Upholding Islam to contain terrorism
Sayed Javed Ahmad
The literal meaning of the Arabic word "Islam" is "Peace". The other meaning is "Submission", meaning submission to the will of God as a follower of a way of life called Islam given to mankind by that God Almighty called "Allah".
The Qur'an declares, "…This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed My favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion…(5:3). …It is He Who hath sent His Apostle with guidance and the Religion of Truth, to proclaim it over all religion, even though the Pagans may detest (it)." (9:33).
The two verses quoted above settles the matter for us clearly by pointing out the Allah Himself will safeguard this religion no matter how much we dislike it – "We have, without doubt, sent down the Message; and We will assuredly guard it (from corruption)." (15:9). He also declares that a copy of the Qur'an is preserved in tablets somewhere – "Day, this is a Glorious Qur'an, (Inscribed) in a Tablet Preserved!" (85:21 -22). Therefore, taking up a battle against Islam is like fighting against the will of Allah, which a true believing Muslim would never dare to do.
As a Muslim majority country, our forefathers after the liberation of Bangladesh probably understood the message well as a result they have included the creed in the constitution. The references that we find in the constitution are as follows:
"2A. The state religion.
The state religion of the Republic is Islam, but other religions may be practiced in peace and harmony in the Republic…
8. Fundamental principles.
(1) The principles of absolute trust and faith in the Almighty Allah, nationalism, democracy and socialism meaning economic and social justice, together with the principles derived from them as set out in this Part, shall constitute the fundamental principles of state policy.
(1A). Absolute trust and faith in the Almighty Allah shall be the basis of all actions…"
It is not easy to follow the Islamic way of life living in a secular system. Yet, our forefathers tried to find coexistence in between Islam and secularity. Being Muslims themselves, they probably did not have the courage to throw away the religious sentiment completely; because if they did, then they would not remain Muslims anymore. Therefore, even in a secular governmental system Islam did remain. Same thing goes for all other so called Muslim countries around the world. None of them are pure Islamic states.
Now the question that comes into our mind is, why then suddenly the Muslims are branded and demonized as "terrorists" after living in peace for so many decades? One of the reasons we find is the declaration of US's "War on Terror"- the war that was initiated by invading Afghanistan following a 'terrorist attack on 9-11-2001 on Twin Towers in New York'. According to the official US story, Osama Bin Laden, the leader of Al-Qaida organized the attack and the US invaded Afghanistan for revenge as Molla Omar refused to hand Osama over to the US for a trial. Therefore, according to US mandate, anyone sympathizing with the Afghan fighters is a "terrorists", which indirectly made all Muslims a terrorist suspect.
But that is an international matter. Why do we have terrorism here in Bangladesh? Our story of terrorism is mostly 'political' than 'religious'. Our so called Islamic terrorists are upbeat on political motives under the guidance and protection of some religion-based political parties. It is not yet fully discovered if they have any other motive other than to play a role politically. But the followers of the parties have stereotyped themselves as dariwala-topiwala mollas (meaning bearded religious extremists with head gears) in the public minds helped by the media.
They are a breed of people that came about as a group with different educational background mostly from the madrassas (meaning religious schools). Who knows what was taught to them and who taught them. They appear to be brainwashed with sentiments of 'hate' with no room for tolerance, which is not an Islamic principle.
It has been observed that the non-Arabic speaking Muslim countries have more religious problems than the Arabic speaking counterparts. The main reason could be the language itself. Most of the non-Arabic speaking Muslims depend on translations and interpretations of others to learn Islam and rely on them. This makes them gullible and open to all kind of misinformation being fed to them. As a result, unknowingly they become terrorists believing in something that is not present in Islam. The Islam they know and practice in not the Islam we find in the Qur'an and the Hadiths (meaning the traditions of the Prophet). No wonder why our Prophet (peace be upon him) warned against the divisions our ummah (brotherhood) would face. He even mentioned that there would be 73 groups of Muslims believing and practicing many different versions of Islam. And out of those 73 groups, only one group would find salvation- the group that would stick to the actual teachings and practices from the Qura'n and Hadiths only. Prophet Mohammed (s.a.w) said: My ummah will be fragmented into seventy-three sects. All of them will be in Hell Fire except one sect. They (the Companions) said: Allah's Messenger, which is that? Whereupon he said: It is one to which I and my companions belong. Transmitted by Tirmidhi.- Hadees 171 Narrated by – Abdullah ibn Amr.
We could also blame our multi-directional educational system for this problem as was prevailing in the country. Our educational system created heterogeneous groups rather than homogeneous resulting in disunity. Only recently the government has made a notable change in the system by unifying it into a single curriculum. Hopefully the next breed of pupil will be more sober and tolerant that the earlier ones due to this change.
No one wants to be a "terrorist", our systems creates them. The blame is on the government for not being mindful on this matter when there was time. Defying the basic democratic principle, when policies are drawn without consultation with the experts and without any public review this is what happens.
Finally, it is probably safe to conclude that most of the problems we are facing today are because of not properly understanding Islam the way it should be understood and practiced. Therefore, instead of trying to suppress the Muslims and their religion, we should look for ways to propagate the real Islam as it is in the original books, namely the Qur'an and Sunnah.
Terrorism can be contained and eliminated only with proper education of Islam not the other way around. If Islam advocated for terrorism then the whole Muslim world would have adopted that as a principle, but that is not the case.
In the end we are ourselves responsible for our own actions. It is up to us to decide which group or sect among the seventy-three we would like to be attached with. Allah has given us the intellect and freedom to judge and make a choice when the Qur'an declares – "Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from Error: whoever rejects evil and believes in God hath grasped the most trustworthy hand- hold that never breaks. And God heareth and knoweth all things." (2:256).
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