, violent and militant to being inhuman, every negative implication has been ascribed to Muslims. Just recently, a senior UK MP likened “Islamist terrorists” to Nazis, warning that “failing to confront them will be fatal”.
How come one finds no evidence of anyone ever referring to the world’s most wanted assassin as, ‘the Catholic assassin, Carlos,’ or referring to Hitler, Mussolini and more recently Milosevic as per their respective religion? These people too have jointly killed millions of innocents in cold blood, but their terrorism never had a religion, whereas Islam is always identified prominently with militancy.
Much of the blame lies with the international media which continues to practice this anomaly by choosing to particularly highlight terrorist attacks on the western nations and have few pictures to replay of the devastation wreaked on local settlers in Palestine and Iraq where US bombings and ‘daisy-cutters’ have shattered hundreds of civilian localities and where maimed orphans and homeless families sit bleakly with no hope of ever returning to normalcy like the Londoners.
While reasons for retaliation by the Muslims are many, counter-terrorism is unforgivable, as it is a scientifically accepted fact that two wrongs never make a right. Justice, peace and clemency are Islam’s foremost teachings, which are long forgotten by these so-called Islamic terrorists who are only succeeding in defiling the sacred teachings of the religion.
The silent majority of Muslims must fight against the Western tactic of ‘divide and rule’, overcoming internal strife which is the root cause that has allowed the West to unleash injustice on Islamic communities.
At the same time, it must be unequivocally established that the fight is against terrorism, not Islam, and Muslims are an integral part of that fight against a faceless enemy which uses vulnerable puppets to give an identity to terrorism. Muslim nations and important forums like the Arab League, the OIC and even the Islamic universities like Al-Azhar, need to assert that terrorism has no colour, caste or creed. ‘Terrorists’ cannot be ‘Islamic’ and the word thus coined be banned from further reference.
ALLAHU AKBAR, Allahu Akbar ... the muezzin’s call for prayer rang out solemnly in the small masjid, off Danforth near downtown Toronto. The faithful, all seated quietly at the tables arranged neatly in the foyer area, reached out for the dates to break their fast and a few minutes later, quietly proceeded to the prayer area. Once prayers were over, the men and women quietly filed out and returned to their tables where they were served a simple complimentary meal by young boys and girls, mainly Muslim volunteers from schools.
