ISLAM IS NOT THE SOURCE OF TERRORISM, BUT ITS SOLUTION

Some people who say they are acting in the name of religion may misunderstand their religion or practice it wrongly. For that reason, it would be wrong to form ideas about that religion by taking these people as an example. The best way to understand a religion is to study its divine source.

The holy source of Islam is the Qur’an; and the model of morality in the Qur’an-Islam-is completely different from the image of it formed in the minds of some westerners. The Qur’an is based on the concepts of morality, love, compassion, mercy, humility, sacrifice, tolerance and peace, and a Muslim who lives by that morality in its true sense will be most polite, considerate, tolerant, trustworthy and accomodating. He will spread love, respect, harmony and the joy of living all around him.

Islam is a Religion of Peace and Well-Being

The word Islam is derived from the word meaning “peace” in Arabic. Islam is a religion revealed to mankind with the intention of presenting a peacable life through which the infinite compassion and mercy of God manifest on earth. God calls all people to Islamic morals through through which mercy, compassion, tolerance and peace can be experienced all over the world. In Surat al-Baqara verse 208, God addresses the believers as follows:

You who believe! Enter absolutely into peace (Ýslam). Do not follow in the footsteps of Satan. He is an outright enemy to you.

As the verse makes clear, security can only be ensured by ‘entering into Islam’, that is, living by the values of the Qur’an.

God Has Condemned Wickedness

God has commanded people to avoid committing evil; He has forbidden disbelief, immorality, rebellion, cruelty, aggressiveness, murder and bloodshed. He describes those who fail to obey this command as “following in Satan’s footsteps” and adopting a posture that is openly revealed to be sinful in the Qur’an. A few of the many verses on this matter in the Qur’an read:

But as for those who break God’s contract after it has been agreed and sever what God has commanded to be joined, and cause corruption in the earth, the curse will be upon them. They will have the Evil Abode. (Surat ar-Ra’d: 25)

Seek the abode of the hereafter with what God has given you, without forgetting your portion of the world. And do good as God has been good to you. And do not seek to cause mischief on earth. God does not love mischief makers.’ (Surat al-Qasas: 77)

As we can see, God has forbidden every kind of mischievous acts in the religion of Islam including terrorism and violence, and condemned those who commit such deeds. A Muslim lends beauty to the world and improves it.

Islam Defends Tolerance and Freedom of Speech

Ýslam is a religion which provides and guarantees freedom of ideas, thought and life. It has issued commands to prevent and forbid tension, disputes, slander and even negative thinking among people.

In the same way that it is determinedly opposed to terrorism and all acts of violence, it has also forbidden even the slightest ideological pressure to be put on them:

There is no compulsion in religion. Right guidance has become clearly distinct from error. Anyone who rejects false gods and believes in God has grasped the Firmest Handhold, which will never give way. God is All-Hearing, All-Knowing. (Surat al-Baqara: 256)

So remind, you need only to remind. You cannot compel them to believe. (Surat al-Ghashiyah: 22)

Forcing people to believe in a religion or to adopt its forms of belief is completely contrary to the essence and spirit of Islam. According to Ýslam, true faith is only possible with free will and freedom of conscience. Of course, Muslims can advise and encourage each other about the features of Qur’anic morality, but they will never resort to compulsion, nor any kind of physical or psychological pressure. Neither will they use any worldly privilege to turn someone towards religion.

Let us imagine a completely opposite model of society. For example, a world in which people are forced by law to practice religion. Such a model of society is completely contrary to Ýslam because faith and worship are only of any value when they are directed to God by the free will of the individual. If a system imposes belief and worship on people, then they will become religious only out of fear of that system. From the religious point of view, what really counts is that religion should be lived for God’s good pleasure in an environment where peopls’ consciences are totally free.

God Has Made the Killing of Innocent People Unlawful

According to the Qur’an, one of the greatest sins is to kill a human being who has committed no fault.

…If someone kills another person – unless it is in retaliation for someone else or for causing corruption in the earth – it is as if he had murdered all mankind. And if anyone gives life to another person, it is as if he had given life to all mankind. Our Messengers came to them with Clear Signs but even after that many of them committed outrages in the earth. (Surat al-Ma’ida: 32)

Those who do not call on any other deity together with God and do not kill anyone God has made inviolate, except with the right to do so, and do not fornicate; anyone who does that will receive an evil punishment. (Surat al-Furqan: 68)

As the verses suggest, a person who kills innocent people for no reason is threatened with a great torment. God has revealed that killing even a single person is as evil as murdering all mankind. A person who observes God’s limits can do no harm to a single human, let alone massacre thousands of innocent people. Those who assume that they can avoid justice and thus punishment in this world will never succeed, for they will have to give an account of their deeds in the presence of God. That is why believers, who know that they will give an account of their deeds after death, are very meticulous to observe God’s limits.

God Commands Believers to be Compassionate
and Merciful

Islamic morality is described in the Qur’an as:

…To be one of those who believe and urge each other to steadfastness and urge each other to compassion. Those are the Companions of the Right. (Surat al-Balad: 17-18)

As we have seen in this verse, one of the most important moral precepts that God has sent down to His servants so that they may receive salvation and mercy and attain Paradise, is to “urge each other to compassion”.

Ýslam as described in the Qur’an is a modern, enlightened, progressive religion. A Muslim is above all a person of peace; he is tolerant with a democratic spirit, cultured, enlightened, honest, knowledgeable about art and science and civilized.

A Muslim educated in the fine moral teaching of the Qur’an, approaches everyone with the love that Ýslam expects. He shows respect for every idea and he values art and aesthetics. He is conciliatory in the face of every event, diminishing tension and restoring amity. In societies composed of individuals such as this, there will be a more developed civilization, a higher social morality, more joy, happiness, justice, security, abundance and blessings than in the most modern nations of the world today.

God Has Commanded Tolerance and Forgiveness

The concept of forgiveness and tolerance, described in the words, ‘Make allowences for people’ (Surat al-A’raf: 199), is one of the most fundamental tenets of Islam.

When we look at the history of Ýslam, the way that Muslims have translated this important feature of Qur’anic morality into the life of society can be seen quite clearly. Muslims have always brought with them an atmosphere of freedom and tolerance and destroyed unlawful practices wherever they have gone. They have enabled people whose religions, languages and cultures are completely different from one another to live together in peace and harmony under one roof, and provided peace and harmony for its own members. One of the most important reasons for the centuries-long existence of the Ottoman Empire, which spread over an enormous region, was the atmosphere of tolerance and understanding that Ýslam brought with it. Muslims, who have been known for their tolerant and loving natures for centuries, have always been the most compassionate and just of people. Within this multi-national structure, all ethnic groups have been free to live according to their own religions, and their own rules.

True tolerance can only bring peace and well-being to the world when implemented along the lines set out in the Qur’an. Attention is drawn to this fact in a verse which reads:

A good action and a bad action are not the same. Repel the bad with something better and, if there is enmity between you and someone else, he will be like a bosom friend. (Surat al-Fussilat: 34)

Conclusion

All of this shows that the morality that Ýslam recommends to mankind brings to the world the virtues of peace, harmony and justice. The barbarism known as terrorism, that is so preoccupying the world at present, is the work of ignorant and fanatical people, completely estranged fromQur’anic morality, and who have absolutely nothing to do with religion. The solution to these people and groups who try to carry out their savagery under the mask of religion is the teaching of true Qur’anic morality. In other words, Islam and Qur’anic morality are solutions to the scourge of terrorism, not supporters of it.
Excerpts from Harun Yahya