Muslim Militancy: Genesis and Solution
By Abdul-Majid Jaffry
Renton , Washington
“ Islam's borders are bloody and so are its innards”, so pronounce the chattering experts on global media. In the present quandary, Islam and Muslims are equated with fascism and violence. The sentiment, “the most hate-driven violence in the world today is perpetrated by Muslims”, is widely debated in international fora. The pundits and self-anointed analysts paint only part of the picture; unable or unwilling to see beyond the black and white of the topic.
They present the view of Islamic militancy as a conflict between the West and Islam, confrontation between the Franks and Muslims, and as another chapter in the long struggle of Crescent and Cross. President Bush’s asinine explanation, “(Muslim extremists) hate our freedoms: our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other”, may be bought by the blithe and naïves but laughed away by the informed citizenry; it was simply a political rhetoric meant to rouse support in the gullible masses.
It would require unbiased courage and logical clarity to go beyond the superficial sound bites and put the events into wider global political context to identify the cause of the militancy in the Islamic world; a diagnosis is needed before the cure is found.
Islam is neither inherently militant nor inherently pacifist. As with the people of other faith, it’s the prevailing political and socioeconomic circumstances, which form the collective character of the Muslim populace. The situation on the ground provides a context or even inspires violence or, on the other hand, contributes its renunciation. If we explore the political tension prevailing in the Muslim world the root cause of militancy will become apparent; root cause is defined as “a factor that is both a necessary and a sufficient condition for an event.”
It’s not the illiteracy, poverty, or “hate-filled education” that spawns violence, in the Muslim world or elsewhere, as some argue. The ETA in Spain, Red Brigades in Italy, the IRA in Ireland, Hezbollah in Lebanon are all based in affluent, educated and secular communities. Various organizations that operated under the auspices of the Palestinian Liberation Organization were secular in their character and organization.
The alleged perpetrators of 9/11 incident were, both, educated and came from well-to-do backgrounds. Osama bin Laden is a professional engineer and millionaire, his r ight hand man Ayman al-Zawahiri is a medical doctor. Research has shown there is no relation between illiteracy and poverty and militancy.
The theory of illiteracy, poverty, and “hate-filled education” is circulated only to camouflage the root cause and the real issues surrounding Muslim militancy. A.W. Kruglanski of the University of Maryland says in his research paper on Terrorism, “Specific personality factors, poverty, oppression, etc. cannot (Kruglanski’s emphasis) be considered the root causes of terrorism because they are neither necessary nor sufficient for terrorism to occur.” Therefore, we must look beyond the realm of illiteracy, poverty and religious radicalism to ascertain the true cause of the violence in the Muslim world.
If not illiteracy or poverty, what then might be the root cause of Muslim militancy?
If we survey the Muslim world we will find the land from Palestine to Kashmir to Iraq to Afghanistan to Chechnya to Xinjiang to Mindanao is overwhelmed with illegal occupations and oppressions. It’s this sense of political injustice and deprivation that’s fuelling militancy. The essential motive, intent and action in the recent Muslim militancy are hidden in the political oppression and humiliation that Muslims suffer at the hands of occupiers, usurpers and tyrants. It’s the despair and indignities, oppression and dehumanization – predictable outcome of social and political injustice – that breed and nourishe and provides fertile ground for violence.
The US led “war against terror” in response to 9/11 attack is exasperating, not curbing terror. It is seen as a ploy to help perpetuate occupations and oppressions in the Muslim world. The worldwide war on terror has afforded the perfect excuse to repressive regimes to crack down harder than ever, using religion as a tool of control, on the human rights and self-determination movements. The US is increasingly identified with the political and military powers that are responsible for the exploitation of Muslim masses.
Human Rights Watch and Human Rights in China in a joint report, Devastating Blows: Religious Repression of Uighurs in Xinjiang, issued in April 2005 accuses China of using the events of September 11, 2001 and the subsequent US led "war on terror" as a cover to crush Uighur Muslims. Peaceful Uighur activists are being arrested, tortured and at times executed, while harsher punishments are given for so-called separatist activity, which Chinese officials term "terrorism".
For over six decades, the Palestinians have been denied the right to statehood and right to go home. According to the latest UNRWA estimates, 2.5 million Palestinians are rotting in the overcrowded refugee camps, whereas over 500,000 Israeli settlers have taken illegal residence on occupied Palestinian land. A Palestinian blowing himself up at a military check post is terrorism, but the Israeli military's firing of white phosphorus shells over densely populated Palestinian is called retaliation.
Whether it’s Palestine or Xinjaing or Russian-occupied Muslim republics in Central Asia or Indian-occupied Kashmir or Mindanao where Muslims are reduced into minority, not unlike Palestinians, in what was once their homeland or Abu Ghraib, Bagram and Guantanamo prisons, one finds Muslims being systematically denied the life of dignity and being prevented from living honorably and autonomously. The occupying and oppressive regimes in various parts of the Muslim world have inflicted over whelming sense of deprivation and humiliation which inevitably created a collective rage and gave way to “the globalization of militancy.”
As Fawaz Gerges, in his book ‘Journey of the Jihadist’ elucidates the key to understanding Islamic militancy does not lie only in religion but also in politics. It’s not the religion Islam, its teachings or its followers that are to be blamed for violence, nor is the agitation the result of an epochal confrontation of civilizations. It’s simply the injustice and humiliation caused by the occupation and colonization of the Muslim world that feed into Muslim militancy.
Any attempt at finding a solution to Muslim militancy without first recognizing and addressing the political injustices faced by Muslims around the world is bound to fail. “ Liberty and Justice for all”, including Muslims, should be the right approach, one that would generate wholesome and speedy results.
