By Ruhail Khan, Rising Kashmir
Dated: April 24,2018
It’s a sad and disturbing fact of life nowadays that Islam, arguably the world's largest religion [as per practicing adherents and not just people born in the stream - CIA world fact book] and definitely the fastest growing one is continuously being viewed through prisms of phobias and paranoia’s leading to nothing but misinterpretations, hatred, intolerance, and racism in its worst form and in some cases punitive retribution involving innocents and stereotyping of entire communities globally.
The most recent Kabul suicide car bombing and Barcelona Van ramming [incidentally, did you even get to hear about the former tragedy] have propelled the currently ubiquitous debate again to the centre stage, “Is Islam a concocting crucible of Terrorism?”
I, for one, do not subscribe to this travesty, which insults my and like - minded intellects. So is this to be dubbed as the emotional justification by a desperate Muslim. Hell, No! Being a Muslim has nothing to do with the genesis, facts and figures and of course, the intellectual inference of a particular situation, like the one in current context.
So let’s analyze all the possible complements of this jigsaw and along the way attempt an understanding of a global ethos, that is, the one represented by Islam.
To start off, let’s take a trip down the history lane.
It is a core belief of Muslims globally that Islam has been around before the beginning of creation but by current historical construct, we can talk about fourteen centuries of continuity, starting from the day, the Holy Quran, was revealed to our most revered Prophet, Hazrat Muhammad (SAW) by Allah SWT through the Archangel, HazratJibreel(AS). Islam’s message has been restored and enforced in the last stage of the religious evolution by Allah’s penultimate Prophet and messenger, Hazrat Muhammad (SAW). A message which was earlier on propagated by prophets right from Hazrat Adam (AS) through HazratNooh(AS), Hazrat Ibrahim (AS), HazratMoosa(AS) and Hazrat Isa (AS).
The word "Islam" is derived from the Arabic root "salema" meaning peace, purity, submission and obedience etc. etc. In the religious sense, Islam means submission to the will of Allah SWT and obedience to His law. Islam is an invitation to mankind, the AshrafulMakhlookat [Allah SWT's greatest creation], possessing the highest intellect and free will, to subscribe to HIS law and lead lives accordingly…
During the prophet Hazrat Muhammad's (SAW) lifetime and later across the centuries, Islam grew at a rapid pace encompassing nations, empires, cultures, ethnicities, religions across the globe. This happened largely due to the purity and magnetism of Allah SWT's message, personal examples set up by the Prophet Hazrat Muhammad SAW as well as the zeal of the adherents which saw the creation of the greatest contiguous empire ever seen by mankind till that time, covering an area of 15 million square kilometers [The Omayyad Caliphate].
Post that too, the greatest empire the world has seen till date, [The Mongol Empire] , with an area of 33 million square kilometers plus, saw its 3 major successor states, the three Western Khanates [The Central Asian Chagatai Khanate, The Iranian Ilkhanate and the Eastern European Golden Horde] adopt Islam while Chinese-Mongolian Yuan dynasty in the East embraced Buddhism…
The Islamic Golden Age refers to the period in Islam's history during the medieval past from the 8th century to the 17th century [14th century by some views] when much of the historically Arabic-speaking world was ruled by various Caliphates, experiencing a scientific, economic, and cultural flourishing.
The Islamic Golden Age shone brightly as a beacon of hope, advancement and prosperity to the world. During the Islamic Golden Age, stable political structures were established and trade flourished. The wars and cultural divisions that had separated peoples before the Arab conquests gradually gave way to a new civilization encompassing diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds.
This new Islamic civilization used the Arabic language as a transmitter of culture and Arabic increasingly became the language of commerce and government. Over time, the great religious and cultural works of the empire were translated into Arabic, the population increasingly understood Arabic, and they increasingly professed Islam as their religion. The cultural heritages of the area included strong Greek, Indian, Assyrian and Persian influences. Through this process, the population of the lands of Islam gained access to all the important works of all the cultures of the empire, and a new common civilization formed in this area of the world, based on the religion of Islam. A new era of high culture and innovation ensued, where these diverse influences were recognized and given their respective places in the social consciousness.
Impressive contributions, which continue to impact human civilization, till date, were made especially in the fields of mathematics, astronomy, medicine, physics, alchemy and chemistry, anatomy and surgery, cosmology, ophthalmology, literature, geography and cartography, sociology and psychology, architecture, education and learning, philosophy, land reforms, jurisprudence, women's rights, trade and commerce and military technology et al. It is a globally accepted fact that European Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution would not have been possible without the vast compendium of work accomplished by the Muslim world.
Unfortunately, various forms of internal dissension, external invasions, disruption of trade routes and indiscriminate slaughter of populations, "Reconquista" in Europe, rise and hegemony of colonial powers and a stifling of free thought sadly eroded the edifice of this shining beacon…
European Imperialism had its own share in this tragedy. For the first time, nations across the globe, especially across Asia and Africa, witnessed massive polarization across all dimensions of their existence like racial segregation, economic degradation, resource exploitation, forcible religious conversions and Inquisitions, local political order and Infrastructural decimation, imposition of alien cultural mores and destruction of native cultures, demolition of industrial and agricultural infrastructure, unfair trade practices, stifling of political thought and most importantly the poisoning of the social fabric of the subject states pitting people against one another basis religion, religious sectarianism, ethnicity, linguistics and color.
Even though elements of modern education and science and technology were implanted but they largely served the purpose of a greater and effective exploitation.
Gradually over a period of time the massive Islamic conglomerate was eroded and led to more than 50 plus Muslim majority nations as we know them today. Boundaries were drawn arbitrarily. According to what would become known as the Sykes-Picot Agreement, the British and French agreed to divide up the Arab world between themselves. The British were to take control of what is now Iraq, Kuwait, and Jordan. The French were given modern Syria, Lebanon and southern Turkey. The status of Palestine was to be determined later, with Jewish aspirations to be taken into account. The zones of control that the British and French were given allowed for some amount of Arab self-rule in some areas, albeit with European control over such Arab kingdoms. In other areas, the British and French were promised total control. The same pattern was established across Africa…
By 1917, the British had made three different agreements with three different groups promising three different political futures for the Arab world. The Arabs insisted they still get their Arab kingdom that was promised to them through Sharif Hussein. The French [and British themselves] expected to divide up that same land among themselves. And the Jews expected to be given Palestine as promised by the Balfour declaration!
Today, even more than a 100 years later, we get to witness these manifest divisions, established intentionally by European colonialists, to engender discord, depreciation and despair across their territories leading to explosions [Iran- Iraq wars, Gulf Wars ( we all know by now that there were NO WMD's - Weapons of Mass Destruction, in Iraq )] and implosions [Arab Spring, Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Syria, Palestine, Iraq, Libya, Tunisia, CAR, Sudan and others].
Besides, the post WW2 interventions, largely by the US and USSR have led to abominations of all hues and to speak about the latest ones like the Yugoslavian Disaster[Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Croatia etc - Remember the Srebrenica Genocide] Chechnya etc... and we all know about the genesis of Taliban, Al-Qaeda, Boko Haram and ISIS and a multitude of clones...
Incidentally, some of the worst localized and global conflagrations in the last few centuries [American Revolutionary War, The Indian Wars, The Patriot War, The Mexican - American War, The American Civil War, The Spanish - American War, The Philippines - American War,WW1 and WW2 along with the Jewish Holocaust, The Korean War, The Vietnam War, Afghanistan, The Gulf Wars and the list can go on and on and on] have been precipitated and fought by western[read Christian - though I personally believe that Christianity has nothing to do with it] nations, causing massive global destruction and irreparable loss of 100's of millions of military personnel and innocent civilians!
Is there a single, I repeat, a single conflagration of this scale and order, which can be attributed to Islam? The answer is a big NO.
Well, that was a somewhat lengthy historical lesson.
Let’s change gears and try out some statistics and explore some facts and figures.
According to various sources [CIA World Fact Book, World Bank, UNESCO etc], as the World’s largest religious entity [though some still cling on to half- baked data as old as 2010 stating Christianity to be the largest religious group, without any details of practicing adherents] there are anywhere between 1.9 - 2.3 billion Muslims "practicing" Islam globally. So in terms of sheer numbers, there are more Muslims than members of ALL the religious/or otherwise dispensations [excluding Christians] across the world including all the Secular/Non-religious/Agnostic/Atheist individuals [.5 billion] Hindus [1 billion], Chinese traditional religion [.39 billion], Buddhism [.37 billion], Ethnic religions [.3 billion], African traditional religions [.1 billion] along with Sikhism, Spiritism, Judaism, Baha'i, Jainism, Shintoism, Cao Dai, Zoroastrianism, Tenrikyo, Neo - paganism, Unitarian Universalism and Rastafarianism ! Wow!
Don't you want to think again if you are visualizing Islam as a concocting crucible of terrorism? Think 2 billion terrorists! ...Well, in that case, isn't it high time that the quest for finding habitable planets across galaxies should either be speeded up or some friendly Inter - galactic alien civilizations befriended to fight such a gargantuan number!
"Hmmm....Impressive...Well, maybe not all of them [anyways, all of them ARE sympathizers], at least 20% of the population will do..."This %age would definitely make “ACT! for America” president and founder, Brigitte Gabriel, blush with pride…
So let me do the calculations - Er - Am i right in saying that it makes up for .4 billion. Incidentally, that turns around to be more than the entire US population! So who has just been whacked cold out here? Can anyone, in his/her right senses imagine such an "Apocalyptic" [pun intended] situation wherein the rest of the world has to array its resources to stave off this juggernaut, dubbed Islamic Terrorism?
"Well, I know what you are doing out here. It just CAN'T be less than 5%. OK, let’s settle for 1% - that should get you now."
That 1% would tantamount to 20 million people, well terrorists actually - [at least we are talking millions now, I was beginning to lose count of it all :-)]
I just can't help the numbers. That is more than ALL the active service military personnel across the globe right from China [2.2 million], US [1.3 million], India [1.3million], North Korea [1.1 million], Russia [.7 million], Pakistan [.6 million], South Korea [.6 million], Iran [.5 million], Vietnam [.4 million] and Turkey [.4 million] to Antigua and Barbuda [170 soldiers - didn't want to get into fractions here :-)]Thankfully the Costa Ricans, the Haitians, The Icelanders, the Mauritians, the Palestinians and the Panamanians won't have to square off against this Islamic army of barbaric terrorists. And in all good humor and due respect, I don't think that the Pope would like his Swiss guards to be deployed for action!
Honestly, I seriously want to use "Rotflasmgo" here. Well, in case you missed out on the "entire" meaning here. I just meant "rolling on the floor laughing and splitting my guts out".
What I honestly fail to understand is that "How do sane, educated, intelligent masses subscribe to these notions, stereotypes, exhortations, impressions - this diabolical spin?"
Time for some real facts and figures now:
The biggest terrorist outfit currently happens to be ISIS inclusive of its affiliates [30k - 50k armed personnel], followed by Boko-Haram [7-10k armed personnel] and if we add up the fringe groups globally and add what 5 -10k armed personnel. So what do we get? 70k armed personnel. Looks too small, too insignificant. So, fine, let’s take it up to 100k armed personnel. Yes, I know, terrorists. Well, I'm sure that by now you are no longer interested in knowing what this inconsequential percentage really amounts to…
So is this really what makes the Islamophobes out there cry hoarse that "Islam is a concocting crucible of terrorism".
"Christian" [the labeling is academic as I strictly believe that terrorists cannot be adherents of ANY religion or a system of Divine belief] terrorist organizations who can give ISIS et.al. a run for their money when it comes to numbers, ruthlessness and brutality are The Lord’s Resistance Army, Ku Klux Klan, National Liberation Front of Tripura, Nagaland Socialist Council, Anti-Balaka, Catholic Reaction Force, Protestant Action Force, The Orange Volunteers, The Aryan Nations and The Christian Identity Movement etc. They have been and are perpetrators of inhuman barbarities against humanity since decades.
More than 75% of all incidents leading to deaths of civilians and police/military personnel across Europe and Asia were perpetrated by home-grown, "Christian”, regional/ ideological separatist groups like The Basque National Liberation Movement [ETA], The Lebanese Christian militias, The Irish Republican Army, Red Brigades, Marxist Guerillas, Action Directe, ASALA, JCAG, FLNC, PIRA et al, and we still remember Anders Breivik, don't we? We can have disparate inferences from this data, but in NO way does it connote that Christianity is a concocting crucible of terrorism…
And incidentally, the number of Muslims killed in ALL the acts of "Islamist violence" globally exceeds adherents of other religions by factors of more than 10000X [PEW Research Center]. Startling fact! Isn't it? So do we understand here that Islamic terrorism makes sure that it annihilates more Muslims in comparison with followers of other religions? Could anything be more alogical.
Now let’s talk about one of the biggest players in the fight against global terrorism, the United States [Though if we were to talk about State / State sponsored Terrorism, that country would probably top the list( just for record, I do not hate America, or for that matter any other nation, and do not chant "Death to America" :-) But then, that is a different debate altogether] As per data provided by the NSA, FBI etc. for the last thirty years, hold your breath, "Jewish" terrorism [meaning the perpetrators were Jews - Were they really Jewish in the first place?] has topped the list in the number and frequency of attacks on US soil, though it goes without saying that horrible attacks like that of 9/11 stand out for their scale and barbarity. Terrorism of "any" origin / nature is way down the list, when it comes to the killings of innocent civilians across US in the past one decade. Random shootouts by pathologically sick, gun wielding "lone wolves" and toddlers/infants/pre-teens / teenagers etc. has done more damage than anything else…
The only difference between the erroneously dubbed Christian/other and Islamic terrorism is that the former does not figure in the daily banter of morning shows or the "deep" and "expert" analysis and debate of the evening shows.
Let me take a closer look at India.
The South Asian Terrorism Portal lists fatalities and incidents across India. Quite helpfully, it also lists them by conflict theatres.
Be ready for some shockers here:
- In 2011, Maoist violence claimed 602 lives, the North East 246, and Kashmir plus "Islamist" violence outside the state toll stood at 225!
- In 2012, we had a similar situation: Maoists (367), followed by the North East (326), followed by Kashmir (117). The total number of victims of "Islamist" violence outside these three areas, across India, was 1!
- In 2013, the figure was the most for Maoists (421), the second most for the North East (252), and the Kashmir plus "Islamist"violence outside the state again came third (206)!
- In 2014, there were 976 deaths from terrorism in India. Of these, the most (465) came in the North East. The second most (314) came from Left-wing Maoists. Deaths in Jammu Kashmir, assuming we want to attribute the whole lot to terrorism, stood at 193. Outside of these conflict theatres, "Islamist" violence claimed four lives.
"As is obvious from this hard data, technically, most terrorists in India are Hindus by religious denomination, the ones whom we have conveniently labelled "Maoist" instead of "Hindu" [Simply because they were born Hindu - But are they really believers of Hinduism?] The second largest group of terrorists includes the tribals, animists and perhaps some Christians of the North East. Muslims are a distant third. If one looks outside the separatism of Kashmir, their violence and terrorism levels are among the lowest in the world and they appear to be less susceptible to terrorism not just by the standards of the world’s Muslims but also India’s Hindus" - The South Asian Terrorism Portal…
So why this misguided perception that "Islam is the concocting crucible of terrorism".
I believe that a multitude of factors are responsible; and there could be more, which I might have missed out. However, this is what comes to my mind:
- One of the leading factors is utter lack of "knowledge" and "understanding" [the difference is subtle but critical] of Islam, which obviously leads to misinterpretations and misrepresentations.
- The second important factor is the historical context. Most people aren't aware of how the current Muslim nation states came into being, entities which have deep, western colonial/imperialistic imprints, especially with respect to political entities across Asia and Africa and in a limited sense across western and eastern Europe. People have limited awareness of cultural- religious norms and practices. Intrusions and impositions of contradictory cultural precedents precipitate resistance and engender revulsion.
- The third factor is all about civilizational evolution in a specific time and space continuum. Christians et al, especially Europeans, have had their Renaissance and Witch hunts, the inter and intra - religious [protestants, Huguenots, Adventists, Freemasons, the St. Bartholomew and other massacres, the global evangelization] but Muslims nations are juggling with and stretching to their sinews to face the challenges of today's world in order to balance social, religious, political and economic dimensions of the larger populace, especially the younger generations.
- The fourth important factor is the Geo-political ethos driven by Global powers largely US/Europe led. We have some recent interventionist examples in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Somalia, Eritrea, Lebanon, Libya, Yemen, and Syria. Incidentally, we all know everything about the Gulf Wars now. What has all this led to? Breakdown of political and social structures, erosion of law and order, massive unemployment, hunger, starvation and disease, vigilantism, degradation of human rights and spawned terrorist organizations all across and above all, an irreparable loss of trust and humaneness. Millions of people have become refugees; some for generations and still with no hope in sight [How does it feel to live in a refugee camp for generations together?].
- The fifth important factor is communal prejudice and historical revisionism. Across most nations globally, we have and continue to witness attempts at ethnic cleansing and communal/social polarization of Muslims. Yugoslavia for one as one of the examples [Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo - remember the "Srebrenica Genocide" and others of the ilk]. Some countries are not even allowing mosques to be constructed and have strict social censure for people following their religious tenets like prayers and dress code. When Muslims pray on the streets of Paris [for the lack of adequate number of mosques], right wing politicians, like Marine Le Pen, call it an "invasion". Ultra - right wing parties are Islamophobia driven and fuelled by their misrepresented anger against Muslims. Geert Wilders says Jordan should be called Palestine as it is so. In some countries history books are being re-written to suit the current political climate and religious resurgence of particular nature. Historical figures of eminence are being demonized, degraded and deleted in the public conscience. Religious and cultural pluralism is being frowned upon. Nowadays, its Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Burma, Philippines and sadly, India, where such incidents are rearing their ugly heads too. Communalism leads to polarization and compartmentalization which disrupts and derails opportunities for synergy and cohesion.
- And the sixth and probably one of the most important factors is the Media projections and reporting. The only form of terrorism acceptable to get media bytes is "Islamist" We have "know-all" anchors and panels of "experts" with suspect credentials doling out their diatribes and spewing venom and in the process fuelling Islamophobia. Racial profiling by governments [The NYPD recently closed an Elite division set up simply to engage in surveillance of Muslims and now the Britishers have introduced "prevent"] and actively supported by the media has made things worse. A few months back I came across a news item stating that 12 US states led by Alabama have refused entry to Syrian refugees simply because one of the terrorists involved in the recent Paris shootouts had supposedly traveled along with the refugees from Middle East.
One terrorist in a couple of million desperate refugees is an impressive statistic...Isn't it?
I strongly condemn all kinds of killings of innocent civilians, irrespective of their caste creed, religion, ethnicity and political ideologies etc. notwithstanding the justifications presented by the perpetrators. Nothing pains or saddens me more.
However, it does not make any innocent civilian's death less painful whether they die by suicide bombings or as "collateral damage" in air / land /sea assaults, however unintentional. But what really shocks me is the global response in solidarity for and condemnation of western [read developed nations] casualties, however horrific or sad these killings are.
I wonder whether there is a prejudice at play. I am yet to read about or witness a "candle light" vigil or a prayer service being conducted for those scores of innocent civilians being slaughtered almost on a daily basis across Palestine, Philippines, Israel, Syria, Iraq, Mexico, Brazil, Nicaragua, Egyptian Sinai, Chad, Congo, South Sudan, Libya, CAR, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Burma, Xinxiang, Tibet, Russia, Sri Lanka, Kashmir, India, Afghanistan and Yemen to name a few. And, as is obvious, I'm not just talking about Muslims.
Is a "western [read developed world] life", irrespective of ethnicity, religious beliefs, political affiliations etc. purportedly more valuable than that of a third world / developing country resident’s?
So what could be fuelling these disproportionate responses? Or is it simply "cool" in a macabre way to exhibit such tendencies. The recent media coverage regarding two parallel incidents of loss of innocent lives through acts of terrorism [Kabul suicide car bombing and Barcelona Van ramming] amply demonstrated the bias as well as a cult of pseudo-superiority; which in any case is counter-productive and heightens the feeling of alienation and victimization.
Islam is the greatest gift from the Almighty to humanity. It needs to be understood, respected and presented as such. Human aberrations in time and space cannot question its immutable message of universal peace.
People across the Globe need to come out of their comfort zones and think hard about why things are happening the way they are currently happening [most of them make all of us sad as well as cringe in horror, irrespective of our ethno-religio-social matrices] and view things objectively so that we all can contribute in our own small ways to rid this beautiful world of prejudice, hate and injustice and make it a better place to live for ALL of Humanity. The world has had enough of this madness. Let there be peace. Now and forever. Amen!
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