Views on Terrorism - A Muslim Perspective

By Esam Al-Shareffi
Contributing Writer

As a news addict, I often turn on the TV or go on the net in order to hear the latest about the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and of the most recent skirmishes in the "War on Terror."

As a Muslim, I am appalled by what is being done by some, supposedly in the name of my religion. While I am no religious scholar, I do at least know the basic tenants of my faith and know beyond any doubt that the actions of some - those the President labeled recently as "Islamo-fascists" are truly not Muslim at all.

What does the typical terrorist on the news do? We hear of some that commit suicide (or homicide) bombings, in which they take their own life as well as that of numerous other civilians in their vicinity, often indiscriminately, in public areas such as markets and bus stops. Islam holds that those who take their own life have committed an incredibly grave sin, worthy of eternal Hellfire. Those who kill innocents as well as taking their own lives are thus doubly condemned.

But terrorism goes beyond that, it involves car bombs, attacks against civilians with rockets, mortars, and bullets, incitement of civil war, devastation of lives, and perhaps most importantly, the spreading of fear and "terror." All of these actions are abhorrent to Islam, as the religion strives to bring peace and harmony to its adherents and to the world. Those who use these tactics in order to promote their own ideologies or political objectives are not even Muslim in my eyes, for in every breath and in every action they not only bring sin and dishonor to themselves, but soil the name of my religion and if anything, they are achieving a widespread hatred of the faith. If they were truly such great believers, they would put the same effort with which they spread fear and hatred into actions that promote the lives of their coreligionists, bringing to them peace and prosperity, and helping promote the Islamic faith by virtue of their positive example. Sadly, they are merely murderers and thieves, who deserve nothing but contempt from everyone in the world.

Finally, you may ask then why are so many (almost all) terrorists "Muslim" and why do they state that their terrorist ideology comes from Islam? The obvious reply is that these people are neither Muslim nor do they care about the name and virtue of Islam, but they are instead political operatives, with their own vested interests to which they fool numerous impressionable people to commit horrible acts. They use the language of religion and twist the words of the Koran in order to help them perform the difficult deed of turning someone who is devout and peaceful into an agent of terror, using whatever tricks and incentives they can to help people make that decision. (Often they target easily impressionable young men, in their late teens or early twenties, luring them with lies of how great their afterlife will be, and in other cases they target people who are financially doing poorly, promising to care for their families in financial terms if they give up their lives.) The biggest reason we know that these people are lying is that, if a terrorist was truly going to have an amazing eternity at Paradise for committing vile crimes, then why is it that Osama Bin Laden and the other terrorist "leaders" not volunteer to be the first on suicide bombing missions, in order to be assured a blissful afterlife? The answer is obvious; they know that their actions are evil and terrible in the extreme and that they are merely lying in order to convince impressionable idiots to do their dirty work, in order to promote their own political power.

I curse the name of all terrorists, of all who would take the lives of innocents and spread fear and hatred. May they all see the error in their actions and pray for forgiveness, or else die in a fire.