By Atif Rashid, UK
Muslims claim their religion teaches peace, harmony, love and goodness while the actions of some so-called adherents to the faith prove contrary. How can it be that on the one hand, their religion teaches good while some of its believers commit evil? Some suggest the reason being an inherent evil of the religion of Islam itself. So the question is that is the religion really evil or is it that some of its adherents today are misguided? Or both?
Well, we can safely conclude that the majority of the 1.6 billion Muslims are not wicked. Nor are they violent. Rather, they are the peaceful adherents of the religion of Islam and they constitute the large majority of the Muslim population the world over. This is a self-evident truth. There’s no denying the fact that extremist elements do exist yet that should be no surprise because we find good and evil in all spheres of life regardless of faith, race, nationality, political affiliation or belief.
A cursory look at the fundamental holy book, the Qur’an would also lend support to the belief that Islam is actually a peaceful religion. After all, it exhorts to peace, justice, charity and unity. Harvard went so far as to declare a verse of the Muslim holy book as one of the best expressions of justice ever. True, there are verses that explain how Muslims can fight in self-defence for the sake of peace and freedom of religion for all, but that shows Islam’s rationality and love for the rights of all rather than any call to arms for material gain or imposing religion on others.
This poses the question, why are some Muslims today acting in complete contradiction to Islam and yet claiming that their actions are justified by Islam? Well let’s have a look.
For one, Muslims have definitely forsaken the fundamental teachings of the Prophet and have given themselves over to superficiality and worldliness which pervades their religious practices. Their actions betray their self-righteous speech. It’s the same with the Church and other faiths- religion becomes a business. When people forget the true teachings of their faith or distort them, and grossly misunderstand their true import, they inevitably become superficial and religious by name only. This is a phenomenon which we see all too often in religious history.
If you want to understand the situation of present day Muslims, just look at Christian history. Jesus (peace be on him) would never have approved of the Crusades, or the Spanish Inquisition or the bloody wars perpetrated by his followers. Similarly, Moses (peace be on him) can’t be blamed for the Jewish violence today nor can Buddha (on whom be peace) be held accountable for the persecution and genocide of Rohingya Muslims.
Modern extremists are also at ods with the fundamentals of their faith. In fact a 2008 MI5 report declared that extremists are not very religious and lack a real understanding of core religious values, something supported by recent evidence. The Paris attackers were found to be wholly neglectful of Islam’s teachings and involved in drugs, drinking and other non-Islamic practices. Other reports cite poverty and Islamophobia along with lack of aspiration as reasons for extremism. The MI5 report went so far as to say that a well-established religious identity actually protects against violent radicalisation.
As for ISIS, it was found that some of their members don’t even possess a copy of the Holy Qur’an and are lacking in basic religious knowledge or insight and this is blatantly apparent in their actions, for they bear no resemblance to the teachings of Islam or the life of the Prophet of Islam. So it is clear that amongst other extremist actions the extremism they are perhaps the most guilty of is the extreme ignorance of Islam itself.
Atif is a UK-based freelance writer, community events organiser and an aspiring journalist. He has written on many topics including religion, politics, health and current affairs.