In the name of allah

 

 

Firoz Bakht Ahmed

Social Commentator By the paradise seeking Lashkar-e-Toiba jehadis who have been marauding the lives of the innocents; terror continues unabated, visiting us at the railway stations, bus stops, trains, temples, markets and anywhere, no matter where we are.

Ideologically networked LeT jehadis specialise in suicide attacks and when cornered, fight to the finish. They get their strength from al-Qaida. Its carriers shatter the dignities of life, and time and again bring the profanities of faith to our living rooms as unsolicited news shows.

These radical jehadis of LeT are influenced by bin Laden’s hate ideology and are part of its new network of terror that is an intricate web of nationalist insurgent groups which act autonomously and are difficult to track down.

Frankly speaking, the word jehad has been so badly misused both by some wayward Muslim terrorists and Islam-baiters that it has completely lost its meaning. The true concept of jehad in Islam is that of Jehad-e-Akbar which is a bigger jehad not against other communities, groups or religions but against one’s own self and within the society in order to fight evil, injustice, inequity, illiteracy and ignorance. These words have been misinterpreted such that their true meaning is lost for a jaundiced and lop-sided view of Islam. Jehad against another community or country can be declared only by a very learned and specific authority in very specific situations when Muslims are not allowed to go to mosques, follow their law, attend madrasas etc. There is nothing of that kind in India and the term is used only to defame and discredit Islam.

Many of the terrorists acting in the name of Islam, cite Palestine, Chechenya, Iraq and Afghanistan to justify the killing of anyone. They have lost their moral compass. For them anyone who does not agree with their point of view, is an infidel and can be eliminated.

They are able to misinterpret verses from the Quran to justify their heinous and horrendous designs of killing innocent people. Muslims must separate themselves from ‘Muslim’ terrorism. We feel that those who have committed these diabolic acts, have nothing to do with Islam. Sura Al-Baqr (Verse: 114) in Quran states that Allah dislikes those who indulge in arson, loot and killings. Sura Al-Kafirun (Chapter: 30) mentions: Lakum dinokum waley yadeen (You follow your religion; let them follow theirs). Islam’s very meaning is submission.

Islam rejects violence in all its forms but the jehadis take that path without caring as to what impact it can have on a common Muslim by making him a suspect. They don’t read those verses that declare that taking the life of one innocent individual means killing the whole humanity. The jehadis use those verses in the Quran that are ‘contextual’ and by twisting and bending the meaning they act self-deceivingly as human bombs. Extremists today select these verses only to feel ‘righteous’ to act ‘righteously’. Frankly speaking to a common Muslim, it is most abhorrent to attach such acts to the teachings of Prophet who is known to be merciful not only to the Muslims but the whole humanity as he is known as Rematullil Aalamin (Mercy to the whole mankind).

Exactly in line of these jehadis, is the mentality of the US that didn’t go seeking Israel for occupying Palestinian land, but it did attack Iraq for aggression on Kuwait. This is how they interpret their war against terror, suiting their whims and fancies of imperialism and Christian jehad where they make any innocent as axis of evil.

Muslim voices of sanity aren’t loudly heard. Even the London Muslims while condemning the July 7 killings, added a “but” (root cause) to it, that in a way justifies those acts. We have to agree to the principle that killings of innocents cannot be justified irrespective of race, religion, place or ethnicity. Many Muslims are guilty of not speaking against what happened in Darfur while many are also guilty of being sympathetic towards a despot like Saddam Hussein who was responsible for the deaths of thousands. Many are also guilty of not speaking out against the unjust acts of Muslims against the non-Muslims.

Nevertheless, 170 leading Islamic scholars and clerics from the eight major schools of Islam (including Sunni and Shia) from 40 countries, issued a fatwa that has forbidden issuance and validity of any fatwa from obscurantist clerics justifying jehad that is meant for annihilating innocents.