What is the Quranic position on terrorism?

Terrorism experts have identified at least six different sorts of terrorism — nationalist, religious, state-sponsored, left-wing, right-wing, and anarchist.

An objective study of terrorism in its broadest sense in world history will show that even though religion may be used as a platform, terrorist activities have in fact nothing to do with the religious
teachings per se.

Religious terrorists seek to use violence to further what they see as divinely commanded purposes, often targeting broad categories of foes in an attempt to bring about sweeping changes. Religious terrorists come from many major faiths, as well as from small cults. Religious terrorists are quite different from terrorists who manipulate and use religion as a platform to achieve other purposes, for example, pure greed or power.

Examples of religious terrorists have included the Palestinian Sunni Muslim organisation Hamas, the Lebanese Shi’ite group Hezbollah, the radical Jewish groups affiliated with the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, the Israeli extremists Baruch Goldstein (who machine-gunned Muslim worshipers in a Hebron mosque in 1994) and Yigal Amir (who assassinated then prime minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995), some American white-supremacist and Christian militias, and the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult in Japan.

A detailed study of violence and religion will show that it is not confined to Muslims alone. There are extremists and violent people everywhere and it is the reasonable majority that has to keep the peace and sanity.

The Quran is extremely clear that there is absolutely no compulsion whatsoever in faith and violent approaches to spreading faith is antithetical to the teachings of the Quran (Q10:99).  In matters of religion, the Quran clearly cautions against being excessive (Q5:77).

According to Imam Tamman Adi of the Islamic Cultural Centre of Eugene, Oregon the concept of war is mentioned six times in the Quran as follows:

(a) God and his messenger declare a “war” on those who make money by unproductive financial transactions (usury, currency trade, stock market speculation, derivatives).  He asks creditors to give debtors time, or better yet, to forgive the debt as charity (Quran 2:278-279). A modern example can be the “war against international currency speculators” undertaken before by Malaysia.

(b) In the Quran, Allah decreed that killing one soul is like killing all humanity and and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people (Q5:32). God also condemns mass murder by gangs, calling it a war against law and order. The only exceptions are killing in self-defence and court-ordered execution of a murderer when the victim’s family does not forgive.

(c) God condemns nations that regularly violate international treaties and start wars. He requires other nations to prepare forces of deterrence against such war starters, but commands us to make peace with them whenever they are open to it (Q8:56).

(d) The Quran tells us that warmongers will commit mass murder and falsely blame it on Muslims in an attempt to start a war against Muslims. Fortunately, the verses tell us that such plots are fragile, built on the crumbling edge of a mud hill, bound to collapse with the plotters into hell (Q:9:107).  As a Muslim, I am convinced that a large majority of Muslims recognise that the terrorist activities carried out by Islamic State do not have any basis in the Quran.

(e) God tells us that when war is over, the killing must stop and prisoners must be exchanged or set free (Q47:4).

It is therefore clear from the foregoing discussions that the Quran is clearly against terrorism and thus, the continued use of the term “Islamic terrorism” is very annoying to the Muslims and misleading.

Unmistakably, terrorist’s activities have been around for a very long time in human history and it did not begin with 9/11.

As the above discussions show, there are many types of terrorism and therefore, there are many causes of such terrorism. Some of the reasons are pure greed or pure violence while the other causes has nothing to do with greed or the objective of causing violence, though it may be used as a means to attract attention.

In such cases, it is important to clearly understand the root causes so that long term and effective measures can be implemented to counter such terrorism by eliminating the root causes, if possible.

Identification of terrorism with religion or race should cease as this is misleading and tends to fuel prejudice and oppression of innocent people.

* Jahaberdeen is a senior lawyer and founder of Rapera, a movement that encourages thinking and compassionate citizens. He can be reached at  rapera.jay@gmail.com

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Why some Muslims are easy prey to terrorists and extremists.

 I totally welcome our country’s fight against terrorism through the use of law, the police and the military. Safety of the citizens is always a high priority for any responsible government.

However, I am of the view that anti-terrorism measures cannot merely be confined to law, police and military, though necessary, if a long-term solution is the objective.

The re-evaluation and reformation of values, culture, thought and how Islam is taught is the root that ought to be addressed. For this to happen, we need to create a culture of knowledge, thinking, civilised debates and discourse and a high tolerance for dissenting views. In short, coercion and compulsion in matters of faith must give way to personal choice and spiritual growth. 

Islam related terrorism (IR terrorism) is not confined to acts of violence alone because it is based and propagated on ideology.  IR terrorism obviously infests on its own ideology of what Islam is.

The question that every Muslim should ask is this: how in the world did the religion of peace get associated with terrorist violence so easily and globally? How is the professed Muslim persuaded to blow himself up in the name of “jihad”?

I believe that policy makers who want to combat IR terrorism has to embark on an honest study and evaluation of history first to understand what could have been used as the basis of ideology to recruit potential terrorists. The policy maker has to study all versions of history and not just the version he is most comfortable with. A proper approach to fighting IR terrorism has to take into account various other equally significant factors.

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GOOD TERRORIST; BAD TERRORIST

By Dr Chandra Muzaffar

The French military operation in Mali has brought to the fore the blatant double standards in the approach of certain Western nations to the whole question of terrorism.

In the case of Mali, France, with the support of Britain, Germany and the United States, has committed itself to combating diehard militants who are determined to use violence to establish their power and authority. Yet in Libya, these countries and their allies in West Asia and North Africa (WANA) had no compunctions about colluding with militant groups to oust Muammar Gaddafi in a bloody and brutal campaign which killed tens of thousands of people in 2011.

Their hypocrisy becomes even starker in Syria. Western powers and groups from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Turkey have been providing funds, logistical support and sophisticated weapons to rebels within Syria and mercenaries from a number of other countries, to overthrow the Bashar al-Assad government. Many of these armed groups, like their counterparts in Libya and Mali, justify their acts of terror and violence in the name of Islam --- albeit a distorted and perverted interpretation of the religion.

Different armed groups in Iraq at different times in the course of the US led occupation of that country have also, it is alleged, received material assistance from countries in the region and the US. It is an established fact that the US under Ronald Reagan gave enormous financial and military aid to so-called “jihadist” groups fighting the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. The US has often condoned acts of terror perpetrated by its close ally, Israel, against Palestinians and other Arabs. Indeed, the US itself is regarded in some circles as a “terrorist state”, given its record of killing innocent civilians in various parts of the world, including Latin America, West Asia and Southeast Asia. 

What this shows is that there is terrorism that is condoned and terrorism that is condemned by Western powers and other states. If violence serves their interests, it is acceptable. If it doesn’t, the militants are targeted. In other words, there are ‘good terrorists’ and ‘bad terrorists’.

One of the main reasons why the militants in Mali have to be defeated --- from France’s standpoint --- is because France imports huge amounts of uranium from that country for its nuclear plants that generate 80% of its electricity. It is not because France abhors violence or seeks to protect human life! Besides, France wants to maintain its hegemonic grip upon West Africa and parts of North Africa at a time when resource rich Africa is becoming increasingly important to the global economy.

The ulterior motives for Western military action in Libya; for their covert operations in Syria; for their hobnobbing with militant groups in Iraq; and for their collusion with Jihadists in Afghanistan have been exposed in numerous studies. There is no need to repeat them here. Suffice to note that that they have very little to do with defending human rights or upholding democracy. It is the overwhelming desire to perpetuate their military, political, economic and cultural hegemony over the world which is the real reason why the US and its allies seek to crush terrorism in one instance and consort with it in another instance.    

    Why is it that this irrefutable truth about the attitude of the centres of power in the West to terrorism is not widely known?  Why is it that citizens in Western democracies who are supposed to be informed and educated are not ashamed of the double standards and the hypocrisy that surround the war on terror? One of the primary reasons is because the media --- both the old and the new --- does not want to tell the whole truth.

More often than not, the media regurgitates the propaganda put out by the centres of power in the West. If it is the ‘bad terrorists’ that say French troops are pursuing, the latter are projected in the media as heroes on a noble mission, without any analysis of the root causes of the conflict or what the motives are for launching the assault. If, on the other hand, it is the ‘good terrorists’ sponsored by the West who are responsible for some merciless slaughter somewhere, their barbarity is either played down by the media or the whole incident is turned and twisted to present the adversary as the perpetrator of the killing.

This has been happening in the case of Syria. In one of the most recent episodes the ‘good terrorists’, the rebels, claimed that the horrendous attack on Aleppo University on 15 January 2013 that killed 87 people, many of them students, was the work of the Bashar government. This was the story that most media carried though a number of newspapers and television channels also reported the government’s denial. However, when evidence emerged that showed that the ‘good terrorists’ were the actual culprits and independent journalists and student groups in Syria, apart from a number of foreign governments, condemned the ‘good terrorists’ for their savagery, very few media outlets gave any prominence  to their remarks.

It is through distorted reporting and analysis of this sort that the media conceals the double standards and hypocrisy of the centres of power in the West. This is why we should on our own look for alternative sources of news and analysis and use the information at our command to challenge the powerful to be honest and consistent about the fight against terrorism.

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Dr. Chandra Muzaffar is the President of the International Movement for a Just World (JUST).