Islamic Perspective on Terrorism

By Muhammad Junaid
Today the humanity is endangered in the hands of terror. Human being has become
main target of terrorism and suffered a lot in terror attacks. These attacks engulfed
the innocent people in fear on one side and defame the soft image of Islam in the
world on other side. Now it is the prime duty of our believers to pull their all efforts to
come forward, play their role for revival of the true image of Islam. The relationship
between Islam and the rest is getting increasingly worse. Muslim militants
are sowing seeds of poison and hatred between Muslims and the rest of
humanity by committing egregious acts of violence in the name of Islam.
The Point to emphasise here is the Islamic perspective on terror attacks
and the killing of the innocent in the name of ‘jehad’. All forms of terrorist
attacks are roundly condemned in Islam. God reveals in Qur’an that the
killing of one innocent is equal to slaughtering all of humanity. Any Muslim
who believes in God with a sincere heart, will avoid harming even one other person.
It is now the need of the hours that everyone must be in unity against terror. The
world has been living side by side with terror for hundreds of years. However, the
entire world came face to face with terror in 2001 after 9/11 attacks of two major
cities in the USA which led to the deaths and injuries of thousands of people; the
concept of “terrorism” began to be debated once again.

One of the most important differences between man and the animals is that man
was created with both earthly desires and with a conscience. Thanks to his
conscience, however, the believer can distinguish between right and wrong and opt
for what is morally right. Strong belief in and fear of God, faith in the Hereafter,
powerful fear of the endless torments of Hell and a yearning for Paradise all keep the
temptations of his earthly desires at bay. Therefore, he always behaves well towards
people, is forgiving, responds to wickedness with good, assists those in needs, and
shows compassion, love, affection and tolerance.

Terrorists, on the other hand, listen to their earthly desire for violence instead of their
consciences, and can easily turn to all forms of wickedness. They become loveless,
aggressive people who easily hurt others without the slightest pang of conscience.
Having no fear of God, they do not know the morality of religion, nor do they practice
it. Nothing can stop them from committing crimes. Someone who doesn't heed the
voice of his conscience can easily turn to crime when on his own, or surrounded by
people of like mind. It is clear that physical precautions and measures will bear no
fruit in a society which has no fear of God and which has lost its spiritual values.
Religious moral values, on the other hand, command a person to refrain from evil,
even if he is all alone, even if nobody will punish him for his evil deeds. It is evident
that a person who knows that he will be called to account in the presence of God for
his every deed, his every decision and his every word, and that he will be suitably
rewarded for these in the eternal life of the Hereafter, will scrupulously avoid
committing evil.

For these reasons, proper morality is the key to solving so many social problems.
The source of that key, in turn, is the Qur'an, which God has revealed as a guide for
mankind. It must not be forgotten that unless necessary measures are taken, unless
deep-rooted solutions are brought in, the 21st century will continue to be a time of
terror and violence. The homes of innocent people will be bombed, and women and
children will be slaughtered. The ideological fight against terrorism, therefore, must
be started with great urgency, to include very great numbers of people. This fight will
be fought on the level of ideas—between people who believe in God, who are loving,
forgiving, compassionate and in full possession of their conscience; and those who
draw their strength from ignorance and violence. One should not forget that terrorism
stems from wrong ideas and the basic struggle against terrorism should be on the
level of ideas. Believers must explain that these ideas are wrong and that no idea
can prevail by means of violence, oppression and cruelty; and despotism can never
bring about beauty. Sincere believers in all parts of the world can help end the
ignorance that breeds terrorism by searching for solutions, promoting educational
activities and disseminating their own cultural heritage. The prevalence of tolerance,
peace and security on the Earth, as commanded by God, will make terrorism
disappear in the history forever.

After 9/11, Pakistan was forced to play as front line partner in war on terror and has
been playing commendable role against terrorism for which she suffered huge loss in
this war. World community must recognise the bold actions of Pakistan in this
respect and reaffirm their commitments to support Pakistan in terms of changing the
internal dynamics of society in Pakistan, which could be achieved by formulating and
executing long and short term policies those could result in catering to the
conventional and non-conventional polar extremities in the society and those could
build bridges and arrive at a new social contract that articulates our societal behavior
in harmony with the changing internal, regional and global environment in league
with Pakistan’s Ideological aspirations of finding and place in the comity of nations as
a Muslim, democratic and economic power.
Sophism is another successful tool to combat terrorism. Sufism always teaches
respect of humanity. Peace is also a basic teaching of Sufism. It is so vast topic that
it did not differentiate between the people of different religion. Sufism just prefers
human and his humanity, not religion. It is worth to mention that proliferation of
terrorism is happening because fundamentalism is getting roots strong in community,
and to counter fundamentalism the tool which world can use is Sufism. In fact the
extremism and militancy are a ‘mindset’, which can be defeated by
advocating the teachings and wisdom of the great Sufi saints and focusing
on the teachings of peace, love and tolerance of Sufi saints in order to
counter the militant mindset. The current situation of peace especially in
scenario of Pakistan is not so good and many fundamentalist are fully involved in all
these activities which are deteriorating the peace. So peoples must promote Sufism
and should learn lesson of peace and harmony from the teaching of Sufism as the
entire philosophy of Sufism revolves around the “purification of the soul”
and creating an environment where individuals do not try to impose
close-minded versions of religion upon the masses. So Sufism believes that
their teachings can help states to resist terrorism and extremism in their respective
areas.
Concluded