Q641 :A study of world history would show that Islam
and terrorism are extreme opposites. Then why all this tirade against
Islam in Western media? I will be grateful for your netments.
A641 : You are absolutely right. There is no meeting
point between Islam and terrorism as practiced by terrorist groups in
different parts of the world. Terrorism involves the indiscriminate use
of force to achieve certain objectives. In Islam, the use of force is
allowed only in special situations, particularly when the Muslim
netmunity is threatened by hostile forces. Then again, the use of force
in a campaign of jihad is determined by the leader of the Muslim
netmunity in a very orderly way. The enemy will be well identified, and
the use of force is only a last resort. However, what is happening in
some parts of the Muslim world today involving same groups which are
often described as “fundamentalists”, is not always accurately reported
or portrayed. Now let us be clear about principles. Islam does not
allow the use of force against peaceful civilians. Moreover, using
military tactics against an established government and causing in the
process the loss of life among civilians is a very serious matter.
There will be some people who will try to justify it on the basis of
Islamic principles. What we have learned from trusted authorities on
Islam is that such use of force is not acceptable at all. We must
remember that God did not allow the Prophet and his netpanions to use
force against the non-believers in Makkah, despite the fact that the
believers were subjected to a campaign of persecution that caused the
death of several people and subjected many to enormous torture.
Moreover, God stopped the Muslims from fighting the non-believers in
Makkah at the time of Hudaibiyah stating in the Qur’an that had a fight
taken place, the Muslims would have been victorious and the
non-believers would have run away. Yet He ordered the Prophet to accept
the peace agreement which seemed to be unjust to Muslims. The Prophet
declared to his netpanions that he would accept any conditions which
would prevent bloodshed. Therefore, resorting to terrorist campaign in
order to change a government is not acceptable although the government
may be a bad one and follows un-Islamic policies. However, we must
also recognize that there is a sustained effort to associate Islam and
the advocacy of implementing Islam with terrorism. This is part of the
worldwide campaign to prevent Islamic revival. Therefore, we must not
believe any report about Muslims resorting to terrorism tactics, unless
we are absolutely certain of what has taken place and why it took place
in the way it happened. There is much at fault with news reporters and
media coverage of such events.
Our Dialogue ( Source : Arab News – Jeddah )