Fundamentalism, Terrorism and Islam
Believing in, and faithfully following the fundamentals of a religion, is fundamentalism. By definition true Christians, true Jews, true Muslims and true Hindus are all fundamentalists.
Unfortunately, a lot of people have been systematically trying to demonize Islam. The Western media has been, for some reason, very supportive of those, who equate the word fundamentalism of Muslims to the word terrorism.
Strangely, the fundamentalism of the Jews, the Christians, the Hindus and followers of other religions is seen as a positive trait, and is reported accordingly.
A nun is considered pious if she wears dress that covers her body. No one raises a finger when a Rajput lady covers her face. But a Muslim woman doing the same, is labeled as backward, oppressed and deprived. They have a different scale for Muslims.
Terrorists of IRA, who unleashed terror for decades in Ireland were never called as Christian terrorists. LTTE who killed thousands of innocent in Sri Lanka for a number of years were never identified as Hindu terrorists. But if a Muslim, who had strayed away from the Right path, he is identified only by his religion and not from his place of birth like his counterparts from IRA or LTTE.
Terrorism targets innocent people to instill fear. Islam forbids killing of innocent people even in self defense.
Islam equates killing of an innocent person to killing an entire race and considers that as one of the worst crimes. Islam does not allow killing innocent people, even during wars.
Suicide is also forbidden in Islam, and there is no reprieve for those who commit unlawful (Haram) acts. Suicide bombers, killing others, are far removed from the basics of Islam.
A true fundamentalist Muslim or a practicing Muslim can never be a terrorist, or approve of terrorism, because Islam is the most humane and rational religion.
|