Is Islam to blame for violent groups? Based on an article by Dr. Nazir Khan. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said, Worship God, the Most Merciful, and spread peace.
There is clear evidence from Islamic religious texts that show that Islam condemns violence, and history shows that violence does not come from any religious teachings. But if religion does not teach violence, where do violent groups come from?
And why do they perpetrate their crimes in the name of Islam? Violent groups do not emerge in a vacuum. Research shows us that violent groups emerge in situations of prolonged oppression, warfare, political instability and so on.
Think of it like a fire starting. It needs three ingredients, air, fuel and heat. In the same way, violent groups require three ingredients. One, political instability.
Two, a brutalized and suffering population. And three, fanatical leaders with a totalitarian ideology creating an existential narrative that will appeal to those near and afar.
The way these factors work are easy to see in light of recent events in the Middle East. For example, in Iraq, we see the long story of human suffering and political turmoil.
After a decade of oppressive regimes and economic sanctions which killed 227,000 Iraqis, the 2003 invasion of Iraq killed up to 700,000 civilians in just three years.
This suffering is hard to fathom. The city of Fallujah alone had 14 times as many radiation-related birth defects than Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined.
This chaotic period of history gave birth to criminals, soldiers, fanatics and rebels. The result? ISIS. Political chaos and instability result in opportunist groups seeking to take power by any means necessary.
The New York Times reported that many of the leading generals in ISIS were former military officers under the preceding secularist regime. Did they experience a sudden religious awakening overnight?
Or is it far more likely that opportunistic, power-hungry individuals were eager to do anything to get back into power? The answer is obvious. These political groups drew upon religious terms and themes
but gave them new meanings associated with destruction and violence. For example, according to the Quran, jihad is about striving to uphold virtue for the sake of God, while violent groups hijack the word to use it for their terrorist actions.
People who join these violent groups often lack basic familiarity with the Islamic teachings. In fact, an MI5 research document reveals that far from being religious zealots,
a large number of those involved in terrorism do not practice their faith regularly. Many lack religious literacy and could actually be regarded as religious novices. Some are involved in drug-taking, drinking alcohol and visiting prostitutes.
There is evidence that a well-established religious identity actually protects against violent radicalization. So what does all of this mean? It means that Islam is the first religion and that it is the religion of the people.
It means that Islam is the faith of 1.8 billion people and is not the cause of violence. The real causes of violence relate to political instability, warfare, repressive regimes,
prolonged human suffering and fanatical leaders who construct an ideology of hatred and dehumanization. To quote the editorial board of the New York Times, "...the worst thing to do when you are rooted in a certain people or a certain religion
is to forget that the great atrocities of our age have been perpetrated on different continents by people professing different ideologies and different religions. Before the Islamic State, there was Rwanda and the Lord's Resistance Army
and the killing fields of Cambodia and before that in Europe, the Holocaust." By educating ourselves, we can work to counter narratives of hate and xenophobia and the injustices and suffering of all people around the world.
