On International Terrorism

Jesus said “know the truth and the truth will set you free” .The Holy Qur’an commands the faithful , Says “Read in the Name Of God, the one taught by Pen, taught men knowledge not taught before” . God never ceased to send humanity His Messengers with new truths. I really learned a valuable lesson from Ben Azir Bhutto about the Muslim extremist problem, as she said in her book, Reconciliation and the West: the international terrorist movement has two goals. The first is to unite the Muslim population into a one-world Islamic party. Although it sounds like a religious movement, in reality, it is, in large part, a radical, political movement!

The second goal is to provoke a confrontation between the West and the Muslim world, which would be guided by its own extremist distorted interpretation of the Qur’an.

The 9/11 attacks, the 2004 train attack in Madrid, Spain, the 2005 attack at a London subway station, the 2003 attack on a commercial compound in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and attacks in Malaysia are all examples of how the radical extremists try to inspire bloody confrontation with the West: by killing the innocent.

Those who pervert Islam by committing these crimes are described in the Qur’an as “going astray from the right path.” That could mean:

1) Murdering another human being.

2) Spreading mischief (fasad) in the land. (Qur’an 2:191-193, 2:217, 4:88-91).

They claim to speak for Islam, denigrating democracy and human rights and argue that those values are Western values and conflict with Islam. They also deny girls a basic education, blatantly discriminate against women and minorities, ridicule other cultures and religions, rant against science and technology, and endorse brutal totalitarianism to enforce their medieval views of Islamic Sharia.

There is a lot of hypocrisy in the Muslim world, Bhutto said. Muslim leaders, and even intellectuals, are quite comfortable criticizing outsiders for the harm that has been inflicted on fellow Muslims. However, nothing is said when the violence is Muslim on Muslim. The Iran-Iraq War and what is happening now between the Shiites and the Sunnis in Iraq are two such examples. To address these events would be considered politically incorrect!

There are two meanings for Jihad. The first one is a “greater jihad”; this is an internal jihad. It means to fight within oneself in order to become a better person. This is a struggle centered on eradicating selfishness, hate, wickedness, etc. in order to develop a good and godly character.

The second is centered on personal conduct during a time of war or conflict. The prophet Mohammed is said to have remarked when he came home from a battle: “We return from the lesser jihad to the greater jihad.” This shows how important it is for us to struggle to be our best. It is a nonviolent struggle to make us better people. The greater, internal, jihad is more important.

Suicide-Murders/Bombers

Extremists who allege that the Qur’an supports terrorist actions do not have the support from the Holy Qur’an. Suicide and/or murder are specifically and unambiguously prohibited in the Holy Book.

“For this reason did we prescribe to the children of Israel, that whoever slays a soul, unless it be for manslaughter or for mischief in the land, is as though he slew all men; and whoever keeps it alive, is as though he kept alive all men; and certainly our messenger came to them with clear argument, but even after that, many of them certainly act extravagantly in the land” (Qur’an 5:32).

Allah is One and the same God

I believe Westerners misunderstand who Allah actually is. Most believe that Allah is only the God of Islam, but this is incorrect. The word “Allah” in Arabic means God, and Allah is the one and only God, the same God of Judaism and Christianity. This is why the Qur’an called all believers of three faiths “People of the Books,” not of the book. The three holy books, the Torah, the Bible and the Qur’an, are all viewed as texts that were revealed to mankind by God.

Commonalities in the Three Religions

If a Jew or Christian were to read the Qur’an, that person would recognize his or her own religious teachings in certain passages. The Qur’an, in a sense, is similar to the Christian Gospel. This is why both the New Testament of the Bible and the Qur’an revere all the Jewish prophets and carried many of the Old Testament stories forward. These extraordinary commonalities should promote tolerance between them. The following are readings from the Qur’an.

“Say we believe in Allah and what has been revealed to us, and what was revealed to Ibrahim [Abraham] and Ismail [Ishmael] and Ishaq [Isaac] and Yaqoub [Jacob] and the tribes, and what was given to Musa [Moses] and Isa [Jesus] and to the prophets from their Lord; we do not make any distinction between any of them, and to Him do we submit” (Qur’an 3:65).

“Surely, we revealed the Taurat [Torah] in which was guidance and light; with it the prophets who submitted themselves (to God) judged (matters) for those who were Jews, and the masters of divine knowledge and the doctors, because they were required to guard (part) of the Book of God, and they were witness therefore; therefore fear not the people and fear me, and do not take a small price for my communications; and whoever was not judged by what God revealed, those are they that are the unbelievers” (Qur’an 5:44).

“Surely, we revealed to you as we revealed to Nuh [Noah] and the prophets after him, and we revealed to Ibrahim [Abrahim], Ismail [Ishmael], and Ishaq [Isaac] and Yaqoub [Jacob], and the tribes and Isa [Jesus] and Ayub [Job] and Yunus [Jonah] and Haroun [Aaron] and Sulaiman [Solomon] and we gave to Dawoud [David]” (Qur’an 4:163).

“And we sent after their footsteps Isa [Jesus], son of Marium [Mary], verifying what was before him of the Taurat [Torah] and We gave him the Injeel [Gospel], which was guidance and light, and verifying what was before it of Taurat [Torah] and a guidance and an admonition for those who guard (against evil)” (Qur’an 4:46).

Astonishingly, although the Qur’an instructs the faithful to believe in the three Holy books and actually names them, we find that in most Islamic countries, these are among the most forbidden books. Quite remarkably, the Qur’an acknowledges that other religions can lead to salvation. It says: “Surely those who believe, and those who are Jews, and Christians, and the Sabians, whoever believes in Allah and the Last Days and does good, they shall have their reward from their Lord, and there is no fear for them nor shall they grieve” (Qur’an 2:62).