Wednesday 26 November 2008

Gripped By Terror - Part 3

Terrorism has no religion.

Not matter what, I will always support that. I have several Muslim friends. Some of my best friends are Muslims. Why am I even talking about Muslims here? It is because of the unfortunate fact that terrorism has become synonymous with Islam.

But how much can you blame the world for that stereotyping? Nearly every terrorist act in the last 5 years or so, has been in the name of Allah, for the purpose of Jihad. Terrorists freely admit their intentions of wiping out all infidels.

Somehow, only selected verses from the Quran seem to be taught to these young men and women.

I see a parallel here with Catholicism. Even Judaism. Even Hinduism. Devotees allow somebody else to dictate religion to them. They become pawns in somebody else’s understanding of the holy texts.

Let me explain. For centuries, Jews were not allowed to read the Torah. Only rabbis read and explained the scriptures. Catholics too, surrendered their beliefs to the butchering of priests. They never took their version of the Bible home, to study it for themselves. The binding caste system of the Hindus did the same thing. Only the Brahmins, who belonged to the highest class, were allowed to read the scriptures. Why, lower castes weren’t even taught how to read, just so that there would be no danger of them even accidently reading the ancient texts!

However, the kind of extremist undertakings that we see happening in Islam today, did not happen in these other religions. Yes we had the crusades by the Catholics. But then the Protestants broke away, and that history never repeated itself. And the caste system in Hinduism, though still alive, is not practiced to the same degree. It now mainly shows up for marriages and other alliances only.

Like a Muslim friend of mine said, most religions evolved with time. Islam seems to have not.

Coming back to what I started with, I cannot however say that Muslims are terrorists. Any God loving person wouldn’t do what they are doing. And as yet another Muslim friend of mine said to me, “We don’t even consider these terrorists as Muslims. A true Muslim would never do this. This is not what Islam teaches us.”

How can a religion ask of its followers to kill followers of other faiths? If it did, it wouldn’t even be a religion anymore. It would be a perversion.

More on stereotypes.

Just like my Muslim brothers and sisters are shaking their heads all over the world and saying “This is not us”, I’d like to tell you about another stereotyping that I do not like.

It’s the stereotyping of non Muslims.

We do not want terrorists to generalize all Indians or all Americans or all anybody’s as bad people either. We do not want to be held responsible for what the administration 60 years ago did or didn’t do. Plenty of water has flown under the bridge, and wrongs have been done by both sides. But to kill random innocents now is wrong. Does my judgment count for anything?

I have questions. Lots of them.

I asked a friend about the hierarchy of Islamic administration. Like in Christianity, in India itself, there is the Church of North India and the Church of South India. Each has its own diocese. The various priests all come under a Bishop. Then of course there is the Pope, who is the highest authority for Catholics.

So what is the system like in Islam? She wasn’t able to answer me, but I hope to find out soon.

Guessing that there is a head cleric, for the entire world, maybe at Mecca, I would like to know, what they have to say about all this. Do they not also agree that what is going on is a gross misinterpretation of the Quran? Then why are they silent? Even if there is no head cleric, why aren’t Muslims uniting to show the world different, to clear up misconceptions? Why isn’t there a movement? Why aren’t they coming forward, to not only tell the world that this is not what Islam is all about, and confirm what I believe, but also to save these many Muslims who are laying their own lives for hoped martyrdom?

Coming back to the terrorists now. More questions.

How is a blast in a hotel, a Holy War? How is killing random people, who I am sorry to say, nobody but their immediate family and friends care about, fulfilling their purpose? If they want some attention- which we know they do- why don’t they target famous figures, world leaders and the like? Instead they target not just innocent people, but also random people? Why?

6 comments:

kicking.and.screaming said...

@ Anonymous who posted here on religion.

Presuming you are the same person who posted the comment on religion and are the same one who posted again asking why it had not appeared.

Sir/ Ma'am, the comment you posted was very sensitive. and since you hadn't left your name as well, and don't have a blog of your own, i didnt allow it to show.

Thank you though for the comment. I definitely didnt know quite a few things from it.

I do not mind anonymous comments, but with an issue like you raised, I do not prefer it.

Many thanks.

Anonymous said...

Every religion does go through evolution. Perhaps, phases might be a better way to put it.
Sikhism went through the issue of Khalistan
Christianity- Crusades
etc

But we fail to see that terrorism is more poltics-backed than religion backed

Think about it. Osama Bin Laden might use the cover of religion, but in reality, he is attacking United States of America. Religion is just a means to achieve a political end.

Why is India getting attacked, you ask? Because we are associated with the USA now. George Bush's visit to India caused more damage than good and now Islamists attack us. United States is a country, not a religion. We must recognise the true victims here and then, we shall arrive at the motive

Anonymous said...

there has come a point in time, where indians have become soft
we because of our secularism have decided that we have to be one with peace

peace works

implementing it, we arent so good at



day after tommrow, im joining NDA

and i will
coz our country needs us


and it is a soldiers reletneless persuit to die for his country

i will too some day


jai hind

BluE M@g!c said...

I say that we should too learn from other countries like the USA and UK, it should also become compulsory for all men at the age of 18-20 to serve the armed forces for 2 yrs.Do you know that they cannot get a job unless they do this????
Look where they stand, they are great achievers. This was brought up for discussion in the Indian parliament 4 to 5 yrs back, no one was listening.

I have myself served in the NCC, which is National Cadet Corpse, which a joiner division, it is definitely beneficial, it does instill patriotism in you, they train u in fire arms too, there's a lot to learn from the army, they not only take up guns and kill others, they are involved in rescue work, charity, they instill patriotism and spread the word of unity, there's lots more.

i might seem to be glorifying the westerns too much but all i have to say is that we have so much to learn. Do u think Prince Harry & Prince William were any exceptions. they served the goddamn fronts of Iraq. We need to learn there's so much to learn.

kicking.and.screaming said...

true. its high time they spoke about it. but you can imagine the huge hue and cry theres gonna be if it becomes compulsory.

problem is, from whatever ive heard, NCC only makes these kids march up and down for Indpendence Day and Republic Day. i dont have too many details, but if thats the case, then they really need to put a proper program in place.

btw Kartik... ur here :) on blogspot?
i cant view ur profile btw, if u are here.

BluE M@g!c said...

i am really not sure how it works, ill figure it out after the exams