The Twaddle

Musings on Extremism, Fanaticism and Religion

“Fanatical Muslims” – no doubt a phrase we'll all hear in the near future. We'll have the British National Party ranting that all Muslims are potential killers in our midst. The UK Independence Party telling us that our current Government's “open door” immigration policy is waving these people through with their belts of C4 and hand luggage full of grenades, giving them a house and heaping benefits into their outstretched hands from the dwindling coffers of social security. The National Front will be parading down streets in towns up and down the country professing white supremacy to all those who will listen.

a middle-eastern man with a beard and braces made of composite explosives wandering into a public place to maim and kill

“Fanaticism” is a word that transcends religious, racial and class barriers. Just because you're white and middle class doesn't mean you can't be fanatical – look to American anti-abortionists and advocates of American military influence in foreign affairs. The media and certain groups paint a picture of a fanatic as a middle-eastern man with a beard and braces made of composite explosives wandering into a public place to maim and kill in the name of Allah. Why don't we see these fanatics as puritanical white men, dressed in black with a Bible in their hand?

The fact that Christianity has had its fair share of zealots is distinctly overlooked, we need only look to the Salem witch trials, the St. Bartholomew's day massacre in France and, closer to home, Oliver Cromwell's prohibition of dancing and celebration of Christmas. The only difference between our stereotypical view of a fanatic and these zealots is that one is in the name of Allah and the other in the name of the Holy Trinity.

People wonder what drives terrorists to do what they do – an ideal, fear, hatred? Usually a combination of them all, in the case of the London bombers, I can only assume like most Muslim extremists it is hatred, born of fear at having their beliefs crushed by western forces in the shape of holy missions and imperialism, inextricably mixed with the misguided teachings of certain people.

This fear comes from centuries of being seen as the heathen; during the crusades the very epitome of English chivalry, Richard the Lion-heart took thousands of “Saracens” out of a captured city and ordered them all killed; man, woman and child were put to the sword, it took days to complete the slaughter; the capture of the city was held up by the Holy Pontiff as a sign that God was with the Crusaders. No one questioned the thousands of innocent dead people piled against the walls of the city; where does God demand a whole city is put to the sword? Does the Lord not say “Thou shalt not kill”, do the divine commandments not apply to non-Christians?

They apply to Jews, because they were issued to Moses, so what about Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and all faiths the world over? The Noble Qur'ān makes reference to Gentiles and Jews in Sūrah 2, calling them the people to whom Allah provided the Torah and the Gospels. That's right; Allah provided the Torah and the Gospels according to the Qur'ān, so why do Christians and Jews see Muslims as lesser people when Allah sees everyone as equal?

O Mankind We Created You From A Single Of A Male And A Female, And Made You Into Nations And Tribes, That Ye May Know Each Other

Al-Hujurāt, Qur'ān

Only transgressors of faith are classed as lower persons and even then only in the life after this when they will be condemned to the fire (just as Christians say transgressors will). Muslim religious faith advocates non-violence towards people of other races and cultures but Christians actively search for “heathens” to convert to the true path. The commandments were revealed to Muhammad as well as to Moses, with the addition of abstinence of alcohol and the necessity of the hajj. Muslims actively searched for knowledge, Arab cryptographic methods are applied in Europe and America centuries after their discovery, Muslim plumbing, building, medical and mathematical techniques are everywhere. Renaissance scholars looked to the east to drag Europe kicking and screaming out of the “dark ages” only for fanatical monks like Savonarola to extinguish the light of learning in Florence.

There is one word in Islam that scares people more than any other – “jihad”; people take this to mean “holy war” but the literal translation of “jihad” is “to strive”. It is interpreted throughout Islam as a personal struggle within the self, a struggle with the temptations around you and yes a literal war, but in defence of your faith and freedom to practise that faith.

it is not imperial expansion that drove Islam across the globe, unlike Christianity and its symbiotic relationship with imperialism

This is what Salah al-Din did in reaction to the crusaders, the Christian incursion into Muslim lands was seen as an attack on their lands and faith, Salah al-Din simply mobilised the Muslim movement (as the Pope had mobilised the Christian movement) to defend themselves.

“Jihad” is taken and twisted by non-conformist Muslims; this is not the view of the majority of Muslims. Bigots in the west take this non-conformist view and run with it to the extent of indoctrinating whole populations. I cite What is Jihad?, an article by Daniel Pipes published in the New York Post on 31 December 2002. He accuses Muslims of using jihad to conquer states from Spain to India; he doesn't seem to understand that Islam spread to India and the surrounding states because of Mongol incursion into Islamic territory in the near East and their subsequent conversion to Islam, and then its flourishing through Mongol society from Arabia to the borders of China. The nomadic tribes of the near east observed no borders; they carried Islam into Africa and wherever they went.

This is why Islam flourished; Islam has no nationality as the Qur'ānic quotation above shows, so it is not imperial expansion that drove Islam across the globe, unlike Christianity and its symbiotic relationship with imperialism; where England went the church went. For an evenly balanced assessment of Muslim history and culture see Discovering Islam by Akbar Ahmed; I thought I knew a bit about Islamic society but that book seriously opened my eyes.

As we have heard in recent days Muslim groups from around Britain have joined together to condemn the actions of the terrorists claiming to act in Allah's name. They have condemned them as monsters not akin to their fellow Muslims; they had been manipulated by extremist forces and did not represent the Islamic movement as a whole. The world needs to observe that the “jihad” (in the narrow minded sense) of America against what it calls “the axis of evil”. Some of the “evil” America sees is a reaction to their meddling in the internal affairs of foreign states and their blatant disregard for foreign and religious cultures – defiling of the Qur'ān and attacking of mosques; if a Muslim attacked a church there would be uproar.

The reactionary extremist backlash can be seen from some perspectives as partly of the west's making. This doesn't make it right in any sense but sends clear signals that Islam is an autonomous entity, self governing, and reacts like America would when threatened; careful foreign policy and handling of the “reactionary question” needs to be exercised by all nations, even those under Islamic control, because the extremists don't care whether it is an Islamic state they harass or a non-Islamic state.

Just do not let this extremely small minority colour your view of Islam and the people who practise it; go out with tolerance and an open mind and accept the diversity of the world. Watch with more fervour the nationalists in society, they will provide a more dangerous presence than the Muslim community. It was the BNP's rallies in Burnley, Blackburn and Oldham that led to increased tensions between the white population and the Muslims, and then they blame the riots on “racial tensions” founded by Muslims.

On the other hand members of the BNP and National Front are committed to their extremist, racist, white supremacist policy

Look beyond the propaganda, do not tar all denominations with the same brush, do not even tar everyone of the same race or religion with the same brush; we do not tar all Americans as members of the Ku Klux Klan or all people from Zimbabwe as members of the ZanuPF party. Everyone is an individual and just because they wear the signs of a religious or secular order doesn't mean that everyone in that group is the same – were all Germans fully committed Nazis? All Russians fervent communists? No, so by the same virtue not all Muslims are extremists.

On the other hand members of the BNP and National Front are committed to their extremist, racist, white supremacist policy; they understand what their group stands for when they sign up – it is not a perversion of other ideals with which they get unfortunately labelled.