They thrive on militancy and violence. They seek to strike terror and they kill and maim, yet they claim to serve the cause of Islam. These misguided people are found everywhere and unfortunately their number continues to swell — thanks primarily to poverty, injustice and the West’s double standard.
More youngsters are lured into this dicey business of terrorism with promises of perks and paradise. Some of these young people who may have little or no knowledge of religion or who may never have prayed regularly say they aspire for “martyrdom” — the most lofty ambition a Muslim can have.
They are brainwashed by people who have vested interests; they are driven by misguided teachings. Violence and militancy are alien to Islam, the religion of peace, that teaches its followers tolerance and amity. But extremists, though few in number, seem to hold sway over the moderate majority. That is the dangerous phenomenon taking hold these days.
On April 19, a group of radicals broke into a news conference held by moderate Muslim groups in London in connection with the May 5 British polls. Around 20 protesters, many wearing scarves to hide their faces, ripped a locked door off its hinges at one of London’s main mosques and burst into the event organized by Britain’s main Islamic lobby group, the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB).
They pushed their way to the front of the room, stood on chairs and shouted slogans against the MCB, Jews, Christians, apostates and the entire British political system.
The protest laid bare tensions within Britain’s 1.6 million-strong Muslim community.
After about 20 minutes of commotion, the protesters — young and wearing traditional Muslim dress including caps and flowing robes — left of their own accord.
In leaflets handed to reporters, they identified themselves as belonging to a group called “The Savior Sect.” Muslims in Britain have condemned the protest.
Fiyaz Mughal, chairman of the opposition Liberal Democrats’ group for ethnic minorities, said the protest “in no way represents the history of Islam” and cited Bosnia and Moorish Spain as examples of “societies where Muslims and non-Muslims had lived in peace.”
A handful of extremists are trying to bully moderates. The hard-liners are now taking to new methods to draw people to their fold — they are now resorting to violence and intimidation. If we seek to see what extremist groups are doing elsewhere, Iraq is the first country that comes to mind.
A number of extremist groups sprang up in Iraq following the invasion and occupation by the US. While nobody denies an occupied people’s right to resistance, some groups, claiming to serve the cause of Islam and Iraqis, are indulging in acts that no sane and humane person can condone. They abduct people, seek ransom and kill them if their demands are not met. Many of their hostages have been poor Muslims from countries like Bangladesh and Pakistan — countries that had opposed the US war against Iraq.
Some of their victims were laborers and drivers — people who leave behind their loved ones back home in search of a better livelihood. They have nothing to do with politics.
Two Pakistani Kashmiris were among many hapless people brutally murdered by such extremist groups. What was the crime of these people? Nobody knows.
Shame on such people who claim to be Muslims but perpetrate acts that no religion can ever condone, let alone Islam, the religion of peace that enjoins its followers to forgive others.
Extremist groups are active in other Muslim countries too. Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf, who sided with the US in the war on terror, has survived several assassination attempts by extremist groups. What Musharraf did was the right thing to do. It served his country’s interests. The extremists did not like this because it reined them in. Pakistan, where the extremists played politics by instigating sectarian violence, where they recruited young people to fight other Muslims telling this is jihad and where they held sway in every domain, suddenly found themselves in the soup after Musharraf backed the US war on terror.
Subsequent crackdowns by the Pakistani government antagonized them still further. Many extremist groups were dismantled but many have sprung up because they are backed by people who seek to perpetuate their reign of terror.
Terrorism, in every form and manifestation, should be condemned not by words but by action and extremists should not be allowed to distort the true image of Islam. It is incumbent on every Muslim to play his role because it is nothing less than a religious duty to thwart those trying to distort religious values.
