This is one of Albert Einstein’s famous quotes with which I totally agree; as I found it still valid for describing the current situation of humanity despite the fact that it was said since more than fifty years ago.
During the last decade, the western media used its propaganda arm to single out Islaam as the future enemy of the western culture. The varied audience, however, did not attempt to pause for some time and to reflect on the truth behind this propaganda.
Since the September 11th attacks, a stereotypical image of Muslims in the western media became very simple: as long as you, the man, are breaded or as long as you, the woman, are veiled, then you are simply a terrorist, no matter what!
In this article I am just trying to speak up, in a loud voice, so excuse me if anyone hears this loud voice while reading.
Sometime you can not find anything better than shouting loud so the people can hear your voice, especially today in the midst of the noise of globalisation which I think has already exceeded 220 decibel.
First of all, terrorism is definitely something not acceptable from any normal person worldwide. From my own point of view, I consider terrorists – whomever they are and wherever they live – to be people with dark and black souls without the light of faith or, put better, without the Light of Allaah.
Terrorism has no religion or race; it is all about the ugly face of some sick and miserable human creatures, no matter who they are.
I never defend Islaam; simply because Islaam is much greater than any words to defend, and obviously Islaam – as a system – does not require any kind of defence.
Islaam – as the last message from Allaah to mankind via the last prophet Mu’hammad – came to make life better for mankind via the mission of urbanising the Earth.
So, What Is the Problem?
I believe that the problem has two faces which can’t be ignored:
1. First is how Muslims themselves apply Islaam. I elaborated this point in an earlier article that appeared in I-MAG’s third issue under the title “Islaam: Between Ideology and Application.”
2. And second is the way Westerns perceive Islaam.
Ok, I am not that kind of person who hides behind a global conspiracy theory against Muslims; even if I can not deny that it partially exists. However, I can reasonably not blame everything on such a conspiracy
Meanwhile I cannot ignore the other side of the coin; as I see very clearly that there is a significant misunderstanding of Islaam and hence its reduction into some wrong acts that are not related to real Islaamic values in addition to totally ignoring Muslims’ own culture and identity.
After September 11th, the problems with this perception started getting bigger and bigger without bothering to reserve some time to see where the real truth is. The actions that westerns wrongly attributed to Islaam and Muslims, reflecting the their deep misunderstanding of Islaam, and their actions vacated the playground to other players who successfully abused the misconceptions westerns have against Islaam until the situation exploded in the faces of everyone.
Sub’haan Allaah! (Glorify Allaah) How can I reduce Islaam to random acts of terror and totally ignore the real concept of Islaam?!
Where was the West when Egypt – for example – was facing real terrorism during the past decade while other people were simply watching?! Why is it that random acts of terror are highlighted while other benevolent acts from Muslims – worldwide – that reflect the real image of Islaam are totally ignored?!
That is simply unfair!
I really believe that the package of unjust actions from the westerns against Muslims – which started long time ago and increased after September 11th – offered terrorists – whomever they are – a golden opportunity to hide behind the curtains of ignorance and pin everything bad on Islaam.
Such unjust actions include ignoring Muslims’ culture and identity, not trying to understand real Islaam, forcing changes among them and finally wrong definition or, put better, the confusion between the unlawful act of “terrorism” and the lawful act of “resistance “.
This package leads to the wrong stereotypical image that we all see today; as any bearded person involved in a terrorist attack worldwide would immediately be pronounced Muslim even if it is discovered later that it was something carried out by E.T.A .or I.R.A., for example.
I am not generalising because I do not like this type of discourse. It is very, very, very easy to generalise and pass a judgement that all westerns are bad people because of the pornography for example. Generalising is very easy because it draws people away from bothering themselves looking for the truth.
I did not deny that Muslims have their own problems, however those problems cannot simply be solved by applying external pressure by other people who do not even know about our culture and identity, and who simply imagine that force will make people change to the better
No way! The contrast will happen simply because each part of the world has its own culture and its own local identity, which include various contexts that can only be understood and updated by the people of the community, i.e., by themselves.
I definitely know that utopia is not found on earth; I, however, really believe that there are always meeting points for different cultures simply because we all descended from one unique progenitor, whose Creator is Allaah, so definitely we have common parts in between.
Since the dawn of history, cultures flourished on earth in a process of succession. We had the old Egyptian, Persian, Greek, Roman, and Arab/Islamic. Today we have the western culture. In the future we will have another one because this the way of life: succession not collision.
People are called upon to communicate and interact with each other in a better way than what I see today in order to find better solutions for the real problems that humanity faces, such as poverty, child abuse, women abuse, sexual abuse, drugs, global warming, terrorism, which are but a sample of what we are facing.
Just a Thought:
Imagine that one day we would be visited by guests from beyond the space frontiers, and they take a guided tour through different parts of this planet and they see the situation of humans who are supposed to live on this planet. They will, most certainly, be utterly surprised by all those contradictions and conflicts currently found on planet earth.
Final Words:
Islaam is a great system which was - and still is - capable of dealing with people no matter what.
Muslims make up a global community of various and rich cultures which represents now 25% of the earth population. And as Muslims seek to understand Westerns better, I think Westerns too must try their best to understand Islaam and Muslims before dealing with them in a manner that really reflects total misunderstanding of Islaam.
Look at this example: Assume that I am going to visit India, so obviously I’ll look for an Indian person/source to learn more about India; I will not ask a Mexican for example.
People can learn more about Islaam via:
• Reading the Holy ’Qura~n in addition to thousands of fair books that talk about Islaam. I wonder why do people read about anti-Islaam and do not read about Islaam itself! Sub’haan Allaah again.
• Visiting Internet sites that offer real information about Islaam and not stopping at the anti-Islaam ones Again I wonder why do people visit anti-Islaamic sites and do not visit sites which talk about Islaam itself! Sub’haan Allaah for the third time.
• Visiting various Islaamic centres that are found worldwide.
• Interacting with Muslims to learn more about Islaam.
Anyway, mass media in order for it to be fair – everywhere – are required to introduce things the way they really are, positives and negatives, for any and every people and race.
Quotes:
• “To build may have to be the slow and laborious task of years. To destroy can be the thoughtless act of a single day.”
• “The power of man has grown in every sphere, except over himself.”
• “A fanatic is one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject.”
Sir Winston Churchill
• “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
Martin Luther King Jr.