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| 'When The Innocent Are Murdered,
We All Go Into The Dark with Them' Ziauddin Sardar Sunday September 16, 2001 The Observer http://www.observer.co.uk/comment/story/0,6903,577787,00.html Who could have done such immense evil? I
have asked this question as many times as I have seen the pictures on
television. Every viewing fills me with unspeakable sadness. Are people
calling themselves Muslims capable of such atrocities? Are they reading
the same Koran? Are they the followers of the same Prophet Muhammad? As a Muslim writer, I am expected to know
the answer. People ask me to explain the mind and motivation of terrorists
and seek Islamic explanation for the actions of the hijackers. My
neighbour wants to know what kind of Muslim does such horrendous things.
They believe I can provide a rationale for how people become suicide
bombers, mass murderers and justify their evil. I tell them what the Koran says: 'Even if
you stretch out your hand against me to kill me, I shall not stretch out
my hand against you to kill you. I fear Allah, the Lord of the World.' I
paraphrase the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad: the murder of one
innocent person is akin to the murder of the whole of humanity. I tell
them that the Prophet forbade the killing of civilians, women and
children, the old and infirm, the wanton destruction of property, burning
of crops and slaughter of animals, even in a full-scale war. They ask me about martyrdom. 'Aren't the
suicidal hijackers buying a ticket straight to heaven?' Islamic theology,
I tell them, is not a business transaction. No one, but no one, knows
where they'll end up. Only God knows. Even the Prophet wept with fear that
he may not be forgiven. The Islamic doctrine of martyrdom was crystallised
in the action of Imam Hussain, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad on the
battlefield of Kerbala in October 680AD. He stood with his 70-odd
followers against an army of 4,000 well-equipped soldiers, to uphold
justice against injustice in the full knowledge that it would cost him his
life. His sacrifice was the inevitable consequence of holding firm to what
is morally right, not a sought-after, self-chosen, wilful self-sacrifice
of one acting beyond any moral or ethical restraint. Suicide hijackers
disdain the preciousness of each and everyone of God's creation,
themselves and their victims; they cheapen the name of martyr. To sacrifice one's property, security and
comfort and, if there is no other way, one's life, for the cause of what
is right and just is martyrdom for all faiths. But faith also teaches the
limits of human understanding, that we will all be judged and the meaning
of our actions made clear by the Most Compassionate, the All Knowing.
Martyrdom, like life, is the gift and judgment of God, not of men. Only
within the bounds of belief, within attachment to the duties of faith, can
anyone hope to walk the path to paradise. Neither is the paradise of Islam some kind
of brothel that provides the services of '70 virgins' to its denizens -
the nonsense the press attributes to these murderous paradise-seekers. Far
from being an abode of pleasure, the paradise of the Koran is a place of
sublime innocence. The 'virgins', or 'houris', derive their name from the
eyes of gazelles. They personify beauty and innocence; these eyes have
never cast their gaze on sin. In the gardens of paradise, the houris utter
only one word: 'Peace, peace.' Creating the Kingdom of God on earth, as it
is in heaven, is the basic message of Islam. This is the true meaning of
jihad. Now there's a word. The very mention of the term sends shivers down
'civilised' spines and leads many, glibly, towards 'holy war'. Surely,
these paradise-seeking martyrs have declared jihad on America? Acts of
terror are not jihad. They violate the explicit word of God, Prophet
Muhammad and the reasoned consensus of all believers. The greatest jihad
is the war on injustice in one's own soul, the injustice that can conceive
of terror tactics and lose all restraints and respect for the sanctity of
a human life. Jihad is the reasoned struggle of each individual to work
within the bounds of moral action, to extend the protection of justice
equitably to every human being, irrespective of colour, creed or place of
origin. Jihad is the obligation to make peace a lived reality for all
human beings. All this, the belief of the vast majority
of Muslims, is the antithesis of the credo of the suicide bombers. We try
to live a good life in hope of paradise. We seek to do justice that
paradise may be granted to us. We walk humbly before God, not claiming
divine assurances as our own prerogative. In case you are wondering, I am
paraphrasing a Biblical verse, from the Book of Micah (6:8) in the Old
Testament, a common framework for Jews, Christians and Muslims alike. Islam cannot explain the actions of the
suicide hijackers, just as Christianity cannot explain the gas chambers,
Catholicism the bombing at Omagh. They are acts beyond belief, religious
belief, by people who long ago abandoned the path of Islam. The faith I hold, the faith of Muslims, the justice we seek is an obligation to promote and make real in each life freedom from tyranny, neglect, need, dearth and suffering. The justice we yearn for is the life blood of a humane society with dignity and freedom for all. It cannot be found by blasting innocents apart in an inferno of twisted metal and concrete. When the innocent are murdered, we all go into the dark with them. When the innocent suffer, their suffering is ours. • Ziauddin Sardar is a leading Muslim writer. His 'Introducing Muhammad' is published by Icon Books |