Middle Eastern Terrorists Are Not Islamic Fundamentalists

bismi-lLahi-rRahmani-rRahiem
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful

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Middle Eastern Terrorists Are Not Islamic Fundamentalists

The recent rally by Christians in Lebanon in favor of Hizbullah demonstrates that Arabs are Arab first and Muslim or Christian second. Use of such terms as Militant Islam, Islamic Fascism and Jihadi Terrorists depicts not only misconception but also offends Muslims all over the world.

Middle Eastern terrorists are not Islamic fundamentalist but fundamentalist of freedom struggle. They are an exclusive group that regards the Israel, US and its Allies as usurpers and enemy. Those in Muslim world who are not terrorists – especially the Middle Eastern Muslim and Christian Arabs also view the Israel and its supporters with some antipathy.  Al-Qaeda is opposed to the USA and their Allies in particular, not the west in general.  Western countries that do not interfere with Islamic countries and their interests are not targeted with terrorist attacks.

Since they don’t have missiles, artillery brigades, tanks and air force, they use gorillas and suicide bombers. William Blum in his book defines a Terrorist as: “A person who has the bomb but does not have the air force.”

The Cure

Though the beliefs as well as the ways of prayers, meditation and worship differ, in almost all religions great emphasis is laid on believing in the equality of man; and the things that are considered essential parts of religious duties include doing justice, loving mercy, charity, respect to different cultures and faiths and cooperation with people of different races and religions for the good of society and the mankind.

In his Inaugural lecture at the Center for Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Delhi. Dr. Salman Akhtar who is an eminent psychoanalyst, an award-winning professor of Psychiatry, Jefferson Medical College, a lecturer at Harvard Medical School and a well known author and poet, and scholar in residence at the Interact Theatre Company, Philadelphia, USA) asked that if fundamentalism and terrorism are pathology, what is the solution?

In his view the solutions reside in addressing the pathology. We have to make it possible for people to bear the burden of sanity. And how can we make people bear the burdens of sanity?

By offering them compensating factors, such as a feeling of safety. And if the feeling of un-safety is real, then we have to restore a feeling of safety. If the feeling of un-safety is manufactured for political purposes, then we have to teach, ignore and fight against it and inform people that this is a manufactured dread not a real dread.

In my view equally important are factors for equal opportunities for economic activities, better education and skill development programs, elimination of corruption, assistance for generating and enhancing economic activities for alleviation of poverty, fair dealings, a sense of participation in the affairs of the State and justice in pluristic environment.

We must also realize, as the author Bob Burg has pointed out that our belief system is first given to us by our family and then finely chiseled by our environment. Once formed, our basic beliefs are extremely difficult (though certainly not impossible) to change because they are carried primarily on an unconscious level.

As we get older we seem to believe less and less and yet to believe what we do believe more and more. But we have to keep on sharpening our reasoning powers just as a woodcutter sharpens his saw from time to time for the process of learning continues from cradle to grave. Unless we maintain objectivity and neutrality in every matter, we would not be able think correctly. Reason can function properly only in an atmosphere that is free of selfish desires and motives.

As Bertrand Russell said, “Those who forget good and evil and seek only to know the facts are more likely to achieve good than those who view the world through the distorting medium of their own desires.”

Truths could be classified in two kinds – those of reasoning and those of fact or appearances. The truths of reasoning are necessary and their opposite is impossible; the truths of fact are contingent and their opposites are possible or they differ from person to person according his perception or circumstances. For instance if we write a figure of 6 on black paper and give it another person turning upside down, it may be read as 9. If you draw an arrow on windowpane inside a room, it would point to right to those who see it from outside.

Do unto others as you would that they should do unto you may usually be a good rule but not always.

From different alternatives we must choose the best that would be understood and considered as of mutual benefit or would be of help in creating harmony and understanding or eliminating hostility or tension.

Excerpted from The Cure for Fundamentalism

Sent By “Rouf Chundrigar” <model_chundrigar@yahoo.com>

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-muslim voice-
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BECAUSE YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW