Who created the ‘evil ideology’

By Mohammed A. R. Galadari
25 July 2005

DEAR readers, it will be educative to find out who created the monster of terrorism that Tony Blair and others calls the "evil ideology", in the aftermath of the July 7 incidents in London.

In this respect, I had raised a question in this column, some time ago, which is that, why had the CIA and the Americans not rounded up their so-called agents in Afghanistan when they accomplished the task of driving out Russians, and put them into some reformation centers with a view to enabling them de-learn the skills they had acquired as fighters against the Russia?

At that time, the West was not calling the fighting as part of an "evil ideology", because the fight was against Communists. So, whatever these men did were hailed as acts against occupation of their land, and for freeing their country from foreign hands. Those who died in the fighting were called "martyrs", who laid down their lives for a good cause.

But, those who underwent training as fighters for a few years cannot all of a sudden become normal human beings, when the war was over, and it was the duty of those who sponsored these mujahedeens to put them in a normal mode by giving them psychological counseling. But, sadly, this had not happened, and these men were left in their camps unattended. No body told them what they were doing was wrong, because those killings suited their sponsors' purpose. And, what they knew was fighting, and only fighting.

They therefore continued to find virtue in what the West now shuns as "evil ideology". In due course of time, they spread out to other areas and regions, and continued creating the same mayhem that they had got training for in Afghanistan. This "evil ideology", thus, is the making of the CIA, whereas Muslims, as a religion, has had no role in it.

Coming to the question of the Muslims in the developed world, and the needle of suspicion being pointed at some of them in the context of the London bombings, it is very important that we understand the scenario they're in. Why do they gather together or show a spirit of unity? It is likely that they tend to develop a bond among them since they are immigrants and are far from their native lands. They may know they have no choice other than to stay in the environments they're in, as the scenario back home, in the so-called republics, is not to their liking or satisfaction. In the alien environment, they have some things to their liking, which they do not have in their countries. For instance, they are economically sound, and they can say things they feel like saying, without any fear, and nothing can happen to them-which is not the case back home. Some of them even start writing and publishing leaflets or small periodicals highlighting their views.

And, when they gather, they discuss things openly, which is what I learn from reading some Arabic journals being published from London; and that they focus their attention on the problems of their brethren around the world. They discuss, possibly, on how Muslims' problems remain unsolved for long years, whereas the problems of others get due attention and get solved. For example, they might say that in Indonesia, the East Timor problem has been solved, a representative government formed and peace restored in the area, just because it was essentially a Christian struggle.

All world powers including Australia intervened to settle the matter. Or, take the case of Sudan, they might say. The population in the south which rebelled against Khartoum's rule was not significantly high, and yet international pressure facilitated a settlement. Or, they might take the case of South Africa. Blacks' cause against Caucasians got support from America, because the politicians in the US wanted to woo the blacks in their own country to win their hearts and their support; and they wanted to stress the point that "we are there to solve the problems of injustice and discrimination against one race". The super powers thus stood hand in hand to solve the problem in South Africa.

At the same time, however, it might appear to them that Muslims' problems dragged on everywhere. The oldest among them, the Palestinian problem, continues to defy a solution even after half a century of its eruption. The same with Chechnya, which drags on; So with the Muslims' problem in Cyprus, or in southern Philippines, Thailand, and in Kashmir. When Muslims sit and discuss such things, they might feel upset and feel being humiliated and also might feel that they have no weight in the eyes of the super powers, and hold no respect. That is how, I suspect, some of these men begin supporting terrorists and go even to the extent of taking their own lives.

One may wonder why some Muslims living even in the affluent West, like in England, where the July bombing occurred, and where they are guaranteed a future, are blessed with social security measures, jobs, health-care, housing and all, go this way: how they get attracted to these so-called terror groups? When everything is in their favour, instead of looking upto a good future, why blow up their lives? The reason, I suspect, is nothing other than this sense of humiliation over what they see as injustice to Muslims around the world.

As a religion, it must be clear to all that Islam is a tolerant faith and respects other religions. If you go back in history, you will see how much Islam respects other religions. The other day, I met a Jewish guide who was a professional tour operator and senior citizen in Argentina. He told me that he was one of the survivors of the holocaust and that almost all of his family members had died at the hands of Nazis. As a young child, he ran away with his father to Argentina.

And,what he said then stresses the point that Muslims were never against Jews. He told me the history of how Jews arrived in Europe. Some of them went via north Africa and reached Morocco, and went to Gibraltar, and lived in Spain while others went to Europe via Byzantine which at that time was capital of the second Roman dynasty. They went to east Europe, basically Romania, Poland and Hungary as also Germany. There, thus, were arrivals of Jews in Spain on a massive scale. But, when Muslims were in control of Spain, "they never forced Jews to convert to Islam", says this Jew tour guide.

As a matter of fact, he says, Jews were advisers to various Khalifs in Spain. This shows how Muslims are so tolerant a religion and that they were never racist, so much so that, as far as he knows, the Muslim heads of various cities there had Jews as their advisers.

I asked the tour operator how he reached northern Europe. "We were some 1500-1600, when we left the Spanish peninsula. When Christians took over this region from Muslims, they passed a law saying if you don't convert to Christianity, you will be killed or expelled. That is how we ran away to most north European cities", he said, adding that his ancestors went to Germany.
Now, you see dear readers, how it proves that those who are trying to say that Islam or some of those fanatics have "evil ideology", are wrong. If they had an evil ideology, they could have forcibly converted these people at a time when they were in full strength in the 8th and 9th century AD.

This guide told me another interesting thing in Argentina itself, which is that former President Carlos Saul Menem had been born into a Muslim family, but in public he said he was a Roman Catholic, as the majority there are of Catholic faith. Most of the advisers of Carlos, as per his information, were Jews. There are about 300,000 to 500,000 Jews in Argentina, now, who are wealthy or middle class.

Also, take the case of the subcontinent. If Islam does not respect other religions and does not have tolerance, how has the Subcontinent, which was ruled by the Mouguls and some other Persian Muslim dynasty for almost 800 years, not seen conversions to Islam on a massive scale? If they so desired, they could have changed the whole of the subcontinent to Islam in a matter of less than 100 years. As a matter of fact, they didn't and the majority of the population in India are non-Muslims.

The fact of the matter is that the so-called ideology of the evil does not exist in Islam. On the other hand, extremism exists in Israel, and you can see how Yitzhak Rabin was shot dead by an Israeli; and how Ariel Sharon is having a tough time and his security chiefs are cautioning him that his life is in danger because of Gaza pullout. But no one talks about it. Secular Congress party is in power in New Delhi, the president there is a Muslim, and the prime minister a Sikh, but you will also find some extremists there and a provincial government has approved textbooks hailing Hitler. On the other hand, did we hear any Muslim scholar praising terror?

I must say that the mistake of the West is that they link terror groups to Muslim religion and call terrorists as Muslim groups. Not all Muslims are educated or highly intelligent; especially lots of them in Afghanistan, Pakistan, the central Asian countries and Africa are not literate. The danger is that some can easily misguide them, saying "these and these guys are attacking our religion", and these illiterates can be easily led into wrong hands. The problem is that they have no way to read or understand things on their own.

This was what happened in the case of a Newsweek report relating to alleged desecration of the Holy Book in a prison in Guantanamo Bay a couple of months ago-a report that was later dubbed as baseless. That led to street protests, violence and killings in Afghanistan and Pakistan. I bet, how many of these protesters had access to Newsweek? This is how illiterate people are misguided into wrong ways. But, how can anyone link such actions to one's faith or religion?

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