[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”3022″ alignment=”center”][nd_options_text nd_options_text_tag=”h1″ nd_options_text_align=”center” nd_options_text=”REFLECTION FROM A SUMMER STUDENT @ CRRIC ON RADICALISM AND TERRORISM”][vc_separator css=”.vc_custom_1592076377183{padding-top: 15px !important;}”][vc_column_text]
RADICALISM MOST OF THE TIME LEADS TO TERRORISM
Adam, the older Jonas and Eve, the older Martha promised everyone in their respective worlds of a peaceful paradise that even they believed to be so untrue. Giving false hope to their followers they preyed on many innocent lives so that none dares to find the origin that will rather deny the existence of both Adam and Eve as they are both result of an incident, related to a time dilution. Yes, I was in fact talking about “DARK”, the famous Netflix original German TV Series that became very popular in the recent times after they unravelled the origin of the twisted plot in their third season. The pioneers of Terrorism are no different giving people false hopes to attain martyrdom or whatsoever is nowhere near that noble virtue rather a criminal offence for their own interest, creating unrest and havoc in the societies.
When the word “Jihad” is heard, a feeling of terror cover our mind. What is this terrifying word “Jihad”? The word Jihad has a very different meaning. The Arabic term jihad literally means a “struggle” or “striving.” This term appears in the Quran in different contexts and can include various forms of nonviolent struggles: for instance, the struggle to become a better person. This falls under the category of “jihad of the self,” an important subject in Islamic devotional works. (https://theconversation.com/so-what-really-is-jihad-118660). In today if anyone utters the world it would be interpreted as the Muslim guy is going to wage a war against the infidels, that includes me too, gotta save my life. Terrorist attacks! Run for your lives!
Terrorism has more than 200 definitions. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI defines terrorism in two different ways after classifying them as International and Domestic terrorism. They are as follows:
International terrorism: Violent, criminal acts committed by individuals and/or groups who are inspired by, or associated with, designated foreign terrorist organizations or nations (state-sponsored). (Source: https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/terrorism)
Domestic terrorism: Violent, criminal acts committed by individuals and/or groups to further ideological goals stemming from domestic influences, such as those of a political, religious, social, racial, or environmental nature. (Source: https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/terrorism)
If we had to go and look for the origin, this might just not be something the others would find in common. I lived in Bangladesh where the societies are mostly conservative and the more you go towards the country regions people are found to be even more conservative and would go to any extent to maintain the tradition. There is usually no liberty in thoughts and ideologies. Everyone is forced to follow the same philosophy that has been a part of their legacy. But the scenario is turning quite the opposite in the capital city by the passage of time. The transition is quite praiseworthy I must say. India and Pakistan got their Independence based on “The two-nation theory” in 1947. The Muslims got their desired land of Pakistan which means the land of the divine. The land could have been holy unless and until the authority plotted something unholy. People from West Pakistan were more conservative and were more radicalized where the people from East Pakistan were much culturally enriched and had quite a lot of similarity with the Indian Culture. West Pakistanis wanted to focus mostly on the religious point of view so the central government, run by the mostly the West Pakistanis, wanted to get rid of the Bengali culture which they considered to be “A Hindu culture” and like I said the Bengalis would do anything to save their culture and heritage.
Things got dirtier and riots after riots eventually turned into a liberation war. There were people from East Pakistan who did not want the partition of Pakistan who were mostly the pioneer of Radicalism in today’s Bangladesh. They betrayed with their country of birth. Helped the non-bengalis to torture and kill their own Bengali brothers. These traitors introduced themselves as the Rajakars/Al-Badr/Al-Shams. After the liberation war they remained fugitive. Bangabandhu wanted to work hand in hand with all the people irrespective of race and religion and was on his way to form a secular state but the rebuilding remained incomplete as the father of the nation was assassinated. The radical jihadists eventually returned after the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman during the tenure of President Ziaur Rahman. President Ziaur Rahman was a religious man who wanted to convert the secular state into an Islamic Republic. Failure to do so he made Islam the state religion. Doing so he made himself a popular figure within the fundamentalists and the middle east countries. Let us leave these facts and return to the Bangladesh today and see how terrorism has taken its shape today.
Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen or JMB is an active militant group or shall I say Islamic terrorist organization in Bangladesh. They are the same group of people lead by those fugitive Rajakar/Al-Badr/Al-Shams who believed in a country radicalized by terrorism. It is also listed as a terrorist group in the U.K. There are many such other terrorist groups that target mainly teenagers usually the vulnerable teens. Teens who usually goes through a hard time are usually their prime targets. At the time of need, these terrorist aids these depressed teens a hand of false sympathy. The radical jihadists make good ties with them and prepare them for suicide mission. They young men who should have been very energetic, get influenced when the radical jihadists usually say, “What you’re doing is for path of your divine religion. They are all Kafirs (meaning non-believers) they are going to lead you to hell. Fight your own battle against them. All your life you’ve been committing sins. This is your golden ticket to Paradise. Claim yours right now by attaining martyrdom.” In a country where superstition is the custom and children grow up listening to such superstitious cock and bull stories, those words are good enough to allure them to do commit such heinous acts. I even talked to a guy who got a brainwash. He used to live in a region were one of those famous Rajakar, who was the leader of an Islamic political party. One of the preachers from the Mosque tried to give him a brainwash. He failed in an exam and was told that the infidels made him fail on purpose since he was a believer. But later, when he came to his senses he got to know about their motives and was able to refrain himself from their horrific atrocities.
These terrorists are like sociopaths. They commit crime but are not aware of the consequences. Their motives are usually agitated by a political or religious issue. The crimes are non-profitable. People are so corrupted these days that they need a religion to hide behind.
I have seen how terrorism spreads in my country so can say it is rather a disease. But even under such well equipped security, Dhaka faced terrorist attacks where some radical jihadists burned any innocent people who came out to earn their living on their strikes due to the execution of their leader for committing war crimes. On July 1st to July 2nd, 2016, Dhaka faced the worst terrorist attack on the country’s history. Holey Artisan Bakery would be a great place to chill out with your friends, located at a very diplomatic region in the capital city. It was beyond anyone’s expectation that everything would get messed up over a night. 22 civilians, 02 police officers were killed and 50 civilians injured. The attackers then went upstairs and walked in front of the door, shouting “Bengali people, come out,” “If you’re Muslims, come out.” The Daily Kaler Kantho reported that the militant group Ansar al-Islam announced the upcoming attack via a tweet almost 10 hours before the actual attack took place. Out of the total 24 who were killed that night 17 were foreigners. 9 Italians including a pregnant woman, 7 Japanese and 1 Indian were killed. The 5 terrorists who died during the rescue operation were not all from conservative societies. Most of them came from posh backgrounds and it was truly unimaginable that such cheerful boys who grew up in environment where dogmatism does not have any access. If I say that these terrorists chose to hypnotise these boys to turn them into fearsome beasts, I might sound crazy. Delusional soft words, carefully chosen by these brainwashers were enough to distant themselves from their family. At a point, when these terrorists were distraught that led them commit such acts, their parents were brought to put an influence to change their mind, but they denied. They stuck to their suicide mission. Consequently, today for their folly, their parents, their families who had no affiliations, the only affiliation is their blood connection with these terrorists are hated in the society.
Al-Qaeda, ISIS or simply the IS, Al-Nusra, Taliban, Boko Haram, Hizbullah, are the most terrifying terrorist organizations in the recent times. Their atrocities have given birth to Islamophobia. It is far too easy for analysts who are not Muslim to focus on the small part of the extremist threat that Muslim extremists pose to non-Muslims in the West and/or demonize one of the world’s great religions, and to drift into some form of Islamophobia. A total of 83% of the attacks and 90% of the deaths occurred in solidly Islamic countries. The terror Al-Qaeda displayed in the past few years and event those took place 9/11. A vast majority of the suicide and vehicle attacks were carried out by these Muslim extremists mostly in countries where the majority are Muslims. Today what the IS has done is something beyond humane activities. Usually these terrorists seek for media attention. They uploaded a video on their website showing the beheading of 21 non-Muslim Egyptians on a seashore. In the video before they started slitting the throat of their hostages, their spokesman fluently spoke in English,” This is a message we wanted to share with entire world.” The way he sends this message leaves a question mark, were they really Muslims? Could be a conspiracy to frame the innocents. All these are results of the Muslim societies taking away their freedom of speech and thought. Most of the Muslim societies enforce the children to think like them where the literacy rate is very low. If they think differently the society pressurizes them mentally. They never got to justify whether their guardians were right or wrong. If they do not listen to their guardians, they society abandons them. If they listened to everything their elders said which includes superstitions and some might fall prey to the misinterpretation of religion and become an extremist in either way. The religion of Islam is very easy to follow but some of our modern preachers make things complicated.
There was a fake allegation lurking in the Western part of the world, later imported to the eastern, “ALL MUSLIMS ARE NOT TERRORISTS, BUT ALL TERRORISTS ARE MUSLIMS.” If we look at some of the data, we might just deny what we have heard so far. The whole saying might become void. The then chancellor and the Nazi party leader Adolf Hitler incinerated 6 million Jews. Joseph Stalin (Uncle Joe) killed 20 million people including 14.5 million who were starved to death. Mao Tse Tsung of China killed 14 to 20 millions. Bento Mussolini of Italy killed 400,000 Human Beings. Maximilien Robespierre starved and tortured 200,000 to death and executed 40,000 during the French Revolution. Emperor Ashoka took the lives of more than a 100,000 in the battle of Kalinga. We all know that none of them were Muslims. If we glance at some of more historical statistical records, a bigger surprise awaits. In 1881, Tsar Alexander the second was assassinated in a bomb blast who was travelling in his bulletproof carriage. But could not survive the second blast conducted by Ignacy Hryniewiecki. In 1886, the bomb blast that took place in Haymarket Square, Chicago during a labour party rally, 8 anarchists were responsible who were not Muslims. On September 6, 1901, The U.S president William McKinley was assassinated by an anarchist named Leon Czolgosz.
On October 1910, a bomb blast that took place in Los Angeles Times Newspaper Building was carried out by two J’s, James and Joseph. On the 28th of June, 1914 Archduke of Austria and his wife were assassinated by the members of “Young Bosnia” who were mostly the Serbs and not from any of the Muslim community which precipitated the first World War. On the 16th of April, 1925 the bomb blast that committed in St. Nedelya Church in Sofia, Bulgaria was done by the Bulgarian Communist Party. On the 9th of October,1934 King Alexander the first was shot by a gunman named Vlada Georgieff. On May first, the first U.S. Aircraft that was hijacked was done by Ramierez Ortiz. On 30th of July 1969, the U.S Ambassador to Japan was assassinated by a Japanese non-muslim. The Oklahoma bombing was conducted by the two T’s, Timothy and Terry. On 22nd of July, 1946, Bombing of King David Hotel was carried out by Menachem Begin. Menachem Begin was on Britain’s no. most wanted terrorist who later on became the Prime Minister of Israel and was later on awarded Nobel prize for peace. In Germany from 1968 to 1992 Baader Meinhoff Gang took the lives of several innocent souls. The Red Brigades of Italy were the ones responsible for the kidnap and murder of Aldo Moro, the former prime minister of Italy. On 20th March, 1995 Aum Shinrikyo a Buddhist cult used nerve gas in the Tokyo Subway to hunt down innocent people. Some of us might have heard bout IRA, the Irish Republic Army who have been conducting terrorist attacks for hundreds of years. They are catholic terrorists who are also responsible for the three bomb blasts in 1972. Carried on their bombings in 1974 at the Guildford Pub and killed 5 and injured 44. In the same year they conducted the same at Birmingham Pub where they killed 21 and wounded 182. In 1996 IRA conducted a bombing in London where 2 were killed and more than a hundred were injured. On the same year they conducted another one in Manchester Shopping Center were 206 were inured. On 4th March, 2001, BBC was bombed. LTTE Tamil Tigers is the most notorious terrorist organization. In India Terrorist Organization belongs to almost more or less all religions. Some sick mentalities even dressed up in traditional Arabian attires to frame the innocent Muslims. The attack that took place in Christchurch, New Zealand was a deadly one. A man who wanted to avenge the killing of an innocent girl who was murdered by a terrorist, became the very terrorist he despised once. He came live on social media and started killing innocents whoever greeted him like we kill in a video game. They neither belonged to the Muslim community nor any civilised community. I apologize to all the readers for bringing a very long statistics and making this writeup a tedious one.
Terrorism has no state or religion. Religion is for the people, to make lives better. If we study some verses from the Holy Quran,” Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight against you, but do not transgress limits; for Allah loveth not transgressors.”
- Al-Baqara; 2:190
“Whoever kills an innocent human being, It shall be as if he has killed all mankind, and whosoever saves the life of one, it shall be as if he had saved the life of all mankind.”
-Al-Ma’idah; 5:32
If we do some researches on some of the scriptures from the Holy Bible it has been depicted, “It is forbidden to murder, as it says “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13, Deuteronomy 5:17).
A murderer must be put to death, as it says “He shall be avenged” (Exodus 21:20, see Leviticus 24:17,21)
The Fifth Commandment:
You shall not kill. (Ex 20:13)
You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, “You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment.” But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment (Mt 5:21–22)
The Holy Tanakh or the Hebrew bible says,” The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.” Genesis 4:10–11
“Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.”
— Genesis 9:6
The Holy Bhagavad Gita says,” BG 1.36-37: O Maintainer of all living entities, what pleasure will we derive from killing the sons of Dhritarasthra? Even though they may be aggressors, sin will certainly come upon us if we slay them. Hence, it does not behoove us to kill our own cousins, the sons of Dhritarashtra, and friends. O Madhav (Krishna), how can we hope to be happy by killing our own kinsmen?”
“All tremble at violence; all fear death. Putting oneself in the place of another, one should not kill nor cause another to kill.” The Buddha
“Dwell in peace in the home of your own being, and the Messenger of Death will not be able to touch you.”
― Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikh Religion.
Therefore, we can say that by committing such unforgivable crimes will not but save a confirmed spot in hell. One can never attain salvation by killing another. Prevention is better than cure they say, so it is high time we took measures so that we are not struck by such mental disorders. It is the crime we should hate not the criminal. Although we speak different tongues and follow different religions, our heart speaks off as one. If everyone truly followed their religion clarifying the misconceptions and misinterpretation we would have never gone astray. As a Muslim, I firmly believe that we are the best of all creations God has ever made that leaves us a great responsibility of the rest. Children should be brought up with care and affection. They should be shown the path of light, the righteous way how to lead a meaningful life without controversies and violence. And to ignite the spark inside them, they follow the path of the light. I would say if you are pious and want a beautiful life, want your child to be pious, do not force your religion on them, just show them the beauty of your religion.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
