A Muslim's view of the Afghan war

by Ajmal Masroor

The Muslim community is very clear about the Islamic position on any attack on innocent civilians, buildings and mass destruction. In the Qur’an (the Divine scripture revealed to prophet Muhammad peace be on him) we find God saying:

"On that account We ordained for the Children of Israel that if any one kills a person - unless if be for murder or for spreading mischief on earth - it would be as if he killed all humankind; and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of all humankind. Yet, although there came to them Our messengers with clear teachings, yet, even after that, many of them continued to commit excesses in the land." (Chapter 5: verse 32)

Therefore attacks on America leave us all very sad and we extend our heartfelt sympathy to those who have suffered. We stand together in firm condemnation of such terrorist attack for Islam considers every life as sacred.

The world community who point finger at the Islamic terrorists (we detest the use of Islam to define these terrorists thus brand all Muslim the same) have forgotten that more then a thousand Muslim lives were also lost in that attack.

In order to defeat terrorism, bombing and targeting innocent and poorest of the poor Afghani people sounds rather bizarre in the minds of any sane people. Smart bombs, which are supposedly programmed to hunt down Usama bin Laden, have so far killed more then 1000 innocent people, bombed Red Crosses aid storage buildings twice, killed four aid workers of an international relief organisation, destroyed Mosques, a hospital killing more then 70 patients and brought mud huts of poor people to the ground. Is that what we mean by smart bomb? Bin Laden, we are told by the US defence secretary, wont be caught nor Taliban brought to their knees. An amazing hegemony but the poor and the needy are yet again made to pay for the stupidity of the world leaders. When have we ever seen terrorism defeated by counter terrorism?

The Muslim Community feel very angry and deeply insulted by the sheer arrogance with which the western and secular powers are bringing Islamic life style to disrepute and treading a dangerous path that may lead to a head on collision. It is a known fact that Islam is a comprehensive life style. It has its own principles on politics, economics and social spheres. It does not dissociate religion (God centred life) from these public spheres nor does it confine religion into private.

This is a stark contrast to the predominant lifestyle we currently witness in today’s consumerist society. Muslim community finds it repugnant that there is a concerted effort to make a society based on individual pleasure with total disregard to morality and ethics thus giving rise to Godless society. Islam promotes a dynamic society based on believe in one God at its centre with clearly defined morals and ethics, freedom with responsibility, respect for all, honour and dignity, equality, virtuous deeds and above all justice.

To understand what I mean imagine how much deeply disturbed the Muslim community feels when it sees the lack of respect for the elders, how the parents are pushed away into nursing homes at their old age, and in some cases seeing the elderly being employed to sweep our streets. When it sees ever increasing crime, exploitation of human body through pornography and fashion industry, crippling effects of drugs and alcohol, it finds it very difficult to feel proud to be part of such a society.

Though this may seem somewhat irrelevant to what’s happening around the world today in the light 11th September, but the struggle between establishing an Islamic society and the opposing lifestyle is at the centre of the problem. To understand this we must understand what a Muslim means when s/he wished to establish Islamic society. When a Muslim says s/he wants to live by his/her religion, this is what s/he means. In the struggle to live and be governed by its fundamental principles of faith, it finds the whole world against it. In establishing a Muslim society its finds itself against the media and military might of the opposition and others driven by economic interest as well as no opportunity to live by what it believes. This gives rise to deep frustrations and resentment which could lead to extremism.

The international community will find a stable Muslim community a source of inspiration, security and strength. Islam is not an enemy but a challenging bright future. Opposing its natural progression will bring the communities on a head on clash. Making friendship and supporting it will make the whole world a better place for us and for our children.

It is sad to see ‘war against terrorism’ is now being used to justify the attack on the Islamic lifestyle and its community. Often terrorism is a tactic used by people in desperation people of different faiths and ethnicity. We have seen the US supporting terrorism by Zionists in Israel and many terrorist groups in Latin America. In Spain, Sri Lanka, Quebec, Philippines and India - all have their own brand of terrorism.

At a time like this the international community must pursue justice, not revenge. It is not correct to blame the Muslims, while no established facts have been brought to light. People are innocent until proven guilty and the burden of proof lies on the accuser. This is the case from both legal and common sense perspectives. It is not a matter of defending Usama bin Laden or the Taliban. If bin Laden is found to be guilty then he must be punished. But this has to happen through a fair trial by an impartial authority according to international law. At the moment the US is acting as the accuser, judge, prosecutor and executioner. This is not acceptable in any legal system.

It seems unless we support the actions of the US/UK led coalition we are with the terrorists. Why is that the absolute truth and position? US has a lot to answer before it can take such absolute and moral high ground when it comes to justice. We have not forgotten that it was US who wiped out whole cities by dropping an Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We have not forgotten that US is responsible for bombing many countries since the second World War 2.

It is because of UK and US opposition to lifting of sanctions against Iraq, we have witnessed destruction of a whole generation of people in Iraq, over a million children dead because of the sanctions. And Israeli attacks on Palestinian people for the last fifty years with the bullets, missiles and tanks from UK and US. That’s another story! Do you not hear the raging anger of millions of angry people? I hear it every day.

Anti-American feeling is not restricted to Muslim groups. The protests in Seattle, London, Genoa, and other places show this. There is a fear of what will happen at the next meeting of the G8. The US could not get itself elected onto such UN bodies as the Human Rights Commission and Anti-Narcotics Commission primarily because of anti-American backlash. All this shows that there is actually popular antagonism against the US because of its policies, which have hegemonistic overtones and suffer from double standards. The US must analyse why there is so much distrust and disillusionment?

In conclusion, there is a need for the whole world community to acknowledge it’s past mistakes, take responsibility for them and apologise for the injustices. Let us stand together to create a better world and better future. And for Gods sake stop bombing the people of Afghanistan now.

FOURTHWRITE, PO BOX 31, Belfast BT127EE