In the wake of the recent brutal attacks which we witnessed this year against innocent people in several parts of the world by extremists, apparently influenced by ideologies of hate, such as those adopted by Isis and similar groups, we hear a chorus of voices in the West rushing to accuse Islam of being a religion of violence.
For example, US president-elect Donald Trump wasted no time on asserting that the incident which took place in Orlando last summer, in which 49 innocent people were killed at the hands of a mentally disturbed American, invoking Isis as his inspiration for murder, was an infallible proof that “Radical Islam” is the root of all evil.
His remedy sounded as naïve as it was preposterous: ban all Muslims from entering the US; a total of over two billion people. Furthermore, he vowed that once he became president, no refugees or immigrants from Syria, Iraq, and other Middle Eastern countries, would be admitted to the US, including infants and nursing mothers, a draconian measure indeed for a country which has served traditionally as a safe haven for oppressed and downtrodden people throughout its history.
The world painted by the likes of Trump, who actually dare to say aloud what quite a few extreme right elements in the US and Europe subscribe to but dare not say, is an overly simplified and dichotomous world.
It is a view based on a ‘Manichaean’ analysis of the world. Much as the believers in Manichaeism, a belief which was widespread in Persia and the Middle East, attributed all goodness to light and all evil to darkness, Trump, and like-minded people, would like to believe that Western civilisation, imbued by Christian values, represents all that is good and sublime in human nature, whereas “Radical Islam” is the epitome of all evil.
Fallible human beings interpret the word of God, and fallible human beings purport that they act in the name of God, or on his behalf
Not only is this dichotomous kind of logic erroneous, but it is dangerous, as it would ultimately lead us to believe that different cultures and civilisations will ultimately collide, with only one civilisation, claiming moral supremacy over others.
I much admire Western civilisation which has enriched and enlightened our lives in so many ways, but all other civilisations are worthy of our admiration. Medieval Islam, for example, shaped significantly the epistemological, ontological and ethical systems of thought of the Renaissance European thinkers.
In fact, Western civilisation is the product of millennia of human thought evolution; Eastern, Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Hellenistic, Roman and Islamic. Such awareness would guard us against simplistic and dichotomous modes of thinking. Neither Islam, nor Christianity, can, therefore, be said to be inherently ‘violent’ or ‘peaceful’. The same holds true for Judaism, and for that matter, even for non-monotheistic creeds such as Buddhism and Hinduism.
We may indeed believe that the Quran and the Bible are the true word of God. But the fact remains that fallible human beings interpret the word of God, and fallible human beings purport that they act in the name of God, or on his behalf. This is, in fact, precisely what the perverted adherents of Isis, Al-Qaeda, Boko Haram and similar groups are doing.
They consider all those who differ from them to be infidels or apostates. These groups, influenced by Wahhabism in its most extreme form, are, in fact, at war with Islam itself in its wider enlightened and humanistic interpretations. They poison the minds of frustrated, disenfranchised youth and turn them into monstrous killers, as, for example, the barbaric massacre by a single sick person last July in Nice had shown.
Their ideology of hatred spares no one, Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Actually so many Muslims were killed at the hands of these perverts in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Iran, Afghanistan, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Libya, and other parts of the world. Towards the end of Ramadan (last July), Isis, Taliban and Al-Qaeda led a campaign of terror claiming hundreds of lives in Istanbul, Baghdad, Dhaka, Cairo and even ventured an attack on prophet Muhammad’s own holy shrine in Medina, Saudi Arabia.
Despite recent victories achieved against Isis in Libya, Iraq, and war-torn Syria, tens of innocent people lose their lives almost daily in suicidal car bombings carried out by Isis and other terrorist groups, still dispersed all over the region.
However, to argue that such acts of hatred and violence directed at Muslims and non-Muslims alike must mean that there must be something in the religion itself, rather than in the way it is interpreted, or misinterpreted, which radicalises these youths and turns them into violent killers is a counterproductive argument. Acts of violence throughout history have been committed by the followers of virtually all religions.
If we turn our attention, for example, to Christianity, we will also find considerable violence committed in the name of Christ. The Crusades, the Inquisition, the burning of witches alive, the systematic persecution of Jews conveniently labelled as ‘killers of Christ’, and the ferocious battles between Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants, a remnant of which continued well into the 20th century in Northern Ireland, are all vivid examples of violence motivated by ‘religion’.
In July 1995, extremist elements of Christian Serbs committed the worst genocide in the 20th century in Europe, surpassed only by the holocaust perpetrated by Nazi Germany, against Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica, in which 8,000 people were killed.
There is no shortage of religiously motivated violence in Judaism either. The state of Israel itself is based on the idea of the “promised land”. Jewish extremists, inspired by biblical prophecies, justified the killing, persecution, and banishment of thousands of Palestinians (more than two million live in diaspora until now).
Jewish extremist groups such as the Irgun and Hagenah massacred hundreds of Palestinians in cold blood in Dir Yaseen and other locations, as the state of Israel was being ushered. A deranged Israeli physician named Baruch Goldstein killed 27 Muslim worshippers in Hebron in 1994. He was well known for his fanatic views, inspired by the teachings of Rabbi Meir Kahane who openly preached the expulsion of all non-Jews from Palestine, in fulfillment of Torah promises, conveniently interpreted to serve ideological goals.
Non-monotheistic religions have also their share of violence. In Sri Lanka, for example, the Buddhist majority raged a ferocious civil war against the Hindu minority in the north. Fanatic Buddhist monks in Burma led systematic and savage persecution of the Rohingya Muslim minority in the country, committing some of the worst crimes against humanity.
The history of mankind clearly shows the fallacy of claiming that any religion is either inherently violent or peaceful. It is people who can be violent or peaceful. Those who commit violence in the name of religion actually misinterpret religion to justify their own vile acts. They delude themselves into believing that their violent acts serve a higher and nobler idea, worthy of killing others and taking away their own lives for its sake.
To counteract these destructive ideologies, people all over the world should join efforts, regardless of their beliefs, to turn the world into a more peaceful place for the sake of present and future generations. Muslim and non-Muslim religious scholars should declare categorically in all fora that no acts of violence whatsoever can be committed or justified invoking religion.
As advocated by the UNESCO, curricula all over the world should inculcate a culture of peace. We may all worship God as we please, but the God we enshrine in our hearts should be a “God of love” whom we all worship as citizens of the world.
Saadun Suayeh is a former ambassador of Libya to Malta.