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Sadiq Khan Mc. Cook English 1302 20 November 2006 Does Islam Promote Terrorism? There may be some Muslims who are terrorists, but not all Muslims are terrorist and Islam as a religion does not promote terrorism and defines as a religion of peace. Islam means submission to god. Islam is a religion of peace and does not talk of doing violence at all. As many westerners have the misconception that all Muslims are terrorists, and are involved in the killing of innocent people. I will prove that all Muslims are not terrorists and if at all the culprits are Muslim; they have twisted the teachings of Islam.
The dictionary meaning of terrorism is the unlawful or threatened use of violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies, governments, often for ideological or political reasons. On the other hand, the name Islam is derived from the word ‘salaam’ which means peace. It is a religion of peace whose fundamentals teaches its followers to maintain and promote peace throughout the world. So does Islam promote terrorism? I will prove that Islam does not promote terrorism with the knowledge and writings of Dr.
Zakir Naik from his book Islam and Terrorism. A medical doctor by professional training, Dr. Zakir Naik is renowned as a dynamic international orator on Islam and Comparative Religion. Dr. Zakir Naik clarifies Islamic view points and clears misconceptions about Islam using the Koran (Qur’an), authentic Hadith (Prophet Muhammad’s sayings) and other religious Scriptures as a basis, in conjunction with reason, logic and scientific facts. He is 37 years old. Dr. Zakir is popular for his critical analysis and convincing answers to challenging questions posed by audiences after his public talks.
In the last 6 years (by the year 2002), Dr. Zakir Naik has delivered more than 600 public talks in the U. S. A. , Canada, U. K. , Saudi Arabia, U. A. E. , Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, South Africa, Mauritius, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Guyana (South America) and many other countries, in addition to numerous public talks in India. He has successfully participated in several symposia and dialogues with prominent personalities of other faiths. His public dialogue with Dr. William Campbell of USA), on the topic, “The Koran (Qur’an) and the Bible in the light of Science” held in city of Chicago, U. S. A. , on April 1, 2000 was a resounding success. Sheikh Ahmed Deedat, the world famous orator on Islam and Comparative Religion, who had called Dr. Zakir, “Deedat plus” in 1994, presented a plaque in May 2000 awarded to Dr. Zakir Abdul-Karim Naik for his achievement in the field of Da’wah and the study of Comparative Religion with the engraving “Son what you have done in 4 years had taken me 40 years to accomplish, Alhamdullilah. ” (Said by Ahmed deedat)Dr.
Zakir Naik appears regularly on many international T. V. Channels in more than 100 countries of the world. He is regularly invited for T. V. and Radio interviews. More than a hundred of his talks, dialogues, debates and symposia are available on video cassettes, video CDs and audio cassettes. He has authored books on Islam and Comparative Religion. Till now one of the deadliest terrorist attacks which shocked America was on September 11, 2001. On that day four planes were hijacked, two of them targeted and hit world trade center and the third hit the Pentagon building near Washington, D.
C. ; the fourth plane crashed near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The crashes destroyed the World Trade Center complex and a large portion of the Pentagon and killed more than 3,000 people. Among all the attacks till now, 9/11 was the most deadly apart from the Oklahoma bombing in 1995 and London bombings in 2005. It has been told that Al- Qaeda is the main group which planned the attack on September 11, but do Americans have the proof? “International terrorism” first entered the modern lexicon three decades ago as leftist guerrilla movements clashed with rightist regimes in Latin America.
From there, it spread around the world, most notably to the Middle East, where car bombs, like the one that shattered the federal office building in Oklahoma City, are now part of everyday life” ( Wright, ed). There have been terrorist attacks since the early nineties, but the deadliest attacks that are happening against United States are linked to Al-Qaeda and all Muslims are stereotyped as terrorists by the westerners with no proof. If what happened on 9/11 was terrorism then so is the violence in Iraq and most recently in Lebanon.
According to me, both Islam and Christianity are great religions and both promote peace, and who ever is involved in killing innocent people does not follow any religion. “All Muslims may not be terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims. “(Aiyer 23) This comment, frequently heard after the Mumbai bomb blasts implies that terrorism is a Muslim specialty, if not a monopoly. Muslims are actively committing acts of terrorism in many parts of the world and justifying it by pointing towards the Koran. Even the west is not untouched anymore.
Thirty new terrorist organizations have emerged since the September 11 attacks, outpacing the United States’ efforts to crush the threat. Recently, a court in Paris sentenced 25 Muslims militants for planning attacks against the Eiffel Tower and other targets with explosives. All indications suggests that Islamists were the perpetrators. One of my American friends said; Denying that Islam has anything to do with terrorism is like denying germs have anything to do with contagious diseases and claiming the patients who up until yesterday were healthy, were sick from the start.
One of the famous terrorist groups is Hezbollah; “Hezbollah is a Lebanese organization of radical Islamic groups. It is against the Westwen world, and is a great enemy of Israel. Hezbollah, whose name means “party of God,” is a terrorist group believed responsible for hundreds of attacks and deaths of hundreds of people” ( CFR staff). There may be many other instances, but I can prove that Islam does not promote terrorism. According to Dr. Zakir Naik (a great and famous scholar) “Every Muslim should be a terrorist” and the explanation to this by Dr Naik was, “a terrorist is a person who causes terror.
The moment a robber sees a policeman he is terrified. A policeman is a terrorist for the robber. Similarly every Muslim should be a terrorist for the antisocial elements of society, such as thieves, dacoits and rapists. Whenever such an anti-social elements sees a Muslim, he should be terrified (Dr Naik). It is true that the word ‘terrorist’ is generally used for a person who causes terror among the common people. But a true Muslim should only be a terrorist to selective people i. e. anti-social elements, and not to the common innocent people.
If Islam promotes terrorism why is it the fastest growing religion in the world? People living in the West and throughout the world should not allow themselves to be ignorant about Islam and Muslims. For example, there are about ten million Muslims living in the United States out of 1. 8 billion in the world. Only 18% of Muslims live in the Arab world. Demographers say that Islam is the fastest growing religion in the U. S. and the world. Islam is the second largest religion in America, France, Great Britain and many more, surpassing Judaism, Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witness, and other religions. All Americans must recognize that the face of terror is not the true faith — face of Islam. Islam is a faith that brings comfort to a billion people around the world. It’s a faith that has made brothers and sisters of every race. It’s a faith based upon love, not hate. (President Bush). Terrorism and terrorists have no religion; they are neither Muslims nor Christians. They do not believe in any religion. As extremism and fanaticism do not have a religion, terrorism itself has become a religion and culture. Terrorists should be given capital punishment, we believe in killing killers of mankind.
My parents have always told me that ten rights have been mentioned in Hadith (sayings and doing of Prophet Mohammad), only one of which is religious and nine are civil & social. The religious right is the Right of Almighty Allah, that He should be worshipped alone, and not associated with any partners, this is His exclusive right. The other rights are as follows: to be compassionate, benevolent, merciful, and generous firstly to parents, then relatives, orphans, to the poor and deprived community and your society, close neighbors, servants, laborers etc. Hadith 114). I am puzzled as to why many people in America think an Arab Muslim is a terrorist, or has some kind of link or association to terrorist organization. The United States is responsible for numerous acts of terrorism, according to Noam Chomsky. “He asserts that the federal government has a long history of supporting terrorism in Afghanistan and Israel. Chomsky also claims that the United States has not only abetted terrorists but also committed its own attacks, including bombings in Lebanon and Sudan”(Chomsky).
The scene which people or the media creates here at any terrorist attack or on any American soldier killed in Iraq or some other place is very dramatic. They also have to realize that there are thousands of innocent people getting killed in Iraq for no reason. Supposedly, if about 300 people are killed today by American soldiers in Iraq, then there is no coverage on CNN or BBC, however, even if one American soldier is killed in Iraq the media makes a big issue, and calls Muslims terrorists.
The few verses from the noble Koran would be helpful to show that Islam does not promote terrorism, the verses are as follows: “They commit a gross sin, then say, “We found our parents doing this and God has commanded us to it. ” Say: “God never advocates sin. Are you saying about God what you do not know? And do not gress; God dislike the aggressors. You will not kill. God has made life sacred, except in the course of Justice. These are His commandments to you that you may understand. Whoever killed a soul not to retaliate for a soul, nor for creating disorder in the land, then it is as if he had killed all mankind.
And whoso gave life to one soul, and then it is as if he had given life to all mankind and cast not yourself in destruction with your own hands (Suicide) and be good doers; no doubt good doers are the beloved of Allah”(Koran, 7:28,87) These are the few verses from Koran which clearly command Muslims not to kill an innocent soul. The theme in the Koran is peace. Islam prohibits killing of innocent people, irrespective of the cause. Unfortunately, Islam has been greatly misunderstood in the west, mainly to be blamed on western Media that portrait Islam as a Religion of Terrorists.
When a bomb explodes in Middle East, the media blames the culprits as Muslim Terrorists or Islamic Terrorists, but when Oklahoma’s Federal building bombed down, the media did not call the culprit a Christian terrorist, instead called him just a terrorist. When a Christian Nun covers her head or a Jew wears a hat and have beard, according to media they are respectable and practicing their religions but when a Muslim man or woman does the same, the media labels them as extremists. As every Nascist is not a Hitler, every Muslims are not terrorists.
Islam’s message is peace, love and Harmony “If anyone slays a person unless it is for murder or for spreading mischief in the land -it would be as if he slew all people in the world. And if anyone saves a single life, it would be as if he saved the life of all people in this world” (Koran 5:32). I believe that the above references from the Koran prove that Islam does not promote terrorism. I understand that there are some Muslims terrorists just like there are some Christian terrorists, In fact terrorists in many other religions as well. Those who follow terrorism do not follow any religion, as all religions in the world promote peace.
WORKS CITED Ankesaria Aiyar, Swami Nathan. “Terrorism is not a Muslim monopoly” India Today. 23 July 2004: 50+. Bakr, Abu “Hadith Sahih al Bukhari. ” Page number 114, volume 4th Bush, President George W. “Islam is Peace. ” Afghanistan Embassy, Washington, D. C. , 10 Sept. 2002. Cfr. org, staff. “Hezbollah”. Backgrounder. July 17, 2006 , Online. Computer Source. 25 july 2006 www. cfr. org/publication/9155/ Chomsky, Noam. “America Is a Serious Terrorist Threat. ” Interview with David Barsamian.
Opposing Viewpoints Series. Green haven Press, 2004. “If anyone slays” Surah Jinn. Chapter number 5, verse number 32 from holy Koran Naik, Dr. Naik “A medical Doctor” <http://www. irf. net> , wikipedia. com. Naik, Dr. Naik. “Every Muslims should be a Terrorist”. Q and A on Islam. 12 Dec. 2005 <http://www. irf. net> “They commit a gross sin”, Chapter number 7, verse number 28, 87 from Holy Koran. Wright, Ronald J. Ostrow and Marlene Cimons. “America Is Increasingly Vulnerable to Terrorism”. Opposing viewpoint resource center.. 19 Apr. 1995 <http:/galenet. galegroup. com/servlet/OVRC>