Author: Atul Rawat
Publication: Organiser
Date: September 30, 2001
Introduction: The Islamic terrorist
attack on America is the manifestation of what had been simmering for a
long time. But it was sought to be pushed under carpet by an international
pro-Islamic lobby, which includes the Indian secularist class too.
In the recent debate on education
in the Lok Sabha (August, 2001) Shri Somnath Chatterjee, Member of Parliament,
quoted Organiser (March 18, 2001) regarding an article on universal Islamic
violence to prove how communal the views are. But the Islamic terrorist
attack on America has proved this contention to be unfortunately correct.
In one of the two passages he quoted in Parliament the honourable MP said
without contradicting the facts:
It is a reality of the world situation
today that the believers of Islam are party to most of the conflicts that
remain raging in the world after the cold war has ended. The weapon of
terrorism against civil society per se and especially the innocent people
of other communities have also been used and misused mostly by the believers
of Islam. (Organiser, March 18, 2001, p. 5).
The article from which the above
quotation was made was written in the context of the destruction of the
Lord Buddha's statues at Bamiyan. It is not pleasant at all to refer back
to the same sources of Islamic theology and thought because one again funds
that the Islamic terrorism emanates from some sections of its Holy scriptures.
Both the Holy Quran and the Hadis have many a reference, which, as the
well-known author Arun Shourie has rightly pointed out, contribute to its
nature that is "sanguinary in the extreme".
The Islamic terrorist attack on
America, in which according to some estimates up to twenty thousand people
have died in one day is the manifestation of what had been simmering for
a long time. But it was sought to be pushed under carpet by an international
pro-Islamic lobby that includes the Indian secularist class too.
But without understanding the real
nature of Islam on the basis of its own traditions and scriptures no one
can think of solving any of the problems arising due to it in various parts
of the world. The latest ghastly act of worst sort of terrorism by wiping
out the World Trade Centre would have taken months of Preparation and extreme
commitment on the part of the terrorists. Nothing but the religious fanaticism
of the deepest, intensity can breed such commitment and such hatred. Islam
is known to evoke strong passions both for and against itself. That is
no less due to the fact that Islam clearly classifies the world into believers
and non-believers. The non-believers or kafirs have to be distinguished
on only one premise and that is, their having no faith in Islam. This is
just opposite to the idea of Ekam sat viprah bahudha vadanti (the truth
is one and the wise call it by many names) or Eko aham bahusyamah (I am
one, my 'manifestations are many), that are the foundation rocks of the
Indian concept of equal respect to all faiths. On the other hand, a cursory
look at the Holy Quran and the Hadis forces one to draw entirely opposite
conclusions regarding the behaviour that is expected of the adherents of
Islam. In the aayat 28 of Sura 3 in the Holy Quran, the God Almighty has
revealed to the Holy Prophet that:
"Let not the believers
Take for friends or helpers
Unbelievers rather than
Believers: if any do that
In nothing will there be help
From God: except by way
Of precaution that ye may
Guard yourselves from them.
But God cautions you
(To remember) Himself
For the final Goal
Is to God "
(Translation by Abdullah Yusuf Ali,
The Holy Quran (Lahore, Shaikh Muhammad Ashraf, 1934. pp 129-30).
So here is a situation where the
believers are not even allowed to befriend the kafirs. In Holy Quran unbelievers
are treated as enemies and not as the ones seeking truth by a path other
than that of Muslims. That is why, such language has been used that clearly
indicates that non-believers are to be treated as enemies. The 12th aayat
of Sura 8 ordains:
"Remember thy Lord inspired
The angles (with the message)
I am with you: give
Firmness to the believers:
I will instil terror
Into the hearts of the unbelievers
Smite ye above their necks
And smite all their
Finger tips off them." (ibid).
And call o war and violence does
not end there. The morale of the Muslims has sought to be heightened when
the sixty-fifth aayat of the same Sura rouses the believers to fight. It
assures them that twenty of them will vanquish two hundred and a hundred
would vanquish a thousand of the unbelievers (ibid, Sura VIII, aayat 63)
and it is all not only arousing the believers against non-believers "to
vanquish" but even the method of violence to be perpetrated against them
in the war has been thoroughly documented. When one reads these aayats,
one can easily see why people like Laden do not distinguish between the
military forces of their opponents and the general populace. The Holy Quran
clearly ordains the believers to kill the non-believers in the following
fashion:
"But when the forbidden months
Are past, then fight and slay
The pagans wherever ye find them,
And seize them, beleagure them,
And lie in wait for them
In enemy stratagem (of war)
But if they repent
And establish regular prayers
And practice regular charity
Then open the way for them:
For God is oft-forgiving
Most Merciful."
(ibid. Sura IX, aayat 5)
The matters do not rest here. The
other important source of Islam are the Hadis. Both the Holy Quran and
the Hadis have their centre in the Holy Prophet. If the Quran contains
what was revealed to the Holy Prophet, 'the Hadis are all that he did or
said or enjoined, forbid or did not forbid, approved or disapproved. The
Muslim theologians do not distinguish between the Holy Quran or the Hadis.
Both of them are works of revelation and even the quality and the degree
of the revelation in both of them are the same. To understand it better,
one may say that for Muslims in the Holy Quran Allah speaks through Prophet
Mohammad and in the Hadis, He acts through him. So the holy Prophet's life
is a visible expression of Allah's utterances in the Quran, and the Hadis
are the most authentic and genuine traditions for all the Muslims. So the
thought that we have seen in the above Suras and aayats was put into action
by the holy Prophet himself. There are many a Hadis that could prove this
point. Once a struggle is declared a jehad then everything becomes fair
in it. The holy Prophet himself is quoted as saying: "War is a stratagem".
(Hadis, 4311).
In jehad all arms-bearing enemy
men are to be killed. But the Holy Prophet disapproved of the killing of
women and children. They were only supposed to be taken as prisoners, enslaved
or sold or released after some ransom was exacted. But even if they are
killed, it was not a big issue. When Sa'b b. Jassama said to the Holy Prophet,
"Messenger of Allah, we kill the children of polytheists during the night
raids". The Holy Prophet answered, "They are from them" (4323). The raids
without warning the main attribute of terrorism was very much a part of
the morality of Muslim warfare even during Holy Prophet's time. The Holy
Prophet himself made a raid upon Banu Mustaliq while they were unaware
and their cattle were drinking water (4292).
Another major attribute of terrorism,
that is to destroy the property of the enemy was also practised and a perfect
example can be found when the Holy Prophet himself burnt the trees of Jewish
tribe Banu Nazir, who were residing in the vicinity of Madina. Prophet
Mohammad also ordered their date palms to be burnt and cut. This was supposed
to be a sacrilege in Arabia those days because it was the main form of
prop". Both Quran Sura 59, aayat 5 and Hadis 4324 give a testimony to this.
There are many more references that may prove the same contentions time
and again in both the Holy Quran and the Hadis.
The terrorist nature of some of
the Islamic thought that is destroying peace of every perceivable nation
of kafirs or unbelievers in the world basically has roots in some of the
writings and traditions of the Muslims. When the Bamiyan Buddhas were broken
down, some of our own Muslim brethren wrote in various newspapers that
that particular act of Taliban was anti-Islamic. The present author humbly
requests such good-intentioned persons to have a look at the Holy Quran
and the Hadis once more. The terrorist attack on America has not gone anywhere
against the basic principles that a section of Islamist teaches its adherents
regarding their relationship with others. By opening one more front in
the United States, the adherents of Islam have done nothing new. They are
only following some of their age-old traditions. If there is anything new
in the whole episode it is only the new area of activity and the mode of
attack: Today Islamic terrorism has arrived in America, the acknowledged
leader of the free and democratic world. In our part of the world, democracy
has not been very successful in meeting the challenge of Islamic terrorism.
It is yet to be seen if the American democracy can meet it. One can conclude
on the basis of the above reading of some sections of the holy Islamic
scriptures that it is for the democratic world to understand the basic
nature of these sections of Islamic traditions and scriptures. Until that
is done, the chances of an everlasting world peace are only minimum at
the best.
