Muslims falsely labeled as terrorists by the western world

Submitted to: PROF. NOOR MUHAMMAD MALIK

Submitted by: Saira Khan Semester 1 BC 09-67

HAILEY COLLEGE OF COMMERCE

Muslims Falsely Labeled as Terrorists by the Western World

C ONTENTS
Muslims Falsely Labeled As Terrorists by the Western World ......................................................................................2 Definition of terrorism ...............................................................................................................................................2 Islam: The Religion of Peace ......................................................................................................................................2 Status of Human Beings in Islam ...............................................................................................................................3 the concept of warfare and jehad in islam ................................................................................................................4 Argument of non-muslims that islam was spread by the sword ...............................................................................5 Rapid Growth of Islam without any wars ..................................................................................................................6 the reality behind the allegations made against Muslims by Western World ..........................................................7 Muslim terror groups the source of all trouble or international propaganda? .........................................................9 The Real Terrorists ...................................................................................................................................................11

Muslims Falsely Labeled as Terrorists by the Western World

M USLIMS F ALSELY L ABELED A S T ERRORISTS BY THE W ESTERN W ORLD

D EFINITION OF TERRORI SM Terrorism refers to those violent acts which are intended to create fear and are perpetuated for an ideological goal and deliberately target or disregard civilian lives. A definition proposed by Carsten Bockstette at the George C. Marshall Center for European Security Studies, underlines the psychological and tactical aspects of terrorism: Terrorism is defined as political violence in an asymmetrical conflict that is designed to induce terror and psychic fear (sometimes indiscriminate) through the violent victimization and destruction of noncombatant targets (sometimes iconic symbols). Such acts are meant to send a message from an illicit clandestine organization. The purpose of terrorism is to exploit the media in order to achieve maximum attainable publicity as an amplifying force multiplier in order to influence the targeted audience(s) in order to reach short- and midterm political goals and/or desired long-term end states.

I SLAM : T HE R ELIGION OF P EACE And I breathed into humanity of my own spirit. (Quran 15:29) Islam is a religion of peace. This is evident even from the name "Islam" itself. ("Islam" is an Arabic word.) The word "Islam" and the Arabic word for peace "salam" both come from the same root, "salima".
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Muslims Falsely Labeled as Terrorists by the Western World

Muslims are taught to greet each other by saying "salamun alaykum--peace be upon you." The daily prayers also end with the same sentence. In Islam, one of the names by which God is known is "Salam" which means peace. S TATUS OF H UMAN B EINGS IN I SLAM Human being is the prime creation of God. "We have indeed honored the children of Adam; spread them in the land and the sea, provided them with good things; and preferred them in esteem over many things that We have created." (Qur'an: chp. 17, verse 70) In Islam, regardless of your race and religion, you are granted full liberty of following your own religion freely. Islam offers respect and liberty to all and this way, Islam offers a very modern, democratic and liberal view about life. It is stated in the Holy Quran: God does not forbid you from showing kindness and dealing justly with those who have not fought you about religion and have not driven you out of your homes.
(Quran, 60:8)

Moreover, in Holy Quran it is stated very clearly: Whoever does good equal to the weight of an atom shall see it and whoever does evil equal to the weight of an atom shall see it. (Quran 99:7-8) Prophet Muhammad Mustafa (S.A.W) stated: "By God, he is not a true believer, from whose mischief his neighbors do not feel secure." (Bukhari, Muslim)
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Muslims Falsely Labeled as Terrorists by the Western World

The definition of a Muslim in Islam clearly depicts the picture of a person by whose actions nobody is harmed and who doesnt harm any creature just for the sake of either racialism or religious fanaticism. A devout Muslim would follow the teachings of Islam mentioned in Quran and Ahadith(sayings of Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W). So, why is every Muslim found in a mosque and reciting the verses of Quran in public is seen as a potential threat in west? Why is there such a false picture of a Muslim depicted in western texts and media? Why is there such a monopoly created against Muslims all over the world? Who is the real terrorist: The one who is condemned and falsely labeled as terrorist or the ones who raid other countries and destroy the sacristy of their territories?
THE CONCEPT OF WARFA RE AND JEHAD IN ISLA M

According to the Quran, war is only possible for defensive purposes, when property, lives or virtue are in danger. But even then, Muslims never go to excess, and have a responsibility to treat the captives they take kindly, even give their prisoners food while they themselves go hungry, to establish peace without delay and to protect civilians and the innocent. In addition, under Islam nobody can arbitrarily distinguish between those who do right or wrong because this distinction is clearly set out by way of the Quran. As revealed in the Quran, there can be no aggression in Islam, only selfdefense. A Muslim can only resist aggression for purposes of defense, in the event of a threat to himself or those around him. According to Islam, only under such circumstances do people have a right to attack the other side, and then for
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Muslims Falsely Labeled as Terrorists by the Western World

purely defensive purposes. But if the other side ceases its aggression, then they must also put a stop to their defensive actions. The Quran says that Muslims must not go to extremes in war, and that they must stop fighting when the community they are at war with does so: Fight in the Way of Allah against those who fight you, but do not go beyond the limits. Allah does not love those who go beyond the limits. (Quran 2:190) But if they cease, Allah is Ever-Forgiving, Most Merciful. (Quran 2:192)

A RGUMENT
THE SWORD

OF NON - MUSLIMS THAT IS LAM W AS SPREAD BY

The best reply to the misconception that Islam was spread by the sword is given by the noted historian De Lacy OLeary in the book Islam at the cross road (Page 8): History makes it clear however, that the legend of fanatical Muslims sweeping through the world and forcing Islam at the point of the sword upon conquered races is one of the most fantastically absurd myth that historians have ever repeated. Muslims ruled Spain for about 800 years. The Muslims in Spain never used the sword to force the people to convert. Later the Christian Crusaders came to Spain and wiped out the Muslims. There was not a single Muslim in Spain who could openly give the adhan, which is the call for prayers.

Muslims Falsely Labeled as Terrorists by the Western World

With which sword was Islam spread? Even if Muslims had it they could not use it to spread Islam because the Quran says in the following verse: Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from error. (Quran 2:256) R APID G ROWTH OF I SLAM WITHOUT ANY WAR S An article in Readers Digest Almanac, year book 1986, gave the statistics of the increase of percentage of the major religions of the world in half a century from 1934 to 1984. This article also appeared in The Plain Truth magazine. At the top was Islam, which increased by 235%, and Christianity had increased only by 47%. May one ask, which war took place in this century which converted millions of people to Islam?

In Quran there is a clear guidance as to how to preach others Muslim ideology and Allahs ways: You shall invite to the path of your Lord with wisdom and kind enlightenment and debate with them in the best possible manner. Your Lord knows best who has strayed from His path, and He knows best who the guided ones are (Quran 16:125) It has also been stated in the Holy Quran: Goodness and evil are not equal. Repel evil with what is better. Then that person with whom there was hatred, may become your intimate friend! And no one will be granted such goodness except those who exercise patience and self-restraint, none but people of the greatest good fortune.
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Muslims Falsely Labeled as Terrorists by the Western World

(Quran 41:34-35)
THE REALITY BEHIN D T HE ALLEGATIONS MADE AGAINST M USLIMS BY W ESTERN W ORLD

After the attack on World Trade Centre on 11th September, 2001 there has been going on a constant debate on whether Muslims are terrorists or not. Right after that attack, the U.S government and mass media openly labeled Muslims as terrorists and now all the Muslims of the world were in spotlight: as terrorists. Soon later U.S.A waged a war on Afghanistan. They raided the Afghan territory. They started a bloody massacre. They openly violated all the laws of human rights practiced in their own or any other civilized country in this world. Still the Muslims were to be blamed and condemned as terrorists. The tyranny of U.S government hides behind the cover of Taliban and Al-Qaeda. They easily distract everybody by naming names of Muslims supposedly belonging to those extremist groups. Here we have to keep in mind that back when Soviet Union ruled over Afghanistan, these fighting groups were practically formed and hugely supported by the U.S government. The western world due to its edge in technology and art of warfare, its hold over the mass media and its dominance over most of the literature on this planet have very cunningly used their power in tilting the balance in their favor. It is sad but true that the world now is aware of the truth behind the lies. There are traces in history and present of Christian violence against other races but it is conveniently ignored because of the readiness of the world to believe in prejudices against Muslims.
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Muslims Falsely Labeled as Terrorists by the Western World

Back in 11th century, when crusaders, who attacked Jerusalem which was being ruled peacefully by Muslims then, their conquest of Jerusalem, where Muslims, Jews and Christians lived under Islamic rule in peace, became the scene of immense bloodshed. They violently killed all Muslims and Jews. The Crusaders' barbarism was so excessive that, during the Fourth Crusade, they plundered Istanbul, also a Christian city, and stole the golden objects from the churches. These masses, who knew almost nothing about their religion, who had never read or even seen the Bible once in their lifetime, and who were therefore completely unaware of the moral values of the Bible, were led into barbarism under the conditioning of Crusaders' slogans as "God wills it". Christian and Jews have always waged war upon other races and have been fighting amongst themselves for a long time. The World War 1 and World War 2 havent been fights of the Muslims. Jews hadnt been slaughtered and mass-murdered until forced to leave Germany by Muslims and neither were Hiroshima and Nagasaki completely reduced to nothingness with an atomic bomb by Muslims. Palestinians arent being treated inhumanely by Muslims. All those acts of violence, blood-shed and inhumanity were done by countries and nations posing as righteous and just. But the reality is a far cry to all those claims of righteousness and anti-terrorism made by those forces. The blood that has recently been shed in Iraq, Afghanistan and other Muslim countries was Muslim blood. But Muslims have never used this as grounds for saying that people who live by the Gospel are killers. Any sane person can see that irreligion always reigns anywhere in which oppression is taking place.
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Muslims Falsely Labeled as Terrorists by the Western World

Indeed, rational Muslims who abide by the Quran and believe in Allah never hold Christians responsible for the massacres in question. That is not something that anyone who genuinely believes in Allah could do. But then why are westerners pointing their fingers at Muslims in particular? Are those socalled Muslim extremist groups the only source of terror in the world? M USLIM
TERROR GROUPS THE SOURCE OF ALL TR OUBLE OR INTERNATIONAL PROPAG ANDA ?

For the past few years after the attack on world trade centre, if you look at the events happening all over the world the western world has seen less of the threats by those so-called Muslim terror groups they have been pointing out to the world. All the concentration of bombings, killings and terrorist activities has been shifted toward Muslim countries and Pakistan in particular. Pakistan which has always been a friendly country towards its neighbor Afghanistan is now a victim of the worst of terrorist activities supposedly originated from Afghanistan. If those are Muslim religious extremist groups then why Pakistan is, being a Muslim country and an old ally of Afghanistan, a victim of terror? The answer is that those groups now openly claiming to be Islamic religious groups are probably militant groups and not of religious nature. They are the left-over of the war with the soviet. They had been supported, trained and armed by the U.S.A. They have nothing to do with Islam from a mile away. That is why they can easily shed the blood of innocent Muslims so easily. Any Muslim who has even the slightest knowledge of Islam would know the value of the blood of another Muslim. If they claim to be religious groups, they would abide by the most obvious and clear message written in the Holy Quran. They are
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Muslims Falsely Labeled as Terrorists by the Western World

not and they dont respect human lives because theyre not even Muslim fundamentalists. Muslims have always been wrongly accused of being terrorists but the fact is so much different from the allegations. A Muslim fundamentalist would, even if he is not a great scholar of the Quran, be able to interpret and follow the clear and precise words written in Quran. When there are words written in favor of Jihad in Islam there are also verses which clearly state why and how Jihad should be carried out. For example in Surah al-Baqarat verse 190-193: Fight in the path of God those who fight you, but do not aggress. Surely God does not love the aggressors. And fight them where you come upon them, and send them out from where they have sent you out, for persecution is a worse thing than fighting. And do not fight them at the Sacred Mosque (in Mecca) unless they fight you there, but if they fight you, then fight them back. That is the reward of the rejecters. Then if they cease, so God is All-Forgiving, Gentle. And fight them until there is no more persecution and the religion is for God. But if they cease, so let there be no hostility except against wrongdoers. Such are the clear advice of Islam regarding Jihad and who would violate it but the ones who havent even the slightest concern or knowledge of the verses. Islam strongly condemns killing of the innocent. There is not a single logical reason to label Islam as a religion of war and violence. There might be some people and a minority that arose from the remains of war with soviet or tribal feuds. But that is a small number of people. They could hardly be counted as Muslims. What about the innocent old and young, women and children mercilessly bombed to death by U.S drone attacks in
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Muslims Falsely Labeled as Terrorists by the Western World

Afghanistan and Pakistan? What about the massacre in Iraq? Nobody ever raises the question on that in the non-Islamic world. A large number of Muslims have been living with other nations in peace for centuries. Muslims have been spread out from Far East to the far West, from up north to down south. They have lived in peace. But why a small number of rogue militants have become a standard for judging the majority of Muslims all over the world? Now why is the next-door neighbor of a Muslim for years seeing him as a potential threat to himself so suddenly? This negative change in the behaviors of people is a result of brain-washing done by inducing fear into the hearts of people. The media has created an air of fear and depression for its own people in order to create a negative image of Islam. Now that society is living under the cloud fear that has been conjured out of thin air. There is nothing substantial in those prejudices and suspicions. In fact the real terrorists are those who have actually run this propaganda and are terrorizing their own people.

T HE R EAL T ERRORISTS If we stop to wonder for a minute who is the real terrorist, following questions would definitely come into our minds: Are those terrorists who attack a whole country and tear it apart before the whole world to see or are those who have been taught and trained to be what they are by the same power that now condemns them? What name would anyone give to a countrys ruling power that wages a war on a country on the basis of mere doubt later on proved to be false? Waging a war on a country is one thing and massmurder, blood-shed and bombings on the civilian areas
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Muslims Falsely Labeled as Terrorists by the Western World

are another. Knowing and admitting that they were wrong, who would continue the blood-shed and keep sending troops to do more killings of civilians? Who would administer drone attacks on the civilian northern areas of a country that is a pledged ally in the war against terrorism posing to eliminate terrorists and instead killing a large number of innocent men, women and children? These questions should honestly be answered and then it should be decided whether or not only Muslims are to be blamed for all the acts of suicide bombings or hijacks. What if someone raided your homeland, burned down your houses, killed everyone you ever loved, destroy everything that was sacred to you and stripped your country of all the natural resources on the pretence of fighting terrorism? Where there is oppression, rebel and retaliation is sure to arise. It is the fault of the oppressor that aggrieved and distressed someone tends to return violence with violence. Calling Pakistan a country that harbors terrorism is most unfair allegation anyone can ever make because a country that would support terrorism wouldnt be so victimized by terror itself. Pakistan has become the target of miscellaneous terror attacks by either the drone attacks by U.S or the infiltration of groups like RAW just because of its geography and association with Islam. On the other hand groups rising from north aggravate because of the alliance of the government with the U.S in the war against terrorism. Now who is responsible? Pakistan being called a terrorist country by a country which started the unpleasant situation in the Middle East and
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Muslims Falsely Labeled as Terrorists by the Western World

Asia should be ended. So should the allegation on other Muslim countries as they are nothing but hindrances in their way of economic, political and social development. All the allegations made on Muslims in general are unfair and most of them arent even true. After the 9/11 incident the amount of literature written against Islam and Muslims has increased alarmingly. Such books are heavily sold and read in the west. Its sad to say in the country which boasts of its democracy such books promoting hatred are bestsellers. On the other hand, the literature and forces defending the image of Islam are sadly ignored. The handful of people working vigilantly to promote the vision of Islam should be given more exposure so that the world may know that Muslims are peaceful people who believe in one God and Islam is a religion of peace. Let not a handful of people ruin the image of majority of Muslims.

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Muslims Falsely Labeled as Terrorists by the Western World

REFERENCES The Holy Quran Sahee Bukhari http://www.al-islam.org/begin/intro/rizvi.html#3 Islam at the cross road by De Lacy OLeary Readers Digest Almanac, year book 1986 The Plain Truth_magazine

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