Islam vs. Muslims

In this age of terror attacks by terrorists organisations which have been branded as Islamic fascists by the global media, people around the world have raised questions over the very tenants of islam as a peaceful religion, some even have gone on to say that islam itself propagates terror. The truth remains that islam like any other religion in the world is peaceful in essence or theory if u may allow me to say so. Time and again basic tenants of islam have been twisted by some and presented to mislead its followers.


To fortify my case i shall give the example of the prophet in the early stages of islam when he was exiled from mecca and had shifted his base to medina. On his return to mecca for Hajj the people of mecca thought that muslims had come to wage a war. The reality was far from that. The prophet announced that their intentions were peaceful, much to the joy of the residents of mecca as they were clearly outnumbered. Again when the peace treaty was signed between the prophet and the leaders of mecca, Muhammad agreed to the condition of signing the treaty as just Muahammad against to the prophet of god. It was in the interest of long term peace in the region that the prophet had agreed to this condition.


In the time of Muhammad as the caliph of the Islamic world, never was a battle waged to occupy any territory . All battles were defensive in nature or in response to any atrocities being committed upon Muslims. A policy that was carried on by Ali and the other caliphs who descended from Ali(in short the rightful heirs to the caliphate). These incidents are a part of modern history and thus are recorded and documented. Therefore, none around the world can ever deny these incidents wether shia, sunni, wahabis or non muslims.


Today islam stands divided in many sects- sunni, shia, wahabis. In theory sunnis and shias have stuck to the true islam and the teachings and instructions of the prophet. It is the wahabiyat sect that has come up with modifications in islam. The prophet and his progeny are not held in so much high esteem as the other sects do. They even stand accused of trying to subdue the beliefs of other sects. But the most striking thing to note here is that terrorism has gained prominence along with wahabism. With the discovery of oil under wahabi soil the funding of terrorists organisations have seen a many fold increase. Ofcourse, after the wahabi sect in Saudi Arabia other middle eastern countries followed suit but none can deny the hand played by the wahabi movement in the rise of terrorism.


These terrorists organisations twist and turn the teachings of islam and thus are successful in brainwashing innocent muslims who mostly are in a dire need of financial assistance. The problem also lies in the fact that muslims generally are not very thorough with their own religion. That compounds to the problem. E.g. many girls were murdered brutally in Pakistan by terror groups because they wanted to marry a man of their choice. Thank god, the prophet’s wife Khadija was not born in these times otherwise they would have murdered her too considering the fact that she chose Muhammad as her husband and not the other way round. Whereas if the majority of the public knew how open minded islam is these terror groups would have seen opposition like never before.
These terror groups with their elaborate funding now have a huge global footprint. The fight against terror cannot be won by missiles and bombs but by education and job opportunities. We should ask ourselves- why would anyone prefer to blow himself up rather than live a peaceful life? The answer is no one. We need to eradicate the very root cause of this problem and that is poverty.


In the times of the prophet or his successors like Ali and his family, it was considered a sin if in battle a soldier on horseback and one on foot fought. They both had to be on the same level of armoury and weapons to fight. How can muslims even think that jihad of such sorts shall be allowed in islam. Even if at war civilians were spared by Islamic forces in those times. Now in the name of jihad many innocent lives are lost almost daily.
The number of historical incidents that disapprove today’s jihad are endless. Today it is muslims themselves that are creating problems for their brothers. The western powers also attacked Iraq and Afghanistan after 9/11 only. Thus, the argument that they killed thousands of muslims falls flat. The most humorous part personally is that leaders of terrorist organistaions promise heaven to their soldiers of terror in return for their life and service. The thought to ponder upon is do they even know that they shall burn in the fires of hell for eternity. No religion in this world gives you heaven for murdering, torturing and snatching away the rights of people given by god.