Introduction and Discussed Reasons

  

Introduction and Classification:

Militancy and Terrorism: The words ‘Jongi’ and ‘Jongibad are the translation of two English words, Militant and Militancy. Nowadays these words are well known and widely used among us. These words were not used so much even just a few years back. These words not even used in a reprehensible or bad sense linguistically or practically. These words used to refer to a warrior or soldier or weapons used in battles in a literal or metaphoric sense.  The Commander-In-Chief of the British India was called ‘Jongilaat’. (1)

The word Militant was also used to refer to might or extremism. According to the Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary, A Militant is a person favoring the use of force or strong pressure to achieve one’s aim is a militant. (2)

It has been mentioned in the Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary; 1. A Militant is a person engaged in warfare or combat: fighting. 2 Aggressively Active (as in a cause). A militant is a person who is engaged in a battle at the frontline and who is extremely active. The second word has been interpreted more elaborately in Microsoft Encarta Dictionary. According to it, “ A militant is aggressive, extremely active in the defense or support of a cause, often to the point of extremism.

None of these words implies any illegal criminal activity directly. As per these meanings, all the political, ideological, professional and social groups of our country are Militant. It is because all of them like to use force or apply pressure and all of them are extremely active to uphold their own ideology or serve their own interest. However, at present, the word Militant implies only illegal atrocities and killing. In this sense, the renowned and well known terminology is ‘Terrorism’. However, we can apprehend from the Bengali Newspapers or Magazines, lectures or discourses or writings that there are differences among terrorism, militancy and extremism. Those who indulge in extremism, using weapons, atrocities or killing in the name of establishing equality, socialism or kingdom of paupers are called ‘extremist’; and those who indulge in extremism, using weapons, atrocities or killing in the name of Islam or establishing Islamic State, are called ‘Militant’; and those who indulge in extremism, using weapons, atrocities or killing in the name of conventional general political party or group, ideology or ‘ism in order to serve personal or collective interest, are called ‘Terrorist’.

Apparently, there is no basis for this kind of division or differentiation in terms of language or information. Rather the English word ‘Militant’ or ‘Militancy’ do not imply any illegal or criminal act, as we understand. Rather the word Militant or Militancy may refer to any illegal or legal type of extremism. Even the word Extremism or Extremist do not necessarily mean crime or illegal act. On the other hand, the word terrorism clearly means criminal and illegal activity.

Thus we can see that the word ‘Jongibaad’ is being used to refer to ‘atrocities in the name of Islam’ without any basis; although linguistically this word may be used to refer to people, who resort to extremism in the name of Islam or any other religion, secularism, democracy, communism, any other ideology, ideal or model, as ‘Jongi’ and his opinion can be regarded as ‘Jongibaad’. The English use of the word proves it.

Basically, what we are emphasizing or understanding by the word ‘Jongibaad’, should be emphasized or understood by the word ‘Shontrash’ or terrorism. In Encyclopedia Britannica, at the beginning of the discussion on terrorism, the terrorism has been generally introduced as ‘the systematic use of violence to create a general climate of fear in a population and thereby to bring about a particular political objective.’ The American Federal Bureau of Investigation has defined terrorism as ‘the unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.’

In this definition, emphasis has been placed on activities. Power, might or violence will be considered as ‘terrorism’ if they are illegal; and they will not be considered as ‘terrorism’ if they are legal. Here a problem arises with regard to determining what is legal and what is illegal. The United States and other western countries have used power and violence against the people of Iraq under the pretext of achieving political goals like ‘political reforms’, ‘freeing from autocracy’, ‘establishing human rights’ etc. They are regarding this action as ‘legal’ and a fundamental right and responsibility. Hence there are not ready to accept it as ‘terrorism’ although many people from all over the word are considering it as terrorism.

On the other hand, Iraqi warriors, who are trying to resist, are using force and violence against the American Army and their local allies in order to liberate the country from foreign occupiers while the Afghan Talibans are using force and violence against the Army of the Afghan Government, Officers and foreign soldiers in order to bring about social changes. They regard these activities as legal while other regard those as ‘terrorism’. Thus we can see that it is difficult to point out the terrorism and terrorists and it is almost impossible to have a consensus on this matter. That is why, many other social scientists have tried to define terrorism from the perspective of the victims rather than the act itself. In their words: Terrorism is premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets.

It has been mentioned in Encyclopedia Britannica that the US Government has accepted this definition. However, labeling the terrorism and terrorists based on this definition is bound to be controversial. When the unarmed Palestinian young men hurl bricks on the armed Israeli Soldiers or the Palestinian freedom-fighters attack the armed Israeli Soldiers, the US and the western world label it as ‘terrorism’. However, when the Israeli soldiers shoot or bomb the civil and unarmed Palestinian children, men and women, they do not regard it as terrorism; rather they claim that this is a normal right to self-defense.

In Iraq, when the freedom-fighters or the different rival groups of Shias and Sunnis kill unarmed civilians then everyone regards it as terrorism, but when the US soldiers kill unarmed civilians in Faluja and other places, it is never considered as terrorism. Thus, we can see that it is very difficult to label a man or a community as ‘terrorist’, in whatever way it is defined. Overall, different nations, groups and countries have gained independence, freedom and democratic rights by using thus kind of violence in every kind of revolution throughout the history of mankind. In modern history, many groups and parties including the Irish Republican Army, African national Congress, Tamil Tigers, liberation-seeking groups of East Timor have resorted to militancy to secure their own liberation, freedom and democratic rights and they are still doing so. At times, all the countries, even the UN have condoned this kind of violent activities and helped the militant organizations. For example, the terrorist and violent revolution of the French against the occupying Hitler’s Army and the terrorist and violent revolt of the African National Congress against the racist government of South Africa.

It is also noticeable that it is a common rule for the dictators, occupiers and imperialist to label the liberation-war and resistance as ‘Terrorism’. The communists of Nepal have been listed as terrorists. However, the people have elected them. The freedom-fighters of Bangladesh have always been labeled as terrorists by Pakistan, US and other colonialists. That is why, it is said “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter,”

Even during wars, both of groups keep trying to terrify the soldiers and public of the opponents. However, the fundamental difference between a general war and terrorism is that both in the case of guerrilla-war and general war, the soldiers mainly attack the opponent-warriors or the arsenals and the objective is always military victory. On the other hand, military victory is not the main focal point.  In this case, the main purpose is to gain political advantage by attacking and terrifying both military-personnel and civilians without any kind of consideration.

Terrorism proper is thus the systematic use of violence to generate fear, and therefore, to achieve political goals, when direct military victory is not possible. This has led some social scientists to refer to guerrilla warfare as the ‘weapon of the weak’ and terrorism as the ‘weapon of the weakest’.

Classification of Terrorism: Attempts have been made to classify terrorism in various ways: Many people have classified terrorism as follows: 1. Revolutionary Terrorism, 2. Subrevolutionary Terrorism, 3. Establishment Terrorism.

The first type of terrorism, the revolutionary terrorism, refers to establishing a new political system by uprooting an existing political system by means of terrorist activities. Red Brigade of Italy, German Red Army (Bader Mainhof), Basco rebel group (ETE), Shining Path of Peru and many other groups can be mentioned as examples of terrorist-organizations.

The subrevolutionary terrorism means the terrorist activities used for bringing about a partial change in the political system by toppling the rulers. Many people refer to the movement of the African National Congress against the racist government of South Africa as an example of this kind of terrorism. IRAK of Ireland may fit into this category as well.

The terrorism which is controlled or directed by the State, is called Establishment Terrorism or State Terrorism or State-sponsored Terrorism. Many times a regime or its organizations may carry our terrorist activities against it’s own people or some people of the regime itself or a government of another country or citizens of another country. This kind of terrorism is riff, but very hard to identify. It is because no country confesses or reveals its own terrorist activities or it’s support for terrorists. During the Cold War, The Soviet and its allies carried out or supported terrorist activities all over the world. Similarly, the US has supported the rebels of Angola and taken part in their terrorist activities; they are continuing to support and take part in global terrorism.

Terrorism in the name of Islam and Militancy:  Hence, we can see that generally terrorism means a kind of war which is waged for achieving a political goal, apart from the state-terrorism. However, the difference between a war and terrorism is that war is conducted by the state or the people claiming a state and therefore, in that case, the legitimacy of using force or legality is sought. Usually the soldiers are the primary target in this case and the goal is to achieve a military victory. On the other hand, the terrorists or the terrorist-organizations do not possess the state-power. However, they want to change the political system. That is why, they create havoc and destruction of life and properties by targeting both the fighters and the civilians without any consideration so as to make the government and the people bring about the political changes out of fear. Usually those who think that they cannot win by fighting from the front of by carrying our guerrilla-attacks, they resort to this kind of terrorism.

Now the question is- what kind of relationship does Islam have with this kind of terrorism? At present, Islam is being portrayed as the father of terrorism in the international media. However, the history and the reality are totally different from that. What is referred to as ‘terrorism’ was pioneered by the Jewish-extremists. Since the ancient age, the Jewish extremists have used violence to establish ‘religious fundamentals’ or ‘religious state’. The terrorism of Zealots, the extremist Jew, was the first and foremost terrorism in the early history of mankind.  These Jews, living under the Roman Empire in the 1^st century BC and then onwards, were uncompromising regarding their religious and social entity and freedom. They used to secretly assassin those Jews who were thinking about cooperating with the Roman State or cohabiting with them. That is why, they were known as the Sicarii or Dagger Men. They would commit suicide if deemed necessary rather than surrendering to the enemies. The main motive behind their assassination was to terrify the people and the administration. Hence, they used to attack and kill their targets openly during day-time, at markets or synagogues or celebration-points or similar social gatherings.  Their intention was to scare people by these killings and to enlighten the Roman Administration and their agents of their activities. (4)

At the medieval age, lots of events of terrorism took place among the Christians for religious and political reasons. Especially, at the time of religious reformation and counter-reformation, lots of incidents of terrorism took place without war, apart from the numerous wars which broke out between the Catholics and the Protestants. (5)

On the other hand, we can hardy find terrorism in the history of Islam although there were incidents of war. Different types of wars broke out in the history of Islam. For example, war between a Muslim country and a non-Muslim country, war between two Muslim Countries, war between a Muslim country and rebels etc. However, we can hardly find events of endeavoring to establish Islamic Ideology or serve any other political purpose by means of terrorism or militancy in the Muslim Society or among the non-Muslims in the history of Islam. We will discuss a few ancient incidents in the history of Islam in the next chapter. Let us analyze the current situation.

We can hear that some Muslims are killing civilians and unarmed people or resorting to terrorism in some Muslim countries. These are not proven in most cases. The biggest incident of terrorism is the destruction of the Twin Tower. The US has killed millions of civilians and unarmed men, women and children in Afghanistan and Iraq by alleging that Bin Laden and his Force were responsible for the destruction of the Twin Tower. However, they have not managed to prove it till date. Moreover, they are trying to get confession from the detainees imprisoned at the Guantanamo Bay by meting out barbaric torture and depriving them of human rights and justice. Outwardly, this is being done because there is no acceptable evidence to produce before the American Public and Judges.

Read the history of terrorism in any encyclopedia or informative book. You will find that the contribution of the Muslims towards the origination and expansion of terrorism is very nominal. We have seen that the terrorism was founded in the hands of the Jewish Zealots. In the modern history, you can find many terrorist-groups and incidents of terrorism in India, Europe and other countries. Almost all of them are Christians or Jews or Hindus or Buddhists. Whenever a terrorist-act is committed in India or the US or elsewhere, at first the Muslims are accused and it is publicized through Media.  Later they fail to prove their involvement or it becomes evident that some other people have done it! However, the Media does not publicize that. Despite that, if we assume that all the incidents of terrorism attributed to the Muslims are factual, what is the percentage of these incidents if we count the total number of such incidents across the globe? Not even 1 or 2 percent!

Thus we can see that whatever is said about ‘Islamic Terrorism’, ‘Terrorism and Murder in the name of Islam’ are mostly baseless and intentional propaganda. Alongside this false propaganda, we can see that some Muslims are really indulging in killing or destructive actions in the name of Islam or establishing Islamic State or protesting against injustice. We can even see some discussions and analyses regarding the reason behind these true or false terrorist-activities. We can see that all over the world, Non-Muslim and Muslim researchers or intellectuals have cited the following reasons behind militancy: 1. Islam, 2. Islamic Education, 3. Wahabi Ideology and 4. Western Conspiracy.

 

1.3. The first cited reason: Islam

Many western scholars hold Islam responsible for militancy. Some of them think that Islam teaches many good things and Islam may coexist with the western civilization. However, some extreme and intolerant teachings have been mixed with good teachings in Islam, which go against human rights or coexistence with civilization or evolution. Militancy originated from these teachings. Hence, the good teachings of Islam have to be appreciated and promoted. Alongside it, the extreme and bad teachings have to be eradicated. The Islamic Education System has to be redesigned from the scratch. Those teachings which may incite extremism have to be removed. Thus, the militancy can be curbed down if ‘Moderate Muslims’ are raised in the Muslim Societies. Many western scholars are of the view that Islam’s core teaching is ‘Militancy’. According to them, Islam teaches the followers intolerance. In Islam, an open call has been made for killing the Non-Muslims in the name of Islam and that is how militancy has grown up among the Muslims. In their opinion, repressing the religion of Islam or controlling it is the only way to prevent Islamic Terrorism or Militancy. They claim that the collusion between the Islamic Civilization and the Western Civilization is inevitable. There is no way to avert it. The biggest proof for the theory of ‘clash of civilization’ is the spread of militancy all over the world. Not only the Christian and Jewish clerics or the religious-extremists, but also many secular country-leaders or political figures of the west believe that Islam and Terrorism are synonyms and preventing Islam is same as preventing terrorism. Many of them do not say it openly for social or diplomatic or political reasons. They do not say ‘Islam has to be fought against’; rather they say ‘We have to fight against the Islamic Terrorism’. However, many of them blurt out and they say that the battle has to be against Islam, not ‘Islamic Terrorism’. In April 2004, the Queen of Denmark said: “We are being challenged by Islam these years- globally as well as locally. It is a challenge we have to take seriously…We have to show our opposition to Islam and we have to, at times, run the risk of having unflattering labels placed on us (we have to accept the risk of being labeled as communal, fundamentalist or racist due to our opposition to Islam) because there are some things for which we should display no tolerance (Islam is one of those things for which no tolerance can be displayed even if we are called extremist or fundamentalist or something similar).” (6)

They think that ‘killing all the Muslims, capturing them, converting them to Christianity by force and controlling the Muslim Nations by military force’ is the only way to curb down militancy in order to protect the human civilization- Especially, preventing the Islamic Education from spreading. Nowadays we can very often see in the Print Media that many secularist (?) politicians in the US and Europe are openly raising their voice in favor of banning the building of mosques, not giving citizenship to the Muslims or expelling them from their countries.  On top of that, they are getting lots of votes in the Elections on the basis of these demands. Besides, many western secular leaders like that are demanding that  if any terrorist act is carried out in the US or Europe, the Muslims must be held responsible for that and the Mecca and Medina have to be destroyed by weapons for retaliation.

America’s renowned and influential intellectual and writer, Ann Coulter has demanded that Muslims be forced to convert to Christianity by capturing all the Muslim countries in order to counter terrorism and militancy. She has written- “we should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity.” (7)

Muslims may regard these researchers/scholars as Anti-Islamic, but the main reason behind holding this kind of view is ignorance rather than hatred in many cases. They see that some Muslims are killing innocent civilians brutally and they are quoting from the Qur’an to justify that. So, they think that the Qur’an teaches this kind of values. Many of them may have read some instructions of the Qur’an as regards Jihad, but they have not learnt the true meaning, conditions or rulings attached to it. In most cases, they have read the propagandist-books written about Islam by the Non-Muslims preachers or clerics rather than extracting information from the Islamic Sources in a neutral manner. Especially it is very hard for many people to collect information or verifying those neutrally because of the overwhelming propaganda against Islam. Hence, in the light of the prevailing publicity, they are having the misconception that Islam is responsible for militancy and controlling Islam is the only way-out in this regard.

Another point should be noted with regard to blaming Islam for the terrorist-acts carried out by Muslims. Acts of Terrorism are being committed everywhere in the world, in every nation. The religion of the other terrorists is not held responsible for the acts done by them. However, Islam is held responsible for the terrorism of the Muslims as a blanket rule!

While talking about the terrorists who are Hindus, Buddhists, Catholics, Protestants or followers of other religions belonging to Assam, Monipur, Mizoram, Bihar, Srilanka, Ireland, Spain, France or any other country, their religion is never mentioned or blamed. They are introduced by the name of their country or nation- like Irish, Tamil, Moniuri, Assamese, Bashko, Italian, Spanish or German. On the contrary, if a Muslims commits it, his religion is held responsible. It is said that they are Islamic or Muslim terrorists of Philippines, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan or Kashmir. However, the reason and demand for the terrorism are the same in all cases! All of them resort to terrorism failing to get their rights in a proper way as per their own conception and all of them use their religions’ scriptures or teachings for legitimacy and inspiration. Not only there is terrorism of the followers of religions, but also there are numerous incidents of killing, genocide or terrorism for which religion is never blamed, rather the people who indulge in terrorism are accused. Please check out the following succinct list: 1. The European Christians persecuted and killed the unarmed civilian Jews over a period of almost 1500 years under the direct command or supervision or the Church or occasionally the Christians rulers being inspired by the religion or in the name of religion. Among these, there are events of genocide during which thousands of Jews were killed at once. Finally during the Second World War (1939-1945), 6 million Jewish women, men and children were put to death in Holocaust.

2. Only being inspired by religion, the European Christians killed thousands of Muslim women, men and children in a barbaric manner in Spain and in different parts of the Middle East while the Crusade was being conducted. The last one was the genocide of Muslims in Bosnia-Herzegovina by the Serbian Christians. The mass-killing in Srebrenica is one of the many incidents of this genocide. The Serb Christians brutally killed 8,000 unarmed Muslim young men, teenagers and children in July 1995 in Srebrenica underneath the nose of the UN Peace Keeping Force in the Safe-Resort declared by the UN being inspired only by religion and religious hatred, on the basis of communal enmity. Above all, the sole reason behind the apparent cool reaction by Europe and the US is that the slayers were Christians and the slain people were Muslims. The Encarta’s report (The Bosnian War Crime Investigation) regarding this matter is as follows:  Although the ICTY’s inquiry focuses on war-crimes committed by the warring parties within Bosnia, it has also raised serious questions among human rights observers about the role of the United States and other western powers. Specifically, did U.S Intelligence agencies have advance knowledge of the Bosnian Serb attack on Srebrenica and fail to warn the United Nations (UN) forces guarding the city? Why the U.S and other Western intelligence agencies were slow in releasing evidence of Bosnian Serb war crimes during the nearly four-year-long conflict? And why have Western officials in charge of enforcing the peace accord failed to arrest the two men indicted by the ICTY for masterminding the Bosnian Serb campaign of ethnic cleansing- the organized program of mass murder, rape and destruction of homes and places of worship?

(3) In the year 2002, the Hindu Militants mercilessly killed about 2,000 Muslim Women, Men and Children, rapes thousands of women and robbed the houses and properties of thousands of Muslims being sponsored by the Gujarat and Central Government and with the perceivable help of the Police.

(4) The terrorist-acts of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) are one of the examples of religion-based terrorist-acts. The main origin of the hostility and dissension between the British and the Irish is religion. The Britons are Protestants whereas the Irish are Catholics. In the European History, many stories of genocide are well-known apart from the horrific battles between the Protestants and the Catholics. Indulging in terrorist acts in order to achieve independence against the rule of the British is a part of the expression of the hatred accumulated over a period of hundreds of centuries between the peoples of these two countries. It is noticeable that the Protestants of the Northern Ireland have always been in favor of the British Rule and the terrorist-acts of the IRA have been directed towards these Protestants on many occasions. Especially between the year 1970 and the year 2000, hundreds of civilian unarmed women, men and children have been killed and countless number of people has been injured by IRA’s assassination, bombing, car-bombing, bombing at commercial centers etc.

(5) One of the instances of religion-based and religious terrorism is the terrorism of the Zionist Jews. With a view to establishing a Jewish-state in Palestine, they have carried out many terrorist-acts. In the name of religion, they have killed numerous innocent unarmed people and indulged in genocide in order to establish a religious state. Bombing the King David Hotel under the leadership of Menahem and mass-murder of innocent unarmed civilians in a village named Dir Yasin are among such terrorist-acts.

Being led by Menahem Begin, a Jewish Terrorist-Group called Irgun Zvai Le’umi killed more than one hundred unarmed Arab, British and Jewish civilians including women and children on 22^nd of July 1946 by bombing the King David Hotel and injured many other people. In the Encarta Encyclopedia, this incident has been labeled as the most spectacular terrorist incident and the deadliest terrorist incident of the 20^th century.  Later on, this terrorist Menahem Begin went on to become the Prime Minister of Israel and he was given the Noble Prize for peace!

Condemning the barbaric killing in Dir Yasin, Albert Einstein and 18 other prominent Jews wrote a letter to New York Times on 4^th of December 1948. They wrote: “Their (Dir Yasin and his party) attitude in Dir Yasin is pathetic instance of the cruelty of this party. These villagers, who are away from the main street and surrounded by Jewish Land, did not engage in any war, rather they drove out the Arab Groups who wanted to use this land as their camp. The terrorist-group attacked these peace-loving villagers on April 9. They were not a target for the requirement of war by any means. Most of the inhabitants (240 people) of this village died during this attack and some of them were kept alive for displaying in the street of Jerusalem as captives….let aside feeling shy for committing such a barbaric act, they boasted about carrying out such a heinous crime and promoted it heavily and they invited all the Foreign Media working in their land to see the carnage and rubble of corpse in Dir Yasin!

We can see a lot of such examples of religion-based terrorism in recent times. Many people have admitted and, are still admitting, that these are acts of terrorism. However, the religion of these terrorists was never blamed for the acts of these terrorists although these terrorist-acts were committed only by religious inspiration or religious hatred or on the basis of religious-scripture. Still they never get labeled as ‘Christian Terrorist’, ‘Catholic Terrorist’, Protestant Terrorist’, ‘Orthodox Terrorist’, ‘Hindu Terrorist, ‘Jewish Terrorist’ or something similar. Rather their nationality or community or other identities are mentioned. Above all, their religion is never blamed for their terrorist or inhuman acts.

Terrorism is being celebrated as well. The 60^th anniversary of the terrorist- incident of King David Hotel in 1946 has been remarkably celebrated in Israel. In July 2006, the Israeli Authority and the public celebrated the 60^th anniversary of this terrorist act. In the Online-Edition of the Indian national newspaper, The Hindu, an article titled ‘Celebrating Terror, Israeli Style’ was published on 24/07/2006 with details of this celebration. (9)

Many people have condemned this kind of genocide and celebration of terrorism, but nobody blamed the Judaism, Jewish Teachings or Jewish Scripture for this. However, when a Palestinian Muslim resorts to terrorism finding no alternative to protest against the barbaric terrorism and genocide committed by the Jewish State, his terrorism is labeled as ‘Islamic Terrorism’ or he is called a ‘Muslim Terrorist’.

We can see from the above discussion that militancy and terrorism are prevailing among the people of all religions, countries and ideologies. The share of the Muslims is nominal in this regard. The religion of the Muslims is not responsible for the terrorism of Muslims just as Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism or other religions are not responsible for the terrorism of Jews, Irish, German, Serb, Tamil, Assamese, Monipuri, Nepali, Tibetan, Chinese, American and other people. It is not only a crime to blame someone’s religion for his crime, but also it turns public-opinion in the criminal’s favor and hinders curbing terrorism. We will discuss it in the next chapter, InshAllah (God willing).

1.4. The second cited reason:

 

No Muslim in the world, whether religious or non-religious, can accept the above-mentioned opinion as correct. Rather they consider it as an unrealistic and prejudiced opinion. They feel that if Islam was responsible for militancy, we all (Muslims) would have the eagerness or inspiration for militancy. All the Muslims, whether practicing or non-practicing, get some education on Islam from family, institution or society; but they never learn anything which tells them to be intolerant towards the non-Muslims. In all the Muslim societies, the Muslims are coexisting with the non-Muslims with communal harmony and friendliness. Hence, Islam can never be responsible for militancy. The problem must be somewhere else, not in Islam. They do not deny that some Muslims are involved in terrorism, but they never admit that their religion is responsible for their terrorism. Rather the personal misguidance, mental depression, social injustice or some other reasons are behind it.

Many of them reckon that the main reason behind the rise of militancy is the Islamic Education or the flourishing of Madrasa-based education. There is a difference of opinion among these scholars on the issue of the nature of responsibility of these Madrasas for the spread of militancy. We have previously seen that the Non-Muslim Scholars of the first and the second class are holding Islamic Education responsible for the rise of militancy. However, they have differed on the issue of ‘the nature of responsibility’ among themselves as well as with the Muslim Scholars. Some of them think that the spread of Islamic Education is tantamount to the spread of militancy because Islam teaches militancy. The more these religious teachings, namely Qur’an, Hadis, Jurisprudence etc spread, the more Jihadi tendency, intolerance towards other faiths and eagerness to impose theocratic-rule over people will grow. So, the main way to get rid of militancy is to hinder the growth of Islamic Education or religious teachings of Islam. Many other people think that there is no place for militancy or terrorism in Islam, but Islam is being wrongly presented at the Islamic Institutes or Madrassas. Or the tutorial and the contents of studies are conducive for turning Islam into a militant religion. Or the teachers and the pupils of these institutes can easily be made into militants by misusing the Islamic Emotion. Some people hold the view that the Islamic Education system and the institutes are imparting Islamic Knowledge properly, but perhaps there are some loopholes in the education-system or institutional methods and that is why, they are getting involved in militancy. In their opinion, the reformation of the Madrassa Education System is the way to curb down militancy.

When Islam is blamed for the ‘Islamic Terrorism’, the Muslims regard this kind of opinion as prejudiced being perplexed, astounded, offended and excited. Likewise, the people who are involved in Islamic Education or Madrassa feel the same kind of astonishment, pain and excitement when the second opinion is hurled.

They feel that if Islamic Education or Madrasa Education was responsible for militancy, we (students and tutors of Madrassas) all would be keen or inspired to become militants. However, the reality is not like that at all. The scholars, Imams and Clerics who are passing out of these Madrassas, are feeling the most hatred and dissension against this terrorism, murder and destruction. The Madrassa Education System has been prevailing in the subcontinent for about two and half centuries and basically they have been following the same the curriculum and syllabus. Furthermore, innumerable Madrassas of similar nature can be found in Malaysia and other Muslim countries. Scores of people graduating from these Madrassas are working at different layers of the society. They gave birth to terrorism at no point of history. They do not deny that some teachers and students of Madrassas are involved in this crime, but they never believe that their educational institute or education-system is responsible for this. Rather it is their misguidance. These Madrassa-graduates consider the above-mentioned scholars or intellectuals as ‘Anti Islamic Education’ or ‘Anti Madrassa’. However, I feel that both blaming Islam for Islamic Terrorism and blaming the Islamic Education are primarily based on ignorance. As some western scholars are blaming the religion for the terrorist-acts committed by some Muslims, some people are holding the education of the criminals responsible for their crimes seeing some Madrassa-educated people indulging in terrorism. Many of these scholars are not familiar with the Madrassa Education System, Curriculum, syllabus and the personal and social activities of the students and teachers of the Madrassas. They come to know from various Media that the Madrassas are camps of terrorists and the students and teachers of Madrassas are involved in militancy. They deduce from these that Islamic Education or Madrassa Education is basically responsible for the rise and spread of militancy.

Someone has written earnestly in this regard: “it is a fact that some of the Madrasha students have got involved with what is called ‘Islamic’ Militancy…though Madrasha education may not be held responsible for these most unwanted activities, yet there are some loopholes and it is time to think about bringing Madrasha education into the mainstream.”

Undoubtedly, the writer is not ‘Anti Madrassa’. His sincerity is praiseworthy. He is saying that the loopholes in the education-system are responsible for the involvement of some Madrassa-students in Islamic Militancy; perhaps not the Madrassa Education itself is responsible. He is aware of the fact the many students of schools or colleges or universities are involved in Islamic Militancy alongside ‘some’ Madrassa-students. However, the writer is not holding the loopholes of the General Education responsible for this, although the General Education is ‘probably’ not responsible for this. What is the reason behind it?

Probably the reason is his ‘ignorance’ on the Madrassa Education. He was educated in the general education system. He knows that militancy is not taught in the general education system. That is why, the idea of blaming the loopholes of the general education system for the evil acts committed by the general-graduates involved in militancy, did not cross his mind. But he is not well versed with the Madrassa Education System. ‘Perhaps’ he thinks of the Madrassa Teachers and Students as good. Hence, he reckons that their education system is not responsible for their crimes. However, he is expressing a firm opinion that there are some loopholes in it.

We can understand that the religion, education, educational institution, family of the criminal is not responsible for the crime committed by him. Despite that I urge the readers to consider the following factors:

1. The millions of corrupt officers, employees, politicians, doctors, engineers, teachers of our society have been educated by the renowned institutes under the national curriculum. Nobody blames the education-system or the institute for their corruption because the people who stand against their corruption are from the same educational background. They know very well that national education system or the educational instituted do not teach people to be corrupt. So, the reasons behind the corruption of the corrupt person are his own personal greed, social injustice and absence of Law and Order; not his education-system or institute. Therefore, if an ignorant or ‘Madrassa-educated’ person holds the ‘modern education system’ or ‘educational institutes’ responsible for the spread of corruption or blames the medical colleges for the butcher-like attitude of some doctors, the educated people  will regard him as ignorant or naive. (however, many of them will consider ‘holding Madrassa-Education responsible for the militancy of Madrassa-graduates’ as an act of prosperity, wisdom and intellect!)

(2) Similarly, many people in our country are involved in terrorism in the name of ‘kingdom of paupers’. They have been educated under our national education system, but nobody would say that the education-system, institute or communistic ideology is responsible for their heinous acts.

(3) In India, Bangladesh and many other countries, many people trying to establish communism or socialism in a democratic way. However, many other people alongside them are trying to establish the same ideology by means of extremism, terrorism, murder or militant acts. They are attacking Police Stations, Hospitals, killing and robbing, attacking people of different localities to commit genocide or mass-robbing. Nobody blames the religion or ideology of these Marxist, Maobadi, and Communist or Socialist persons for their crimes. Even the mainstream-members of communists, socialists, Marxists or Maoabadis do not feel shy or get blamed because of their activities.

(4) The American Administration declared a war against Iraq to establish the great ideologies like human rights, democracy etc. During this way, scores of people lost their lives and properties. They engaged in killing millions of people and destroyed properties by bombing recklessly and then they put Saddam Hussain on trial for killing some hundreds of Kurds. In the sight of Iraqis or people of Arabia or Muslims countries or any country in the world or any religion, this state-terrorism is a serious crime against humanity. Here, a disgruntled Iraqi, Arab or Muslim may hold Christianity, Democracy or American Civilization responsible for this because President Bush and his workmates are ‘believers and devoted Christians, children of American Civilization and perpetuators of democracy’. However, no Christian, American, Democracy-Lover or a knowledgeable scholar will never agree with this opinion. They will consider it as ‘blabbering out of ignorance’ because they know that Christianity, Democracy or American Civilization do not teach or approve of this kind of genocide, state-terrorism or robbing. What the American Administration has done is the offence of the leaders; their ‘religion, ideology or civilization’ is not responsible for this.

(5) The case for the Islamic Education or Madrassa-Education is the same. As the honest and scrupulous students of Dhaka University regard it as ‘insane’ when this university of blamed for the corruption and terrorism of some of its students. Likewise, when the Madrassa Education is blamed for the terrorism of some Madrssa-Students, the people who are involved with Madrassa Education think of it as ‘insane’.

(6) The involvement of the Madrassa-graduates in today’s terrorist-acts is considerable as well. We have seen that the person involved in terrorism uses him religion or ideology. The patriotic or democratic feeling of people is exploited in the name of patriotism or democracy. Thus, the democratic and Pro- Human Rights people have given mandate to President Bush to kill the innocent and harmless people of Iraq in order to ensure self-defense and democracy.

Naturally, the Islamic feelings have been and are still exploited for terrorism in the name of Islam.  Some simple-minded Islam-lovers are being beguiled into this. A Madrassa-Graduate can never fall prey to this- nobody makes this claim. Rather, the democracy-lovers are falling into terrorism of democracy being deceived; the communists are being deceived by the terrorism done in the name of communism and in the same way, the Islam-Lovers Madrassa-students would obviously get deceived more by the terrorism done in the name of Islam. However, the reality is opposite. The militants may have set up a Madrassa or Mosque to organize their activities, but it does not mean that the established Madrassas or the Madrassa-graduates have joined them in multitude to carry out these acts. In Bangladesh, the number of Madrassa-graduates, who have been accused of being involved in militancy, is quite nominal, not even 5%. The rest 95% are from General-Education Background.

We come to know from the information published in various newspapers that most of the people in Bangladesh, who have been accused of militancy or convicted, have received education from general schools, colleges or universities since the beginning of militant-movement. According to statistics, only 3 or 4% of the 506 militants detained for 241 cases have turned out to be from Madrassa-Background. We arrive at the same truth when we analyze that list of militants accused in Britain, Australia, America and other countries in the world.

(7) The news of Media is frightening thing. Relying upon this kind of news, research-articles published in Media and analyses, the American Public firmly believed that Saddam Hussain possessed weapons of mass destruction which was a great threat for the independence and sovereignty of America. So, they permitted President Bush to wage a war against Iraq without hesitation. Now after shedding blood of millions of people and carnage of invaluable human-wealth, everybody has come to know and is admitting that this kind of weapon never existed there!

Because of Media only, nobody has come to know yet that even if this kind of weapons existed there, Iraq would never be able to become a threat for America’a independence or security. This genocide was only for the benefit of Israeal. The Sunami of Asia becomes big news only for Media, but the genocide and carnage of Faluza does not get any media-coverage!

Therefore, it is hard to rely on the well established Intelligence-Agency’s confirmed report, let aside relying on the news or information of the Media. If we look at the reality beyond this information, we find that innumerable Madrassas are scattered all over our country, in every nook and corner. The activities of these Madrassas are transparent and open for all. The pupils and tutors of these institutes are involved with every walk of life in the society. We do not find the existence of any terrorist among them. The ratio of the Madrassa-students, who are supposedly getting involved in militancy, are a lot less than the school-educated people in terms of number. Someone may say that although the involvement of general-educated people in militancy is higher, they have fallen prey to the propagation of Madrassa-students. If the Madrassa-graduates constituted 50% of them, it could be said that the rest 50% have been deceived. However, we can see that the reality is different. Basically, the 5% Madrassa-graduates, who are involved in militancy, have fallen prey to the propagation of general-educated Mufti (Jurist) or clerics.

We will see in the next discussion that many general-graduates tend to discover many emotional and ‘bomb-releasing’ theories conducting research on Islam. They label the conventional scholars as’ unfit, agents and men of weak faith’. Their irrefutable arguments and modern informative speech attract even many Madrassa-graduates. Their contribution is more as far as militancy is concerned. Both general-graduates and Madrassa-graduates get influenced by them. The Madrassa-graduates know the real meaning of the Quranic verses which they misinterpret according to their own whims and fancies in order to deceive people and they try to ask the scholars about these matters. That is why, it is easier for them to deceive the general graduates than the Madrassa-graduates.  Hence, the involvement of general-graduates and uneducated people is higher in militant-activities.

Many anti-militancy operations have been carried out in Bangladesh in the last few years. Many people have been nabbed and many arms have been recovered, but there is no record of recovering arms or arresting from an established and renowned Madrassa. If the robbers and the terrorists use the uniform of the Army or Police, we cannot blame the Army or Police for that and likewise, we cannot blame the Madrassa Education if a terrorist sets up an organization in the name of Mosque or Madrassa and hides weapons there or runs drug-business. Especially the people who are involved with Madrassa Education do not have the authority to monitor whatever is being done in the name of Madrassa.

(8) The people who link up Madrassa with militancy in our country and voice different opinions, their big weakness is that they imitate the west or the western scholars blindly without verification. The fact of the matter is that many Madrassas have been set up with the open help of the US and the Pakistani Regime with the intention of producing militants. Basically the Pakistani Government has always used the Islamic-Feelings for political gains. The government, the army and other agencies have used many Islamic Scholars and Madrassas in the case of Kashir’s Jihad as well as other issues. They have been given weapons and encouraged to fight in the battlefield. Obviously their eagerness of participating in Jihad has been used. We will see in the next chapter that one of the conditions for Jihad to be valid in Islam is the ‘state-organizing of Jihad’. Hence, obviously the students and teachers of Madrassas have been inspired to take part in such a Jihad. And if someone masters the language of weapons, he always tends to use the language of weapons.

The Afghan-Invasion of the Soviet in 1979 and the resistance of the Afghans being led by the Islamic Scholars, brought up a great opportunity for the US. Apart from supplying money and weapons to the Afghan fighters, they collected fighters from all around the world, financed everything and supplied weapons to them. Arrangements were made for the pious people and Madrassa-students to take part in the Afghan War from countries like Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia etc. Many Madrassa were founded in Pakistan and Afghanistan under their supervision. All these supported ‘fighters’ turned into militants as soon as the need of the US changed. Even our intellectuals called them Mujahid, Resistance-Fighters or Freedom-Fighters as long as the US called them so. When the US started calling them ‘militant’, our intellectuals started doing the same. Above all, they linked up the Madrassa Education of all countries with militancy dancing to the tunes of the Americans.

(9) Why did the Americans and their allies take a U Turn? Firstly, it was because their need was fulfilled. Secondly, they wanted to meet their second need. Their first reason was to take revenge for the defeat in Vietnam War and to defeat Soviet Union. When the Mujahids fulfilled their requirements, they turned into militants. Their next requirement is to control Islam. The USA regards Islam as the biggest enemy against the American Colonialism after exterminating Soviet Union, Communism and Socialism by all-pervading propagation and waging war. However, the colonialists present their views in a very beautiful manner. Instead of saying ‘’Islam” is the main enemy against colonialism’, they say ‘’Islam is the biggest enemy against western civilization, democracy and human rights, just as at one point of time the Soviet Union was the biggest enemy against ‘western civilization, democracy and human rights’, meaning ‘the biggest enemy against colonialism’. They realized that converting these Mujahids as militants is an effective footstep for portraying Islam as a ‘demon’.

(10) The USA thought that they would be able to establish their eternal occupation and supremacy over Iraq and Afghanistan by establishing democracy and national government just in the same way as they captured Korea, Germany and other countries and got the opportunity to dominate by establishing a national government. But it did not happen in reality. The people of those are not agreeing to accept their dominance in exchange for democracy, national government, modern life-style, opportunity to acquire western education etc. The only outward reason behind it is ‘Islam’. The occupation and the supremacy of the colonialists in these countries or any other Muslim Country are not safe as long as Islamic Feelings, sense of self-entity and emotions prevail and there is no alternative for controlling the Madrassa Education as far as repressing Islamic Beliefs, sense of self-entity and emotions are concerned.

(11) The colonialists have noticed very well that the most vocal people against their aggression or supremacy are the communists or the leftists and the Islamists. And the anti-militancy or anti-Madrassa propagation is a very effective tool for uprooting or weakening the Islamists. Although the Madrassa-Education does not produce militants, it produces pious Muslims. They protest against supremacy and aggression. These religious people are the main obstacle in the way of establishing supremacy and taking control over the oil, gas, mineral-resources etc of Iraq, Iran, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan and all other countries. Their huge number will be an impediment in the way of achieving the objective and their weakness and scarcity will pave the way for achieving the objective. There is no alternative for closing down the Madrassa-Education in order to debase the religious people in the sight of ordinary people and close the door of producing religious people. Hence, they have gone against the Madrassa-Education under the pretext of curbing down militancy. Although they should know that no Madrassa, except the Madrassas which they built up or the ones which are influenced by them, produces militants.

(12) Any neutrally conducted research will prove that the involvement of the Madrassa-graduates, whether Qaumi (non-govt) or Aliya (govt.), is very negligible. Furthermore, their involvement in all other types of corruption or crimes is very nominal. It will be clear if research is conducted on the people involved in Dowry, Drug-addiction, Smuggling Drugs, Theft-Robbery, Murder-Terrorism etc. We do not know about any reliable research on the ratio of Madrassa-graduates against the number of entire population in this country. However, if we add up the number of students of Qaumi Madrassa to the number of students of Secondary, Higher Secondary, Dakhil and Kamil, we can guess that the percentage of Madrassa-graduates among the literate people is around 15%. But it is evident that the percentage of Madrassa-Graduates among the people involved in the above-mentioned crimes is hardly 1% or 2%!

(13) Hatred and repulsion for corruption, crimes, drug-addiction, smuggling of drugs and all other crimes is embodied in the Madrassa-educated people because of the religious and ethical base of the Madrassa Education. That is why, most of them assist in inducing anti-crime mentality alongside staying away from these crimes. Apart of that, obviously they go against obscenity, vulgarity, fornication or adultery, wine etc. These are very important factors for developing a country in the sight of any patriot citizen. However, the Madrassa-graduates are the main hindrance for people who desire the spread of such crimes or mischievous acts for commercial purpose or other reasons.

(14) Basically, the expansion of Islamic Education or Madrassa Education is one of the way to uproot militancy because if someone possesses authentic knowledge, he cannot be misguided in the name of Islam. If someone checks out the educational qualification of the militants who have been arrested or listed in the list of militants according to the report of the Bangladeshi detectives, he will be assured that most of them are general-educated people. Moreover, most of them vehemently oppose the Madrassa-Graduates or Islamic Scholars. They promote the Islamic Scholars as agents, compromising and ignorant; and they prevent their followers from mingling with the Islamic Scholars. They praise only that scholar whose opinion matches with theirs. As they do not have the proper religious knowledge alongside religious sentiment, they have turned extremists or extremism has been instilled in them. Some of them have studied in Madrassa for a short period of time. They have developed emotion, but have not acquired knowledge.

The main reason behind falling into the trap of militants is the lack of Islamic Knowledge. Basically, religious emotion is an innate emotion of human beings. This kind of emotions cannot be suppressed. Channelizing those in the right track is the only way for the welfare of humanity. It is possible to misguide a person easily if he does not have correct knowledge alongside Islamic emotion and love.

(15) Militancy is a problem in our country. Alongside this, the other problems are terrorism, extortion of money, domestic or social violence, dowry, acid, corruption, rape, kidnapping, murder, decline of ethical values, drug-addiction etc.  We cannot prevent all these crimes and vices just by moral advice or encouragement for changing. Basically only ‘fear and greed’ along with compassion, sense of responsibility and ethical feeling can protect people from these crimes and immorality. Vengeance, wealth, greed of authority and power and other similar animalistic instincts motivate people to indulge in corruption and wildness in order to derive quick and instant benefits. Fear and greed control his desire to get instant benefits. There are three phases of fear and greed: (1) Fear and greed of being appreciated or condemned to own conscience. (2) Hope and Fear of being praised, defamed, rebuked, rewarded or punished in the sight of society, country and Law.

Out of these, the third phase can really stop corruption and wildness because it is possible for everyone to arouse his own conscience. Everyone knows that the society, country or Law can be deceived and no correct evaluation can be expected from these. So, there is no alternative for creating fear of Allah and greed in order to induce real honesty.  When someone comes to know for sure-‘Allah will give full reward for all deeds and will give chastisement for all vices’- and he believes in this in his subconscious mind, he cannot do an act which is a sin in the sight of Allah and he tries to do the acts which are proven to be good in the sight of Allah despite all types of barriers.

Especially in our country wherein it is quite easy to deceive the legal system, only the Fear of Allah is the savior from corruption, crimes and immorality. That is why, the spread of ethical and religious education can contribute, in real terms, to the controlling of crimes and immorality.

(16) The colonialists, imperialists and international merchants or commercial colonialists are raising their voice against militancy and Madrassa Education. Moreover, patriot leaders and general public are also talking against it. However, their perspective of talking is different. The purpose of the colonialists is to retard the rise of the anti-colonialists and to open the door for the mass-expansion of their aggression, commerce, vulgarity-based products, drug-items and to take control over national resources. They do not care even if other kinds of problems arise in these countries. On the other hand, the patriot leaders, socialists and the public are talking from the national perspective in order to ensure the overall stability and progress of the nation by tackling this hard problem alongside other problems.

(17) Those who are talking about curbing down militancy for the welfare of the nation, must realize that the country and the nation will be totally harmed if position is taken against Madrassa-Education or if the Madrassa-graduates, Borkha-wearing female (whether school-educated or uneducated), scull-cap wearing person, beard-sporting person, Mosque-going pious officer, employees, students (male or female) or the general public are humiliated under the pretext of curbing down militancy. The Militancy will not diminish this way, other crimes and corruption will increase and the country will fall into unthinkable clash and Allah’s chastisement.

(18) Thus we can see that the people who are demanding the shrinking of Islamic Education System or Madrassa-Education by associating Islamic Education with militancy and those who are demanding the shrinking of Islam or the forceful conversion of Muslims to Christianity by linking Islam with militancy do not differ fundamentally. Some of them are demanding this with a special intention and others are demanding this out of ignorance.

(19) We can further see that if the Madrassa-Education or religious studied are curtailed, it will play no role in controlling militancy; rather it may contribute to the spread of it. However, this kind of curtailing will play an unthinkable role in the spread of crimes and immorality like terrorism, extortion of money, domestic and social violence, dowry, acid, corruption, rape, fornication or adultery, Aids, kidnapping, murder, lack of ethical values, drug-addiction etc. without the shadow of a doubt. Although we will benefit as a nation from this kind of curtailing, the international Mafia will be benefitted in terms of marketing their drugs and vulgarity-based multidimensional products and the colonialists will be able to accomplish their goals using our immorality and corruption.

(2) Here, the most dangerous matter is that the derailment in identifying the reasons behind problems may trigger the problems. If the nationality, religion, tribe, group or the Education System of the criminal is blamed, it basically helps the criminal. On one hand, the people who belong to the same nation, religion, group or education as the criminal, get involved in opposing the anti-terrorists rather than opposing the terrorism. On the other hand, a kind of sympathy for the terrorist develops in them in a passive way.

We have seen that some western scholars are triggering collusion with the western civilization by holding Islam responsible for terrorism. If Islamic Education is blamed for terrorism, terrorism will be incited and sympathy will be created for the terrorists. Besides, the Madrassa-Graduates will indulge in irrelevant debate rather than standing against terrorism. Above all, if the government or the administration take initiative to control or curtail Madrassa-Education or does something against Madrassas on a mass scale on the basis of these opinions then the country and the nation will be affected by a new type of violence.

(21) Basically, no religion, ism or ideology teaches violence or terrorism. People indulge in violent activities because of human-greed, weakness, helplessness, vengeance etc. This kind of violent person uses his ideology in order to justify his actions, to exonerate his own conscience from sense of guilt, to drag others to his way and for other purposes.

The Jews and the Christians pointed to the Holy Bible to establish the state of Israel by expelling the Arabs, who resided there for centuries, from Jerusalem and other Palestinian Territories by means of terrorism and genocide and taking the Jews, who resided in other countries for centuries, to that land. Likewise the Irish Catholics uses his own religious-views against the British Protestants; the Tibetan Buddhists uses his own Buddhist-views against China, the Low-Cast Hindus use communism or their own religious-views against the Hindus of upper casts, The Upper-Cast Hindus use the teachings and verses of the Veda, Gita and other Hindu-Scriptures to carry out militant and terrorist acts against Low-Cast Hindus; the Palestinian Fighters try to get inspired by their own Islam or Christianity  while combating the Jewish-Occupiers.

In our society, if an Auamelage-activitst gets involved in violence being excited then he mentions great matters like ‘liberation’, ‘Bongobondhu’, ‘Spirit of Liberation’ etc as reasons behind this activity. Similarly, a BNP-Activist uses great matters like ‘Martyr Zia’, ‘Nationalism’ and ‘Liberation’ as ‘excuse’ for the same act. In both cases, the prudent activists of both the parties know that these things are being only to justify the violence. If step is taken against Madrassa Education, Madrassas or Madrassa-Graduates by blaming the Madrassa Education for terrorism or militancy, obviously they will indulge in violence being outraged and they will put forward ‘Islam’ and ‘Islamic Education’ as excuse. Only the terrorists will derive benefits from it and the nation will fall into a horrible conflict.

1.5  The Third Discussed Reason: Many researchers have cited ‘Wahabi Views’ as the reason behind militancy. The views promoted by the religious leader of Saudi Arabia, Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahab (1703-1792 AC) are called ‘Wahabi Views’. He protested against the Grave-Worship, Prostrating to Graves, Tying thread on grave or tree, doing ‘Manat’, other types of superstitions, Shirk (ascribing partners to Allah) and Innovation etc which were prevalent in Arabia at that time. His speech was not confined to protesting only, rather he used to call his opponents as ‘Polytheists’. In 1945 AC, Amir Muhammad Ibn Saud, the ruler of a small rural-kingdom named ‘Dirya’ which was near the present capital of Saudi Arabia, Riyad, joined hands with him. Their followers waged war against their opponents labeling them as ‘polytheists’. By 1804 AC, most of the ‘Saudi’ of the Arabian Penninsula including Mecca and Hijaz came under the control of ‘Wahabis’.

Then Turkish Caliphate considered this new kingdom as very detrimental to their supremacy and leadership. It was because the heart of the Islam including Mecca and Medina slipped out of their hands and on the other hand, the rise of an independent kingdom in the main Arab Land became a threat for the unchallenged leadership of the Turks in the Muslim World. Hence, the Turkish Caliph spread a ruling against the Wahabis labeling them as ‘blasphemous, disbelievers and enemies of Islam’ by the scholars of the Turkish Caliph’s Court. Strong criticism was circulated around the Muslim World against them so that nobody would regard this new kingdom as a replacement for the Islamic Caliphate. Besides, he commanded the ruler of Turk-Controlled Egypt, Muhammad Ali to wage a war against the Wahabis. The Saudi Kingdom collapsed because of the expedition of the Egyptian Army in 1818 AC. Then the successors of the Saudi Dynasty repeatedly tried to regain their kingdom. Eventually Abdul Aziz Ibn Abdur Rahman Al Saud (1879-1953) of this dynasty established Saudi Arabia after a prolonged war which lasted from 1901 AC to 1924 AC.

Since the seventeenth century AC, wherever call for reforms have been made in the Muslim World, people have labeled the reformists as ‘Wahabi’ claiming that they are influenced by the views of Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahab. On the other hand, the word Wahabi became an abhorrent word in the Muslim Society because of the propaganda of the Turks. They were hated even more than the other deviant sects. So, the British colonial regime called the anti-british Islamic Scholars as ‘Wahabi’ so that the ordinary Muslims could not accept them. Besides, different religious sects in the Muslim Society profusely used the world Wahabi against each other.

Indian Muslim Reformist, Shah Waliullah Dehelvi (1703-1762) was a contemporary of Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahab. At the beginning of his religious mission, in 1731, he travelled to Mecca and stayed there for three years. Then he returned to India and contributed a lot towards the promotion of Islamic Education. Even he strongly criticized and protested against grave-worshipping, saint-worshipping, vowing on the grave, seeking help from the dead or alive saints for relief from calamity and other polytheistic acts, innovation, superstitions, extremism of schools of thought etc.  Hence, some people felt encouraged to call him ‘Wahabi’.

However, the very first recognized and renowned Wahabi Leader of India was Syed Ahmad Brelbi  (1786-1831 AC), a student of the son of Shah Waliullah, Shah Abdul Aziz (1746-1823 AC). He conducted a movement against Polytheism, innovation and superstitions like Shrine, Saintly Home, Human-Worshipping, vowing on the dead people, Shinni (feast at the shrines or graves) etc. all over India. Apart from that, he raised a revolt against the British Supremacy. He went for Hajj (major pilgrimage) in 1821 AC. He returned to India after spending three years there. In 1826 AC, he migrated from British India to the state of North-western Frontier and declared an Islamic State putting himself in power. Then Muslims from different parts of India gathered there and declared a war against the British and the Shikhs under his leadership. After some battles, in 1831 AC, his Army was defeated in the battle of Balakot and he attained martyrdom. Later for almost 30 years, the followers of Syed Ahmed Brelbi continued to fight and resist against the british in a guerilla-way.

In 1803/1804 AC, the Wahabis conquered Mecca and demolished the ancient shrine-based monuments. This act outraged the general Muslims. The followers of Shah Waliullah Muhaddis Dehlevi used to protest against polytheism, acts of disbelief, innovation, superstition etc. in the same way as the Wahabis. Thus, their opinions resembled the opinions of the Wahabis outwardly. In 1823 AC, Syed Ahmad Brelbi went to Mecca on the occasion of Hajj. The English rulers tactfully propagated this- “Those who are telling the words of religion in the name of independence, in reality they are the enemies of Islam and they are the group who humiliate the Prophet (Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) and his companions, they are called Wahabi and they are ones who have demolished the graves of your Messenger’s (Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) descendents….and Syed Ahmed has been appointed as their agent and they all are Wahabi and Hence, they also want to break down the graves of your religious-leaders and ancestors….(12)

Thus, the British Government tried to make people think that they did not have any grudge against Islam as if they love the real Islam and the Muslims a lot and they were only repressing and punishing the misguided Wahabi Sect. So, the general Muslims had no reason to be annoyed or offended by this.

Various reformatory ideas were formed by the pupils of Syed Ahmad Brelbi in India. Many of his followers claim themselves to be ‘’Ahle Hadis’ rejecting the idea of following a particular Madhab. His pupil, Pir Mawlana Karamot Ali of Joinopur gave birth to a reformatory stream. Even the Pir of Furfura, Mawlana Abu Bakar Siddki was a follower and a pupil of Syed Ahmad Brelvi. The Deobondi Scholars acquired knowledge from his pupils as well. All of them were labeled as ‘Wahabi’, ‘Colorful Wahabi’, ‘Wahabi in disguise’ etc. by the opponents and the colonial regime. One of the pupils of Syed Ahmad Brelbi and contemporary reformist Mir Nesar Ali (1782-1831), whose nickname was Titumir and another contemporary reformist, Haji Shariotullah (1781-1840) were labeled as ‘Wahabi’ and even their movement and resistance were called as ‘Wahabi Movement’.

Let us cite an example to understand the usage of the word Wahabi. Mir Nesar Ali, Titumir by nickname, was born in 1782 AC in 24 Porgona District of Bengal. He met Syed Ahmad Brelbi in 1823 in Mecca at the time of Hajj. He became his follower. When he returned home, he spread correct Islamic Knowledge in his locality. He raised him voice against the British Rule, but he never spoke up against the Hindu Religion, Hindus or Hindu Landlords. However, the Hindu Landlords got outraged because the general Muslims became more pious because of his teachings. He told the general Muslim subjects that they loved the real Islam a lot, but they wanted to uproot the Wahabi Ideology. The Muslims named themselves just like the Hidus throught the ages, shaved their beard, kept moustache, did not become busy building Mosques and did not slaughter cows. Titumir was encouraging peole too sport beard, cut moustache, keep Muslim-Name, build Mosques in Muslim-Villages and kill cows in the name of Kurbani (slaughtering for the sake of Allah) following the Wahabi Ideology. It was spoiling the communal harmony between Hindus and Muslims. So, it was extremely necessary to repress the Wahabi Ideology. There was no reason for the ‘good Muslims’ to be offended or get hurt because of this.

Therefore, the Landlord of Taragunia Ramnarayan Babu, The Landlord of Pura  Krishnodev Roy, The Landlord of Nogorpur Gouroproshad Chowdhury and other prominent Landlords gave a circular over five matters: 1. Whoever becomes a follower of Titumir turning into a Wahabi, keeps beard, cuts moustache, each of them has to give 2.5 taka fee for beard and 5 Sika fee for moustache, (2) If a complete-mosque is built, 500 taka has to be given to the landlord-government as tax and if an incomplete-mosque is built, 1000 taka has to be given to the landlord-government as tax, (3) If an Arabic Name is adopted changing the name given by the parents following the Wahabis, 50 taka must be given to the landlord-government as tax, (40) If a cow is killed, the right-hand of the killer will be chopped off so that he cannot kill a cow again, (5) Whoever gives shelter to Wahabi Titumir, he will be expelled from his own house.” (13)

Basically, this division between Real Islam and Wahabi Islam has got a mass-acceptance among the western researchers due to the intense propagation by the Turk Caliphate and the British Government.  Whenever attempts are made to conduct reformatory movements, establish Islamic society or state, conduct anti-colonialist movements or anti-western movements, it is being labeled as ‘Wahabi’’ if religious Muslims, Scholars, Religious Personalities or clerics are involved.

Many western researchers label the real Islam as ‘Sufi Islam’ while dividing a line between Wahabi Islam and Real Islam. In their opinion, the Sunni Islam is non-communal, non-political and generous. To prove it, they say that men and women alike from all religions and races are gathering to do Zikr, Wazifa, Sama Kawali and other programs in Sufi Centres of Asia, Africa, Europe and America and taking Tabarok and Dua (Supplication). Self-purification and spirituality are taught in these centers; politics and state-related issues are not discussed in these centers.

If we look at our own country or other countries in the world, we can perceive two stages of Sufi Islam. We can see that many people regard the religious teachers as apostle of Allah or possessing special divine relation or power; they prostrate to them, prostrate to their graves or cemeteries considering the religious obligations like Salat (Prayer), Siam (Fasting) etc as trivial and consider music, dance etc as important aspects of Sufi Islam. They claim to be real Sufi and real Sunni. Those who object to prostrating to Pir or Grave, music, smoking etc. or talk about the obligation of following the Islamic Law, are vehemently condemned as ‘Wahab’ or ‘Enemies of Allah’s friends’ by the Sufis of this stage. Many of them regard consumption of tobacco, drug etc. or smoking as the fundamental articles of Sunni Islam or Sufi Islam and condemn the anti-smoking people as Wahabi or Enemies of Allah’s Friends.

Many other Muslims strongly criticize the prostrating to Pir or Grave, music etc. and consider abiding by the Islamic Law as the core of Sufi Islam and they learn and practice the Tariqat from Pir-Mashaekhs alongside following the Shariat. According to the Sufis and Marfotis of the first stage, these people are Wahabi and enemies of Sufi Islam. However, they claim to be real Sufi and Sunni and they consider the people of the first stage as misguided.

There are differences of opinion among the people who practice Tasauf at this level. The Sufis of this level are divided by opinion on the issues like Orosh, Isale-Sawab, Miladunnabi, Siratunnabi, Zikr etc. On the basis of these differences, the Sufis of different levels are condemning each other as ‘Wahabi’, ‘Enemy of the Prophet’ or ‘Enemy of Allah’s Friends’ and they claim to be real Sunni or real Sufi, although all of them believe in ‘Pir-Muridi Tasauf’ and follow different methods.

The western Christians naturally love the Sufi Islam of the first stage and its followers because their mindset resembles their mindset a lot. They come to the meeting-points or shrines of these Sufis in Europe or America or other countries and they take part in music and spiritual acts. These Sufis accept them with love as well. Obviously the westerners fancy the spread of this kind of Sufi Islam in the Muslim countries. They believe that the spread of this of Sufi Islam can ensure peaceful co-existence of people of all faiths and ‘no faith’.

In the name of ‘clash of civilization’, the eager colonialist-forces generally take position against Islam in order to spread their dominance over the Islamic countries. However, they see that resistance is soaring up. Then they try to divide the Muslims into various groups and wish to take some of them to their side and put others in opposition. Hence, firstly they divide into two groups: Liberal and Fundamentalist. This kind of division does not get much acceptance in the Muslim countries. Therefore, they have been trying to bring about a new kind of division for some years, i.e Sufi Islam and Wahabi Islam.

They are aware of the influence of the Sufis in the Muslim countries and the repulsion against the word Wahabi among the Muslims. In the same way as the British Regime and the Hindu Landlords gained a lot of success in inculcating hatred among the Muslims by portraying Syed Ahmad, Titumir, Shariatullah and other religious reformists as Wahabi, they have been trying to label all the Islamic Activities and personalities, who go against their interests, as ‘Wahabi’. If the debates like ‘Sunni vs Wahabi’ or ‘Sufi vs Wahabi’ and conflicts can be instigated then Islamic Invitation, Spread of Education, Protest against obscenity and tobacco and the rise of Islamic Scholars or Islamists at the state-level will be surely hindered.

Basically, they have taken the Sufis of the first stage as representing Sufi Islam because there can be advent of people like Shah Waliullah, Syed Ahmad Brelbi, Titumir, Haji Shariatullah among the Sufis of the second stage, whose empowerment does not protect their interests. They believe that the rise of the Sufis of the first level can uproot the mentality of militancy from the minds of the Muslim and Sufi Islam of this level only can ensure the coexistence of people from all religions by protecting the world from militancy, fundamentalism and religious conflicts. Not only that but also their establishment can get the two faiths, i. e Christianity and Islam a lot closer.

Basically, the Sufis of the first level and the western leaders believe that the Sufis of the second level are ‘True Wahabi’ or ‘Wahabi in colorful disguise’. They know that their interests are not secured at their hands. However, they are conscious about the impact of the Sufis of the second level in the Muslim Countries.

That is why, they are trying to unite the Sufis of both the levels under the leadership of the Sufis of the first level and being confined to the circle of their influence in order to raise voice against the Wahabis. They are trying imply that those who are claiming to establish Islamic Society, Country, Judiciary, Economy etc, are basically agents and followers of the Shrine-demolishing Saudi Wahabis. If they get power, they will destroy Pir-Mashaekhs and grave-shrines. So, let us unite in order to combat them. Certainly, the general Muslims, Islamic Scholars and Pir-Mashaekhs will be influenced by them. Besides, they are thinking that it is possible to prevent Muslims from uniting against colonialism or aggression or in favor of promoting Islamic Values by triggering Wahabi-Sunni Debate and Conflict under this pretext.

Basically, the word Sufi has been misused heavily just as ‘Islam’ has been misused heavily and anti-Islamic activities have been carried out in the name of Islam. Many un-Islamic activities have been done in the name of Tasauf, Sufi, Pir, Dorbesh and Wali. However, if we delve into the life and activities of the well-recognized Sufis, we will find that they all were conscious about society, state, politics and they played an enormous role in the reformation of the society.

Abu Bakar (Ra.) and Ali (Ra.) have been referred to as the primary source of all the Sufi-Methods. They were the pioneers of the Muslims Ummah in fighting against the people who refused to give Jakat, apostates and transgressors. All the Sufi-Methodists including Hasan Basri, Ibrahim Adham, Junaed Baghdadi, Abdul Qadir Jilani, Abu hamid Ghajjali, Mujaddi Alfisani, Shah Waliullah Dehelvi, Syed Ahmad Brelbi, Emdadullah Muhajir Macci, Karamot Ali joinopuri, Abu Bakar Siddik Furfurabi (Rah.) spoke about society, state and politics alongside self-purification and spirituality, protested against the injustice of the rulers, got imprisoned and attained martyrdom. The difference between their working-methods and the modern political activities is ‘trying to correct the rulers rather than seeking power’. They did not try to gain political power rather they preached to the rulers, protested against injustice, encouraged justice, helped out, made people conscious, took part in national resistance against colonialism, imperial ruling and supremacy and they supported or encouraged those whom they regarded as comparatively better .

The difference between so called ‘militant acts’ or extremism and their methods is ‘protesting against injustice, but not to punish or apply force’. They stood up against injustice, gave advice, motivated everyone including the rulers to repress, protest against and control injustice, but they did not apply force to repress injustice on their own, did not violate the Law, did not took law in their own hands and strongly objected to ‘violating law’. Thus we can see that the true Sufis were never oblivious to the society or politics. There is no basis for pointing to the Sufi Islam as oblivious to society, state or surroundings and depicting all the reformatory movements as ‘Wahabi’.

We can hear that a Saudi-Born Citizen called Usama Bin Laden is the leader of so called Islamic Terrorism or militancy. It is claimed that various individuals and organizations of Saudi Arabia sponsor them. We can hear about the involvement of some Madrassa-graduates of Ahle Hadis or Deobandi-Method of different countries in the world, especially in the subcontinent, with this. Apart from them, they dissent against grave-shrine etc. Above all, they are taking up weapons to establish their own opinions in addition to verbal promotion. Hence, many researchers reckon that the spread of Wahabi Ideology is responsible for the rise of militancy today. However, it is noticeable that the movement of Usama Bin Laden originated from the protest against the Saudi-Wahabi State. His followers stood against monarchy, American Soldiers, injustice etc. and they are continuing their destructive acts against the Saudi Government and citizens. Besides, all the Saudi Islamic Scholars and the descendants of Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahab are quite vocal against the movement and activities of Bin Laden. Above all, there is no basis for labeling all the reformatory or resistance-movements of different countries as ‘Wahabi’. Basically, Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahab and his ideology have been given more importance and significance than they deserve because of the propagation of the opportunistic approach of the Turkish Caliphate and British Government. Wahabi Ideology and movement were really a regional matter. It was just like the reforms and religion-centered socio-political movements of other Muslim countries. As the Wahabis and the Muslims of other countries have derived their opinions from the same sources, i.e, Quran, Hadis, Islamic Jurisprudence, Islamic History, it is quite obvious that their views and activities are somewhat alike. Hence, there is no reason for giving all the credits to Muhammad Bin Abdul Wahab!

Bin Laden’s views have gained popularity in Afghanistan and Iraq and both of these countries are staunch anti-Wahabi. Most of the Muslims of Afghanistan are followers of Hanafi School of Thought, lovers of Pir-Mashaekhs and anti-Wahabi. During the long tenure of Saddam Hussain in Iraq, Wahabi or any other scholar or ideologies had been wiped out sternly. Only the Sufis were spared in this regard. In spite of this, it can be deduced from the rise of militancy in these two countries that the reason behind militancy can be found somewhere else.

We have previously seen that it is inappropriate to have the tendency of pinpointing the nationality, religion or tribe of the terrorists as ‘reason behind terrorism’ or ‘driving force’. It closes the door for curbing down terrorism because it is not possible to bring to justice all the people of a particular nation, religion or tribe. The major trouble caused by holding Wahabi Ideology as responsible for militancy is that it will block the way to solve the problem because it is hard to connect militancy to the Saudi Wahabis as militancy is directed against them! People of other countries do not admit that they are Wahabis, but almost all the religious groups are labeled as Wahabi by their opponents. Each of them claim that they have formed their views and groups on the basis of Quran, Hadis, Jurisprudence and the opinions of the predecessor-Imams directly; they do not accept any personal opinion of Muhammad Bin Abdul Wahab. Even the Islamic Scholars of Saudi Arabia do not admit that they are Wahabi. They consider Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahab as a reformist and they claim and prove that all his opinions have been extracted from the Quran, Sunnah and the classical Imams.

1.5  Discuss Forth Reason: Western Conspiracy

 

The general Islamic Scholars, clerics, Islamic personalities and Islamic Groups are opposing and condemning militancy all over the world. Generally they do not accept the above-mentioned three reasons behind the rise of militancy. Rather they claim that militancy has grown due to the western conspiracy against Islam. They have created this militancy by misguiding some Muslim youths by means of stealth sponsoring in order to malign Islam, hinder the socio-economic development of the Islamic countries and establish military supremacy in these countries. They put forward logic rather than evidence in favor of this claim. They claim that bombing, terrorism etc. have never been perceived in the history of Muslim Ummah before. This kind of terrorism called ‘Jihad’ has never been seen in the Muslim Ummah for fifteen centuries until the invention of ‘clash of civilization theory’. We do not see any instance of Muslims discreetly assassinating people individually or as a group or setting fire to someone’s house etc. except for the battles directed by the government. The western world has created this situation on purpose since it invented the theory of clash of civilization.

The European Christians tried to bring about extinction of Islam and the Muslim Ummah by means of Crusade. They thought that the crusade came to an end with the fall of Turkey in World War 1 and establishment of colonialism in the Muslim World. They changed their calculations as the circumstances changed in the 20^th century, especially when the Soviet Union collapsed. They put forward the theory of ‘clash of civilization’. They realized very well that if they let the Muslim world move forward in its own motion, the Muslims would become ‘world power’ in the first half of the 21^st century. They will become mighty in terms of economic stability, technological-advancement and military-capabilities and there will no chance to make them dance to the tunes. They have to be hit if the Muslim Ummah is to be impeded. However, hitting is not possible without reason. Obviously no Muslim nation is willing to clash with the west, but the purpose cannot be served without clash. Especially the victory is certain if the weak gets into conflict. Hence, they have given birth to this militancy.

Apart from these, the western world has confronted another severe problem. That is the discreet Islamization in their countries. Islam is the religion of people’s life. Islam’s simpleminded beliefs and acts easily attract people. This religion gets amalgamated with the innate features of human beings. Men’s nature accepts it quite easily. Many people from the western countries, which have fallen into decline of morality, obscenity, extravagance and inhuman acts, are embracing Islam. Many people accept Islam just after acquiring some basic knowledge.

The family-structure of Europe and America have collapsed due to the spread of vulgarity, luxury and drug-addiction, and the population of the real ‘white people’ are declining there rapidly. These countries are now compelled to accept expatriates for the continuation of their industry, factories and developmental works. Thus, many Muslims are entering these countries and residing as well. Many native people of these countries are converting to Islam as they are mingling with them. In this manner, a silent Islamization is taking place in these countries. The anti-Islamic propaganda and depicting a monstrous picture of Islam are absolutely essential in order to prevent this Islamization, to prevent the government from giving nationality to these expatriates, to expel them and above all, to keep the natives away from Islam. That is why, they are regarding the issue of militancy as very effective.

Especially, since the dawn of the 2^nd Christian Millennium, the misinterpretation of ‘the instructions regarding Jihad in Islam’ was one of the abhorrent and false propagandas of the European Church and State-Governments to portray the religion of Islam and Allah’s Messenger (Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) as monstrous as a part of the preparation for Crusade. We will find information on this topic towards the end of this book in the discussion on Jihad in Islam and Biblical Jihad. Hence, the western forces regard the issue of militancy as the best as far as controlling the Islamic countries and preventing the discreet Islamization in their countries are concerned and they create militancy for their own benefit.

These Muslim Scholars put forward the Afghan Jihad as one of the instances. The Muslim People in Afghanistan resisted against the aggression of the Soviet. The US and its allies grabbed the opportunity and helped these resistance-fighters with weapons, training, technology and other tools. They promoted them all over the world. Then they forced them to go against them by instigating. They spoke up against the US recklessly. These people kept doing many things being abandoned and carried away by emotion. Besides, there are spies of the colonialists among these Mujahids. They are abating them to resort to violence. They are instigating the Muslim Ummah to go for premature conflict by misinterpreting the Quranic Verses and the Hadits regarding Jihad and Kital. Thus, the misguidance of Jihad is being spread all over the Muslim world.

These researchers point to another matter.  They say that the delinquency in religious acts, injustice, obscenity, anti-Islamic views and beliefs have been gaining stronger ground and becoming deeper day by day in the Islamic countries since the demise of the rightly guided Caliphs. The state, administration and leaders did not try to prevent this moral decline; rather they helped in spreading these. The Islamic Scholars, clerics and pious people tried to correct them by giving Dawah and advice to the best of their ability. However, they did not apply force in the name of enjoining good and forbidding evil. Above all, they did not raise a revolt against the state holding the state or the government as responsible for the promotion of these injustice and moral decline or try to establish ‘a country of religious people’. Rather they maintained obedience to these countries of the governments and took part in their Jihad against the invaders. Basically for this reason, the Muslims managed to impede the aggression of the European Crusaders during the Crusade of the 2^nd millennium. However, the situation has changed at present. Nowadays many Muslims are destabilizing the Muslim countries in the name of establishing religion and as a result, the Muslim society is losing the power to defend themselves from the invasion of foreign enemies. They cite the following as an example: Some fighters, who have been trained in Pakistan and Afghanistan under the US Sponsorship and some students who passed out of the Madrassas founded by them, are committing some acts based on slogans like “establishing the Islamic Law or State, enjoining justice, forbidding evil” etc. which are jeopardizing the unity, economy and military development of Pakistan enormously. If we imagine another cruse now then we will feel that Pakistan is losing its ability to resist such a crusade and losing people who can fight against crusaders.

However strong these logical arguments and claims of the Islamists may be, there is no evidence for these. Enemy will obviously hatch plots against enemy. If someone is really hostile towards Islam, obviously he will hatch conspiracies against Islam. It is pointless to blame them or criticize them for that. We have to detect the reasons behind the Muslim Youth falling into these traps. If we do not identity the reasons and eradicate those, their conspiracies will be successful despite our accusations and protests.

1.6  Israel, Colonialism, Oil and Religion:

 

Another opinion which is parallel or close to the above-mentioned opinion is that one of the reasons behind all the unrest, terrorism and militancy in the contemporary world is the establishment of the state of Israel, the oil of the middle-east, the opulence of the Muslim Countries and the geographical position and the advent and dominance of the religious-extreme neoconservative-colonialists in Europe and America. The Holy Bible says that the inhabitance of the Jews in Palestine is one of the reasons behind unrest in the world. According to the biblical narration, Allah has promised to bestow the children of Israel with residence in Palestine in exchange for adhering to the Law of Allah and welfare of mankind. However, they consider this promise as their national wealth due to the distortion of their priests and deviate from the path of Allah. The children of Israel set out for Palestine from Egypt in 1285 BC being led by Musa (Alayhis Salam). After dwelling in many places for about 250 years, they established the Jewish State in 1000 B.C under the leadership of Talut and then David (Daud, Alayhis Salam). This kingdom ran well during the reign of David and Solomon (Solayman, Alayhis Salam) for about 65 years. After the death of Solomon, his kingdom split into two parts. The history of the next 300 years or so is the history of unimaginable and untellable blood-shed and violence between the two royal dynasties and the neighboring kingdoms. In between 606 B.C to 587 B.C, the Ruler of Babylon, Nebukadnejar destroyed Jerusalem completely by attacking a number of times and took the Israelites to Babtlon as captives. They were released almost after half a century and returned to Jerusalem. Then for about 500 years, the Israelites lived under the rule of the Greek, Syrian or Roman Empire. Finally, the Roman Emperor Hadrian (117-138 B.C) destroyed Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque completely. They expelled the Jews from Palestine for good. He took most of the Jews to Rome as captives. He prohibited the Jews from entering Jerusalem. They had permission to enter it only once a year at a specific time for the purpose of crying. This is the history of Jews in Jerusalem and Palestine for 1000 years. This history is a bloody one. As long as the Jews were in Jerusalem, the people of that area could not live in peace. They fought against each other and shed blood, killed the prophets and messengers, exported the violent conflicts to the surrounding countries, destabilized the entire region. The vivid description of their deception, occupation by force, genocide, mass destruction, injustice and heresy can be found in the Christian-Jewish religious scripture, the Holy Bible. The blood-shed and violence of the Israelites were so irrational that the neighboring kings expelled them from their land completely more than once after capturing their land. There have been many events of victory and defeat in world-history, but this kind of ‘complete expelling of a nation’ is not so common.

For about two millenniums, from the 2^nd century A.C to the 20^th century A.C, the Jews lived as general people in different countries of Europe, Asia and Africa. As the World War 2 ended, in 1948 the Israeli State was reestablished after thousands of years by killing and expelling the Arabs from Palestine with the help of Europe and America.

The Biblical narration proves that the Jews never let the people of the neighboring states live peacefully since their first residing in Palestine. It shows that the main reason behind the unrest in that region is the occupation of the Israelites in Palestine. As long as they stay there, it will not be possible to bring about peace. Allah, the exalted, mentions the story of their insolence, injustice and destruction of Jerusalem twice and their expelling in the Quran-E-Karim as follows: “It can be hoped that your Lord will have mercy upon you. And if you return then I will return as well.” (14)

It can be understood that after their second expelling in 136 A.C, Allah may give them the opportunity to return to Jerusalem once more after Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) and if they go back to their old habits and acts then Allah will make the history repeat again. We can say in the light of the the Qur’an that Allah has bestowed them with mercy once again. However, they have gone back to their old habits and acts again. So, unrest will persist and the history of expelling will be repeated once again. It can be known from the prophesy of Allah’s Messenger (Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam). We have said beforehand that various political and economical motives of the colonialists are attached to the establishment of the Jewish State, which has complicated the situation even further. The religious thoughts of the neoconservatives have been amalgamated with that. The Christian Fundamentalism and conservatism in Europe and especially, in America has popped out massively. Those who know the history of Christianity, they know with certainty that the Christian conservatism means religious intolerance.

The readers of history know that the Greeks and the Romans have always depicted the other nations as barbaric and portrayed only their own civilization as ideal. The successors of the Greek and the Roman Civilizations, the people of Europe or America or the West have inherited their snobbery. They always boast off their tolerance, generosity, tolerance of different opinions, secularism and pluralism.

This pluralism of theirs is quite incredible. They feel offended when a Christian of America, Britain or Ireland or any other country is called ‘Christian Terrorist’ and they consider this kind of labeling as ‘intolerance’ because the religious sentiment of the pious and honest Christians gets hurt by this. However, they have no problem whatsoever when a follower of the religion of Islam is called ‘Muslim Terrorist’. On top of that, they do not think that calling Islam as a terrorist-religion or calling the Muslims as terrorists is not tantamount to intolerance; rather protesting against this kind of labeling is intolerance!  Because of this pluralism,  delivering speech hurting the sentiment of the followers of Islam or other religions or making that type of cartoons, cinemas or literary works are claimed to be ‘freedom of expression’. However, historical research or expression on the Jewish Nation or religion have been prohibited and made illegal entailing penalty in the name of ‘Anti-Semitism Law’ and speech against Christianity has been prohibited and made illegal entailing penalty by means of Blasphemy Law. The condition for this pluralism is merging. The benefit of their concept of pluralism can be derived only if one merges with them accepting the matter which they regard as their ‘own’. On the other hand, they tend to resist against the opinions, acts and cultures which go against theirs considering those as ‘detrimental to civilization’. Hence, when they regarded Christianity as their own, they repressed, exterminated and converted the Jews and the Muslims making laws. Likewise they repressed and exterminated the literalists, philosophers, scientists and intellectuals who raised voices against Christianity. For the same reason, the Protestants and the Catholics repressed, exterminated and converted each other. The dominance of this kind of pluralistic secular religious neo-cons remind of the old forcing, conversion and religious intolerance. And the religion and the colonialism of the colonialists go hand in hand. Wherever the colonialists tried to set up colonies, they tried to convert people. This tradition is still perpetuating. The news of the preparation for Missionary Invasion alongside Military Invention in Iraq and Afghanistan was published in Media. The American and the British soldiers and other preachers backed by them directly or under the pretext of giving service or aid made multifaceted attempts to convert people. Besides, the ground for colonial invasion is being made in different countries of the world by converting the semi-nationals or minorities through various enticements.

Men, women and children are being killed on a mass scale in Palestine, Iraq and other countries without trial and on the other hand, all the voices which are against these acts are being silenced alongside supporting these inhuman acts in order to control oil in the Middle East, make ground for the return of Jesus Christ by gathering all the Jews of the world in Palestine-Jerusalem in accordance with Christian Faith and to establish control over the wealth of the Muslim countries and spread supremacy other them. If an outraged person resorts to terrorism, he gets labeled as ‘Islamic Militant’. Different terrorist acts are being claimed to be carried out by the Islamic Militants without proof. When deemed necessary, the pious youngsters of different countries are summoned and turned into militants by providing weapons, training and support by using their religious feelings. Then colonial action is taken against them in their own countries by leveling accusations of militancy.

1.7  World Genocide of Muslims

The main reason behind the rise of terrorism and militancy in the name of Islam across the globe is the brutal torture and mass-killing meted out to the Muslims. A big aspect of this genocide is the mass-killing in Palestine and Middle East by the state of Israel, which we have discussed in the above chapter. Apart from that, relentless torture, brutality and ethnic cleansing are being meted out to the Muslims in Chechnya, Kashmir, Philippines, Thailand, China and other countries. And the international organizations, United Nations, western countries and international media are silent over this cleansing or vocal supporter of this cleansing. Almost none of them is vocal against them. Under these circumstances, the irresistible emotion to protest against it is giving birth to militancy. When people cannot do anything against relentless oppression by legal means, he attempts to take revenge unlawfully and portrays his illegal act as ideological. Besides, the Muslim people all over the world are wishing for an end to this ethnic cleansing and the victory of Muslim civilization. The militants are easily managing to convince them that their way is the right way to put an end to the ethnic cleansing and ensuring victory. In this case, the emotional drive is more effective than the Islamic Law, seeking scholars’ opinions, judging results etc. Being driven by this kind of emotion and disappointment, an emotional young man kills a general American citizen or someone, who belongs to a different country or religion, helping the Americans in order to seek revenge for the oppression of the United Kingdom, United States, Israel or any other country. This act of his is a grave crime and sin in the sight of Islam because: 1. Islam does not permit taking revenge for a crime by means of another crime, 2. Islam does not allow punishing someone for the crime committed by someone else and 3. Islam does not permit an individual to assume responsibility for putting a person, group or community on trial or punishing them. Hence, a knowledgeable scholar or jurist of any country never allows this kind of vengeance or protest. In these cases, they encourage protesting and condemning with patience and in a peaceful manner abstaining from violence. However, an emotional young man has not embarked on it following their opinion, rather he has acted being emotional and regarded the opinion of the scholars as weakness or brokerage. To him, the opinion of another ‘emotional modern half-scholar cleric or jurist’ has seemed to be more modern and conducive to getting right and quick result as it supports his emotion.

1.8  Repressing Islam in a Muslim Country:

 

 

One of the reasons behind the spread of extremism and militancy in Muslim countries is ‘repressing Islam’ in these countries. When we look at the Muslim population of any Muslim country, we find that 10% to 15% of them practicing religious people, who try to follow Islam wholeheartedly and expect everyone else to do that as well. As opposed to that, a nominal part of the pupolation- 2% or 1% or even lesser than that claims and considers religion as an obstacle in the way of Afim, reactionary-movement and national development and they get terrified by the progress of religious-practices such as scull-cap, beard, borka, mosque, madrassa etc. or any form or type of religious-education. The rest 80-85% people are general Muslims. They do not know much about religion, adhered to some religious rules, leaves out some rules and accord respect to religion or religious people in a general sense.

As far as reality of concerned, in many Muslim countries, the second type of people are given a kind of opportunity to express their views of carry out activities in the name of freedom of expression or democratic right, which is not given first type of people, rather their right to express themselves is taken away from them or they get silenced.  What is the demand of the religious people labeled as ‘Islamists’? Their demand is basically twofold: 1. Implementation of the Islamic Law in the state-affairs, administrative affairs and legal system, 2. To Control vulgarity, nudity and drug-addiction in the society. Only a handful of people from amongst the pious ones are vocal about the first matter but all of them become emotional about the second one. Any pious man feels extremely hurt observing the immorality, injustice, obscenity, nudity, spread of drugs, oppression and torture. These shed blood of his heart. He endeavors to speak up against these, but sometimes his right to speech is snatched from him. This matter is really peculiar.

The proclaimed policy of every country is to control violence, rape, acid, immorality, AIDS, drug-addiction etc. All the conscientious people wish to control these. However, the methods of controlling vary. In the western way, free sex, seductive activities, products and unbridled supply of wine, advertisement and marketing have to be retained and alongside these, these immoral acts have to be curbed down by means of Law and Advice. Outwardly, this system is associated with their commercial colonialism. They donate some money against all these from the millions which they earn by the advertisements of gambling, wine, drugs, tobacco and products of sexual arousal and marketing of these! And the instruction of Islam is to uproot the main source of these immoral acts. By keeping the door of unbridles nudity, vulgar dance and music, movies, gabling and use of drugs wide-open, it is impossible to curb down eve-teasing, sexual harassment, acid, drug-addiction, domestic and social violence. The reality of all countries of the world is the biggest proof of this.

The government, administration and general public of our country talk against immorality and crimes, but they do not raise their voice against the roots of these due to the influence of the west or the pressure of these commercial-circle. For example, they object to unethical acts, but they do not demand the closure of fairs and exhibitions. They talk against Aids, eve-teasing and sexual harassment but they do not talk against obscenity, nudity, prostitution and sexual-intoxicants. And the pious Muslims demand the closure of immorality and root of crimes.

Any conscientious man would admit that this demand of the pious men is conducive to the achievement of national and social goal. If the government and administration cannot raise their voice due to material gains and pressure of commercial-circle, they should at least assist the pious men in expressing and promoting their opinions so that the country and nation get benefited. It is the demand of both religious sentiment and patriotism, but unfortunately, sometimes the opposite of it is done. Their voice is silenced using different excuses. Sometimes the commercial-circle humiliates and tortures them and the administration refrains from helping them. Sometimes the administration itself silences them and metes out torture to them.

When an emotional pious young man- especially who possesses emotion, but not complete religious knowledge- sees these nudity, vulgarity, alcoholism etc., but find no way to protest against it or stop it, gets deprived of talking against it and nobody protests even when he gets humiliated and oppressed then disappointment and emotion drives him in the wrong direction. Then this kind of person tries to violate the Law or indulges in violence in the name of protesting against injustice.

We have already said and will discuss elaborately further that Islam does not allow any kind of violence and the wise Islamic Scholars do not approve of that. However, these emotional people do not make decisions after taking rulings from the scholars, rather they search for rulings after making decisions and they label the rulings of the wise scholars as ‘brokerage’ or ‘weakness of faith’ taking the ruling of an emotional person, who is just like them, as correct.

1.10. Unemployment and Pessimism:

 

Although the wrath generating from the wiping out of Muslims and repressing Islam in Muslim countries is prevailing in all Muslim countries, the militancy has not spread out in all these countries equally. The kind of terrorism, which can be perceived in Indonesia, cannot be found in Malaysia even though the spread of Islamic Education, abundance of Madrassas and anti-American/West outlook is more dominant in Malaysia. Perhaps the major reason behind this is the economic stability and the clear opinions of the national leaders against the western aggression and lies. Wrath or Emotion cannot occupy the minds of busy and content people. Besides, their emotion is echoed by the speeches of the national leaders. Hence, they do not look for distorted way to express their emotion. On the other hand, these emotions intensify the wrath and disappointment of people who are unemployed, who have fallen prey to the social discrimination or administrative injustice. Apart from that, it is easy to convince these people that the unemployment and torture will come to an end and the day of tranquility will come if a few bombs are blasted and some people are killed in this manner.

This will be proven by any field-survey in our country on those who have resorted to violence and terrorism to establish the kingdom of ‘Shorbohara’ or Islamic Kingdom. Even the geographical division will also prove that. The recruitment of socialist-militants or Islamic-militants is not as easy in Dhaka or the eastern areas as in the south-west, west and north of Bangladesh. The economic crises, unemployment in these areas are the reasons behind it.