Daily Times

After years of terrorism, the Muslim world is at a loss to offer any real counter to the extremist ideology of terrorist groups that defames the holy religion Islam at a global level. They have been unable to collectively come up with any fatwa against the heinous activities of terrorist groups like IS in Iraq and the Haqqani network in Afghanistan. Whenever a terror attack takes place, the Muslim world verbally criticises it without taking any substantive action against terrorism. There are some factors that are behind the present state of affairs if the phenomenon of terrorism is studied in Muslim countries.

Sectarianism is the first factor that does not let Muslims counter terrorist activities. It divides the whole Muslim world into many different sects, like Shia and Sunni. The saga of sectarianism is traced back to Saudi Arabia and Iran: Riyadh is the supporter of the Sunni-majority countries, i.e. Egypt, Iraq, Jordan etc., while Iran is supporter of the Shia-majority countries, i.e., Yemen, Lebanon, Syria etc. The two states not only support the peaceful Shia and Sunni Muslims in their own countries, but also help nurture militant groups against one another exterritorialy. The three most prominent worldwide terrorist groups — the Sunni IS and al-Qaeda and the Shia Hezbollah — are supported by these two Middle Eastern countries. These groups kill Muslims primarily, and non-Muslims secondarily. The sectarian conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia is providing oxygen to terrorist groups.

Lack of a singular centre for issuance of religious decrees and other religious instructions related to day-to-day sociopolitical issues has also contributed to extremism. In other Muslim countries in general and in Pakistan in particular there are as many interpretations of Islam as there are mullahs. In the corner of every street there is a so-called religious scholar to indoctrinate our children with a distorted version of the religion. Our state has left our future on the mercy of the mullah. In this regard the state has surrendered its control over not only the future human resource but also a big chunk of its citizenry. If you are a mullah in Pakistan you can easily indoctrinate the youth against any individual or institution through teaching in madrassas or Friday sermons. Our state needs to take serious action against this phenomenon. Madrassas must be registered, their courses reframed and regulated, and Friday sermons must be checked by the state. All the required paraphernalia should be put in place.

The Muslim world also fails in the true universal interpretation of Islam. Islam is the religion of peace and brotherhood. It is absolutely against qatl (murder) and fasad (anarchy). Islam does not allow anyone to forcefully convert someone to Islam. According to the Holy Quran: “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.”[16:125].

Are the atrocities by IS in Iraq and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan in accordance with the Quranic injunctions? No. If terrorists can justify their activities through the wrong interpretation of Islam, why can’t the Muslim majority counter it through the correct interpretation? The absence of the right interpretation of Islamic injunctions is the failure on part of peace-loving Muslims. They do not offer anything persuasive to counter the appeal of terrorists.

Another flaw on the part of the Muslim world is their dual policies against the war on terror. On one side they stand with the US against terrorism, while on the other, they not only offer safe havens to terrorists but also patronise them. We have the examples of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan in Iraq and Afghanistan. In Iraq, Saudi Arabia is the non-NATO ally of the US against IS, while on the other side, it openly allows collection of donation by individuals and organisations for terrorist groups in the Sunni Muslim-majority states like Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. In Pakistan, there is the Haqqani network. Such a dual policy on part of Muslim countries keeps them from rooting out the evil of terrorism.

The madrassa education system is also in need of reform. The extreme mindset in Muslim countries is mostly the production of extremist ideas that are taught in madrassas. In almost every Islamic seminary, students are generally taught the following: if anywhere in the world someone has committed apostasy, its punishment is death and they have a right to punish them. Non-Muslims are born to be oppressed, and no one has the right to govern except Muslims. Every non-Muslim government is illegal. The concept of the modern state is against the teachings of Islam. All Muslims across the world must establish a single Islamic government, and it is to be called the Caliphate. All non-Muslims states are illicit, and it is our responsibility to eliminate them whenever we have the power to do so.

Tell me, what will you do if such extreme ideas are injected into your mind? The wrong and politicised interpretation of Islam is the main reason for the existence of terrorist group like IS. I am not at all ignoring the hand of western countries in facilitation of terrorist organisations, but we, Muslims, are the ones who form these terrorist organisations that provide an opportunity to western countries to use them for their own interests.

And last but not the least, these fundamentalist organisations propagate democracy as being incompatible with or against Islam. But we know that many prominent religious people have taken part in elections and parliamentary democracy, thereby approving it as not being anti-Islam. But even then we, the by-stander Muslim majority, have failed to create a compelling narrative around it. We need to come out of our slumber, and take control of the direction in which our societies are being steered. We need to unseat the fundamentalists from the driver seat of our societies. It is about time that Muslims all over the world collectively stood up against terrorism. Terrorism can only be countered through a narrative based on the correct interpretation of the injunctions of Islam as terrorists justify their atrocities as Islamic, which is in complete contradiction of the premise of Islam. A counter narrative is the need of the hour in this regard.

The writer is a law student at the Islamia College University, Peshawar, and he can be reached at khetran65@gmail.com