‘Religions
of Peace’ Have Been the Cause of Bloodiest Massacres on Earth
Main
Points:
1. 20TH century has witnessed
some of the most brutal massacres in the name of God.
2. Srebrenica massacre was
perpetrated in 1992.
3. Rwanda genocide was
perpetrated in 1994.
4. Genocide of Muslims by
Muslims happened in Bangladesh in 1971 in the name of religion.
5. Muslims of Myanmar were
massacred by Buddhists in 2017.
----
By New Age Islam Staff Writer
30 November 2021
Religion has been the main guiding force
for man since the beginning of the human life on earth. The concept of God
provides man with a spiritual source of survival and a purpose of life. In the
primitive age, man was surrounded by a hostile nature without any power to
fight it. Therefore, Man depended on an invisible force which would provide
support and protection from the hostile nature. Gradually, human society developed
scientifically and intellectually and became more and more confident of their
survival due to newer tools and technology to protect them from the hostile
forces like nature and wid animals, natural calamities and diseases. However,
the concept of God remained important for Man for spiritual purposes. He found
someone more powerful than his scientific and technological devices as most of
the times, his scientific and technological tools and devices could not tame
nature or calamities. This strengthened his belief in the existence of an
invisible power that governed the universe and their lives and affairs.
Prophets and seers contributed to the strength of belief in the concept of God.
Therefore, as times passed and science and technology progressed, the
importance of religion grew because religion was seen as a social and political
discipline. Religion filled the spiritual vaccum created by the material and
scientific development.
However, since no two men agree on an
issue, they also differed on which religious course was better for them. This
led to the different religious paths and ideologies. And the followers of each
religion or religious ideology vouched for the truth of their own religious
ideology. This ultimately caused clash of faiths of clash of civilization.
Though every religion claimed to be the religion of peace, the same religion
became the cause of bloody strife, massacre and manslaughter. The pages of
human history are filled with the details of massacres and bloodshed
perpetrated by the followers of different religions.
Not to go much farther back. If we see the
history of massacres perpetrated in God’s name, we come across details of
slaughter of human beings in different religions of the world. The 1994
massacre of Rwanda was the most heinous act committed in the name of God when
the perpetrators said God was on their side. In this genocide, more than
500,000 Tutsi tribe people were massacred and the Catholic church were held
responsible for the massacre.
Another big genocide in the name of
religion happened in the East Pakistan in 1971. Long ignored and deprived of
political and economic rights, Muslims of East Pakistan declared independence
from the West Pakistan, forming an independent nation called Bangladesh.
Pakistan army invaded East Pakistan and massacred the people of East Pakistan.
It is said that about 500,000 people were killed by their Muslim brethren. The
massacre is one of the most brutal genocide in the human history. After the defeat
of Pakistan army, genocide of Bihari or Urdu speaking Muslims happened in
Bangladesh as revenge. Lakhs of Urdu speaking Muslims were massacred by Bengali
speaking Muslims. Another lakhs of Urdu speaking Muslims are still living in Bangladesh
as Pakistani refugees though they are Muslims.
Another big genocide of Muslims happened in
Myanmar where the Buddhists are in a majority. They feared that the Muslims may
one day dominate them and face a threat to their religion Buddhism as they had
destroyed Buddhism in India after the arrival of Muslims in the twelfth
century. Therefore, they tried to make Muslims weak politically and
economically. In the decades after 1960s, various steps were taken to
marginalize Muslims in Myanmar and finally in 2017, the Myanmar army with the
connivance of Buddhist monks massacred millions of Rohingya Muslims. It’s an
irony that Buddhism forbids killing of any living being, leave human beings.
But the followers of Buddhism took active part in the genocide of Muslims and
thought that God was on their side.
In 1992, the Srebrenica massacre was also
committed on religious lines between Christians and Muslims. In this massacre,
about one lakh Muslim women and boys were massacred and thousands of women were
raped. Thousands of Muslims were expelled from the area. This massacre was
another example of massacre driven by religious motives. Even decades after the
massacre, Muslims and Christians have not taken any lesson and the hostilities
between them continue on religious lines.
In 2014, the Middle East saw another round
of massacre on the basis of religion. A militant Islamist group unleashed a
reign of terror in the name of establishing the rule of God in the region. They
killed millions of Muslims, Christians and destroyed religious buildings and
enslaved thousands according to their interpretation of religion of Islam.
Millions of Muslims and Christians were displaced and had to take refuge in
other countries.
In India, religious affiliation played
important role in communal riots between the majority Hindus and minority
Muslims. The followers of both the religions Islam and Hinduism claim that
their religion preaches peace. Still, driven by insecurity complex, nationalist
groups clashed with each other killing thousands. During the last 70 years of
independence India has witnessed hundreds of thousands of small and big
communal riots in which millions of people have lost their lives.
In Pakistan, after the independence,
anti-Ahmadiyya riots took place in which thousands of Ahmadiyyas lost their
lives. This was perpetrated by the followers of Islam though they claimed that
their religion preached peace and respected the faith of others and that no
being will carry the burden of others. Even today, members of the minority
communities in Pakistan are attacked, kidnapped and killed by the majority
community members in the name of religion or God.
Sectarian violence among the followers have
also tarnished the image of religion as a civilizing force. Sectarian violence
among Jews, Christians and Muslims have been recorded in history and put a
question mark on the relevance of religion in human society. Jews fought among
themselves on sectarian lines. During the 3rd to 8th century, Christians killed
each other on sectarian lines. This hostility continued till the 17th century.
Muslims are divided in 72 sects and the
followers of each sect consider themselves to be on th true path and declared
all the others dwellers of hell and even worthy to be killed. This belief has
caused many massacres and violence in the name of God. Muslims in India, Pakistan, Egypt,
Afghanistan and all parts of the world where they live are divided on sectarian
lines and often engage in violence.
The emergence of militant and terrorist
organizations only aggravated the situation. They carry out suicide attacks
periodically on housing complexes, markets, hospitals and even in graveyards to
kill the members of the Muslim sect whom they consider infidels.
The Quran chides Man for his quarrelsome
and violent nature. Man always wants to impose his view or ideology on the
people his dominates. Therefore, the Quran says:
“Man
is the most quarrelsome of all the things.”(Al
Kahf: 54)
“Made
man out of a drop then he became quarrelsome, talking big.”(An Nahl: 4)
God never asked men to kill other human
beings for his pleasure because he does not derive pleasure when any of His
creatures is killed. But the self-proclaimed authority of religion promote
violence and killing in the name of God.
The culture of violence all around the world
in the name of religion or religious domination has put a question mark on the
relevance of religion in the modern day. This violence killing children, women
and the helpless and non-combatant people has turned many humanists away from
religion. They have lost faith in the utility of religion. A universal morality
has developed according to which people decided what is right and what is
wrong. They do not care for what the religion has to say on a particular issue.
Most
people who are inspired by science or have scientific insight do believe in a
power that drives the universe but they do not subscribe to any religious
belief. For example, Einstein believed in a power that governed the universe
but did not believe in a personal god. For this reason, he believed that
Buddhism was the religion of the future world as it did not believe in a
personal God.
Many individuals of the younger generation
in Muslim majority countries like Turkey do not believe in Islam but believe in
Deism. As human civilization is
progressing and exploring outer space and landing on other planets, their idea
of a personal God is going a sea change. They do not see or understand God as
the people of primitive age saw and understood Him. And insisting on this
primitive understanding of God will be a foolish thing. The man of the modern age, therefore, does
not give much importance to religion as a binding force but only as a means of
providing spiritual solace and support in times of crisis and stress.
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/religion-modern-society/d/125869
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