By  Dr. Mahjabeen Islam
Toledo, Ohio

July 29, 2005

Shared Blame Needs Joint Action


Within minutes of 9/11, the Madrid train blast and the London terror attack American Muslim organizations and Muslim governments the world over issued condemnation. There is a definite sense amongst American Muslims that their religion has been hijacked and after such tragedies there is a flurry of explanatory activity. Whether the rest of the Muslim world feels this sense of outrage is point for pause.
Mentally speaking the definition of normalcy can reach the sphere of semantics. By the DSM IV Criteria used to define mental illness, it is my conviction that a large number of patients remain undiagnosed. The man in the checkout lane ahead of you may well have a compensated psychosis, appearing normal only to the untrained eye. Mass killers in history fall most likely in the bipolar category of mental illness and need only latch onto a distorted firebrand interpretation of their respective religions to wreak mass havoc.
These psychotic ideologues by virtue of their magnetism are able to ensnare the young and unsure and we now have a spine-chilling network of those willing to give the ultimate sacrifice.
The West as well as the terrorists that kill in the name of religion contextually misinterpret the verse alluding to the killing of infidels in the Qur’an. The verse that states that the killing of one is akin to killing all of humanity and saving one as saving it all does not have a contextual burden; it is fairly direct. Additionally a central tenet in Islam is to promote good and forbid evil and based on this, inaction or anemic action is not an option. The Muslim world must organize to collectively condemn and chalk out effective ways to prevent future destruction, for by that very faith that is for us a way of life, we will be held accountable on the Day of Judgment for standing silently while the carnage continued.
Imperial Hubris by Michael Scheuer should be mandatory reading for all policy makers and all members of Congress. He explains how the US needs to graduate from the delusional Bushism that the terrorists are envious of our lifestyle. Newton’s Law of action and reaction being equal and opposed is working on the world political stage. America groomed the Taliban and has now invaded a sovereign nation to crush them. Saddam posed no threat to the US and with the greed for oil thinly veiled as finding WMDs and bringing democracy to Iraq it has now invaded yet another sovereign nation. How does America get to decide that every nation is to follow its brand of democracy? Why is this self-righteousness not applied to the monarchy of Saudi Arabia and the dictatorship of Pakistan?
America is so far off course that the only method it recognizes as making attempts to root out terror is to pass the USA Patriot Act and put away thousands into prisons on the mainland or else the innards of Guantanamo Bay, without right to legal representation and on dubious or non-existent charges.
It is the religious duty of imams and sheikhs the world over to make condemnation of terrorism a mandatory part of all Friday sermons with appeals for help to exterminate it. Suicide is a ticket to hell, taking others with you is akin to a confirmed reservation. Not only are Muslims individually accountable for all the good and evil that they do, there is the concept of collective responsibility as well. The imam of a Friday congregation is credited for the good that the congregants do due to his exhortation with consonant debit for the evil that emanates thereafter. And God’s justice He says is finer than the weight of a mustard seed. The planned joint fatwa of 500 British imams condemning terrorism as un-Islamic is a powerful step, especially since there are a segment of overtly educated Muslims who justify suicide bombing.
Whilst it is easy to blame the carnage perpetrated by mass killers on their psychosis, what excuse does one find for a secular democracy? The economic blockade of Iraq after 1991, the use of depleted uranium that has caused deformities and cancers for generations of Iraqis, the abuse of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan and American troops occupying the two countries elicits worldwide Muslim anger. And deadly retaliation by a few extremists.
Condoleeza Rice, Bush and Blair repeated the chest-thumping chorus that they were not cowed down by the terror attacks and the fight to root it out would continue. And therein lies the root word. To root it out one needs to know its root cause; probably the sole truism ever uttered by Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf. It is not capitulation to revisit and revise American foreign policy, it is irresponsible not to. For the stakes only get higher.
(Mahjabeen Islam is a physician practicing in Toledo Ohio. Her email address is mahjabeenislam@hotmail.com)

 

 

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