EXTREME ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISM

By Mathza

Evolution progressed with time until the homosapien appeared on the scene. Thereafter mankind continued to evolve both physically and mentally. His brain enlarged. The development of his capacity to think and rationalize increasingly distinguished him from other animals. In the process he went through infinitesimal increments in developing his thinking, knowledge and concept of the universe to attain his present status.

The fact that in the past couple of centuries mankind has witnessed dramatic changes in his understanding of the universe speaks volumes. This by itself is adequate evidence of man’s metamorphosis from a superstitious creature to a rational being in such a short span of time. Consequently, based on what transpired during our own generation, we do not need evolution to explain the skyrocketing rationality attained by man.

Despite the above achievements the world continues to experience ethnic and religious tensions and conflicts. Some ethnic groups have not caught up with changes that have overtaken their hegemonic believes over other ethnic groups. They want to rule no matter how they come to power. The strategies they use include creating hatred among ethnic and religious groups, conducting guerrilla wars and creating conditions that lead to wars between their countries and neighbors. The subject of this writing is atrocities being committed by extreme fundamentalists in the veil of religion by self-righteous persons and groups.

Fundamentalism is defined as, “The affirmation of religious authority as holistic and absolute, admitting of neither criticism nor reduction.” All the three religions originating in the Middle East (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) sharing the Old Testament as a common base, preach peace and are for peace. Both Christianity and Islam believe in the teachings of Jesus. In fact, Muslims claim that they are the true followers of Jesus. The Muslims assert that there is only one version of the Qur’an which entirely comprises the word of Allah as dictated to the Prophet Muhammed whereas the Christian Bible and teachings are adulterated.

Practicaly all ten Commandments in the Old Testament (which is common to both religions), including "You shall not kill," imply and advocate love and therefore peace. The Arabic word ‘Islam’ comes from ‘salaam’, which means peace. Islam is “submission to the will of God.” The Qur’an instructs "Do not let your hatred of a people for having obstructed you from al-Masjid al-Haram lead you to transgress"(Surah 5:2). It commands "There shall be no compulsion in (acceptance of) the religion” (Surah 2:256), i.e, no forced conversion to Islam. And Christianity teaches “if any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other cheek.” This says it all. It should be noted here that, to its credit, the Qur’an is full of many other good ethical precepts, ideals and directives.

Despite the above, nevertheless, nowadays in the 21^st century, certain elements of both Christianity and Islam are disobeying divine teachings. Examples of Christian fundamentalism, some of them manifested in cults, include: the hate-group Ku Klux Klan (KKK) using the sacred cross symbol, the neo-Nazi groups, the Aryan racial brotherhood, the Jonestown mass suicide/murder, the Waco massacre and the recent prophet for polygamy Jeffs. Some of them are racists; others lead lives that are contrary to Christian teachings and traditions. Many of them brought misery and death to their adherents. The Islamist extremists seem to be worse. Their targets/victims are all over the world. Some of their recent atrocities are: the 911 incidents in the USA and the bombings of Nairobi, Madrid, London and Bali where thousands of innocent people were murdered. Incidents of atrocities against Christians, individuals or groups, abound. Examples of recent incidents: in Ethiopia Muslims burned churches, killed and forced Christians to recant their faith and to convert to Islam, and converted churches to mosques; in Indonesia Christian students were prevented from graduation or marriage unless they passed exams in Qur’anic law; and in India a 58-year-old Christian who told a gang of youth to stop shouting anti-Christian slogans outside his home was murdered.

One thing that should be noted is that many Muslims seem to believe that Islam is the only true religion. They appear to be convinced that Muslims have a special relationship with Allah, God. Therefore, it seems that their logical conclusion is that it is their Islamic duty and mission to convert all the world’s kafirs (infidels) and bring them under the Sharia (Islamic laws). Apparently, the Qur’an sanctions the world to be under Islamic rule. This is what the extreme Islamists seem to be following and doing. Does the experssion “Din e-Sif,” meaning religion of the sword, imply the use of force when persuasion fails to convert infidels? This is, obviously, in contradiction of no forced conversion quoted above. In this connection, it should be noted that although most Muslims in the present Muslim countries may have converted to Islam on their own free will, many were forced to adopt Islam imposed on them by the sword and intimidation. The spread of Islam started through the conquest of Mecca in 622 AD by the Prophet himself. In a little over a century Islam spread fast all over the Middle East and beyond up to Spain in the west and India in the east. One of the major battles was fought in Spain. In a more recent period, the Ottoman Turks invaded Armenia and committed religious persecution, killing and causing the death of up to 1.5 million Armenians.

European countries conducted crusades (1095-1291 AD) against Muslims to take possession of the Holy Land which was taken over by the Muslims/Turks and to regain Christian strongholds in the Middle East. On their way to the Holy Land and starting in Turkey they committed atrocities on Muslims, Jews and even other Christians in the name of Christ and with the sanctions of the Papacy. Almost all of the inhabitants of Jerusalem were wiped out during the first Crusade. It is apparent that, despite standing for and claiming to be religions for peace, both Christianity and Islam have brought havoc and suffering to millions of people by waging religious wars.

In our time, the radical Muslim is the extereme manifestation of the above mission. The Islamic extremists seem to follow the instruction in the Qur’an directed against polytheists (one who believes in a plurality of gods): “And when the sacred months have passed, then kill the polytheists wherever you find them and capture them and besiege them and sit in wait for them at every place of ambush” (Surah 9:5). This chapter (surah), apparently, refers to polytheists who were accused of breaching a treaty with the Muslims. What is worrying is the nature of the instruction and others like it and their wanton application on innocent people, including Muslims, in the 21^st century as well as the joy expressed by many Muslims at mass killings of innocent people. One could cite something similar from the Old Testament. The New Testament is not immune from instructions with some similarities. However, the latter seem to be milder and were written over 6 centuries before the beginning of Islam. Time is a factor when making judgements related to such directives.

Some elements of Muslim and Christian fundamentalists interpret selected verses of the Qur’an and the Bible, respectively, to suit their vested interests, objectives, whims and caprices to dominate their congregations and increase membership. Many do it for political ends. Both seem to forget that their respective religions came into being at periods when the concept of the world was based on the then level of understanding of or accepted social and spiritual way of living. It was a world characterized by a very limited knowledge of the universe. Some of the things that were considered natural and normal in those days do not make sense today. Thanks to advances in science and other disciplines, man’s understanding of himself and his environment and the universe has changed exponentially in the last two thousand years.

We all know now, for example, that the earth which was considered flat is a sphere. Other examples of the old concepts include: eclipses, mental disorder and slavery. In those days slavery was an acceptable mode of social conduct, a fact of life. There appears to be no explicit condemnation of practicing slavery. On the contrary, the institution of slavery was accepted and endorsed. (The Church of England had to be compensated to free its slaves in 1833; Saudi Arabia, the nucleus of Islam, was the last country to abolish slavery in 1962.) It is because of this that the Bible was used to justify owning slaves. Biblical writings were resorted to to promote and justify the slavery institution. Thanks to man’s evolution (rather revolution), the concept of slavery is now condemned. In other words, religious tolerance has been developing and continues to develop, except in the extreme fundamentalists. There is an apparent need for interpreting the Holy Books in the light of the reality we find ourselves in today.

Whereas the Christians in the world condemn and are no longer involved in religious crusades, Muslim extremists are intensifying their killing spree (jihad – holy war) in the name of Allah. There is also confrontation (in some cases fighting) going on between the Sunnis and Shiites. Both are competing in protecting and spreading their brand of Islam and expanding their sphere of influence. In spite of the multiplicity of Christian groups, competing missionary activities and right-wing Christian fundamentalists (USA) there is no killing among Christians. On the contrary, Christians have formed the World Council of Churches through which attempts are being made to reunite the churches.

(Second and last part to be continued)