Islam and Terrorism - Contemporary Issues

Islam and Terrorism

Speaker: Dr. Abu Aminah Bilal Philips

Series: Contemporary Issues

Opening

(بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ - bismillāhi r-raḥmāni r-raḥīm)

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Most Merciful.

May Allah's peace and blessings be on each and every one of you.

I'd like to welcome you, dear viewers, to another in our series, Contemporary Issues. In this segment of our program, we begin another topic. In the previous segments, we were looking at Islamic finance, Islamic banking, etc. Now we're going to have a look at what is referred to as Islamic terrorism, the issue of terrorism, where Muslims have been identified basically as the world's terrorists.

Introduction: The False Image of Islamic Terrorism

When you use the term Muslim, people think terrorism. When you hear the word terrorist, you think Muslim terrorists. If they don't put Muslim terrorists, then it's understood that you're dealing with Muslims. Terrorism.

Really, this is a part of that ancient image which was promoted a long time back. I mean, myself, in growing up, this was the kind of image that I had of Islam before becoming a Muslim myself. That of an Arab riding in off the desert with his headdress flowing in the back, holding a Quran in one hand and a sword in the other hand. Either you accept this Quran or you lose your head. That this was Islam and how it spread. Violence. A violent religion.

The Truth: No Compulsion in Religion

The reality is that, as we mentioned earlier, there's no forcing of Islam on anyone. Nobody can be forced to become a Muslim. Allah says very clearly in the Quran:

"There is no compulsion in religion."

So, there is no real case when you go and look at how Islam spread, you'll not find that it spread by military means. In terms of the Islam amongst the people. Islamic State may have expanded its borders, but the people themselves, they chose Islam.

What you find is, of course, there were military conflicts between Islamic States and the existing powers, whether it's Rome or Persia or India. However, after these areas were defeated and Islamic rule was established there, then the population gradually accepted Islam. They were not forced into accepting Islam.

Historical Evidence: Islam Did Not Spread by the Sword

Muslims ruled Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon. And from the 8th century, there was a sizable Muslim Christian communities which existed in all these countries for, you know, the past 13 centuries. Muslims ruled Spain for over 700 years and India for over a thousand years. And the vast majority of the people of both Spain and India never converted to Islam. Yes, many of them did, but most didn't.

So, it was not something, you know, forced on people. In fact, the largest Muslim country today is that of Indonesia, having over 200 million citizens. And not a single soldier, Muslim soldier, set foot in Indonesia.

Islam spread there as it spread in Malaysia and the Philippines by trade. Traders came out of the southern part of Arabia from Oman, from Hadramaut, and they traveled to these areas and they traded with the people. They had been doing that for centuries before Islam, and they continue to do it after Islam.

Of course, what happened was that the people noticed the difference between these people before Islam and after Islam. Islam, guiding their dealings, requiring certain honesty in their dealings, etc., it caused a change in the outlook the people held of these traders, you know. Normally, traders, you're expecting them to be tricky, you've got to be looking out for some tricks, what they're going to try to do, try to sell you something you don't really want, so it's something which is not really good product, etc., but they want more money for it.

Whereas they found traders coming now who are honest. See, if the product wasn't so good, they'll tell you it's not so good. If there's a defect in it, they'll tell you where the defect is. You know, they'll only try to bring you good things. Their profits may be less, but they are honest. This had a major impact on many of the people with whom they traded.

Islam Spread Through Trade and Good Character

Same thing when you find Islam spreading in terms of West African countries like Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Chad, Niger, it's all spread there through trade, just through the trading process. People were impressed with these traders, wanted to know what their religion was, and accepted their religion themselves. This is how Islam spread. It was not spread by the sword. It's the reality.

If we look at the United States of America itself, you have anywhere between 300 and 500 people converting to Islam daily. Daily. Across the United States. Where are the swords? Who is being forced to accept Islam? America, which, you know, stands as a place of, you know, freedom of religious expression, et cetera, et cetera.

You know, people are choosing Islam for themselves in huge numbers, and everybody recognizes Islam as the fastest growing religion in the world today. In America in particular, the numbers have, you know, crossed the seven to eight million mark, and constantly increasing.

So, the issue of Islam being spread by the sword is a false image. It is something, as I said, which is ancient.

The Reality of the Crusades

The Crusades was the time in which these kind of images were conjured up to try to motivate people to go and take over Palestine, liberated from the, quote-unquote, infidels, who were the Muslims. But the real violence that came, came from the Crusaders. They're the ones who came in massacring people left and right, all through what they refer to as Asia Minor, which is like Turkey, Constantinople, all the way down to Palestine.

They massacred Muslims, not only Muslims, they massacred Christians and Jews. The Christians in these areas here didn't hold the same beliefs as the Catholics, Roman Catholics. They had different beliefs, different ideas. And the Catholics came through and they massacred everybody. You know, this was the reality.

They weren't really liberating this place for, from the infidels. They were capturing it because it was a middle point for the sale of silks and spices and that into Europe. They wanted to capture that middle area and gain trade, increase their profits. This was really the, you know, some scholars have identified, it's been the real motivating forces behind the so-called Crusades.

Well, alhamdulillah, they didn't succeed. You know, eventually Allah raised up Salahuddin and he drove them out, re-established Islamic rule in that area. And those who lived under Muslim rule lived under there, you know, with proper care, they were taken care of.

Islamic Tolerance Throughout History

In Spain, when Jews were being driven out of Europe, everywhere out of Europe, they ended up in Spain under Muslim rule. Some of their greatest writers, philosophers, thinkers, Maimonides, et cetera, you know, amongst them. They were there in Spain, in Muslim Spain. They, the Jews living there, they learned Arabic, et cetera.

You had Jews of Yemen, you had Jews of Morocco, Algeria, et cetera.

We had Jews who were in fact Arab Jews, they spoke Arabic, this was their language. But they were Jews, nonetheless. And similarly, you've had Christians, as we said, living amongst Muslims, large communities there in Egypt. And of course, there is some kind of friction which would develop, especially in these times, but Muslims have been very tolerant. They've kept within their borders huge communities of both Christians and Jews, as well as even in areas in India where they ruled over, you know, pagans. Yet, they did not force their religion on the people.

So, the issue of Islam being spread by the sword is definitely false.

The Definition of Terrorism

Now, the other issue of terrorism, the issue of terrorism which has been defined by the American government as:

"The threat, or the use of violence to advance a political cause by individuals or groups, whether acting for or in opposition to established governmental authority, when such actions are intended to shock, stun, or intimidate a target group wider than the immediate victims."

Now, this very precise definition, if we try to apply it in history, we find that it also applies to all of these wars of liberation. From the American War of Independence to the French Revolution, we can apply this here. So, what we find is that where the society, you know, has designated this as honorable, it's not called terrorism. Where they've designated it as dishonorable, or it's against the interest of certain societies, then it is called terrorism.

The True Element of Terrorism: Killing Innocents

However, if we take one element, that of the killing of innocents, you know, the bombing or the violence directed at innocent civilians, et cetera, this element is really the true element of terrorism. And this Islam is opposed to. It's opposed to it completely. It doesn't permit the killing of civilians.

And if you look at the formation of the State of Israel, you find that it was Jewish terrorist groups, like the famous Stern Gang, et cetera, which introduced this foundation for Israeli rule, Jewish rule, of what they call Israel, which was originally Palestine. They got in there, they bombed, they blew up, they chased out, they murdered, et cetera, until Muslims cleared out of the area, and they came in, brought their people in, and they expanded on that basis.

But they are now considered to be, you know, the good guys, and all of those were fighting to restore order, to bring things back to the way they were. These are now looked at as being the terrorists, the bad guys.

The Double Standard: Muslim Terrorists vs. Others

Well, the so-called Muslim terrorists, which is the common phrase we said, found in the media, is really, you know, a deliberate attempt to distort the image of Islam. Because when you look at the IRA bombers, you know, who used to put bombs in cafes and blow up places and people and all these kind of things, they were never referred to as Catholic terrorists, though it was a struggle of Catholics against the Protestants. You know, they didn't call them Catholic terrorists.

You know, similarly, when Timothy McVeigh, back in 1995, he blew up the CIA headquarters in Oklahoma City, they didn't call him a Christian terrorist. 168 people were killed. Though he was Christian and he was a terrorist, they didn't call him a Christian terrorist. You know, though he belonged to certain fundamentalist groups, et cetera, they didn't label him in that way. You know, they just labeled him as a terrorist. Right?

But as soon as somebody with a Muslim name is involved in any of these kind of acts, then it is a Muslim terrorist. In fact, what may be in Arabic names, not necessarily Muslim names, may be used to refer to both Christians as well as atheists, as in the PLO, for example, you had a mixture of these. You know, but everybody was now labeled as Muslim, Muslim terrorists.

Now, that, we said, basically, is a misnomer. It is wrong. There is a double standard here. We don't call people Christian terrorists, but we will call them Muslim terrorists. This is a deliberate attempt to distort the image of Muslims on a world scale.

Acknowledging Muslim Groups Involved in Terrorism

We should also consider, at the same time, that to some degree, you do have some Muslim groups, like in Egypt, you had the Jama'at al-Islamiyah and the Jama'at al-Jihad, et cetera, who were involved in some major terrorist acts. You know, people, innocent civilians, people on buses, like in Luxor, you know, tourists, et cetera, were massacred by these groups, you know, in their attempt to try to topple the government. This, in fact, much of the activities that they've been involved in, we could really say these are terroristic activities.

They lend support to this misnomer placed on the Muslim world. Unfortunately, some of the blame, we have to say, falls on ourselves, because there are people involved in such acts, and they carry Muslim names. Some of them even espouse Islam and do it in the name of Islam.

You know, similarly you find in Southern Philippines today, you know, the so-called Abu Sayyaf group and their activities, they're very terroristic, kidnapping, chopping off people's heads and things like this, for ransom, you know, just gathering money for themselves. And the people involved in this are children. When you look at their names, their ages, you know that they're children.

And, in fact, they're misguided here. This is not, all the major groups, the MILF, et cetera, have all denounced them. They don't support their tactics at all. These are illegitimate tactics. This is not the Islamic way.

So, we have to admit that to some degree, Muslims have contributed to this false impression that is promoted worldwide with regards to Islam.

The Case of Algeria

Even places like Algeria, where, you know, there's some atrocities going on. This has been attributed to the Islamic movement, but actually when you go and you research into this situation, you find that it's not really them. There are other elements there that are involved in it.

Some people identify that these elements are linked back with the government, you know, and their activities are used to discredit the Islamic movement, which they have succeeded to a large degree. However, in general, the Islamic movement is still supported by the masses of the people.

Islamic Position on Indiscriminate Violence

And, as we said in the end, the indiscriminate use of violence to promote any kind of political ends, Islam does not support at all. We find in the 32nd chapter, verse 5, Allah is saying:

"Anyone who has killed another except in retaliation, it is as if he has killed the whole of humankind."

So, Islam is a huge rebuke of this kind of violence there.

Rules of Combat in Islam

We can also say that there are strict rules with regards to conflicts. Islam has strict rules. What can a Muslim soldier kill? He cannot just kill any kind of living being that he finds in the area. He's only allowed to direct his harm to the people who are involved in fighting. People have taken up arms. They're wearing military equipment. They're involved in killing Muslims. To fight against them, to protect the lives of Muslims, is perfectly legitimate.

The Issue of Suicide Bombers

Now, there's a question which arises along with this. That of suicide bombers. You know, people who strap huge amounts of TNT or whatever, you know, explosives around their bodies. They go amongst the midst of the enemy and then they set these things off, killing huge numbers. Now, the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, you know, they have been using this method for a number of years.

This stricken, grave fear in the minds and the hearts of the people. Is this method acceptable? Well, for the Tamil Tigers, you'll find that they will go and blow up the president. They'll blow up all kinds of people around them and everything like this. I mean, this is indiscriminate use of violence.

In the case of the struggles in, for example, Palestine, you know, and currently now in Chechnya, some of these tactics have been used. The scholars have pointed out that though suicide in general in Islam is forbidden, to kill oneself, to take something known that you're going to die, you know, from this thing, this is in fact forbidden in Islam.

This is one of the basis of forbidding smoking of cigarettes because it can cause cancer causing death. So, it's prohibited on that basis. Now, the concept of a suicide bomber is different.

The Difference Between Suicide and Martyrdom Operations

A person who kills himself in normal life, he's killing himself because he can't stand to live anymore. He feels God is unfair to him or whatever. You know, life has lost its meaning. He just wants to die, get out of this, right? That's his intention.

When you look at the mind of the suicide bomber, it's a different intention altogether. His situation is that he's not able to get at the troops of the enemy. They're either too heavily armed. They don't have the type of equipment that can deal with it. So, the only other option they have is to try to get some people amongst them and then explode the charges that they have to try to destroy the equipment and to save the lives of their comrades.

So, this is not really considered to be suicide in the true sense. This is a military action and human lives are sacrificed in that military action. This is really the bottom line for it. And that's how we should look at it.

Conclusion: Islam Opposes Terrorism

Islam is opposed to terrorism in all forms. While it's true terrorism, but it will not shrink from using violence to gain some of its ends, you know, to establish itself in certain areas, to gain control over certain things. It could use a certain amount of violence. But to force somebody to become a Muslim, this is something inconceivable, unacceptable Islamically.

Well, with that, dear viewers, we'd like to thank you for being with us in this segment. Which we call Islam and terrorism, the issues of killing innocents. This is what we dealt with in specific, because the general definitions of, used by certain departments and governments, etc., which is the threat or the use of violence to advance political causes by individuals. That's not sufficient to define terrorism, because it includes the American Revolution and the French Revolution.

So when we talk about terrorism, we're talking about indiscriminate use of violence. People are not selectively killed because they represent the military opposition, but they are killed to create fear and doubts in the hearts of the people.

Closing

So with that, dear viewers, I'd like to thank you for being with us and hope that you'll continue to follow our program, the remaining episodes. And we thank you again for your support, whatever letters you've written in with your suggestions. We've tried to include basically everything that was available. So I now bid you farewell.