One cannot find words strong enough to condemn the September 11, 2001 tragedy. It is not human if one does not share the pain and suffering that the affected families are going through and will endure for a long, long time to come.
Those who choose to define this violent act as jihad “holy war” need to know that Islam is such a structured and comprehensive guidance that even the procedure to attend to the call of nature is explicitly taught to us by the Messenger of Allah. If one follows those rules while going to the bathroom, it becomes an act of worship.
Islam has nothing to do with this action, even if, after a thorough investigation, those that perpetrated it turn out to have Muslim names or have come from Muslim lands. Islam does not permit violence. Unfortunately many ignorant Muslims and non-Muslims are not fully aware of this fact or choose not to acknowledge it.
Jihad with its multitude of branches has very strict rules, especially when it relates to confrontation with an enemy. Indiscriminate killing or harming of women, children, old men, people who take refuge in their houses, animals and even plants, especially those of economic value, is forbidden at all cost. War is permitted in Islam, just as it is permitted in many other religions, provided it is an pure act of defending the religion, life and state. The act of waging a war is bound with condition and responsibility. Waging wars must be justified with ample evidences that allows defensive actions to be initiated, no war without valid evidence will be engaged since war means killing people. On this basis, Islam clearly stipulates that only fight (defending yourselves) in the cause of Allah against those who fight you, but do not transgress limits as we all know that Allah does not love transgressors.
The war must be immediately ceased if the enemy seek peace, and we are obliged to enter into a peaceful deal. War is the last resort, and is subject to the rigorous conditions laid down by the Shariah. So anyone who perpetrated this heinous crime against humanity should fear what Allah has said about killing of human beings without justification. It similar to the killing of one’s self and the society at large. The referred verse (al Ma’idah 5:32) means “We ordained for the Children of Israel that if anyone slew a person unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land it would be as if he slew the whole people: and if anyone saved a life it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people. Then although there came to them Our apostles with clear Signs yet even after that many of them continued to commit excesses in the land.”
The fundamental teaching of Islam teaches us to respect and help each other, no other than to seek His blessing so that we can live harmoniously and fully benefit the life before death on this earth. The so call Muslim fundamentalist who fully adhere to the fundamentalist teaching of Islam will definitely abide by this rule and bring prosperity to their neighbours and society. It is thus absurd to associate what terrorists have done with Islam.
If one looks at history especially since the rise of Europe, and of the United States now, and what has been the effect of this rise on the Muslims, one can easily see why there is so much resentment against this domination. The Crusades, the super-holocaust in Spain and many other parts of Europe, oppressive demolition of the Khilafat, more than two century of colonial oppression, and more recently fifty years of oppression and bloodshed in Palestine and Kashmir, more than 50,000 children dead in Iraq, and innumerable other unjustifiable massacres and oppressive wars, have driven many impatient Muslims to desperation. It is human nature that in a situation of desperation, people commit insane deeds. In this case, many misled Muslims, victim of situation, have taken the law into their own hands intended to solve problems.
Despite wrong images have been implicated to Islam around the globe, people want to know more about Islam. Why its followers react as such emotionally? What make the noble content of Islam misinterpreted? To the fact that Islam is growing all over the world, especially in the Western hemisphere. Why this happen? Because they know that Islam can provide them with peaceful, tranquility and a dignified person.
The least religious leaders of society therefore are advised not to sensationalize or distort Christian-Muslim relations into a confrontation issue by rallying people to continue with the “Crusade”. This is unwise thinking and behaviour. It not only provides justification for the crimes of the terrorists and may provoke them further, it also makes the work of those who wish to bring about a change in the world through peaceful means harder. We must learn from history as what Paul Findley has written in his book, “Silent No More: Confronting America’s False Images of Islam” (Amana Publication, 2001). I would quote some of distorted images of Islam highlighted by Fidley that make effort for unity and harmony between Muslim dan non-Muslim becomes difficult.
Fidley says that “even a favorite hymn, ‘To the Knights in the Days of Old’, perpetuated false images. Seventy years later, I remember its page number 219 in the hymnal, as well as the tune and the words. Opening exercises always included group singing, and we sang Hymn 219 lustily. It is a rollicking song that celebrates the Christian Crusades in the Holy Land. “To the knights in the days of old, keeping watch on the mountain heights, came a vision of holy grail and a voice through the waiting night, calling, ‘Follow, follow the gleam, banners unfurled, over all the world, follow, follow the gleam of the chalice that is the grail.”
“The hymn conveys a distorted view of Islam that is still widely accepted as accurate by many Christians, perhaps most of them. Its words give no hint that the knights, cast in the hymn as heroes, actually slaughtered thousands of innocent Muslims and rejoiced in the carnage. Calling themselves Christians, the Crusaders ignored their religion’s commitment to tolerance, compassion, and justice. They acted instead like vengeful, bloodthirsty savages.
“The hymn would have lost all appeal had I known what one of the Crusaders wrote on July 15, 1099, from the bloody scene in Jerusalem: ‘With drawn swords our people ran through the city; nor did they spare anyone, not even those pleading for mercy. The horses waded in blood up to their knees, nay, up to the bridle. It was a just and wonderful judgment of God.’ The slaughter was not confined to Jerusalem. The Crusaders, seeking out “heathens and infidels,” killed Muslims, Jews, and even other Christians throughout the Middle East, notably in Antioch and Constantinople. In contrast, on the three separate occasions when Muslims took control of Jerusalem, no blood was shed.”
We, as the peace lover must work hard to defeat the confrontational, domineering and “crusade-minded” attitude of any government through dialogue and peaceful means, to the best of our endurance, and not let those who are ignorant of Islamic law and impatient in their attitude take unjustifiable and unlawful shortcuts through terrorist attacks. It does not serve Islam well and is despised in the sight of Allah.