http://hvk.org/archive/2006/0306/57.html

A Wake-up Call : Almost all terrorists are Muslims..

Author: Abdel Rahman al-Rashed
Publication: Arab News
Date:
URL: http://www.arabnews.com/9-11/?article=32&part=2
It is a certain fact that not all Muslims are terrorists, but it is equally certain, and exceptionally painful, that almost all terrorists are Muslims.
The hostage-takers of children in Beslan, North Ossetia, were Muslims. The other hostage-takers and subsequent murderers of the Nepalese chefs and workers in Iraq were also Muslims. Those involved in rape and murder in Darfur, Sudan, are Muslims, with other Muslims chosen to be their victims.
Those responsible for the attacks on residential towers in Riyadh and Khobar were Muslims. The two women who crashed two airliners last week were also Muslims.
Osama bin Laden is a Muslim. The majority of those who manned the suicide bombings against buses, vehicles, schools, houses and buildings, all over the world, were Muslim.
What a pathetic record. What an abominable "achievement." Does all this tell us anything about ourselves, our societies and our culture?
These images, when put together or taken separately, are shameful and degrading. But let us start with putting an end to a history of denial. Let us acknowledge their reality, instead of denying them and seeking to justify them with sound and fury signifying nothing.
For it would be easy to cure ourselves if we realize the seriousness of our sickness. Self-cure starts with self-realization and confession. We should then run after our terrorist sons, in the full knowledge that they are the sour grapes of a deformed culture.
Let us listen to Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the sheikh - the Qatar-based radical Egyptian cleric - and hear him recite his fatwa about the religious permissibility of killing civilian Americans in Iraq. Let us contemplate the incident of this religious sheikh allowing, nay even calling for, the murder of civilians.
This ailing sheikh, in his last days, with two daughters studying in "infidel" Britain, soliciting children to kill innocent civilians.
How could this sheikh face the mother of the youthful Nick Berg, who was slaughtered in Iraq because he wanted to build communication towers in that ravished country? How can we believe him when he tells us that Islam is the religion of mercy and peace while he is turning it into a religion of blood and slaughter?
In a different era, we used to consider the extremists, with nationalist or leftist leanings, a menace and a source of corruption because of their adoption of violence as a means of discourse and their involvement in murder as an easy shortcut to their objectives.
At that time, the mosque used to be a haven, and the voice of religion used to be that of peace and reconciliation. Religious sermons were warm behests for a moral order and an ethical life.
Then came the neo-Muslims. An innocent and benevolent religion, whose verses prohibit the felling of trees in the absence of urgent necessity, that calls murder the most heinous of crimes, that says explicitly that if you kill one person you have killed humanity as a whole, has been turned into a global message of hate and a universal war cry.
We can't call those who take schoolchildren as hostages our own.
We cannot tolerate in our midst those who abduct journalists, murder civilians, explode buses; we cannot accept them as related to us, whatever the sufferings they claim to justify their criminal deeds. These are the people who have smeared Islam and stained its image.
We cannot clear our names unless we own up to the shameful fact that terrorism has become an Islamic enterprise; an almost exclusive monopoly, implemented by Muslim men and women.
We cannot redeem our extremist youths, who commit all these heinous crimes, without confronting the sheikhs who thought it ennobling to reinvent themselves as revolutionary ideologues, sending other people's sons and daughters to certain death, while sending their own children to European and American schools and colleges.
*Abdel Rahman al-Rashed is general manager of Al-Arabiya news channel. This article first appeared in the London-based pan-Arabic newspaper Al-Sharq Al-Awsat.
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http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/%5Cpapers18%5Cpaper1730.html

Paper no. 1730

13. 03. 2006

COMING TO TERMS WITH ISLAMIC TERRORISM by Col R Hariharan (retd.) For a long time the reaction of Muslim community to the depredations of Islamic terrorists had been muted, with the public opinion in Islamic nations generally condoning or even sympathizing, if not actively supporting, the “cause” of such terrorism. Very often Western imperialism, particularly the U.S. domination had been found fault with for justifying acts of terrorism. Osama bin Laden, the archpriest of Al Qaeda terrorism, which brought Islamic terrorism in sharp global focus had been a kind of folk hero in many countries. For instance, bin Laden’s image occupied large graffiti space on the walls of Dhaka. Muslim intellectuals’ response to such acts of terrorism in the past had been pedestrian at best. Invariably they repeated the litany that Islam was a benevolent religion and left it at that without condemning the killing of the innocent. There were glaring examples of such conduct in many cases before and after 9/11. But this attitude appears to be undergoing a subtle change all over the world for sometime now. In India ever since the burning of a coach carrying saffron supporters of the Hindu Right at Godhra railway station and the violent Hindu retribution on Muslims that ensued, appear to have created a cathartic effect on sections of Muslim leadership. They appear to have realized the zero sum game of Islamic terrorism would cause more damage to the Muslim community than others. Increasingly they have been quick to publicly condemn acts of Islamic terrorists in India. Even the recent bomb blasts in Varanasi were quickly denounced as un-Islamic acts by some of the Muslim clerics. This slow change has been noticed not only in India but also all over the world. In the infamous case of the publication of a cartoon ridiculing the Prophet in a Danish newspaper, the reaction of European Muslims was muted till the embers of violence were stoked mass reaction in countries like Pakistan, where Islamic radicals hold sway in many minds. The Organisation of Islamic Countries also passed a comparatively mild resolution condemning the publication of the cartoon. The reaction of Danish Muslims was even more sober. They sent a delegation to Pakistan to moderate the public opinion on this issue. In this context, an article titled “A Wake-up Call: Almost all terrorists are Muslims” written by Abdel Rahman al-Rashed, general manager of Al-Arabiya news channel, published recently in the London-based pan-Arabic newspaper Al-Sharq Al-Awsat offers interesting insight into this realisation that is coming into the Arab world. [Even now anybody writing such an article in India would be branded as anti-Muslim by the very vocal ‘secularist’ lobby, let alone Muslims]. In many Arab countries glorification of Islamic terrorists had been part of the political rhetoric. It became intricately interwoven with legitimate struggle for rights of Palestines to have their own state. This appeased the guilt feelings, if any, in supporting acts of terrorism as a means to an end. But the vocalisation of contrarian views in Arab media now is perhaps due to the realisation that unless voices are raised against Islamic terrorism, the Muslim community at large would be the losers in the increasingly competitive world. In his article, Abdel Rahman starts with a statement, explosive by Indian secularist standards: “It is a certain fact that not all Muslims are terrorists, but it is equally certain, and exceptionally painful, that almost all terrorists are Muslims.” He goes on to say that the hostage-takers of children in Beslan, and North Ossetia, were Muslims. “The other hostage-takers and subsequent murderers of the Nepalese chefs and workers in Iraq were also Muslims. Those involved in rape and murder in Darfur, Sudan, are Muslims, with other Muslims chosen to be their victims.” Not only that; he rubs it in saying that those responsible for the attacks on residential towers in Riyadh and Khobar were Muslims. Osama bin Laden was a Muslim. “The majority of those who manned the suicide bombings against buses, vehicles, schools, houses and buildings, all over the world, were Muslim.” Calling it a pathetic record and an abominable "achievement" he poses the question whether it tells “anything about our societies, our culture and ourselves?” Calling these images as shameful and degrading, he appeals to the Muslim community to put “an end to a history of denial” He asks Muslims to “acknowledge their reality, instead of denying them and seeking to justify them with sound and fury, signifying nothing.” According to him “Self-cure starts with self-realization and Confession. We should then run after our terrorist sons, in the full knowledge that they are the sour grapes of a deformed culture.” In this context, Abdel Rahman cites the fatwa of Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the Qatar-based radical Egyptian cleric on permissibility of killing and calling for the murder of civilian Americans in Iraq. Abdel Rahman’ poses the telling question how “this ailing sheikh, in his last days, with two daughters studying in ‘infidel’ Britain,” can solicit children to kill innocent civilians? “How could this sheikh face the mother of the youthful Nick Berg, who was slaughtered in Iraq because he wanted to build communication towers in that ravished country?” The columnist articulates the dilemma of many an ordinary Muslim who abhors killing innocent civilians as much as any Hindu or Christian. His question “How can we believe him when he tells us that Islam is the religion of mercy and peace while he is turning it into a religion of blood and slaughter?” touches upon the core dilemma of modern Muslims in handling religious extremism of the Islamic variety. Abdel Rahman’s call to Muslims is very emotional: “We can't call those who take schoolchildren as hostages our own. We cannot tolerate in our midst those who abduct journalists, murder civilians, explode buses; we cannot accept them as related to us, whatever the sufferings they claim to justify their criminal deeds.” According to him these were the people who have “smeared Islam and stained its image.” He ends his article with an introspection: “We cannot clear our names unless we own up to the shameful fact that terrorism has become an Islamic enterprise; an almost exclusive monopoly, implemented by Muslim men and women. We cannot redeem our extremist youths, who commit all these heinous crimes, without confronting the sheikhs who thought it ennobling to reinvent themselves as revolutionary ideologues, sending other people's sons and daughters to certain death, while sending their own children to European and American schools and colleges.” Non-Muslims should nurture and encourage this emerging vocal segment of Muslim intellectuals and opinion makers who are still a minority, to come out boldly against Islamic terrorists and their fellow travellers misusing religious freedom and public places of worship for spreading extremism. It is sad to see saffron politicians trying to cash in on the anguish among Hindus after the Varanasi temple blasts and use it as an election ploy. While public outrage against such despicable acts of violence in the name of religion is understandable, politicising every act of terrorist violence for gaining access to Hindu or Muslim vote banks would only polarise society. This would only strengthen the hands of extremist fringes and terrorists to increase their flock. (Col R Hariharan, a retired Military Intelligence officer, is currently an intelligence analyst and writes on South Asian affairs, terrorism, and insurgency issues. E-Mail: colhari@yahoo.com) =========================================  http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1233856/posts A Wake-up Call : Almost all terrorists are Muslims.. Arab News ^ | Abdel Rahman al-Rashed  Posted on Sun Oct 03 2004 09:28:34 GMT+0530 (India Standard Time) by paltz It is a certain fact that not all Muslims are terrorists, but it is equally certain, and exceptionally painful, that almost all terrorists are Muslims. The hostage-takers of children in Beslan, North Ossetia, were Muslims. The other hostage-takers and subsequent murderers of the Nepalese chefs and workers in Iraq were also Muslims. Those involved in rape and murder in Darfur, Sudan, are Muslims, with other Muslims chosen to be their victims. Those responsible for the attacks on residential towers in Riyadh and Khobar were Muslims. The two women who crashed two airliners last week were also Muslims. Osama bin Laden is a Muslim. The majority of those who manned the suicide bombings against buses, vehicles, schools, houses and buildings, all over the world, were Muslim. What a pathetic record. What an abominable "achievement." Does all this tell us anything about ourselves, our societies and our culture? These images, when put together or taken separately, are shameful and degrading. But let us start with putting an end to a history of denial. Let us acknowledge their reality, instead of denying them and seeking to justify them with sound and fury signifying nothing. For it would be easy to cure ourselves if we realize the seriousness of our sickness. Self-cure starts with self-realization and confession. We should then run after our terrorist sons, in the full knowledge that they are the sour grapes of a deformed culture. Let us listen to Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the sheikh – the Qatar-based radical Egyptian cleric – and hear him recite his fatwa about the religious permissibility of killing civilian Americans in Iraq. Let us contemplate the incident of this religious sheikh allowing, nay even calling for, the murder of civilians. This ailing sheikh, in his last days, with two daughters studying in "infidel" Britain, soliciting children to kill innocent civilians. How could this sheikh face the mother of the youthful Nick Berg, who was slaughtered in Iraq because he wanted to build communication towers in that ravished country? How can we believe him when he tells us that Islam is the religion of mercy and peace while he is turning it into a religion of blood and slaughter? In a different era, we used to consider the extremists, with nationalist or leftist leanings, a menace and a source of corruption because of their adoption of violence as a means of discourse and their involvement in murder as an easy shortcut to their objectives. At that time, the mosque used to be a haven, and the voice of religion used to be that of peace and reconciliation. Religious sermons were warm behests for a moral order and an ethical life. Then came the neo-Muslims. An innocent and benevolent religion, whose verses prohibit the felling of trees in the absence of urgent necessity, that calls murder the most heinous of crimes, that says explicitly that if you kill one person you have killed humanity as a whole, has been turned into a global message of hate and a universal war cry. We can't call those who take schoolchildren as hostages our own. We cannot tolerate in our midst those who abduct journalists, murder civilians, explode buses; we cannot accept them as related to us, whatever the sufferings they claim to justify their criminal deeds. These are the people who have smeared Islam and stained its image. We cannot clear our names unless we own up to the shameful fact that terrorism has become an Islamic enterprise; an almost exclusive monopoly, implemented by Muslim men and women. We cannot redeem our extremist youths, who commit all these heinous crimes, without confronting the sheikhs who thought it ennobling to reinvent themselves as revolutionary ideologues, sending other people's sons and daughters to certain death, while sending their own children to European and American schools and colleges. *Abdel Rahman al-Rashed is general manager of Al-Arabiya news channel. This article first appeared in the London-based pan-Arabic newspaper Al-Sharq Al-Awsat. TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events KEYWORDS: islam; terrorists 1 posted on Sun Oct 03 2004 09:28:34 GMT+0530 (India Standard Time) by paltz