Murder in the Name of Allah — Page 119
Islamic Terrorism conduct of adherents of every religion varies from country to country, from sect to sect, from age to age, and from person to person. . How very different is the conduct of Jesus's disciples from those in Pinochet's Chile, or in South Africa, who claim to uphold Christian values. Which is to represent Christianity? Are we entitled to describe the First and Second World Wars, in which millions of people lost their lives,' as Christian wars against humanity? In the Second. World War, Russian losses alone are estimated to have exceeded 6. 1 million. Three-quarters of the entire population of Bosnia was wiped out. The loss of property and material are of such magnitude as to be almost impossible to assess. ² Will this enormity be described as. Christianity in action or shall we take our understanding of Christianity from those early Christians who, having been struck on one cheek, turned the other cheek towards the striker, and those who were fed to beasts and burned alive in their homes rather than answer violence with violence? I would much rather choose the latter. . Any act of war in a Muslim country is perceived in the West as the extension of 'Islamic terrorism' but in any other country such an act is seen as a political dispute. Why must such dual standards of justice prevail in this day and age? One really begins to wonder if there is an undercurrent of hatred for Islam beneath the apparently calm surface of. Christian civilisation. Is it perhaps a hangover from centuries of Crusades against Muslim powers or is it the old wine of the orientalists' venom against Islam served in new goblets? The idea that Islam was spread by the sword is highly questionable. The wars of Muslim governments should be judged according to the prevailing principles of politics and international relations and not on the basis of religion. . The expression of violence is symptomatic of the many diseases in society. The Muslim world today does not know which way to turn. . People find themselves dissatisfied about many things over which they have no control whatsoever. They are dead meat for exploitation by their own corrupt leaders or agents and by stooges of foreign powers. Unfortunately, many leaders in Muslim countries themselves seek sanction from Islam for their acts of violence and oppression, as happened in the time of the late General Zia-ul-Haq of Pakistan. Bloody revolutions are totally alien to the philosopy of Islam and have no place in Islamic countries. . As a man of religion, and head of a spiritual community of followers who have faced a century of persecution, terror and cruelty, I most 119