Ideological Crisis in Islam: Al-Qaida, Taliban and ISIS Have Done Islamic World Irreparable Damage

Ideology of Violence Gets Overt and Covert Support of Some Ulema Main Points: 1. Al Qaida could not destroy the US. 2. ISIS could not establish a truly Islamic Caliphate. 3. Afghan civilians are fleeing Afghanistan after Taliban came to power 4. Terrorist organisations thrive on mainstream extremist Islamic exegeses. ---- By New Age Islam Staff Writer 25 February 2022 (File Photo) ------ One major problem of the Muslim world today is that it is facing an ideological crisis. Though generally every Muslim or every Islamic scholar vouches that Islam is a religion of peace, the reality is quite the opposite. The Muslim world at large is in the grip of violence either on the basis of political differences or on the basis of religious differences. Apart from the political or ethnic conflicts, the main reason for the violence in the Muslim societies in the modern times is that extremism has been validated as means of achieving religious and political goals. The history of extremism goes back to the life of prophet pbuh when a group of Muslims committed violence in the name of religion. The Quran speaks of extremist groups among Muslims. "There is one whose words you like in the affairs of the world and he holds God witness on his heart but he is very quarrelsome, when he returns from your company he roams about on earth to create mischief and destroys crops and lives and God hates Fasad (mischief).(Al Baqra:205) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Also Read: Abu Ibrahim al-Hashmi al-Qurashi, Abubakar Shekau, Haibatullah Akhundzada to Ayman Al- Zawahiri - All Are Playing a Foolish but Deadly Friend to Muslims --------------------------------------------------------------------------- There are other verses in the Quran that speak of extremists among Muslims who believe that violence can be used for reform and to spread the message of Islam though the Quran repeatedly says that violence should not be used to bring social reform or to spread the message of God. There is a similar verse that say that there are Muslims who think that by perpetrating violence, they are trying to bring reform in the society and preparing the ground for a just society but the Quran declares them mischief mongers or Mufsid. "And when they are told to abstain from creating mischief on earth, they say we are only reformers, let it be known that they are mischief makers but they don't understand."(Al Baqarah: 12) On another occasion, the Quran again says: "And God knows the mischief maker (Mufsid) and the reformer". (Al Baqarah: 220) Therefore, it becomes clear that it may sometimes become difficult to distinguish between mischief and reform, especially in the modern world where the situation is very complicated and so even Islamic scholars are divided on some basic issues. According to a hadith in Sahih Bukhari, in the later period, there will be confusion in matters of Deen and many Islamic scholars will lead Muslims towards Hell with their misleading views. (File Photo/ Boko Haran) ------ The extremist group emerged as a prominent ideological group during the caliphate of Hadhrat Ali r.a. so much so that the fourth righteous Caliph had to fight a decisive battle against them and eliminate them. They were called the Kharijites. They were called Kharji which in Arabic means outsiders. Since Takfiri ideology had not gained ground till that time, they were not declared Kafirs and were only called outsiders on the basis of a verse in the Quran which says to the prophet that he had nothing to do with those who create groups in Deen. Though most of the Kharijites were eliminated by the fourth Caliph, some survived and the extremist ideology remained dormant for some time. However, Hazrat Ali was himself killed by a Kharjite. In later years, the Khariji ideology gave birth to extremist and terrorist groups like Al Qaida, Taliban, ISIS and their offshoots. But these groups did not emerge overnight. They had basis in the extremist interpretation of Quran and events during the lifetime of the prophet pbuh by some prominent Ulema of the middle ages. Even some modern Ulema have extremist ideas. These terrorist organisations do not have their independent ideology but they base their beliefs and ideas in the interpretations and exegeses of some mainstream Ulema. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Also Read: Taliban, ISIS, Al-Qaeda and Boko Haram – Do You Know Islam Means Equality, Peace and Kindness? --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The major incidents of violence, massacre and civil wars in the Muslim world were perpetrated by these extremist organisations in the name of protecting Islam, spreading Deen among non-Muslims, fighting the enemies of Islam and establishing caliphate. Al Qaida carried out 9/11 and other bombings in different parts of the world in the name of fighting US excesses in Muslim countries. Taliban got legitimacy by fighting against US occupation of Afghanistan and for attempting to establish Sharia rule. ISIS also gained the moral support of some prominent Ulema of the Muslim world for establishing Caliphate in the Levant. In all these operations many innocent Muslims --- women, children and elders from among the Muslim community apart from non-Muslims --- were killed but these Kharji outfits justified their inhuman acts by quoting opinions of some prominent Islamic jurists of the middle ages. Even the bloodshed and killing of Shia, Sunni and Christian women during the ISIS occupation of Mosul was overtly or covertly supported or defended by a section of Muslim scholars. Ayman al-Zawahiri (left) and Osama bin Laden (right)/ Photo: TRT World ------ The Taliban have targeted residential complexes both in Pakistan and Afghanistan in the past. They attacked girls’ schools in Swat in Pakistan and in many towns in Afghanistan. Their soldiers shot at Malala only for advocating girls' education which is a Farz (duty) on Muslim men and women. They shot dead a girl in Afghanistan recently just for not wearing a veil in public. In Pakistan, they target Shias and attack Shia children saying snakelings will only grow into snakes. Still many Islamic scholars ignore these un-Islamic acts based on a Khariji ideology and hail them as the true flagbearers of Islam. About ten years ago the Nawaz Sharif government had called an all party conference on the issue of Taliban terrorism. An Islamic organisation had refused to take part in it saying they did not consider Taliban a terrorist organisation. Recently, the head of a so-called moderate Islamic organisation, a prominent Islamic scholar and teacher of India welcomed the Taliban's ascent to power in Afghanistan saying they were freedom fighters. These Ulema have ignored the Quranic injunctions on the use of force. The Quran authorises force or violence only when one is wronged or faces an existential threat. It asks Muslims to abstain from violence as far as possible. These Ulema are so obsessed with the belief that only a form of government named Khilafat is the remedy of all the problems of the Islamic world that they accept every massacre, bloodshed and mischief perpetrated in the name of the establishment of caliphate. One Islamic scholar said during the civil war in Syria that small excess are acceptable for achieving big goals. This view does not have any justification in the events that took place during the prophet's life. And saying that the bloodshed, killing, rape of women, their enslavement, destruction of mazars mosques and churches were small excesses speaks of their own Kharji ideology under the cover of moderateness. The Al Qaida could not destroy the US, the ISIS could not establish a caliphate and the Taliban have not been able to establish a truly Islamic caliphate or government. Millions of Afghan civilians have fled to non-Muslim countries because of persecution and throttling limitations. Certainly this is not the kind of rule envisaged by Quran and Sunnah. These terrorist organisations have caused a lot of loss and damage to the Muslim world by giving the US and other Western countries the alibi to carry out military operations and station their troops in Muslim countries. These terrorist organisations have only served the political interests of the enemies of Islam by providing them the opportunity to destroy the economy of Muslim countries in the name of war on terror. Terrorism will flourish as long as Muslims will support the ideology of violence in any form. Islam does not support any movement that is run from jungles or mountains. A just movement should be run for the people, by the people and should be of the people. The holy prophet pbuh brought reform within not from outside and by peaceful means and not by using force on innocent people. The sooner the Muslims realise this the better for them URL: https://www.newageislam.com/radical-islamism-jihad/ideological-crisis-al-qaida-taliban-isis-islamic/d/126448 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism