Reflections on Terrorism

Riwayat Attubani-The main victims of modern terrorism are the Muslims. As I follow the news in the media, I realize that the majority of those killed and injured were Muslim men, women, and children.

On the some day of the London tragedy, the Egyptian Ambassador to Iraq was killed by terrorist. He was a very good practicing observing Muslim, and the head of an ideally Muslim family whom we saw and heard on television.

The term "Islamic terrorism" is a misnomer because terrorism is the antithesis of Islam, even if terrorists try to camouflage as Islamic and raise Islamic banners and quotations. Everyone knows that what they do runs against the basic teachings of Islam. The encompassing message in the Qur'an is God's saying to the Prophet Muhammad, "We have sent you for nothing else but to be mercy to the world."

Terrorism is an illness even if it dons religious garb. It appeared amongst people belonging to all religions as any student of modern or old history will knows. Instead of listening to the voices bashing Muslims through shallow emotionalism or ignorance, or being deceived by hidden sinister agendas, it behooves all people who care for humanity and believe in love whether Christians, Jews, Muslims, or otherwise, to join forces to combat terrorism.

The combat of terrorism should neither be short term nor just symptomatic. Policing the world to curb and strike at terrorists is an essential emergency measure but a deeper study of the etiology of terrorism is as essential, if we want to achieve durable results.

Like most illnesses, terrorism has its predisposing factors and exciting conditions and these have to be discovered and met with. These military actions although beneficial to the military industry, will be just an intermission but not a cure.

Reflections by Dr. H. Hathut