Allahu Akbar. Bang bang bang. Boom. Hundreds killed. Another extremist terrorist attack.
Muslims all over the world start echoing the same sentiments. Oh no thats not my religion. My religion deos not call for that. The Islam I belive in has nothing in common with that. Is that really true though?
After all is said and done, there has to be something that draws relatively intelligent young muslims towards extremism and violence. Having personally known several young muslims who have been radicalised and are active members of the Daesh I can tell you there is some religous legitimacy to their ideology. The fundametals that they are so fundamental about are not far from the fundamentals of Islam. This will and should horrify many muslims but this is true. The sooner we accept that the sooner we can fix that.
One of the beliefs that all muslims would agree on is that the end of times is near. The day of Judgement is coming closer. Doesn’t sound too bad right? Hell, every religion since the dawn of time says something along those lines. But what is relatively unknown is the widely held Islamic belief that before the end of times, muslims would rule the world and Allah would give them a great victory over christians and jews. Actually according to Islam, messiah comes and wipes off jews from the face of the earth. This isn’t some extremist religous imam that I am quoting, this is what I was taught in a government a school in a modern islamic country and is widely accpeted Islamic belief. Secularists can disagree all they want but I and millions of others were taught to believe it.
Another gem that 12 years of mandatory Islamic education has taught me is that all of the world’s problems are caused by not following Sharia. Now now I can hear ‘moderate’ muslim jimmies rustling all over the world, but hear me out. Sharia is not just a penal code or a legal system. It is an umbrella term that encompasses all parts of life. By all, I mean ALL. You want to urinate? well there is a ‘sunnah’ way to do it. Want to conduct a businness? All you need is there in the sunnah. Criminal justice? well I think you get the picture. The solution to all of the problems in the world is adherence to Sharia. That is fundamentally what the Islamic faith is based on. Don’t even get me started about the consequences for criticising this all encompassing Sharia.
Now that you know that, try to imagine growing up as a young marginalized muslim boy. The average Joe, if you may. Didn’t do exceptionally well in school so wasn’t much motivated into academics. Did Ok at sports but nothing to write home about. Add in a few other average Joe friends and you’ve got a boy who feels disconnected from the world. Just like every other child who grew up, the boy also at some point, feels like something was going wrong in the world. The whole world felt bad and unfair. Greedy corporations and governments that oppresed. Worst of all the narrative of Muslims being slaughtered has been around all his life. Tanks in the Gaza strip, drones in Pakistan, bombs in Iraq and chemicals in Syria. Crime, poverty and all other social issues effected the society around him and nobody seemed to care. Everyone seemed too absorbed in their own lives. We’ve all felt that at some point, I think. Imagine this boy’s amazement when he discovers that some one did care.
Best of all, they cared about the boy for who he was; a muslim. Unable to find a place for himself in society, the boy finds connection and empathy in some internet Sheikh or a beardy regular at the local mosque. All of his questions and grievances with world could be answered through the word of god. Foundations of Sharia he was taught in school are taken up a notch by this beardy guy and bingo, life has meaning again. Soon he is introduced to a whole community of like minded people forming human connections that re-inforce each other’s belief that they have a duty to Allah to fix the world.
I am not saying all muslims are violent extremists or fundamentalists. All I am saying is there is something inherently violent about Islam and it doesn’t take much to interpret the Quran and Hadith in a way that encourages violence. If we get offended every time some one points this out, and pretend like Islam is the love child of mahatma gandhi and a rainbow we aren’t going anywhere. The idea that Muslims would one day rule the world is fundamentally violent and should not be taught in schools. The belief that all jews would one day be killed is wrong. The Sharia punishment for leaving the reliogion-death; is barabric. The sooner Muslims introspectively look at their own religion and come to terms with the fact that there are parts that you need to change, the better. I know all muslims pride themselves for having religous texts that are unedited like their jewish and christian counterparts. But why dont we look at why those religions had to change? Or did the muslims forget about the crusades?
TL;DR I don’t care, but you should read it.