By: Tashbih Sayyed, Ph. D.
If anyone had any doubts about the true nature, extent, reach and depth of radical Islam's evilness, Thursday's terror in London should be enough to remove them. The London bombings underlined the fact that the Islamist terrorism doesn't discriminate between color, creed or ethnicity; it's only objective is to sow fear and hatred in the hearts and minds. Thursday's terror reconfirmed that radical Islam does not spare anyone – not even those who because of their own misconceptions and weaknesses have been sheltering and appeasing it. British have been one of them.
The terror that killed and injured tens of Londoners brought into focus the fallacy of ignoring the threat of Islamism. Britain's Pro-Arab policies have long been a source of encouragement for the radical Islamists. Clerics known for their ties to terrorism always felt very comfortable, setting up their shops of horror in London. Mosques in the UK have been known to harbor the most incendiary kind of militant clerics who worked 24 hours to recruit British young men and women for jihad. Radical Muslim clerics didn't encounter any difficulty in the propagation of their anti-West messages in Britain that resulted in the conversion of hundreds of young British Muslims to Islamism.
A committed Islamist who sustained injuries to his hand and eye, clearing landmines for the Mujahideen in Afghanistan, Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Masri faced no difficulty in establishing himself in London. He used British hospitality to spread his militant ideology in the UK He runs Supporters of Sharia (SOS), a group that was linked to the kidnapping of 16 western tourists in Abyan on 28 December 1998 and an alleged bomb plot in Aden. He never misses an opportunity to praise Osama bin Laden. In 2002 he addressed a rally in central London called by the radical Islamic group al Muhajiroun, where members spoke of their support for al-Qaeda. Abu Hamza has claimed that the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster was a sign from God. He said:
"These missions would increase the number of satellites for military purposes. It would increase the slavery of governance of other countries by America. It is a punishment from God. Muslims see it that way. It is a trinity of evil because it carried Americans, an Israeli and a Hindu, a trinity of evil against Islam. The fact that the motor of the craft fell on Palestine - all these are messages from God. It is a strong message, for the Israeli, to be taken up there to space and he spoke about the Holocaust, to try to make religious advancement from it and gain some moral high ground, hence you have seen this message over Palestine."
The SOS website makes a point of encouraging Muslims to take up jihad, which it describes as "the forgotten obligation". It quotes the Qur'an and other sources to support this: O you who believe! What is the matter with you, that when you are asked to march forth in the cause of Allah you cling heavily to the earth? Are you pleased with the life of this world rather than the Hereafter? But little is the enjoyment of the life of this world as compared to the Hereafter. (Sura 9:38)
He justified the attacks in New York and Washington in September 2001 and has been warning UK government about the consequences of attacking Iraq. His message of Pan-Islamism found a receptive audience among the disaffected British Muslims. According to Guardian, "Some disaffected British Muslims, and Muslim converts, have found the brand of pan-global Islamism hard to resist. Whether in the form of Abu Hamza rhetoric in mosques or in the more seductive campaigns mounted on university campuses by Al Muhajiroun and Hizb-ut-Tehrir, disaffected young men have embraced many of the Islamist elements."
Young British Muslims thus recruited traveled regularly to Afghanistan to fight with Al-Qaeda against the US and Chechnya to fight against Russia. They strengthened Jihad in Kashmir and invigorated insurgency in Iraq. British Muslims, according to knowledgeable sources, Muslim radicals used there jihad trips abroad to establish contacts with radical leaders from other countries and helped in setting up Al-Qaeda's bases in the United Kingdom.
Radical Islamist establishment in UK used jihad fronts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kashmir, Chechnya, Bosnia, Yemen, Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand to train its cadres and gain battleground experience first hand. So that battle-hardened young British Muslims could be used in the terrorist operations domestically. Thursday's terror in could be the initiation of this well thought out terror campaign.
British authorities cannot absolve themselves from the responsibility of inadvertently encouraging jihad in the UK by granting asylum to extremists like Omar Bakri Mohammed who not only approved of the massacre of hundreds of Russian school children but also encouraged his followers to carry out similar attacks in Britain. British should have known better than to allow the likes of Omar Bakri Mohammad to say, "If an Iraqi Muslim carried out an attack like that in Britain, it would be justified, because Britain has carried out acts of terrorism in Iraq."
It is a known fact that the security services in Britain were always aware of dozens of hard-core al-Qaeda sympathizers in Britain - that is to say, people who would be prepared to plan, and in some cases carry out, attacks. According to Guardian, "Britain's security services, led by MI5, have had evidence for years that British based Islamists have been attracted to the al-Qaeda terrorist network. When officers of the Metropolitan police went to Israel to discuss tactics to deal with suicide bombers, and protection against them, it was with the threat of al-Qaeda-inspired attacks in Britain in mind."
London bombings should serve as an eye-opener for those who still think that Islamist terrorism is only directed at Jews, Israel and the United States of America. They must know now that Radical Islam's target is the very foundation on which the edifice of civilization stands. Everyone who represents the civilized values of tolerance, pluralism and openness is on their hit list. Its mission is to murder all those who believe in the dignity of life, accept diversity as a symbol of God.
It is vital that the world stop being politically correct all the time. So long as the world remains reluctant to call a spade a spade, humanity will remain a target of Islamist barbarism. Appeasement, diplomacy, political expediency and short term commercial interests preventing certain groups and leaders from outright condemnation of Islamists with the hope that their terror will some how spare them, render open societies to the much more horrible consequences than 9/11 and 7/7.
One must not ignore the fact that it is not just Al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, Aiman al Zawahiri, Zarqawi and their ilk who are responsible for the pain and suffering that the open societies are being subjected to. Leaders, groups and individuals who oppose tackling Islamist radicalism head-on are equally responsible for the growing influence of religious extremism in the Muslim world. Groups who fail to see the wisdom in going after Taliban in Afghanistan, Saddam Hussein in Iraq are guilty of aiding and abetting Osama bin Laden, Abu Musaa'b Zarqawi and their ilk.
Open societies cannot afford not to have Patriot Acts in place. Freedoms need Guantanamo Bay and civilization will have to find ways to deter barbarism from overwhelming it. Election results in Spain after Madrid bombings and Italy's decision to pull its troops out of Iraq immediately after the London explosions have convinced the terrorists that terrorism pays.
Those who criticize war on terrorism must remember that their criticism of Iraq invasion and Guantanamo Bay camp has empowered Islamist terrorism. French and German opposition to US war on terrorism has helped the insurgency in Iraq to gain momentum and has emboldened Al-Qaeda to unleash their evil in Madrid and now in London. It is a known fact that Radical Islam exploits each and every sign of real and perceived weakness in free world's resolve to fight terror. Voices in the US demanding a quick return of the troops without completing the mission in Iraq has convinced the insurgency that their victory is near.
This has to be recognized that the groups criticizing President Bush's anti-terrorism policies are knowingly or unknowingly supporting the radical Islamist position that this war is not a just war. Since most of the anti-war arguments in the US echo Islamist propaganda, terrorists like Osama, Al-Zawahiri and Zarqawi are using them to convince Muslims of the need for jihad – making it much easier to recruit more homicide bombers.
Muslims also have to share the guilt of supporting radical Islam's terror campaign by not challenging those Islamists who have imposed themselves as their leaders to carry out their anti-US agenda. They must realize that individuals and groups claiming to represent them have never raised their voices against open anti-America and anti-Judeo-Christian campaigns being carried out in different parts of the world. These organizations who never miss the slightest opportunity to demonize US anti-terrorist policies have never protested in an effective manner against the beheadings, kidnappings and bombings perpetuated by radical Islamists.
There has never been a concerted effort by so called Muslim leadership in the US to condemn the insurgency in Iraq that has caused hundreds of American deaths. Muslim leaders, when forced to condemn some Islamist barbaric acts, try to blame them on the "US policies." I am afraid that the time is far approaching when Muslims living in Judeo-Christian societies will have to face the vengeance of those whose kith and kin and dear ones are being killed by Islamist terrorism.
The fact that so far Muslims have not faced any backlash despite their leadership's open and not so open support for anti-American causes must not be taken as a permanent situation. The time is fast approaching when the mainstream will react as violently as Muslims react toward minorities in their own communities whenever there is a terror attack against Western interests. Muslims must thank their stars that the Judeo-Christian society has not reacted in violent ways against Muslims living in its midst. If Judeo-Christian leaders, God forbid, would have been like Islamist leadership, the backlash would have been not only imminent but most violent.
Just see how Muslims under the influence of radicalism react in their societies on hearing the news of Quran's desecration. According to a news report published in Pakistan's most respectable and credible English newspaper, Dawn, about 70 Hindu and Christian women and children of the Lal Kurthi area of Nowshera Cantonment, Pakistan, who left their homes when a temple was ransacked by a mob, have not yet returned to the locality. The Lamba Vera temple, which was ransacked and a part of it set on fire by a mob protesting against alleged desecration of Holy Quran, is situated in a compound which also has homes of 21 Hindu and Christian families.
The men in the compound told a fact-finding team of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan on Friday that when the protest started they requested SHO Haji Bahadur Khan to provide security but police arrived there after the temple and eight houses had been ransacked and looted. The temple's caretaker, Sodesh Kumar, said people of the locality were scared and not sure if they should bring their families back. He said he had escaped through a backdoor when the mob reached the temple. A resident, Arjun Das, said the attackers were about 500 in number.
According to another report published in the Pakistan media, Sources in Pakistan report that radical Muslim mobs attacked Christian homes in three areas near Peshawar, Pakistan, Tuesday, June 28. The attacks came after a Christian man was accused earlier that day of burning pages from the Koran. The man was Yousaf Masih who had worked for almost 20 years as a sweeper for the Pakistani military.
On Tuesday he was asked to clean the office of a major's home. During the cleaning, he came across a bag of papers which the major told him to take outside and burn. Masih is illiterate and would not have known what was written on the papers. But other workers saw the papers and said Masih was burning pages from the Koran. After hearing the workers' accusations, Masih rushed back to his home east of Peshawar.
On Wednesday afternoon police arrested Yousaf, accusing him of insulting Islam, the prophet Mohammed and the Koran—a crime punishable with death under Pakistan's harsh anti-blasphemy laws.
Following the arrest, a group of angry Muslims came to Yousaf's home and began to beat his three sons and his brother Yaqoob. Radical Muslims returned to the area late that night, looting and burning an estimated 200 Christian homes in the region. Police have reportedly arrested 16 people involved in the attacks and surrounded all three areas in an effort to restore order as Christians brace for more potential attacks.
There is only one way to stop this impending backlash against Muslims from materializing; Muslims will have to prove somehow that they are not in any way part of this grand Islamist scheme of destroying open societies in whose development and evolution they have not contributed at all. This progress, development, advancement and affluence of western societies is the result of a Judeo-Christian state of mind that does not exploit religion for the advancement of its causes.
West's progress that is attracting everyone including Islamists from all four corners of the globe has been made possible by rejecting religious bigotry, separating the state from the church that made it possible to institute a social structure based on universal social justice which in turn cleared the way for state of mind that is pluralistic, tolerant and all inclusive.
The time has come to discern the real meaning of the statements being issued by Lobbies and groups working for radical Islam in the US and elsewhere. Somebody has to realize that these Islamist fronts have very effectively exploited the human right movement to discourage the war on Islamist terror. These Islamists have no love for the open societies.
They are here to destroy openness by imposing "Shariah" by defeating Americanism. The US constitution is a big hurdle in the accomplishment of their agenda of reducing all non-Wahhabis to a status of being a second class citizen. Muslims must reject radical Islam by accepting Americanism, according to which all human beings are created equal – there is no room for Dhimmitude in Americanism.
They can do this by distancing themselves from those "Muslim" leaders whose only agenda is to weaken the United States of America and empower radical Islam. Failing to reject radical Islamist leaders who have hijacked almost all the mosques and Islamic centers will only result in being rejected as a whole community by the main stream America.
(The writer is editor-in-chief of Pakistan Today and Muslim World Today, California-based weekly newspapers, president of Council for Democracy and Tolerance and adjunct fellow of Hudson Institute.)
