Will ordinary Muslims rejection of extremists hasten the end of terrorism?

No

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by Mark Dykstra

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Many Muslims state clearly that those who commit acts of terror, murder and cruelty in the name of Islam are not only destroying innocent lives, but are also betraying the values of the faith they claim to represent. No injustice done to Muslims can ever justify the massacre of innocent people, and no act of terror will ever serve the cause of Islam. Muslims claim that they repudiate and dissociate themselves from any Muslim group or individual who commits such brutal and un-Islamic acts. It is said that the Muslim faith disallows their beliefs to be held hostage by the criminal actions of a small minority acting outside the teachings of both the Quran and the Prophet Muhammad.

As it states in the Quran: 'Oh you who believe, stand up firmly for justice, as witnesses to God, even if it be against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin, and whether it be against rich or poor; for God can best protect both. Do not follow any passion, lest you not be just. And if you distort or decline to do justice, verily God is well-acquainted with all that you do'." (Quran 4:135)

A common complaint among non-Muslims is that Muslim religious authorities do not condemn terrorist attacks. The complaints often surface in letters to the editors of newspapers, on phone-in radio shows, in Internet mailing lists, forums, etc. There are a lot of fatwa's and other statements issued which condemn attacks on innocent civilians. However there is the tendency among western Muslims that such statements are largely ignored by newspapers, television news, radio news and other media outlets.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has declared that there is no justification for violence and that their religion promotes peace. They say that Islam teaches us to act in a caring manner. Islam strictly condemns terrorism, and there is no justification for terrorism or extremism. Upfront, it is reassuring to hear theses statements coming from a religion that in many ways has divided world opinion in the face of the London bombings and the World Trade Center disaster not to mention the Madrid Train bombings and I could go on, however a disturbing question remains.

Muslims are in many ways deeply religious regardless of the Muslim you might meet on the street. Many have very definite ideals about world politics and the western influence upon Muslim society, yet the Muslim as a whole enjoy the freedoms and lifestyle many of us in America take for granted, yet there is an internal conflict between enjoying western lifestyle and the laws and religious doctrine that Muslims so deeply hold on too. The question is does the Muslim religion have its roots in terrorism? Does the Muslim faith fan the flames of discontent and revenge? How can such a peace loving faith turn what would seem a loving faith into one where we have children brought up at the age of 5 learning to use an AK47? Or a suicide bomber so deeply revengeful, walks into a soccer game enjoyed by boys and blows all of them up.? Shiites against Sunni, Arab against Jew, Kurds against Turks, Palestinian against the Jew. The list goes on. Religion is a private matter - or at least ought to be. Religion provides moral direction to many people, and solace to their troubled psyche and meaning about God when they are puzzled by accidents of life such as the sudden death of a beloved person. No religion has a monopoly of virtue, though each will claim the other is worse. The ideology of Terror is not in religion but in a political ideology which uses Islamic Doctrine as a religious vehicle to achieve and win power. The roots of this ideology of global Islamism lie in the era of the decline of the Ottoman Empire at the end of the great war of 1914-18, and the empire's partition by the British and the French.

While it is always dangerous to generalize about any ideology or historic phenomenon, there is evidence from the past to suggest that Militant Islam follows trends and is a development of Islam itself. Let me summarize some of the points. The religious roots of Islam go back to the 13th century, to a philosopher named Ibn Taymiya, who opposed Islam's incorporation of extremist influences. The first modern use of extremist Islam was in the 19th century, as a reaction against colonialist rule in the Middle East. This anti-colonialist harnessing of militant Islam has endured to our day, despite Arabic leanings towards western influence. The second modern use of extremism was in the 1960's and 1970's, as a tool to deflect communism and socialism in the Arab world, which was adopted by Egyptian ruler Gamel Abdul Nasser and his followers. The goal of militant Islam is not religious reformation. The goal of militant Islam is to secure power and maintain its religion through any means possible. Militant Islamists utilize their view of religion in order to gain support for their power seeking revolution and use the Muslim religion as it motivator. Several moderate Arab leaders have fostered Islamic and jihadist elements to give legitimacy to their regimes and foster support among their people, as well as to offset communist and socialists movements within their societies. While they believed that they could control the radical Islamists that they had supported, in time many of these regimes have been forced to repress these elements, in order to protect their regimes. Some Arab countries imported Islamic scholars from Egypt to teach their population Arabic, history, and other subjects. Many were trained at Al-Azhar University by militant Islamic clerics, and transmitted their ideology and "married" the doctrine of Islam to extremist views to the host country's youth, spreading popular support for militant Islam. Militant Islamists and Jihadists gain their popularity through leveraging nationalist and religious pride, expanding on cultural notions within the Arab and Islamic culture, capitalizing on unmet expectations of the general population in the Middle East that has not benefited from globalization, and promising salvation through Islam and rewards through increased piety. Militant Islam is an inward-looking reaction to modernization. It is anti-West and anti-globalization by real definition, due to its jihadist ideals and actions. Its anti-Israel and anti-Zionist rhetoric is a reflection of its anti-Western stance, because the West predominantly either openly or covertly supports Israel. Home of the Christian faith worldwide. Islamic extremism that delves into its deep religious views of Islam is at the basis of its philosophy and goals, and cements Jihadist ideals by rallying the general Islamic populace into using terror as a "pure" and "Holy" act and where living and dying have equal status.

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