Islam Denounces Terrorism

Islam Condemns All Acts of Terror and Violence, and So It Does With The Boston Attack

The horrible terrorist attack on the Boston Marathon in the USA in 2013 was condemned by all true Muslims, just like 9/11 and other terrorist attacks were.

This terrorist act, in which three people lost their lives and hundreds were injured, was a savage act of misguided foolishness designed to set the Western and Islamic worlds against one another. Such ruthless acts have been used many times in different countries to try and give the West the impression that Islam is a faith that regards violence and terror as legitimate. Those acts have been successful in no small measure. As a matter of fact, in the wake of the Boston attack statements were made by some media organizations in the USA encouraging violence against Muslims and their isolation from society. There have always been such provocations and they will continue to happen. However, Muslims have a very important duty amidst this setting: not limiting themselves to condemning terrorist attacks and talking about the real Islamic morality to the entirety of humanity.

Whoever claims to be a Muslim and says that the faith advocates acts of terror or violence is either an agent provocateur claiming to be a Muslim, or someone who is wholly ignorant of the faith. Someone who says such things out of ignorance will mend his ways if told what the Qur'an truly says. People can only be properly informed about Islam if no credence is attached to provocation. If everyone knows that Islam views violence and hatred as unacceptable there will be no more issues for provocateurs or extremists to rage about.

In the moral teaching of the Qur'an, to kill an innocent person is an act of immense cruelty. God forbids terrorist acts and condemns those who commit them.

There are people trying to incite hostility toward Islam in the Christian and Jewish world, and there are also people trying to incite hostility toward Christianity and Judaism in the Islamic world. These people are bigoted fanatics who issue provocative statements based not on the Qur'an, but on hadiths they fabricate themselves. This is a very serious and a very real problem in the Islamic world, and we cannot simply dismiss it. All true Muslims are deeply uneasy at such people being regarded as members of the Islamic world and representatives of the faith because these people have nothing to do with the values espoused by Islam. They have deprived themselves of fine feelings such as love, affection and compassion. They are filled with hatred and rage, not only for members of other faiths, but also for most Muslims from different sects. They may hate someone they have never met solely because he belongs to a different group. This is a perverse and unacceptable perspective for Muslims.

Causing members of different faiths and/or ethnicities to fall out and inciting conflict among them has been a technique successfully employed by those wishing to spread war throughout the course of history. Yet this world is wide and fertile enough for everyone to live in happiness and peace and well-being. There is no real reason for conflict or resorting to violence. All the supposed reasons for war and conflict are hollow ruses.

It is much, much easier to live in peace and love than in conflict and war. For example, it is unacceptable for either Palestinians or Israelis to have to live behind walls in fear of bombs, rockets and other weapons. This plight of these two peoples, one descended from the Prophet Ishmael and the other from the Prophet Jacob (peace be upon them both), is a disgrace on all mankind.

Our hope is that people with radical views will ultimately fade away within the moderate, loving and respectful views held by rational people – historically, radical movements inevitably burn out or destroy themselves – but for that to happen it is absolutely essential for sensible people in the Islamic, Christian and Judaic worlds to act as one in a spirit of solidarity. An alliance of good people is essential. This alliance must be brought about, not solely between Muslims, but also with the People of the Book. Otherwise, neither terror nor acts of violence can ever be entirely overcome.

Footnotes

14. Gesta Francorum, (The Deeds of the Franks and the Other Pilgrims to Jerusalem), trans. Rosalind Hill, (London: 1962), p. 91.

15. August C. Krey, The First Crusade: The Accounts of Eye-Witnesses and Participants (Princeton & London: 1921), p. 261

16. August C. Krey, The First Crusade: The Accounts of Eye-Witnesses and Participants (Princeton & London: 1921), p. 262

17. Alan Ereira, David Wallace, Crusades: Terry Jones Tells the Dramatic Story of Battle for Holy Land, BBC World Wide Ltd., 1995

18. The Alarm Newspaper Article, "Bakunin's Ground-Work for the Social Revolution," 1885 Dec. 26, p. 8