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Islamophobia: Why?

By Nazia Nazar

14 September, 2011
Countercurrents.org

The month of September marks the 10th bleak anniversary of twin towers tragedy which would always be remembered by the Muslims as a black day in history, as the 9/11 incident brought unending miseries to the Muslim world more than it caused pain to the west. On one hand, this tragedy led to the horrible wars imposed on Iraq, Afghanistan and to some extent on Pakistan tribal areas by the west resulting in the loss of millions of innocent lives. While on the other, it provided the critics of Islam a pretext to unleash propaganda against Islam by generalizing the acts of some misguided extremist Muslims. However, the recent development, especially Norway killings, acted as a catalyst to convey the impression to the entire world that just like every Muslim is not a terrorist, every terrorist is not necessarily a Muslim. Anders Behring Breivik, a Christian antagonist of Norway and mass killer, left this message for those who blame Islam for every tragic terrorist’s incident.

It is also pertinent to mention here that Swami Aseemanand – an influential member of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh – recently admitted that the terror attacks on Ajmer Sharif, Mecca Masjid, Malegaon and the Samjhauta Express were not carried out by Muslims, but he along with other Hindu activists had executed these heinous acts of terrorism in a fit of hatred against Muslims. A general perception prevails that the 9/11 tragedy is the major cause of increase in Islamophobia in the west. However, the need is to understand that Islamophobia is not mere the product of 9/11 incident but it has been created through a long and persistent propaganda against Islam which has been going on in west for quite a long time. Long before 9/11 incident, the Time magazine (April 16, 1979 issue) had reported that “over 60,000 (sixty thousand) books have been written against Islam by the Christian West’ during the last 150 years. Since then, the number has multiplied to a great extent.

With the popularity of internet and social media, this negative propaganda has exacerbated so much so that millions of anti-Islam and blasphemous websites as well as think tanks have been created by the opponents as if maligning Islam is the sole aim of their life. This hate literature is actually a major source of widespread Islamophobia all over the world. For instance, the mass killer Breivik had excessively quoted anti-Islam literature in his manifesto. According to The New York Times, ‘the accused Norway murderer Anders Behring Breivik cited the work of anti-Jihad activist Robert Spencer 64 times in his 1,500 page manifesto’. It actually manifests that such propaganda war waged against Islam is not only creating thousands of Breiviks in the west but also producing millions of Osamas in Muslim world in retaliation. This dangerous trend has brought different religious communities to perilous confrontational paths putting the world on the verge of disaster.

Now the question arises: Is Islam really responsible for this state of affairs? Anyone who has studied this religion with deep understanding and unbiased mind must give the answer in the negative. The problem is that Islam is one of the most misunderstood religions of the world whose real spirit is being intentionally concealed and distorted. It is deplorable fact that some Muslims are also contributing to the flawed perception of Islam due to their ignorance and limited knowledge. To begin with, a general misconception in the west about Islam is that it is the religion revealed for Muslims, belongs to Muslims and articulates for Muslims’ rights ignoring the rest of the world. The fact of the matter is that Islam is revealed for the guidance and betterment of humanity which ensures safeguarding of the rights of all human beings. Moreover, it forbids all those acts that are detrimental to human existence and ordains to carry out those which could contribute to the benefit of this world.

So far as the matter of faith is concerned it has been ordained in the Holy Qur’an: “The truth is from your Lord, so whosoever wants let him believe and whosoever wants let him deny.” (An-Nahl: 29). Hence, the one who accepts the universal message of Islam is called Muslim, which means the one who ‘submits’ to the dictates of Allah. Notwithstanding, Islam is universal in its approach and presents a grand human rights charter. It not only forbids unjust killing of a human being (Al-Qur’an 17:33, 6:152) but also defines the gravity of this crime by calling it akin to kill the whole humanity (Al-Qur’an5:32). The perfect philanthropic approach of Islam lies in the second part of the above verse in which saving the life of an innocent person is equal to saving the mankind. This sole verse will suffice to bring out the actual concept and spirit of Islam in regard to the whole humanity.

Unfortunately, the western world conceives Islam and peace as two opposite poles which is sheer manifestation of their disregard for the real spirit of this peaceful religion. Before comprehending Islamic concept of peace, one must not be oblivious to the moral condition of the pre-Islamic Arab society where people were bloodthirsty and in a habit of settling their scores by waging centuries-long wars. They, indeed, were blind to the idea of peace and used to take pride in continuing their enmity through generations. It needs to be mentioned here that the pagans of that time had rejected Islam not only because of its concept of unity of God but also because Islam had revolted against the inhuman practices and cruelties of that society. For instance, the pagans of that time used to bury alive their female child while Islam forbade them from this inhuman custom and lifted up women status.

Furthermore, those people were cruel to their slaves but the message of Islam was to treat slave like a family member which they used to consider ridicules. In addition, their economic system was based on the exploitation of poor while Islamic concept of debt-free dealings, generous help to the poor, and circulation of money among all sections of society was a direct hit to the interests of the affluent class. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the revolutionary, humanitarian and philanthropic spirit of Islam scared them from this fastest growing religion so much that they did not leave any stone unturned to annihilate Muslims and the message of Islam forever. In this regard, they had not only persecuted Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and his followers compelling them to migrate to Madina but their enmity also drove them to hatch plans for destroying Muslims in Madina.

In this background, Islam ordained Muslims to fight back those who had attacked, persecuted and expelled the Muslims from their homes unjustly and broken peace treaties as well as oaths with them creating an atmosphere of chaos and lawlessness in that society (See Al-Qur’an 9:12-13, 22:39-40,2:190-191,2:194,4:75). Looking into the above verses which shed light on the reasons of wars against pagans, it turns out clearly that those people were, in fact, ‘terrorists’ and ‘aggressors’ of that time. Had the Muslims not waged war and broken the strength of those extremists, the latter would have flown rivers of blood of innocent people creating an unending state of chaos in that society. So the wars cited in Quran were in self-defence or to root out ‘fasad’(terrorism); hence it was the necessity of that time which could be gauged by the fact that Allah in regard to war ordains the believers not to transgress the limit and stop fighting as soon as the enemy surrenders or comes to make a peace treaty (See Al-Qur’an 2:192-193, 8:61).

This trait is not in any way related to any sort of barbarism or out of the world concept that is being projected by the western media and critics of Islam persistently. For instance, unimaginable deaths and destruction as a result of two world wars in the second half of 20th century had brought the pacifists on the table and they came up with the idea of setting up the United Nations Organisation that could help establish peace all over the world. It is worth mentioning that the UNO itself has sanctioned military actions against many countries for establishing peace and security. Afghanistan was the latest instance where the UNO ratified a full fledge aggressive war on the pretext of saving the interests of the west. It is pertinent to mention that America did not listen to the UN, which had refused to sanction attack on Iraq, and formed a “coalition of the willing” and invaded Iraq. Allegations were that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction; it had imported uranium from Nigeria and that Saddam was in league with Al Qaeda, which later proved to be blatant lies.

In Afghanistan, military expedition is being carried out in the name of war on terror. A millions of innocent civilians and children have either lost their lives or amputated for the rest of their life due to the UN’s supported and Nato led military operations in search of ‘peace’. On the other hand, Islam teaches the ethics of war to Muslims by prescribing: never go beyond the limits; never fight against non-combatants, women, children and elderly people; and never destroy properties unnecessarily. Not a single instance could be quoted from reliable sources of history about the violation of any of the above terms in the era of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

In order to understand Islamic concept of peace, one must examine the concept of justice Islam presents in clear terms. In the Holy Qur’an, it is ordained to believers to stick to justice even if it goes against them (Al-Quran 4:135). At one place, it is commanded that “do not allow your hatred for others make you swerve to wrongdoing and turn you away from justice.” (Qur’an 5:8).

In fact, there are many more verses containing the similar message. One should not be oblivious of the fact that only a just society attains the status of a peaceful society; so Islam’s order and message to uphold the true spirit of justice and equity is pertinent to the concept of peace. Unfortunately, the opponents of Islam have developed a habit of misquoting or misinterpreting Qur’an to lead astray the people from the true path of this religion. Their hostile literature usually starts with the ‘verse of sword’ which they present in distorted form concealing the beginning and the end of that Chapter of Qur’an. They misquote the verse as “kill the idolaters wherever you find them” projecting as if the above verse contains the command of killing all idolaters which is totally an erroneous approach. The fact of the matter is that the above verse number 5 being a part of Chapter Toba indicates a particular ‘group’ of that time and not all idolaters. In his lecture Terrorism and Jihad: An Islamic Perspective, Dr. Zakir Naik discusses the verse in following words:

“Critics of Islam actually quote this verse out of context. In order to understand the context, we need to read from verse 1 of this surah. It says that there was a peace treaty between the Muslims and the Mushriks (pagans) of Makkah. This treaty was violated by the Mushriks of Makkah. A period of four months was given to the Mushriks of Makkah to make amends; otherwise war would be declared against them. This verse is quoted during a battle, and hence the Qur'an says, "Kill the Mushriks wherever you find them" during a battle to boost the morale of the Muslim soldiers. What the Qur'an is telling Muslim soldiers is, don’t be afraid during battle; wherever you find the enemies kill them.” Patricia Crone, a non-Muslim historian of early Islamic history too states that ‘the famous Verse of the Sword is directed against a particular group accused of oath-breaking and aggression and excepts those polytheists who remained faithful’. (Patricia Crone, Encyclopedia of the Qur'an, War article, p.456).

The need is to understand that any religion which advocates the killings of all ‘idolaters’ cannot command its people to make peace treaty as being mentioned in Holy Quran (‘if they incline to peace, incline thou also to it’, Al-Qur’an 8:61). Likewise, a religion that commands to kill all ‘idolaters’ does not show its concern for others by ordaining the believers that ‘do not allow your hatred for others make you swerve to wrongdoing and turn you away from justice’. Neither can such a religion honour the right to live for others by forbidding unjust killing and prescribing its gravity as discussed above. Moreover, had Islam supported the killing of ‘all idolaters’ the streets of Makkah would have filled with the pagans’ blood at the time of conquest of Makkah when Muslims had a golden chance of retaliation for all the atrocities the enemies committed against them. But history is evident that Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) had granted forgiveness to his enemies all and sundry and set an unprecedented example in the history of mankind.

The above argument will suffice to comprehend that Islam allows Qitaal (war) in case of self-defence or against persecution and aggression. And in this situation, no distinction is made between Muslims and non-Muslims as it is mentioned in the 9th verse of chapter 49 in which Allah commands the believers to fight the ‘believers’ if they resort to aggression. It is prescribed in Qur’an that ‘if two groups of the Believers fight together, put things right between them; then if one of the two aggresses against the other, fight the one that aggresses till it reverts to God's command’ (Al-Qur’an 49:09). In other words, Islam opposes persecution, aggression and terrorism in all its forms and manifestation and does not leave the weak folk at the mercy of the powerful. It actually requires of believers that innocent people should be protected against all kinds of persecution.

It is inscribed in the Holy Qur’an, ‘And how is it with you that you do not fight in the way of God and for the abased men, women and children, who say, `our Lord, take us out of this town whose people are wrong-doers..’ (4:75).In this regard, the verse 251 of Chapter 2 is worth mentioning which spells out ‘And if God had not repelled people, some of them by others, the earth would have been in disorder’. Again, the verse 40 of Chapter 22 contains quite a similar message that ‘had God not repelled people some by others, there had been demolished monasteries, churches, synagogues and mosques, wherein God's name is mentioned much.’ This is actually the concept that Islam presents in regard of war and ammunition. Otherwise, Islam, in strongest terms, condemns terrorism and dislikes those who create disorder. (See Al-Qur’an 7:55, 7:74, 5:64)

So, keeping in view the above argument, it could be said with certainty that there is no contradiction in the teachings of Qur’an. Notwithstanding, it requires deep understanding and insight as well as intellectual reasoning. Without these traits, allegations against Islam hold no water and reflect mere the prejudice of the critics. Wisdom requires that before falling into the trap of the propaganda the critics of Islam are spreading, one must study Qur’an with unbiased mind and reasoning. Secondly, prudence demands that terrorists should be treated as criminals and not as torch bearer of a religion. If we see things in this perspective, we would find Osama, Brevik, Swami Aseemanand and such fiends in the same category. Comprehending these points with open minds and hearts can really facilitate ways for interfaith harmony and there would be no room for the Islam-bashing terms like Islamophobia, Islamic terrorism, Islamic militancy and so on.

The writer is a freelance bilingual (English/Urdu)columnist based in Pakistan. She holds two Masters degrees in English (Lit) and Political Science.Her articles have appeared in different national and international newspapers and magazines. She extensively writes on the topics such as terrorism, peace & security, human right issues, interfaith harmony, and Islam. The writer also blogs at http://www.pkarticleshub.com/

 

 

 

 



 


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