When I came to Europe in early 1990's, I had a strong feeling, that the muslims all over the world were oppressed. The wounds of Bosnia were still fresh. The chechen movement was gaining pace but they still had not started attacking russian schools or hospitals. Even Palestine movement was almost free of terrorism.
I remember, I had the feeling, that muslims were going through their worst time, because they were being oppressed all over the world. How wrong I was!
Compared to the mayhem we are going through today, I can safely say, it was a luxury to be oppressed. It was much better than to be associated with an Islam, which oppresses the innocent, slaughters innocent school kids, kills Yazidis and takes their women as concubines.
Today, I am trying to recall, how the things started to go wrong. I am not trying to compile a history of terrorism associated with muslims, as this should start from the early Khawarij. I am only concerned with the revival of terrorism in our times.
As far as I can recall, the first incidents of terrorist attacks happened against Israel. Maybe, it was exactly because of this reason, that we found our reasons to justify them, instead of condemning them at their very beginning. I heard, for example the arguments from the muslim, that the Israelis were all "combatted enemies" and therefore a legitimate target of such attacks. Some justified it by the oppression they were facing from the Israeli side. Looking back I think, how wrong we were. We are taught to remain just in all circumstances and even the enemosity of a folk should not let us go astry from the path of justice. I want you to reflect on that point. Weren't we taken away by the animosity of the israelis? I am quite sure we were. It was so stupid to consider the civilians traveling in a bus, including women and children, to be combatted enemy. It was so unjust to justify our aggression by their oppression. Afterall, we were muslims and they were not.
In the years until 2001, the thought, which lead muslims to terrorism, like nothing else, was the idea of being mighty because of jihaad -- mighty enough to defeat the Soviet Union. Now we have to confess, that somewhere in the muslim minds, the idea had already started gaining strength, that if we can defeat Soviet Union by our "Jihaad", we can defeat any other power. It is understandable, that some among us were too keen to challenge the "other power", so that it could also be defeated. It was just that, what resulted in 9/11. Believe me, my brothers and sisters, it was just that. I cannot help those, who want to blind themselves by conspiracy theories.
After 9/11, something unexplainable happened. We saw the ultimate rise of salafism all over the world, yes, even in the west. Until 9/11, the converted muslims were usually some intellectuals, who could think higher than the sectarian divisions or the sufis, who despite their deviations were peaceful and harmless. The whole scene changed after 9/11. For the first time in my life I heard the name of Takfirism. For the first time in my life, I saw converts, who were seen discussing, how wrong and full of bid'ah the "other muslims" were.
The chechen movement got a new face. They now had young arab jehadis fighting alongside them. And then something new happened, which was unknown to me until then: Beslan school hostage crisis. Our Jihaadis in Chechnia thought, they were so oppressed, that they now had all the right to slaughter russian school kids. My brothers and sisters, I cannot tell you, what calamities this incident brought in my personal life. My wife, who was a young mother at that time got into clinical depression and needed to be hospitalized.
I had almost forgotten the pain of that time. But the other day, the Taliban did the same. I cannot tell you, how many times, I have seen her crying for those kids. My own pain is beyong words.
The rest of the development is the recent history. Everyday, we hear news about the beheadings of people by ISIS and we just ignore that because some of us think, they have, just to put it in the words of another TTI member, "an authentic base", or all that is too far away to make a correct opinion. Everyday, we hear about the kidnaping of school girls in Nigeria and we can even find people in TTI, who want to justify that.
Now, I want every reader to look back in time, when we did not have all those jihaadis. Were we better off without them or are we better off with them? I have a very strong opinion on that: Being oppressed without these jihaadis was an absolute luxury.
May Allah protect all muslims from the enemies and from themselves.
I remember, I had the feeling, that muslims were going through their worst time, because they were being oppressed all over the world. How wrong I was!
Compared to the mayhem we are going through today, I can safely say, it was a luxury to be oppressed. It was much better than to be associated with an Islam, which oppresses the innocent, slaughters innocent school kids, kills Yazidis and takes their women as concubines.
Today, I am trying to recall, how the things started to go wrong. I am not trying to compile a history of terrorism associated with muslims, as this should start from the early Khawarij. I am only concerned with the revival of terrorism in our times.
As far as I can recall, the first incidents of terrorist attacks happened against Israel. Maybe, it was exactly because of this reason, that we found our reasons to justify them, instead of condemning them at their very beginning. I heard, for example the arguments from the muslim, that the Israelis were all "combatted enemies" and therefore a legitimate target of such attacks. Some justified it by the oppression they were facing from the Israeli side. Looking back I think, how wrong we were. We are taught to remain just in all circumstances and even the enemosity of a folk should not let us go astry from the path of justice. I want you to reflect on that point. Weren't we taken away by the animosity of the israelis? I am quite sure we were. It was so stupid to consider the civilians traveling in a bus, including women and children, to be combatted enemy. It was so unjust to justify our aggression by their oppression. Afterall, we were muslims and they were not.
In the years until 2001, the thought, which lead muslims to terrorism, like nothing else, was the idea of being mighty because of jihaad -- mighty enough to defeat the Soviet Union. Now we have to confess, that somewhere in the muslim minds, the idea had already started gaining strength, that if we can defeat Soviet Union by our "Jihaad", we can defeat any other power. It is understandable, that some among us were too keen to challenge the "other power", so that it could also be defeated. It was just that, what resulted in 9/11. Believe me, my brothers and sisters, it was just that. I cannot help those, who want to blind themselves by conspiracy theories.
After 9/11, something unexplainable happened. We saw the ultimate rise of salafism all over the world, yes, even in the west. Until 9/11, the converted muslims were usually some intellectuals, who could think higher than the sectarian divisions or the sufis, who despite their deviations were peaceful and harmless. The whole scene changed after 9/11. For the first time in my life I heard the name of Takfirism. For the first time in my life, I saw converts, who were seen discussing, how wrong and full of bid'ah the "other muslims" were.
The chechen movement got a new face. They now had young arab jehadis fighting alongside them. And then something new happened, which was unknown to me until then: Beslan school hostage crisis. Our Jihaadis in Chechnia thought, they were so oppressed, that they now had all the right to slaughter russian school kids. My brothers and sisters, I cannot tell you, what calamities this incident brought in my personal life. My wife, who was a young mother at that time got into clinical depression and needed to be hospitalized.
I had almost forgotten the pain of that time. But the other day, the Taliban did the same. I cannot tell you, how many times, I have seen her crying for those kids. My own pain is beyong words.
The rest of the development is the recent history. Everyday, we hear news about the beheadings of people by ISIS and we just ignore that because some of us think, they have, just to put it in the words of another TTI member, "an authentic base", or all that is too far away to make a correct opinion. Everyday, we hear about the kidnaping of school girls in Nigeria and we can even find people in TTI, who want to justify that.
Now, I want every reader to look back in time, when we did not have all those jihaadis. Were we better off without them or are we better off with them? I have a very strong opinion on that: Being oppressed without these jihaadis was an absolute luxury.
May Allah protect all muslims from the enemies and from themselves.