Ideological Crisis in Islam: Al-Qaida, Taliban and ISIS Have Done Islamic World Irreparable Damage
Ideology
of Violence Gets Overt and Covert Support of Some Ulema
Main
Points:
1. Al Qaida
could not destroy the US.
2. ISIS could
not establish a truly Islamic Caliphate.
3. Afghan civilians
are fleeing Afghanistan after Taliban came to power
4. Terrorist
organisations thrive on mainstream extremist Islamic exegeses.
----
By
New Age Islam Staff Writer
25 February
2022
(File Photo)
------
One major
problem of the Muslim world today is that it is facing an ideological crisis.
Though generally every Muslim or every Islamic scholar vouches that Islam is a
religion of peace, the reality is quite the opposite. The Muslim world at large
is in the grip of violence either on the basis of political differences or on
the basis of religious differences.
Apart from
the political or ethnic conflicts, the main reason for the violence in the
Muslim societies in the modern times is that extremism has been validated as
means of achieving religious and political goals.
The history
of extremism goes back to the life of prophet pbuh when a group of Muslims
committed violence in the name of religion. The Quran speaks of extremist
groups among Muslims.
"There
is one whose words you like in the affairs of the world and he holds God
witness on his heart but he is very quarrelsome, when he returns from your
company he roams about on earth to create mischief and destroys crops and lives
and God hates Fasad (mischief).(Al Baqra:205)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
There are
other verses in the Quran that speak of extremists among Muslims who believe
that violence can be used for reform and to spread the message of Islam though
the Quran repeatedly says that violence should not be used to bring social reform
or to spread the message of God. There is a similar verse that say that there
are Muslims who think that by perpetrating violence, they are trying to bring
reform in the society and preparing the ground for a just society but the Quran
declares them mischief mongers or Mufsid.
"And
when they are told to abstain from creating mischief on earth, they say we are
only reformers, let it be known that they are mischief makers but they don't
understand."(Al
Baqarah: 12)
On another
occasion, the Quran again says:
"And
God knows the mischief maker (Mufsid) and the reformer". (Al Baqarah: 220)
Therefore,
it becomes clear that it may sometimes become difficult to distinguish between
mischief and reform, especially in the modern world where the situation is very
complicated and so even Islamic scholars are divided on some basic issues.
According
to a hadith in Sahih Bukhari, in the later period, there will be confusion in
matters of Deen and many Islamic scholars will lead Muslims towards Hell with
their misleading views.
(File Photo/ Boko Haran)
------
The
extremist group emerged as a prominent ideological group during the caliphate
of Hadhrat Ali r.a. so much so that the fourth righteous Caliph had to fight a
decisive battle against them and eliminate them. They were called the
Kharijites. They were called Kharji which
in Arabic
means outsiders. Since Takfiri ideology had not gained ground till that time,
they were not declared Kafirs and were only called outsiders on the basis of a
verse in the Quran which says to the prophet that he had nothing to do with
those who create groups in Deen. Though most of the Kharijites were eliminated
by the fourth Caliph, some survived and the extremist ideology remained dormant
for some time. However, Hazrat Ali was himself killed by a Kharjite.
In later
years, the Khariji ideology gave birth to extremist and terrorist groups like
Al Qaida, Taliban, ISIS and their offshoots. But these groups did not emerge overnight.
They had basis in the extremist interpretation of Quran and events during the
lifetime of the prophet pbuh by some prominent Ulema of the middle ages. Even
some modern Ulema have extremist ideas. These terrorist organisations do not
have their independent ideology but they base their beliefs and ideas in the
interpretations and exegeses of some mainstream Ulema.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Also
Read: Taliban, ISIS, Al-Qaeda and Boko Haram – Do You Know
Islam Means Equality, Peace and Kindness?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The major
incidents of violence, massacre and civil wars in the Muslim world were
perpetrated by these extremist organisations in the name of protecting Islam,
spreading Deen among non-Muslims, fighting the enemies of Islam and
establishing caliphate. Al Qaida carried out 9/11 and other bombings in
different parts of the world in the name of fighting US excesses in Muslim
countries. Taliban got legitimacy by fighting against US occupation of
Afghanistan and for attempting to establish Sharia rule. ISIS also gained the
moral support of some prominent Ulema of the Muslim world for establishing
Caliphate in the Levant. In all these operations many innocent Muslims ---
women, children and elders from among the Muslim community apart from
non-Muslims --- were killed but these Kharji outfits justified their inhuman
acts by quoting opinions of some prominent Islamic jurists of the middle ages.
Even the bloodshed and killing of Shia, Sunni and Christian women during the
ISIS occupation of Mosul was overtly or covertly supported or defended by a
section of Muslim scholars.
Ayman al-Zawahiri (left) and Osama bin Laden (right)/ Photo: TRT World
------
The Taliban
have targeted residential complexes both in Pakistan and Afghanistan in the
past. They attacked girls’ schools in Swat in Pakistan and in many towns in Afghanistan.
Their soldiers shot at Malala only for advocating girls' education which is a Farz
(duty) on Muslim men and women. They shot dead a girl in Afghanistan recently
just for not wearing a veil in public. In Pakistan, they target Shias and
attack Shia children saying snakelings will only grow into snakes. Still many
Islamic scholars ignore these un-Islamic acts based on a Khariji ideology and
hail them as the true flagbearers of Islam.
About ten
years ago the Nawaz Sharif government had called an all party conference on the
issue of Taliban terrorism. An Islamic organisation had refused to take part in
it saying they did not consider Taliban a terrorist organisation. Recently, the
head of a so-called moderate Islamic organisation, a prominent Islamic scholar
and teacher of India welcomed the Taliban's ascent to power in Afghanistan
saying they were freedom fighters.
These Ulema
have ignored the Quranic injunctions on the use of force. The Quran authorises
force or violence only when one is wronged or faces an existential threat. It
asks Muslims to abstain from violence as far as possible. These Ulema are so
obsessed with the belief that only a form of government named Khilafat is the
remedy of all the problems of the Islamic world that they accept every
massacre, bloodshed and mischief perpetrated in the name of the establishment
of caliphate. One Islamic scholar said during the civil war in Syria that small
excess are acceptable for achieving big goals. This view does not have any
justification in the events that took place during the prophet's life. And
saying that the bloodshed, killing, rape of women, their enslavement,
destruction of mazars mosques and churches were small excesses speaks of their
own Kharji ideology under the cover of moderateness.
The Al
Qaida could not destroy the US, the ISIS could not establish a caliphate and
the Taliban have not been able to establish a truly Islamic caliphate or
government. Millions of Afghan civilians have fled to non-Muslim countries
because of persecution and throttling limitations. Certainly this is not the
kind of rule envisaged by Quran and Sunnah.
These
terrorist organisations have caused a lot of loss and damage to the Muslim
world by giving the US and other Western countries the alibi to carry out
military operations and station their troops in Muslim countries. These
terrorist organisations have only served the political interests of the enemies
of Islam by providing them the opportunity to destroy the economy of Muslim
countries in the name of war on terror.
Terrorism
will flourish as long as Muslims will support the ideology of violence in any
form. Islam does not support any movement that is run from jungles or mountains.
A just movement should be run for the people, by the people and should be of
the people. The holy prophet pbuh brought reform within not from outside and by
peaceful means and not by using force on innocent people. The sooner the
Muslims realise this the better for them
New Age Islam, Islam
Online, Islamic
Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism