Are Muslims victims or promoters of terrorism?

All the religions of the world have had some kind of dark episode in its history. Interestingly, these dark episodes included elements that could look like or resemble terrorist acts. Christianity – one of the most Abrahamic denominations and the largest religious group in the world – has been badociated with acts of terrorism in the past and continues today. It is not surprising that atheists regard all religions as bad and violent.

During the dark ages and its immediate consequences, some followers of Christianity used the name of religion to perpetuate violence against humanity. We can mention the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, anti-Jewish programs, among others.

The predominantly Christian "anti-balaka" groups in the Central African Republic have destroyed almost all the mosques in their country during years of unrest in the country.

In Uganda, the Lord's Resistance Army was a violent quasi-religious movement mixing aspects of Christianity with its own spiritualism and distinguished by its guerrilla operations in that country.

In the modern era, some Christian groups, like the Ku Klux Klan, are committing countless arson and bomb attacks against abortion clinics in the United States of America.

Recently, Brenton Harrison Tarrant, accused of the March 2019 attack in New Zealand, where more than 50 innocent people have lost their lives, seems to regard his murderous and violent act as a noble Christian cause, after citing the Pope Urban II's appeal to the crusade: lives are stronger than death to fight the enemies of the Christian people "in his manifesto.

Despite all these examples of terrorism in the name of Christianity and many other religions, I have not taken the time to list it. Today, when you hear the word "terrorists", what are you thinking of?

Long beards, Muslims wearing turban shouting "Allahu Akbar" and explosive bombs to kill non-Muslims?

Why did the word "terrorism" become the slogan of Islam, while 94% of terrorist attacks in the United States from 1980 to 2005 were perpetrated by non-Muslims, while less 2% of the more than a thousand terrorist attacks perpetrated in the United States? Was Europe at the same time religiously inspired?

The irony in this complex debacle is that Muslims have suffered many losses among terrorists, more than any other group in the world.

According to data from the global database on terrorism – perhaps the most respected data collection on terrorist attacks in the world – Muslims are the most likely victims of terrorist attacks.

Anthony Cordesmon of the Center for Strategic and International Studies also states that: "Almost all the human impact of extremist attacks is that Muslims kill or injure Muslims."

And he is absolutely right. In Somalia, where 98.9% of the population is Muslim, terrorists committed more than 359 attacks in 2016 alone.

This begs the question: What are the motives of terrorists who kill innocent people in the name of religion?

Muslim terrorists, if I call them that, are terrorists in the name of Islam, allegedly to advance the cause of Islam, but their victims are mostly Muslims. How to come?

At this point, let's look at some studies that have been done on the underlying motivation of the perpetrators of terrorist attacks.

Gallup conducted the largest survey among Muslims after September 11 – in 35 Muslim-majority countries. The result showed that 93% of Muslims do not support the extremist views of terrorism.

After badessing 4,600 terrorist incidents, Professor Robert Pape, a political scientist at the University of Chicago and founder of the Chicago Security and Terrorism Project, also concluded: "Since 1995, 95% of all suicide bombings have in common, is not a religion, but a specific strategic motivation to respond to military intervention, often specifically a military occupation, a territory that terrorists consider their homeland or their price. "

His opinions seem to reflect what is happening in today's world. The world has witnessed a series of wars led by Western interventionists in many Muslim-majority countries such as Kosovo, Libya, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen , Bosnia, Palestine, etc., who ultimately act as a recruiting sergeant for terrorists and radicalization.

Given the growing destabilization of many Muslim-majority countries, it is natural that we are witnessing isolated attempts by people affected by these wars to react violently. However, it will be difficult to describe such attacks by jihad sanctioned by Islam.

For example, an independent badysis of people who have perpetrated lethal Muslim attacks has revealed that most of them are not true followers of Islam.

According to a clbadified information note on radicalization prepared by the behavioral science unit of MI5 – the UK's national counter-espionage and security agency – "Far from being fanatics of religions, Many people involved in terrorism do not practice their faith regularly. Many lack religious literacy and might in fact be considered religious novices, "adding that a" well-established religious identity actually protects against violent radicalization. "

These revelations may seem strange and contradictory to the popular belief of mainstream media, but these revelations are the product of carefully conducted studies. Here is the badysis of some authors of extremist attacks lately. Take your notepad, write your own notes and determine whether they register or not in the context of Islam that expects from its adherents that they adhere strictly to certain moral principles:

• Salman Abedi, the Manchester terrorist, was a party animal lover of Red Bull vodka and weeds.
• Mohamed Bouhlel, the Nice striker, had a history of minor crimes, "did not pray and loved girls and salsa"
• Omar Mateen, the shooter from Orlando, and Salah Abdessalam, the head of the Paris ring, also consumed alcohol in public and regularly, and both were regulars at gay bars.
• Mateen had profiles on several gay dating apps while Abdessalam was known as a gay "rentboy"
• Michael Zihaf-Bibeau, the gunman who shot a soldier in the Canadian capital, was a small drug addict who, like Abdessalam, had served a prison sentence.

These revelations are not intended to whitewash Islam, but to give the impression that most of these authors are not "real" Muslims and that Islam is not related to their violence. It is also at home that perhaps, it is time for us to stop heating Islamophobic feelings and unraveling the religion of terrorism.

What Islam teaches about religious tolerance

Contrary to popular belief, there is in Islam a considerable body of knowledge about how Muslims should live with people of different religions and beliefs, especially among members of the Abrahamic religions – from the Koran and the example of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).

For example, the Qur'an reveres Jesus as a great prophet and praises Christians as part of the "People of the Book". It is in this perspective that Muslims often call their sons as Jesus, whom they call Isa. The Qur'an teaches that Jesus performed miracles, was born of a virgin and that he will return as Messiah. However, Muslims do not believe in Jesus as sons of God nor believe that He died on the cross for the sins of mankind.

The Prophet Muhammad offered Christians protection from persecution as part of his "constitution of Medina" and his "covenant" with the monks of Mount Sinai.

More recently, the Marrakech Declaration, signed by more than 250 Muslim religious leaders, scholars and heads of state in 2016, states that it is "unacceptable that religion be used to violate the rights" of Christians, Jews and other minority communities. in countries with a Muslim majority.

In short, it is true that Islam – just like Christianity – is not a monolithic faith. There are many sects of Islam, some with a slightly different doctrine, theology, schools of thought and laws, but overall, what unites all Muslims is more than the little things who divide them. The major unifying factor is that peace is the foundation of religion. It is not by chance that 5 of the 12 Nobel Peace Prize laureates (42%) were Muslims.

While we celebrate Eid ul-Ftr, I pray Allah to grant more peace to the world, to heal the sick and to bring relief to the many Muslims who are under the control of the State of Rakhine; Myanmar, as well as in concentration camps in China, among others.

Writer: Abdul-Karim Mohammed Awaf
Social commentator and content editor at Kudobuzz

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