Waging Jehad against terrorists
Kamran Saadat
There was a time when religion was considered the cradle of knowledge
and enlightenment and the whole world looked into it for guidance and
leadership. Ironically, since the last few decades and especially after
9/11 attack, religion has rapidly fallen into disrepute. It has become
synonym of fanaticism, extremism, bigotry and intolerance. More and more
people, especially the educated and liberal classes, feel frustrated
with the way religion is propagated and deployed to exploit specific
political ends. Before the discourse set off reader, following questions
can be asked: What is the purpose of religion and the concept of jihad?
What are the root-causes of extremism from religious and socio-economic
perspective? Why tensions increased since the WOT started? What measures
the leadership can adopt in enforcement of law and order throughout the
affected regions?
Certainly Islam came as a religion of balance and moderation,
enlightenment and reform. Since the mullahs and reformers have failed to
present religion as an effective means for promoting social, moral and
intellectual advance, the common people remain bereft of its real
understanding, blessings and virtues. This was not the purpose of
religion, which was brought in to remove fallacies and delusions,
divisions and dissensions. The life of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) was
dedicated to effecting reforms in the decaying socio-cultural and
religio-ethical spheres of the Arabian society. These changes were an
integral part of the Holy Qur’an and vision of the Holy Prophet (PBUH).
The Rasoolullah’s (SAWS) entire life was devoted to creating a social,
religious structure, which could serve the needs of humanity both in
temporal and spiritual spheres.A serious blow, which has been caused to
the image of Islam, could be attributed to the integral concept of
Jihad, which has been largely misinterpreted to achieve specific
political ends. Jihad in Islam is based on high moral and social grounds
to add new colors and consummation to human life. The very assumption
that it is an instrument of force to compel others to accede to the
fundamentals of Islam is contrary to the teachings of the Holy Qur’an
and the traditions of the Holy Prophet (pbuh). Holy Qur’an declares it
candidly ‘La ikraha fiddin’ — there is no compulsion in religion. Jihad
in the Holy Qur’an was presented as an earnest endeavour to accomplish
high ideals of social and moral consummation. Self-defence to protect
the religious institutions in case of a foreign attack and creation of
conducive environments for justice, peace and order was the integral
essence for waging jihad. Otherwise, Jihad is an all-embracing endeavour
to improve social and spiritual aspects of human life. However, Jihad as
its Quranic understanding implies does not mean unnecessary
confrontation, hostility or the use of abusive language. What it
involves is the self-surrender for the consummation of human life. Jihad
can be brought about by a variety of vibrant human actions to realize
the realities of temporal and spiritual life. The lack of education,
extremism and fanaticism has damaged the reputation of the religion
Islam, which was given to mankind for steady improvement and gradual
development. The major reasons of public hatred against extremist cause
are that mullahs have made Islam a mosque-based religion with no social,
political and charitable implications for the growth of society, with
limited perception and circumscribed demarcations. Instead of imbibing
the virtues of Islam and spreading the correct connotations of the Holy
Qur’an started indulging in fissiparous tendencies leading to
dissensions. Secondly religious doctrine has been distorted and
misinterpreted by the eccentric proclamations of the semi-literate
Mullahs who have generated destructive perceptions and polluted
environments with hatred and hostility. Instead of blossoming Islam as a
universal religion for the whole mankind the Muslims turned it into
small sects with divisive delinquencies and intra-religious conflicts.
Religion has been confined to the specific sects and humanity on the
whole was excluded from its corridors. Hence Islam, which should have
been the most effective means for realizing national and individual
accomplishments, social and moral consummation, has been reduced to a
level of self serving interpretations and biases. This was not the
purpose of religion, which was brought in to remove fallacies and
delusions, divisions. Instead of presenting Islam as a religion of peace
and understanding, knowledge and enlightenment the biased quarters
create just the opposite connotations. Instead of focusing on the
accumulation of knowledge, research and advance, the orthodox religious
quarters have been following an egocentric approach to contain it within
their own confines. Muslims started deviating, squabbling and flouting
the real spirit of Islam, they became the victims of their own
negligence and were overtaken by nations, which were far behind them in
intellectual and scientific advance. Resultantly, soon were they
bypassed by the western development in science and technology, physical
and material advance.
The West in general and US in particular have launched a crusade against
the Muslim states, which are supposed to have harbored the terrorists.
All these attacks are being launched without any substantial evidence to
establish their own case. However, extremism has largely been based on a
perception of fear and antagonism. Different theories and ideologies are
propagated to create hatred and hostility against the forces of
ignorance and aggression. The liberal elements and so-called
intellectuals have their own agenda and try to convert Islam into the
“freer” democratic setting obtaining in the West. For a normal believer
in Pakistan such non-practicing Muslim intellectuals carry less weight
irrespective of their strong anti-imperialist stance especially in
regard to the recent US attacks on Iraq and Afghanistan.
The government needs to take following points into consideration: (a)
Initiate diplomatic actions to promote and protect national interests by
influencing the global, regional and political and information about
religion Islam and dimensions of the operational environment. (b) Start
developmental, cooperative activities and coercive actions in response
to crisis in the insurgency stricken areas. Long-term strategy that may
support development projects in affected areas. (c) Humanitarian
assistance, dissemination of CD, antiterrorism themes, peace and other
flexible deterrent options as demining and support to the possible
insurgents. Islam is full of meanings and creative consciousness.
The significance of the meanings and the sense of purpose have to be
understood and imbibed to realize the goals of a creative and productive
life. A conscious war has to be waged against the misuse of religion and
its misinterpretation; otherwise the future will remain bleak both for
the religion and prosperity.
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