07-13-2004, 06:05 PM
Praise be to Allah and prayer and peace be upon His Messenger Mohamed, his household and companions
In this post we are going to examine an important issue that has been bothering all of us lately, which is the definition of terrorism. Taking in consideration that what actually bothers us is that it became a synonym to Muslims in a sense of incriminating us as a nation.
Insh a Allah I seek Allah’s close guidance to assist me in presenting how I think about this issue and allow me to produce the correct points.
Let us start with looking into the pattern of several wars, for example what happened during the 1991 war between Iraq and Kuwait, 1991 Operation Desert Shield between the USA and Iraq in Kuwait, 1967 between Israel and Egypt, 1976 between Egypt and Israel, and many other examples.
All these wars share a common characteristic which is depending mainly on the factor of sudden surprise on the first strike in order to unstabilize the other party (enemy of course). So the objective is to cause the enemy loose focus, capability and stability in order to be easily defeated. Part of the aim also is to send terrifying messages to the enemy so as to defeat its resistance and moral capability.
We may conclude that any military strategic tactic depends on a strong, sudden, and terrifying act towards the target to ensure a full loss of control, defense, focus, unity and more. Again to terrorize the target.
Therefore, if the manmade military strategies legitimize terrorism in cases of war in order for the attacking party (regardless of whether or not that party owns the right to do so, this is not my core of interest in this discussion, if u observe I gave various war examples without an emphasis on Islam or Muslims) to ensure winning the war.
Let us get to Quran and how it deals with this point, since our manual (the Quran did not and I emphasis did not overlook any aspect of our life without producing the proper regulation).
“And make ready against them all you can of power, <b>including steeds of war (tanks, planes, missiles, artillery, etc.) </b><b>to hreaten the enemy of Allah and your enemy, and others besides whom
</b>, you may not know but whom Allah does know. And whatever you shall spend in the Cause of Allah shall be repaid unto you, and you shall not be treated unjustly” (Quran 8:60).
With all due respect to the translator, but he modified the word into modern war machines. The Ayah precisely say prepare for them all what u can of power and the tie of horses with which u may terrorize and threaten the enemy of Allah and your enemy. I found myself responsible with all my Arabic native speakers on this board to help our fellow Muslims who are not Arabic native speakers gain better understanding of the Quran specially after looking into this Ayah. The word in the red font in Arabic which is translated as threaten is “Turhibun” derived from urhib which is literally to terrorize.
Please examine the noble Ayah carefully before jumping into any conclusion or feeling a deep need to defend the image of your religion. Our religion does not need to. We are commanded to prepare every possible means that terrorize and threaten the enemy of Allah and others known only to Him. Only the enemy of Allah and us.
If we don’t how will we win a battle can u tell me?, by pushing the shoulder of the enemy telling him how bad he is and that he must reconsider fighting Allah, or by telling him O please go away and leave us alone don’t kill us please. No we must act harsh and strong just as appropriate to our religion. But again this is only legitimate during war. Thus, we can not really make haphazard decisions on any Muslim launching an aggression or an attack against a group of people, since they we are not aware of full details of the situation. Again the situation is what makes it legitimate or not. Please just consider this point. The given situation on which the attach was launched is what makes it legitimate or not.
I recall reading about a companion can not remember his name, who decided on a battle to take a risk by penetrating all of a sudden into the lines of the other party in a move that will certainly result into confusion and instability. Brothers and sisters we must be aware of what is a military tactic all about.
This terrorism issue is carefully engineered by the Western media to trap us into a pitch of how to defend our image and to do that we even sometime go to the extreme of being unjust to our brothers and sisterS.
Brothers and sisters, we all agree that killing armless civilians, children, women and elderly is not allowed in an Islamic context of war. We are also aware of the incident when Zaid Ibn Haretha killed a Mushrik during a battle after pronouncing the Shahada and was seriously blamed by the Messenger for doing so till he said I wished I did not embrace Islam before that day. The Messenger told him did u slit his heart to be sure that he did not mean it.
But again and again, we are dealing with issues in which we depend on media as source of information. For a change let the Quran and Sunnah be our guide when it comes to the global war being aggressively launched against us.
Alhamdulelah who guided us for this and if it was not for Him we would not have been guided. Whatever is correct in this post is from Allah, and whatever is wrong is from me and shaytan
Prayer and peace be on our leader and teacher and Messenger Mohamed, his household and companions