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Terrorists groups and cults have murdered thousands of people over the
past two decades. Their most important victims have been Muslims,
however. People around the world, particularly Muslims, feel utterly
insecure, as they believe that they might be killed by terrorists. If we
have any hope of uprooting it we must talk about the root cause of the
problem and the role that governments around the world have played in
the emergence of this phenomenon
Islam, Muslims, and Terrorism
The question is, are the terrorists carrying out Islamic teachings? One
can address the question from two distinct perspectives, that of
Western governments and of Muslims themselves.
Western leaders believe that the right position is what President Obama
and many European officials have taken, namely, rejecting the terrorists
as Muslims and their terror as Islamic. For example, the President has
said that Daesh (also known as the self-proclaimed Islamic State, ISIS and
ISIL) is neither a state nor Islamic. In his speech from the White House to
the nation on December 6, the President said, "ISIL does not speak for
Islam. They are thugs and killers, part of a cult of death, and they
account for a tiny fraction of more than a billion Muslims around the
world -- including millions of patriotic Muslim Americans who reject
their hateful ideology."
Of course, if Western leaders talk about the terrorists as Muslims that
follow Islamic teachings, it will have grave consequences. It will spread
Islamophobia; provoke anti-Western sentiments in the Islamic world,
and bestow upon terrorism religious legitimacy, hence making it easier
for the terrorists to recruit new members. Despite such glaringly obvious
facts, there are still politicians who refer to Muslims as animals and
"rabid dogs" that need special treatment.
For Muslims, unconditional condemnation of terrorism, regardless of its
ideological and religious roots, is the first step in uprooting it. The next
step is identifying the basis of terrorism in the religion that "justifies"
violence.
Shiites regard Daesh as apostates. In his recent November meeting with
President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow of Turkmenistan Iran's
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said, "Islam is a religion of
brotherhood, mercy and charity toward others and these crimes
[terrorism] have nothing to do with Islam," adding, "The best way of
neutralizing their influence is strengthening rational and moderate
Islamic thinking." Sadegh Larijani, Iran's judiciary chief and a cleric
himself, said on December 7, "The true Islam whose roots are in
spirituality, morality and divine values cannot produce trash like Daesh.
The engine of terrorist and takfirist groups is Wahhabism [the official
religion in Saudi Arabia]." Takfiri is the belief of groups like Daesh that
other Muslims have deviated from the" true faith" as they interpret it.
Though they strongly condemn terrorism, many Sunni clerics do not
consider members of groups like Daesh as apostates.
During a Conference in Cairo during the second week of December, AlAzhar Grand Sheikh Ahmed Al-Tayeb said, "ISIS militants are acting
under the guise of this holy religion and have given themselves the name
'Islamic State' in an attempt to export their false Islam." Then, Al-Azhar
issued a statement formally rejecting the labeling of Daesh fighters as
apostates and declaring, "Al-Azhar rejects the takfirism of ISIS . . .
Because takfirism cannot be applied to any believer, regardless of his
sins." The statement did say that Daesh must be fought and destroyed,
and its fighters killed. More importantly is the fact that 70,000 Indian
Muslim clerics issued a Fatwa declaring Daesh, al-Qaeda, Taliban, and
similar groups as not Islamic.
How An Anti- Western Islamic Identity is Formed
No human being is without an identity. Collective identity emerges
through power relations, and distinguishes "us" from "them." If the
collective identity is against the one that is supported by a society's
organs, it becomes a stronghold for resistance and survival. Those who
have been eliminated try to eliminate the eliminators.
As Indian economist and philosopher, and Harvard University Professor
Amartya Sen posited in his book, Identity and violence: The Illusion of
Destiny, there is no singular identity. The reductionists and monopolists
try to reduce individual identity to a specific issue or group. It is as if
"Islam" is someone's entire identity, whereas there are many things that
contribute to creation of multiple identities for a person.
Creating identity is confronted by many limitations. People and groups
create identity for themselves based on the societal developments and
their own expediency. Colonialism, humiliation, and military aggression
provide the foundations for a "reactive identity" in reaction to what is
happening, and under such circumstances people try to present
themselves totally different from "others." In the case of Islamic
If Islam is rescued from such Muslim scholars and Muftis, it will become
a modern and democratic religion, eliminating violence in any shape or
form. Just as without slavery we still have Islam and Muslims, with
jurisprudence devoid of violence we will still have Islam.
Zygmunt Bauman, one of Europe's foremost sociologists, has said that
the best evidence for him being Jewish is that he is pained by the
injustice done by Israel more than those done by other governments.
Paraphrasing him, we should say, opposing fundamentalism, Salafism
and Wahhabism [see here and here], violence and terrorism are best
evidence for someone being a Muslim.
This article was translated by Ali N. Babaei