Remembering
September 11
By Dr. Mohiuddin Waseem
Karachi, Pakistan
The region of Middle East has a unique position
in the history of mankind. Not only did it give
such religious ideologies as Judeo-Christianity
and Islam which became the foundation of western
and Islamic civilizations respectively but religious
fanatics and extremists too who in their respective
time period terrorized many rulers and states
to achieve different religious and political agendas.
Analyses of these terrorist groups of the past
as well as of present makes it clear that there
are two obvious requirements to launch a successful
terror campaign; an organization capable of launching
an attack and a faith based ideology which brain
washes the attacker to the point of killing and
dieing.
The first group which deserves mention is from
ancient Palestine which originated some two thousand
years ago. Called Sicarii or ‘dagger-men’
the group consisted of religious fanatic Jews
who conducted a program of assassination against
both the Roman conquerors and their own fellow
Jews whom they accused of collaborating with the
Romans. They stabbed their victims in the crowded
market streets and then melted into the crowd.
Their slogan “no ruler but God” had
a religious connotation of belonging to self-professed
rightly guided people of God demanding an allegiance
from their fellow Jews. The Roman armies hunted
them diligently without remorse and it took a
few years before they were able to mop up the
group completely. Their last hideout was a fortress
on a mountain top called Masada, and before the
Romans could storm it the group with their wives
and children committed suicide.
The second group ‘Assassins’ originated
when the Fatmid Caliph Al-Mustansar (1036-94 AD),
Imam of the sect and the head of the Ismaili Shiite
faith, died in Cairo leaving a disputed succession.
The group which mainly consisted of Persian and
Syrian Ismailis supported the elder son of Al-Mustansar,
Nizar, who in confrontation with his younger brother
Al-Mustali was defeated, captured, and later killed.
Later Hasan Sabah became the most ardent preacher
of the order well versed in Ismaili ideology and
won many converts. Giving the glad tidings of
Heavens, trained killers ‘fidaees’
were prepared coaching where and when to place
the dagger in their victim’s bosom. Operating
from the castle of Alamut in mountainous terrain
region of northern Persia the group terrorized
rulers and elites from Egypt to Persia and their
reign of terror lasted for almost two centuries.
Finally, the end of the power of the Assassins
came under the double assault of the Mongols and
of the Mamluk sultan of Egypt. Readers can appreciate
the similarities of present day terrorist group
Al-Qaeeda and it predecessor Sicarii and Assassins.
Operating from difficult to reach mountainous
regions of Pak-Afghan border the group and its
associate organizations have shown capabilities
of not only attacking distant land such as America
but many parts of Europe too making them the most
powerful and fearsome group world has ever seen.
Its leader Osama bin Laden too frequently uses
religious quotations to frenzy his
supporters, congratulating and giving glad tiding
of Heavens on their immoral act of killing innocent
civilians including women and children which in
fact is the biggest weakness of the group and
should be made public on every forum. American
act of attacking the terror bases in Afghanistan
and Iraq and Pakistan’s campaign against
these terrorists within its border should be seen
with the historic insight that these terrorist
groups can not be negotiated with and the only
way to deal with their nuisance of ‘bombing
the world’ is with stern military action
to wipe them out completely.
I think the peace-loving world should continue
backing the ongoing efforts against these terrorist
groups and hope that current reign of terror will
end in a very short time, it is because immorality
has never succeeded in the past neither should
it be allowed to prevail now.
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