Radicalism a cause of unnecessary fury against Islam

By Jacob K. Lupai

September 26, 2010 — In any religion there are radicals and moderates, and conservatives and liberals. Islam is no exception. Terrorism carried out by radical Muslims has become a big worldwide worry because of its ferocity against humanity. This unfortunately has caused unnecessary fury against Islam. Many radical Muslims or Islamists who turn terrorists are indoctrinated in Mosques and Islamic centres around the world supposedly sanctuaries for worship and deliverance of messages of peace and love among humankind. There are reasons why some people are inclined to be radical and others moderate. A radical may be defined as a person who favours extreme or fundamental change in existing institutions or in political, social or economic conditions. In contrast a moderate is a person who is not extreme and violent, and may be of gentle behaviour. The definition of a radical gives a glimpse of what is that person that is inclined to be radical. A moderate may be a person pleasant to deal with in contrast to dealing with a radical person.

In Islam there are conservatives as well as liberals. A conservative is a person who favours the preservation of established customs, values and so forth, and opposing innovation. It is a person who is reluctant to change or consider new ideas. A liberal in contrast is a person who has views that favour progress and reform. Hypothetically conservatives and radicals may be seen to belong to one category and liberals and moderates to the other. However, in reality conservatives and radicals may not be good bed fellows, and liberals may be impatient with moderates. The presence of conservatives and radicals, liberals and moderates in Islam may make how Islam is perceived as a whole interesting.

For an understanding a brief highlight of Islam and background may be helpful. Islam is the latest of the world’s great religions and originated in Arabia. The word Islam means submission to the will of God and the followers of Islam as we know are called Muslims. Arabia was inhabited by warlike tribes who were constantly fighting with each other. There was little sense of unity among the Arabians but some events stimulated the rise of patriotism. For example, Abyssinia, the present day Ethiopia, made an attempt to invade Arabia and take over Mecca the capital. The Abyssinian adventure made the tribes of Arabia united in the face of a common enemy. Also when one man of Mecca tried to rule and introduce Christianity in Mecca, this raised the resentment of the people that they drove the man out and eventually he was murdered. From these incidents the Arabians learned that if they were to be free of foreign domination they had to unite and not fight among themselves. The founding of the religion of Islam partly succeeded through the appeal to the patriotism of the Arabians.

Before the rise of Islam the religion most prevalent in Arabia was idol worship in the form of images. The centre of all religious activities of Arabia was Mecca the capital which had a temple, the Kaaba, a black mass of granite revered by all Arabians. Muslim tradition says the Kaaba was founded by Abraham who is also revered by both Jews and Christians. God was worship there along with other deities. The influence of the Kaaba over Arabian tribes was considerable and Prophet Mohamed the founder of Islam showed great practical insight when he made the Kaaba the centre of Muslim worship and annual pilgrimage.

Prophet Mohamed’s first religious experience came when he was meditating in a cave on a mountain during the annual religious retreat of the Arabians. Prophet Mohamed had a vision of an angel who ordered him to read a scroll and told him that he was the apostle of God. Here in Arabia at the time there were two important centres, Mecca and Medina. At the command of the angel Prophet Mohamed began his first preaching in Mecca. However, he faced hostilities but managed to convert a number of pilgrims from Medina the other important centre. When these pilgrims returned to Medina the message of Prophet Mohamed spread rapidly. Prophet Mohamed migrated with his followers from Mecca to Medina and this is known as the Hijra (migration) in Muslim chronology of events. It is from the time of Hijra that the Muslims date their calendar. This is because this particular time was the turning point for Prophet Mohamed and Islam. Prophet Mohamed now began to receive revelations which urged the use of force to spread Islam. He therefore began to go to battle against the unbelievers. Muslim armies began invading and conquering foreign territories but only defeated in Europe.

Arguably Islam is a religion of peace and love as Prophet Mohamed had wanted to pacify the warlike tribes of Arabia. It is a religion that one should not fear to be associated with. Islam is adaptable. For example, when under pressure Prophet Mohamed instructed his followers in Arabia to flee to Abyssinia for refuge where there was a just Negus, a Christian King. When the Muslims arrived in Abyssinia the Christian King offered them not only refuge but hospitality and honour. This clearly shows a respect that transcended religious divide. Prophet Mohamed respected and trusted the Christian King of Abyssinia who in turn respected and treated well the Muslim refugees in his domain. It can therefore be arguably asserted that it is not Islam that is the problem but it is those who call themselves Muslims that is the main problem. Muslims have different interpretation of Islam. For example, the version or the type of Islam adopted in Saudi Arabia is not the same as in Syria. The former is conservative and radical while the latter is liberal and moderate. It may be that the various interpretations of Islam are to serve vested interest that is irrelevant to the doctrine of predestination. All that a person does is predetermined by God.

It is not difficult to see how radical Islam is a cause of unnecessary fury against Islam. Islamists perceive Islam as the solution and see the world in black and white as divided into good and evil. Islamists, though erroneously, see themselves as representing the former, the non Muslims even conservative, liberal and moderate Muslims all considered unbelievers are seen to represent the latter. The Islamists seeing themselves as true Muslims means they must always be in conflict with non Muslim society of infidels who are seen as corrupting or contaminating the world. The Islamists also see conservative, liberal and moderate Muslims as nothing but agents of unbelievers representing the West and its values. They have an illusion of creating a puritan God’s government on earth. Although Islamists get more freedom in non Muslim than in Muslim countries yet non Muslims are seen as the enemies of Islam. Islamists attempt to undermine the government of Egypt under Jamal Abdel Nasser was evidence of how Islamist hold in contempt liberal and moderate regimes. However, Nasser a liberal and a moderate Muslim was a no nonsense man. He dealt ruthlessly with the Islamists.

In the name of Islam Islamists do not care and can go to any length to cause maximum destruction that can only cause unprecedented fury against Islam. The twin towers bombing by Islamists in the USA with a loss of thousands of lives and the Bali bombing in Indonesia that killed hundreds of innocent people harmful to no one are examples of the extent of crimes Islamists can commit in the name of Islam. However, the Islamist bomber of Bali has at least apologised and asked others not to be extreme and kill people in the name of Islam. A book of cartoons has been produced illustrating the horror of the Bali bombing as a teaching aid for school children to avoid involvement in extreme and harmful activities in the name of Islam. The Islamist psyche that anyone who did not accept Islam was an opponent of it, an infidel, was being transformed.

It should be understood that Islam is one of the heavenly religions that has contributed to civilisation. It is a religion of peace and consolation. One of its five pillars is that of charity to the poor and indeed there are numerous Islamic organisations working among the poor to improve living conditions. However, in Saudi Arabia a conservative and rigorous Islamic state that a radical like Osama bin Laden may anyway despise is claimed to have pockets of abject poverty. For example, in an area of Jeddah known as Karantina it is said there is abject poverty. It is claimed Karantina is the most unsecure and dangerous quarter of Jeddah. It is a slum of people who had been living in Saudi Arabia for decades but without passports had been deemed illegal by the government and quite literally abandoned. Karantina, the perversion of the term quarantine precisely means the people there are isolated and the abject poverty seems to be condoned in one of the richest countries in the world. It is most probable that racism is a contributing factor. Most of the people in Karantina are said to be black immigrants. It is a pity that Islamists use Islam as a matter of convenience of a particular Islamic persuasion for control to serve narrow interest.

In conclusion five years after Prophet Mohamed’s vision of an angel, persecution of the Muslims had become a matter of life and death. Facing the real possibility of extinction, a small group of Muslims fled to Abyssinia in the Horn of Africa. The Muslims sought the protection of the Christian King who had a reputation for justice. In Abyssinia the Muslims enjoyed the best of hospitality and honour. It is important to note that Islam found its first refuge in a Christian land under the protection of a Christian King who viewed Muslims as brothers and sisters. When a man from Mecca pursued the Muslims who fled to Abyssinia with the sole aim of returning them to Mecca, the man failed. A representative of the Muslim refugees spoke positively about Jesus in front of the Christian King and this impressed the King who then rejected the request of the man from Mecca to have the Muslim refugees handed over to him. Prophet Mohamed respected the Christian King and the Muslims respected the Christians for the hospitality and honour they had enjoyed in Christian land. However, today Muslims are very hostile and even horrible to Christians and their way of life, calling them infidel and declaring holy war against them. Is this not contrary to Prophet Mohamed’s respect for Christians when he sent his followers to Abyssinia for protection? Are latter days Muslims not committing a sin of sacrilege by not emulating their Prophet’s respect for Christians as illustrated by Islam’s first refuge in a Christian land under the protection of a Christian King? It is hoped Muslims are conscious of being messengers of peaceful co-existence in the world.

The author can be reache at [email protected]