ISLAM DENOUNCES TERRORISM

Introduction (Generic)

The terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, cost the lives of thousands of innocent people.

This terrible savagery once more revealed a great danger to the peace and brotherhood of man: Terrorism.

Terrorism General

Terrorism is a crime against humanity. It targets innocent people. Its aim is to spread fear in society by killing people, and thus to draw strength for its political wishes.

Different ideologies have resorted to terrorism in the past:

The Jacobins, who carried out the French Revolution, first used the concept of terrorism during ‘The period of terror’ when thousands of people were sent to the guillotine.

From the 1870s on, the racist Ku Klux Klan in the United States ruthlessly tortured and killed many people just because they were black.

Racist terrorism came to be state policy in Nazi Germany during the 1930s. The Nazis implemented a bloody policy of terror against all those they saw as opposed to them, beginning with the Jews.

During those same years, another ideology also implemented state terrorism. Some 40 million people were killed during Stalin’s bloody reign in the Soviet Union for falling foul of communist ideology.

Communist terrorism emerged in Europe in the 1960s. This time, organizations opposed to the state began shedding blood. The Red Brigades in Italy and the Red Army Fraction in Germany carried out numerous bombings, armed attacks and killings.

The coming together of communist terrorism with separatist aspirations gave rise to even more bloodthirsty organizations. The bloodiest communist and terrorist groups were ETA in Spain and the PKK, which organized in Turkey and ruthlessly killed some 30,000 people.

It is a quite natural consequence that racism, fascism or communism should give rise to terrorism. That is because each of these ideologies believes that conflict and violence are natural forms of human behaviour. In racist, fascist or communist theory, terrorism is encouraged and seen as justified.

In recent years, however, another form of terrorism has come onto the world agenda, although this is a totally contradictory concept: ‘Islamic terrorism.’

The concept is contradictory because there is no room for terrorism in Islam.

In the Koran, God commands all Muslims to bring peace, harmony and brotherhood to the world.

Islamic morality is not the cause of terrorism, but the solution to it…

Islamic Morality

The word Islam comes from the same Arabic root as the word peace.

God has revealed this religion to invite all of mankind to the true path and call them to peace and harmony.

The fundamental characteristics of Islamic morality are virtues such as love, compassion, sacrifice, tolerance, forgiveness and justice. In the Koran, God commands Muslims to treat all people well and fairly. Muslims are charged with displaying a virtuous morality to members of other religions and work for their good. In one verse of the Koran, it is said to the Muslims:

You are the best nation ever to be produced before mankind. You enjoin the right, forbid the wrong and believe in God. (The Koran, 3:110)

In another verse, God commands Muslims to “respond to evil with goodness”:

A good action and a bad action are not the same. Repel the bad with something better and, if there is enmity between you and someone else, he will be like a bosom friend. (The Koran, 41:34)

Bloodshed, war and cruelty are terrible sins condemned by God. In one holy verse, God has this to say to those who commit these sins: ‘There are only grounds against those who wrong people and act as tyrants in the earth without any right to do so. Such people will have a painful punishment.’ (The Koran, 42:42 )

According to Islam, killing innocent people is one of the most terrible sins possible. So much so that another holy verse says: ‘… if someone kills another person – unless it is in retaliation for someone else or for causing corruption in the earth – it is as if he had murdered all mankind.’ (The Koran, 5:32 )

This importance attached to human life in the Koran has been seen throughout the history of Islam, beginning with the days of the Prophet. Our prophet took the greatest care to protect the lives of innocent people. He never began a war except for defensive reasons. Even then he warned his commanders that not one innocent person should be harmed, and ordered that churches and synagogues should be respected. This justice and tolerance were manifested throughout the history of Islam, and Christians and Jews found the toleration and peace they could not find in European states of the time in Muslim lands.

For this reason, Islam is a religion of peace and harmony. The duty of a Muslim is to behave kindly and justly to all people and to struggle against cruelty in the world.

At the head of these comes terrorism: one of the greatest scourges of our time.

Terrorism

Terrorism attacks innocent people who have done nothing wrong.

It mercilessly slaughters little children…

It leaves others orphaned…

It destroys cities and kills families, inflicting suffering on millions of people.

Moreover, some terrorists carry out this evil in the so-called name of Islam, and blacken the name of Islam in the eyes of many people.

The people who did this cannot be Muslims.

Even if the terrorists have Muslim identities, the terrorism they perpetrated cannot be labeled ‘Islamic terrorism,’ just as it would not be called ‘Jewish terrorism’ if the perpetrators were Jews or ‘Christian terrorism’ if they were Christians. That is because murdering innocent people in the name of religion is unacceptable.

Religion commands love, mercy and peace. Terrorism, on the other hand, is the opposite of religion: it is cruel, merciless and brings bloodshed and misery.

Terrorism is a tool employed by racists, fascists and communists: in short, all those ideologies that reject religion and religious morality.

There is no room for terrorism in religion. As it is said in one Koranic verse, “God does not love wrongdoers” (The Koran, 3:140). In another verse, those who resort to terrorism, that is, who cause corruption in the earth are referred to in this way:

“As for those cause corruption in the earth, the curse will be upon them. They will have the Evil Abode.” (The Koran, 13:25)

For that reason, all true Muslims must stand up against terrorism.

They must tell and demonstrate to the whole world that:

Islam is a religion of peace and love, and that

Islam Denounces Terrorism.