By Dr. Mohammad Ghitreef (Shahbaz Nadwi), New Age Islam
25 January, 2015
Recently a well known Urdu columnist wrote an article on Muslim World's malaise in today's world. He did not delve into the real problems facing the Ummah i.e. crisis in Muslim mind, stereotypes and dogmas, lagging behind in education and lacking in scientific thinking and approach which has resulted in economic, political and all-round backwardness of Muslims. Rather strangely, he discussed the situation in a bizarre manner, concentrating mainly on conspiracies being hatched and spun everywhere in the world against Islam and Muslims. He cited this as the major cause of the decline of the Ummah.
This column is widely circulated among Urdu readers, among the clergy and Islamists alike. In their turn these people too would speak in the same language to their audience in madrasas, in mosques, in their religious sermons and so on, focusing on the conspiracies, real or imagined by their supposed enemies around the world. To my horror, the said author concluded that there were a set of people, comprising nearly one hundred men and women, who are the real ruler of the world. This secret Jewish sect is a horrible cabal. They drink human blood and worship Satan, the devilish creature on the surface of the earth. And they, very clandestinely rule the world by proxy. Because all the world powers, including world institutions: media, research academies, scientific bodies, economic forums etc are but puppets in their hands. They monopolise and manipulate UNO, NATO and other world bodies. The five big powers - USA, Russia, Germany, France and China - are only satellites for this cabal of gory cannibals.
In the wake of Pakistani Taliban's inhuman and deadly attack on innocent teenager students of Peshawar army school, the organ of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (Indian JeH), biweekly Dawat Urdu in its leading article claimed that the horrible attack was not the handiwork of TTP members; in fact the attackers should be members of any secret world killer agency, may be of CIA, or of Mossad. Years back when Pak army ruler general Pervez Musharraf rapped Lal Masjid of Islamabad, there was a flurry of books, special numbers of religious and political Urdu monthlies and weeklies, condemning Musharraf and Pak army, blaming him to be playing into the hands of America and other evil forces of the world. Little did they pay any attention to the dire question as to why boys and girl students of Lal Masjid seminary were having Kalashnikovs, rifles and guns? In a seminary they were supposed to have books, and learning material not fire and bomb. Why Ghazi brothers (Maulana Abdul Aziz and his brother) were challenging state writ? Which Shariah allowed them that? Were these insurgents not playing into the hands of certain foreign powers? Whenever Taliban did any wrong thing like stoning somebody to death without fair trial, flogging boys and girls, bombing girl’s schools, and attempting to murder innocent and brave teenager Malala etc, there were reports in many Urdu magazines, news papers and websites ,blaming Malala and justifying Taliban terror strike on her. Even after Malala got Nobel peace prize Islamist's media publications were full of her condemnations, blaming her to be an agent of Western powers and to be going against the interests of Islam and Muslims!!
Again when ISIS was reported in the media to have been killing innocent and unarmed civilians in cold blood, bleeding Yazidis of Iraq, humiliating women and destroying Sufi shrines and doing all uncivilized things, there were found many sympathizers to them among Islamists, why? A lot of Muslims in particular Islamists believe in Osama bin Laden and consider his terror agenda to be correct. They believe him to be a Mujahid and martyr of Islam. They also believe that 9/11 terror strike on America was justified if done by Osama and his group Al-Qaida, while many Muslims also think that this heinous crime was done either by Mossad or CIA or some other Western secret agency, even may be by a secret cell of American government itself to fulfil its long term vested interests. They are not realizing the fact that be it Osama, or his hosts Taliban, they were created by CIA and ISI who recruited and trained them to wage a Jihad against communist Russia once upon a time. As far as the ISIS is concerned it was established, funded and supported by autocratic and despotic Gulf states, Saudi Arabia, UAE and the like, aiming at curtailing the ever increasing strategic Iranian influence in the region as well as to destabilize the more cruel and criminal neighbouring Syrian regime, which has been killing en mass its own citizens and unarmed civilians including children and women since March 2011.
There is no dearth of people amongst Ulema and Islamists who justify in clear cut terms, the terror attack on the editorial crew of Charlie Hebdo, the French media organization, murdering 12 people in its office in Paris this month. Not realizing that this ultra secular Western country has the largest Muslim population on its soil, which will consequently face many troubles at the hands of authorities, as well as ever increasing Islamophobes in Europe. France does not tolerate any religious symbol be it Islamic or Christian or belonging to any other religious faith. A Sikh turban is banned as is Islamic scarf in public places; schools, colleges, universities and public offices. I also do believe that cartoon making of holy prophet of Islam (pbuh) or caricaturing any prophet or religious figure is a crime, a hurting act, a criminal offence, yet it could not be responded to by terror strikes, rather it should be stopped by legal procedure, and appealing to human conscience and by awakening human feelings of dignity, decency and propriety, and by engaging Islamophobes and conducting dialogues with different faith groups and civilizations.
Dr. Mohammad Ghitreef is the director of Foundation for Islamic Studies, New Delhi
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