Following
the World War II, the the psyche and minds of the people living in
Islamic countries in the the Middle East were affected by the post war
era and introduction of Communism. This new outlook, which was
in no way compatible with the tenets of Islam, was stealthily changing
the mindset of people on these lands that were once shaped with the
beautiful values of the Qur'an for centuries. This also had its impact
on the nascent political structures gradually forming in the region.
Given
this history, the dreadful state of Syria in our modern day cannot be
attributed to Islam. It is surely a legacy of the communist ideology
that was planted in those lands whose borders were artificially created
following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. In the absence of a ruling
system predicated on Islamic tenets like that of the Ottoman Empire,
the countries that emerged became vulnerable to ideologies that were
either Western or Eastern, (Communist Soviet Union and China), and did
not value or give importance to the ideas of love, brotherhood, and
compassion, or simply humane ideas.
Syria
is just one example. When Hafez Assad came to power with the Ba’ath
Party in the 1960s, the state started to exert violence over its own
people. This type of harsh and cold rule by the Ba’ath party became
widely known in the world as the news of the horrible Hama massacre
dominated the international headlines of the press.
Syria
was not the only country in the Middle East that was subjected to the
inhuman practices of the Ba’ath Party. The Party also became influential
in Egypt and Iraq. Meanwhile other Arab countries including Iran
silently came under the sway of communist China. Another part of the
Middle East whose roots were detached from Islam and surrendered itself
to communism was Palestine. The al-Fatah movement that had grown in this
country was not hiding the ideology by which it was acting upon.
The
conflicts and bloodshed that raged throughout the Middle East were a
result of communism coupled with Arab nationalism that steadily
intensified. Withn the regimes that identified with communism and
socialism, it is then not surprising that such violent developments
would take place, it is actually a part of the normal course of events.
These
countries - as systems and individuals – having gone through a
transformation to communism and socialism, and departed Islam still kept
their names as “Islamic Republics”, and were thus always identified
with Islam. This being the case, all the crimes, murders, mass killings
perpetrated by these regimes and individuals were always incorrectly
attributed to Islam and Muslims.
A
suicide bomber is a typical example. A suicide attack happening in any
corner of the world today is being identified incorrectly with Islam and
it is perceived by the West, especially those who are unfamiliar with
the tenets of Islam, as a practice encouraged by the religion of Islam.
Islam,
however, is a religion that gives the utmost value to human life. It is
a religion based upon humanity, love, compassion, brotherhood,
tolerance, justice, and peace. It treats the “human being” as a very
precious being. Communism, on the other hand, is a savage system that in
no way appreciates an individual as a human being. It is founded on the
tenets of Darwinism and the theory of evolution, which incorrectly
expounds social darwinism, namely that the strong are eligible to
survive while the weak are doomed to perish. Thus one should not be
surprised by the actions of communists, since it is a system based on a
cruel set of ideas. Therefore communist regimes do not hesitate to kill
people, even if they are of their own nation, race or ethnicity.
Indeed, killing people is such an indispensable and inherent part of
this system that, committing suicide or taking part in suicide bombings,
becomes acceptable, while it is openly an outrageous act condemned by
God in the Qur'an.
According
to Islam, suicide is an unlawful act no different from killing another
person. In other words, committing suicide equates to murder. It is God
Who gives life to a person and it is only He Who can take back that
life. A person does not have the right to kill himself thinking that it
is his own life and thus he can decide when to put an end to that life.
Therefore a person who is ready to kill innocent children, women, that
is anyone, together with himself, openly acts against the provisions of
the Qur'an and thus can by no means be a Muslim. Such a person’s mind
and soul is totally divorced from Islam and thus Islam cannot be held
accountable for such crimes.
As
we have seen, individuals, communities and systems in the Middle East
of today have gone through a grand transformation. The norms that shaped
the behavior of the citizens of the Middle Eastern countries are no
longer purely based on Islam. Communism, socialism and other ideologies
that are completely against Islam have entered the equation and have
been influencing them for a quite long time. Since this is the root
cause of radical and extremist mindsets, one has to reflect and think
deeply about the underlying motivations for the behavior of radicals and
extremists in order to make a correct judgment, otherwise we would
attribute a false label on an entire religion.
0 comments:
Post a Comment