ISLAM
& TERRORISM
Terror =
Control by intimidation.
Terrorism = The use of
violence and intimidation for political purposes.
From the above
dictionary meanings, it is clear that both 'terror'
and
'terrorism' are not nice things. Both are based on perpetration of
injustices. Any group or party, whether political or otherwise, or any
nation for that matter, that unjustly tries to gain control over
anything by intimidation & violence, indulges in terrorism.
However, the terrorism
that is most decried and condemned nowadays is
only the one that is apparently perpetrated by those who are themselves
subjected to injustices by powerful nations. The terrorism resorted to
by, or on behalf of, the Palestinian people is one such example.
And the most conspicuous
act of such terrorism has been the one
popularly
known as 9/11. On 9th September, a few years ago, some young men
hijacked commercially run planes and flew them into two huge Trade
Center buidings in New York and into the high-security defence
establishment of the Pentagon in Washington. The thousands of people
who died in this attack included innocent civilians, working at the
Trade Center buildings or travelling in the planes hijacked. The
materials destroyed were worth millions and millions of dollars.
The persons actually
involved in a number of such recent attacks,
around the world, happen to be Muslims. Such attacks have therefore
come to be categorised as 'Islamic Terrorism'. The terrorist attacks
being suicidal in nature, the attackers themselves, in most cases, died
during the course of the attacks.
It is pertinent here to
reflect on the possible motivation of such
attackers. Why do they undertake missions wherein they are almost
certain to be killed? They being Muslims, we may surmise that they had
been strongly brainwashed to believe that their acts would gain them
Allah's pleasure and a sure place in Jannah, in the Hereafter.
Now, my question is: are
they right? Would Allah be pleased with their
suicidal acts that cause anarchy and widespread destruction of life
& property on earth?
In order to get the
Qur'aanic answer to any query, we have to
understand properly the genesis of that query.
As we all know, the 9/11
attack has its origin in the Arab-Israeli
conflict. This conflict arose because of a desire among a section of
the Jews,
scattered all around the world, to have an exclusive homeland of their
own. They
had their eyes on Palestine, which area was inhabited, late in the 19th
century, overwhelmingly by Arab Muslims. Jews living there then were a
minuscule minority.
A series of international
political intrigues coupled with pogroms and
holocausts brought about an exodus of the Jewish people from around the
world into Palestine. So their ratio, with the ethnic Arab Muslims
there,
increased from 4:100 in 1878 to 48:100 in 1946. Although the Muslims
were still
more than double the number of Jews, the United Nations partitioned the
area into
Israel and Palestine, giving more space to Israel! In 1948, the Jews
unilaterally proclaimed an independent state of Israel, and in
subsequent wars
against Arab states around, gained control not only of Arab Palestine
but also of
areas beyond. And they started establishing Jewish settlements in those
occupied areas too!
These developments
naturally generated immense resentment among the
massively displaced Arabs, who had become refugees in their own
country! And their resentment extended to the Western Nations, and
particularly to the
USA, because of these nations' moral and active military support to
Israel. And the resentment culminated in 9/11!
From the above brief
extract from recent history, it is apparent
that
the Arabs have been the victims of gross injustice and oppression. In
the
circumstances, some Muslims may wonder whether the Arabs were not
justified in doing
what they did. "What could they otherwise do? They didn't have the
strength for
an open military engagement with Israel and its ally, the mighty USA!"
What could the Arabs do,
indeed, in the circumstances? Let us see what
Allah says. "And, certainly, We shall test you with something of fear
and
hunger, and with loss of wealth, life and production. And gladden those
who are
patient, with prophecy of a good future. Those who, when any adversiity
confronts
them, say, 'We do indeed belong to Allah; and indeed are we to return
to Him.'
Those are the ones upon whom are the blessings from their Lord and His
grace; and
those are the ones that are rightly guided." [Verses 2.155 to 2.157]
But the perpetrators of 9/11, and their mentors, had no patience.
Seeing that
they did not have the means at all to fight their oppressers openly,
they sought
soft targets: commercial aeroplanes, innocent passengers of those
planes,
huge Trade Center buildings and innocent officials, of all
nationalities and
religions, working in those buildings. They did not have the patience
to wait for
Allah to provide them with the right opportunity to hit back at the
oppressers
themselves and not at defenceless civilians. They did not follow the
divine advice
above and were therefore not rightly guided. Their deeds did not only
fail to
make any dent in their oppressers' armour and strength, but induced
them to
further oppressions. Remember what happened to Afghanistan, to Iraq and
to
Palestinians themselves living on the West Bank.
A
school of thought, among Muslims, may argue that the terrorist attacks,
like
9/11, are justified under the 'quisaas' law (the law of equality in
punishment)
sanctioned by Islam. Let us see what the Qur'aan says: "And
if you should punish, then punish with the like of that with which you
were
afflicted. And if you exercise patience, then, certainly, that's better
for the
ones that are patient. And
exercise patience! And your patience is not, but with Allah. And grieve
not for
them, and be not distressed because of what they conspire! Allah
is indeed with those who fear Him and who do good deeds." [16.126 to
128]
Yes,
Allah does permit retaliation - but only to the extent of the injury or
hurt or
loss etc. inflicted by the other party. And as regards the particular
case
under our study here, a section of Muslims may argue that since the USA
has
blatantly helped Israel in the latter's continued transgression and
aggression,
the Palestinians and the Arabs get the divine right to retaliate
against the
USA. To understand the divine right of retaliation properly, let us
take one
particular item of aggression. Israel has, with moral and material
support from
the USA, imputently occupied Arab territory. The Arabs therefore get
the divine
right to inflict a like punishment upon the USA. The like punishment
would be
to go and occupy USA territory! Could the Arabs do that!? They
couldn't. They
therefore ought to have exercised patience, and to have trust in Allah.
The
perpetrators of 9/11 didn't do that, but, instead, made illegal use of
civilian
property to destroy civilian property and to kill thousands of
non-combatant
civilians cruelly. They thus committed blatant disobedience of Allah's
commandments contained in the above-quoted verses.
Some
Muslims may yet argue that the USA had aided and abetted Israeli
destruction of
Arab property and cruel killings of thousands of Arab civilians, during
the
course of the illegal occupation of Arab land. 9/11 was just a
retaliation of
that destruction and killing.
But
it is a fundamental principle of Islamic justice that 'no bearer of
burdens
shall bear another's burden' [Verses 35.18, 39.7, 53.38]. Under this
principle,
if A kills B's son, B can kill A, but not A's son. Likewise, if the USA
Government has helped Israeli Government destroy Arab property and kill
Arab
civilians, the Arabs are theoretically entitled to the right to destroy
equivalent
USA/Israeli Government property and kill Government personnel
responsible
for the
Arab losses. The Arabs are not entitled to destroy - as the
perpetrators of
9/11 in fact did - civilian property and kill civilians of USA, and
also of
other nations, which were not involved at all in perpetrating the Arab
losses.
Instead of resorting to
the self-destructive terrorism, the Arabs, and
the Muslims in general, would do well to heed divine advice: "And
follow what has been revealed unto you, and be patient till Allah
decrees. And He is the best of those who issue decrees." [10.109]
Mohammad Shafi
12th August, 2005