As a former Muslim student in the UK, I wasn't at all surprised to hear about the events that unfolded in Glasgow and London a few of days ago. One must indeed rejoice, Muslims especially, to the fact that these attacks were halted and that lives were saved. Nevertheless, this was to be expected baring in mind the neo-imperialistic agenda sufficed by both the Americans and the British. This does not serve as a an excuse for such actions; it is nothing more than a simple logical analysis of events.
Did Great Britain really expect to be exempted from internal attacks whilst participating in mounting Muslim public opinion against her in oil-fueled wars and atrocities; in another side of the world of course. It is simply logical to state that for every action there is a reaction. Regardless of what Great Britain's intentions are in their wars in Iraq and Afghanstan; what we Muslims and Arabs see every single day on TV is massacares of our innocent "brothers and sisters", a lot of them women and children. In other words, imagine (as a British national) watching a war taking place in your country on TV for four years. Imagine that in every single day you hear about 20-30 innocent people dying, a lot of which are women and children. These killings may take place due to internal differences and factions; however, the initial catalyst was due to an alien country invading your country. Before which, your country was in a high degree of safety, despite of the distort regime that was in power. After all this, what would your reaction be towards the oppressing country that caused all this trouble and hardship for your people? Only when you think that way will you truly understand why some people are willing to kill 1700 in central London.
Again, I must stress, this does not serve as a justification on my part for what "almost" happended. It is just really important for British people and all that suffer from such attacks to understand what propells these attacks. In addition, to many people's surprise, I think that if Britain was in the situation I theoritically described above; the reaction of some people wouldn't be different. Hence, it should not be surprising at all to learn that suicide attacks were undertook by Israelis before they formed their claimed "state". Moreover, suicide or what was known as Kamikaze attacks were done by Japanesse air fighters in times of no hope. So, the concept of performing suicide in order to attack one's enemy is not synonymous with Islam, in fact it was invented a while before some Muslims adopted it as a means of attack.
It is important for Muslims to understand the essential nature of the message of Islam; that is to move people from worshipping the created to worshipping the Creator. This is what we are mainly about. Islam did not only teach us what we are about and what our aims are, it also taught us the best way of propagating our views and fulfilling our aims. This is simply put in the words of Allah, where He says;
"16:125: Invite (all) to the Way of thy Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching; and argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious: for thy Lord knoweth best, who have strayed from His Path, and who receive guidance." (Yusuf Ali translation)
So, it is unfair for a small fraction of Muslims to take upon themselves controversial decision making, mostly with little or no help from Muslim Scholars, that would end up hurdling the main aim that Muslims are trying to fulfill in the West; that is to call to Islam. A Muslim might argue that Muslims are oppressed by the West and that a war has been waged against Islam by the West. The simple answer is: well, some Muslims have tried to fight back. Some even went further and attacked Western countries, causing massive casualties in some cases. However, the question remains: what did all that achieve? It only achieved more wars against Muslims being waged, as it served as a very good excuse for Western armies to occupy the countries thought to be the source of these attacks. Nonetheless, it does not take a rocket scientist to conclude that Muslims by far undermatch the arson and weapon-might of the West; this has been proven excessively over the last few years.
This is not a call for Muslims to transform into a bunch of "hippies" yelling peace all the time. Islam is a religion that protects one's right to defend oneself and fight back. However, this is a time a grave weakness for Muslims all over. So, instead of trying to regain our stolen natural rights straight away, we as Muslims should strive to attain a position that puts us at an equal playing field with the west, or at least as a equal as possible. Allah said in the Quran;
8:60: "And prepare against them what force you can and horses tied at the frontier, to frighten thereby the enemy of Allah and your enemy and others besides them, whom you do not know (but) Allah knows them; and whatever thing you will spend in Allah's way, it will be paid back to you fully and you shall not be dealt with unjustly." (Shakir translation)
So, we should prepare ourselves and start rebuilding our momentum; through education, correct understanding of our religion and better governance for our people. This will rapidly improve our position to an exacerbated extent demanding the respect that we have long lost. Our struggle to improve does not mean we merely aim to do so in order to create a modern army and finally defeat the "evil" west; its main purpose would be to utilize the respect it will give us to form a shield from future attacks or colonization, as clearly indicated by the verse above. Moreover, it will also give us a stronger platform to give the world the alternate Islamic "way of life" as opposed to the capitalism and the ever dying communism. As, in the end of the line, no other system apart from Islam includes the best parts of capitalism and communism; with the addition of a beautifying spiritual touch.
Did Great Britain really expect to be exempted from internal attacks whilst participating in mounting Muslim public opinion against her in oil-fueled wars and atrocities; in another side of the world of course. It is simply logical to state that for every action there is a reaction. Regardless of what Great Britain's intentions are in their wars in Iraq and Afghanstan; what we Muslims and Arabs see every single day on TV is massacares of our innocent "brothers and sisters", a lot of them women and children. In other words, imagine (as a British national) watching a war taking place in your country on TV for four years. Imagine that in every single day you hear about 20-30 innocent people dying, a lot of which are women and children. These killings may take place due to internal differences and factions; however, the initial catalyst was due to an alien country invading your country. Before which, your country was in a high degree of safety, despite of the distort regime that was in power. After all this, what would your reaction be towards the oppressing country that caused all this trouble and hardship for your people? Only when you think that way will you truly understand why some people are willing to kill 1700 in central London.
Again, I must stress, this does not serve as a justification on my part for what "almost" happended. It is just really important for British people and all that suffer from such attacks to understand what propells these attacks. In addition, to many people's surprise, I think that if Britain was in the situation I theoritically described above; the reaction of some people wouldn't be different. Hence, it should not be surprising at all to learn that suicide attacks were undertook by Israelis before they formed their claimed "state". Moreover, suicide or what was known as Kamikaze attacks were done by Japanesse air fighters in times of no hope. So, the concept of performing suicide in order to attack one's enemy is not synonymous with Islam, in fact it was invented a while before some Muslims adopted it as a means of attack.
It is important for Muslims to understand the essential nature of the message of Islam; that is to move people from worshipping the created to worshipping the Creator. This is what we are mainly about. Islam did not only teach us what we are about and what our aims are, it also taught us the best way of propagating our views and fulfilling our aims. This is simply put in the words of Allah, where He says;
"16:125: Invite (all) to the Way of thy Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching; and argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious: for thy Lord knoweth best, who have strayed from His Path, and who receive guidance." (Yusuf Ali translation)
So, it is unfair for a small fraction of Muslims to take upon themselves controversial decision making, mostly with little or no help from Muslim Scholars, that would end up hurdling the main aim that Muslims are trying to fulfill in the West; that is to call to Islam. A Muslim might argue that Muslims are oppressed by the West and that a war has been waged against Islam by the West. The simple answer is: well, some Muslims have tried to fight back. Some even went further and attacked Western countries, causing massive casualties in some cases. However, the question remains: what did all that achieve? It only achieved more wars against Muslims being waged, as it served as a very good excuse for Western armies to occupy the countries thought to be the source of these attacks. Nonetheless, it does not take a rocket scientist to conclude that Muslims by far undermatch the arson and weapon-might of the West; this has been proven excessively over the last few years.
This is not a call for Muslims to transform into a bunch of "hippies" yelling peace all the time. Islam is a religion that protects one's right to defend oneself and fight back. However, this is a time a grave weakness for Muslims all over. So, instead of trying to regain our stolen natural rights straight away, we as Muslims should strive to attain a position that puts us at an equal playing field with the west, or at least as a equal as possible. Allah said in the Quran;
8:60: "And prepare against them what force you can and horses tied at the frontier, to frighten thereby the enemy of Allah and your enemy and others besides them, whom you do not know (but) Allah knows them; and whatever thing you will spend in Allah's way, it will be paid back to you fully and you shall not be dealt with unjustly." (Shakir translation)
So, we should prepare ourselves and start rebuilding our momentum; through education, correct understanding of our religion and better governance for our people. This will rapidly improve our position to an exacerbated extent demanding the respect that we have long lost. Our struggle to improve does not mean we merely aim to do so in order to create a modern army and finally defeat the "evil" west; its main purpose would be to utilize the respect it will give us to form a shield from future attacks or colonization, as clearly indicated by the verse above. Moreover, it will also give us a stronger platform to give the world the alternate Islamic "way of life" as opposed to the capitalism and the ever dying communism. As, in the end of the line, no other system apart from Islam includes the best parts of capitalism and communism; with the addition of a beautifying spiritual touch.
Written by Hamid83
4-7-2007
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