Sheikh Ahmad Khalif Muhammad
2 October 2001
opinion
Following the tragic terrorist attacks in New York and Washington DC, there has been an almost universal outcry against terrorism. Many Muslims throughout the world have joined the other major religions in sympathising with the victims and urging the international community to join hands in fighting terrorism everywhere.
While global focus is now on that fight, certain factors must be considered carefully by an increasingly charged international community. The global rush to punish the real or perceived perpetrators of the recent terrorist attacks may lead to tragic miscalculations for the whole world.
There is anxiety among Muslims around the world that the fight against terrorism may be hijacked by some forces that would like to turn this into a crusade against Islam.
There are those, especially in the West, who might be tempted to equate Islam with terrorism simply because the perpetrators of the US attacks are thought to have been Muslims.
It would be extremely dangerous for peace and tranquillity in the world if the America-led fight against terrorism were transformed into a crusade against Islam, a global religion with at least 1.5 billion adherents.
One of the most important issues that must be considered by the global community is a universal and proper definition of terrorism. We must try to find a definitive and globally accepted answer to the question of what exactly constitutes terrorism.
As long as there are differences in defining and interpreting terrorism, there can be no lasting solution to the problem.
In many Western countries and their satellites the perception is being propagated and perpetuated by the media that there is a connection between Islam, especially what has come to be termed as "Islamic fundamentalism", with terrorism.
The Western prejudices have been awakened and deliberately directed against the so-called "Islamic fundamentalism" because Islamic civilisation has its own sets of cultural and religious values, beliefs and morals, distinctly different from those of Western civilisation.
In the view of many Western religious, racial and cultural bigots, anything that does not conform to Western cultural, religious, moral and other values has been branded and condemned as evil, backward or uncivilised.
There are those in the West who view the world only through the jaundiced prism of their own cultural inclinations and biases. Islam should not be asked or expected to apologise for its religious, moral or cultural values.
Islamic fundamentalism is, by definition, strict adherence to the unpolluted and undiluted commandments and revelations of Allah as contained in the Holy Qur'an. According to Islam, it is the way all human beings are expected to live by their Creator.
Belief in and strict adherence to the word of Allah (God) cannot be associated with evil. On the contrary, it is the exact opposite of what can be considered evil. Islamic fundamentalism, therefore, is what Islam is all about.
It is in this context that most Muslims around the world, including many of us in Kenya, support Afghanistan's Taliban government. It has been described as an Islamic fundamentalist regime, adhering to the strict dictates of Islam. If this is true Islam, then there is nothing wrong with it.
If the current planned attack on Afghanistan by the US and its allies is designed to remove the Islamic regime offensive to the dictates of the West, then it will be an attack on the very essence of Islam.
On the other hand, if the Americans and their allies can prove to the world that the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington DC were planned, abetted or in other ways supported by the Taliban government, then they should take up the case before an international court of justice.
It is important for peace in the world that the Western world does not make the fatal mistake of attacking an innocent Islamic nation under the pretence of fighting global terrorism.
In the heedless rush to exact retribution for the recent attacks by terrorists, the West and its mass media have completely forgotten the plight of millions of Palestinian people who are subjected to brutal oppression by a callous Zionist regime in Israel.
While we must all support the war on terrorism, it is important to distinguish between terrorists who happen to be Muslims and Islam as a way of life for over 1.5 billion people around the world. Islam does not support terrorism.
Here, in our country, there were interrogations and harassment of many Muslims by the FBI and some local law enforcement agencies immediately following the bombing of the American embassy by terrorists on August 7, 1998.
After the recent tragic events in New York and Washington DC, the FBI agents are back in Kenya, ostensibly to look for alleged terrorists.
Kenya's Muslims completely resent involving the FBI in enforcing local laws, since we have had nasty experiences and tasted the arrogant disregard for Islamic sensitivities by the American law enforcement agency in the past.
If any terrorists are hiding in Kenya then our own local law enforcement agencies are competent enough to deal with the problem. Kenya is a sovereign state that should maintain its integrity.
Sheikh Ahmad Khalif Muhammad, is the Secretary-General, Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims (Supkem).
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