“Political
Islam” and Its Justification of Terrorism
By Jacob Thomas
2005/09/22
There is a great deal of soul searching
among Arab writers and intellectuals as they face the grim results of Islamic
terrorism. The menace has become global as it threatens the peace and stability
of Muslim and non-Muslim countries. As I glance regularly at the headlines of
Arabic newspapers available on the Internet, I notice that the topic of
terrorism receives a good deal of attention.
In a 25 August issue of Al-Sharq
al-Awsat, a London based Arabic newspaper, a regular columnist, Saleh
al-Qallab dealt with this subject by asking: “Is ‘Political Islam’
involved in terrorism through its justification of its crimes?” The
very title of the article intimates that not only Jihadists, but those who
justify their acts, or remain silent about them, are equally involved in
terrorism.
What prompted the writer to ask this
question was the attack on American Navy ships that were docked in the Jordanian
port of Aqaba on Friday, 19 August. He commented on the background of this very
disturbing event, but pointed to the politics and policies of a political party
in Jordan, and its support of Islamist terrorists:
“It is quite instructive to notice the
attitude of the Islamic Action Front [of Jordan] with respect to
the terrorist attack on Aqaba. This organization happens to be the other face of
Al-Ikhwan al-Muslimeen [Muslim Brotherhood], and represents ‘Political
Islam,’ in the Arab and Muslim worlds, and the entire globe, through
the cells and groups that gravitate in its orbit.”
“The Islamic Action Front,
a recognized political party in Jordan, issued its communiqué
even before the blood of the Jordanian soldier that was killed in the
attack had dried. It claimed that the United States was responsible for the
attack, because of the presence of its navy at the port of Aqaba.”
“Furthermore, the Islamic Action
Front refrained from condemning this crime and those who had planned and
executed it, blaming also the Jordanian Government ‘for offering help and
facilities to the Americans, and its support of their invading forces [in Iraq].
The responsibility for the attack in Aqaba rests equally with the Zionist enemy
that occupies the blessed land [of Palestine] and the American
warships.’”
These are very bold words coming from a
regular contributor to this online Arabic paper.
He went on to show a direct link between
the terrorist acts and those behind them who work hard at justifying them:
“The position of this political party
[Islamic Action Front] is in harmony with its previous standing vis-à-vis
terrorism beyond Jordan, including violence, murder, and mayhem in Algeria
[committed since the early 1990s by the Islamic Salvation Front], Egypt, Saudi
Arabia, Morocco, Yemen, and in other lands impacted by terrorism.”
“It is a well-known fact that groups
and organizations that are committed to ‘Political Islam’
throughout the world, do offer a logistical-ideological support for the various
terrorist organizations. This has been going on ever since they resorted to
violence in Egypt during the early 1980s, followed by such actions in Algeria,
Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Yemen, Tunisia, and Morocco. Organizations advocating ‘Political
Islam’ have been justifying terrorism by placing the responsibility
for violence on the ‘Great Satan,’ or ‘The Arrogance [of
the West].’ And they have persisted in refraining, directly or indirectly,
from condemning any terrorist acts.”
Writing before the shocking events in
Dammam, in eastern Saudi Arabia, early in September 2005, when a group of
Jihadists barricaded themselves in an apartment block, and were eventually
killed by Saudi police, he referred to the seeds of Islamism with these very
revealing words:
“In Saudi Arabia, for example, those
associated with ‘Political Islam,’ whether bearded or
clean-shaven; place the responsibility for terrorism on the American presence on
Saudi soil, even after it has ended! Then they proceed to blame the Saudi
authorities for the spread of terrorism because of its openness to currents of
liberalism, and to democracy in its Western version.”
Long before 9/11 and the first attempt
to bomb the Word Trade Center in the early 1990s, a terrible war has been going
on in Algeria waged by Front Islamique du Salut (Islamic Salvation
Front) against the government. Our columnist reminded his readers, that North
Africa has been suffering from this plague for a long time:
“As for Algeria, the justification for
terrorism is based on the claim that the Algerian authorities had deviated from
the Right Path [Islamic Orthodoxy,] and thus society itself had
fallen into a state of unbelief. Therefore, the blood that was being shed in
Algeria [by the insurgents of FIS] would eventually lead to the rise of a truly
Islamic regime.”
From North Africa, the columnist
returned to the Middle East, and began with Egypt, the birthplace of the
ideology of Islamic terrorism, and of the Muslim Brotherhood that practiced
it:
“In Egypt, justification for Irhab
[terrorism] was already there: [it is enough to mention] the Camp David
Accord, or Peace with Israel. Thus, groups sympathetic to ‘Political
Islam’ found no reason to condemn terrorist acts since they were
directed against those much-hated treaties [that normalized relations between
Egypt and Israel.] Thus, terrorist acts were carried under an Islamic banner,
even though their victims were [quite often] innocent people, or women, or
children, as witnessed recently at Sharm el-Sheikh, Luxor, and Cairo!”
Mr. Al-Qallab proceeded to deal with the
measures that must be taken by all responsible governments, referring
specifically to those Arab states which tolerate the activities of organizations
that provide logistical and ideological support for Islamist terrorists.
“Now that terrorism has taken deep
roots in the region [Middle East], it is necessary to deprive it of this
logistical-ideological support, before we deprive it of financial and military
aid. It is necessary for all governments that have been impacted by acts of
terrorism to make a common front vis-à-vis those organizations associated with ‘Political
Islam.’ This must be achieved both through dialogue with such
organizations, and by passing strict laws that explicitly prohibit any
justification of terrorism. To provide pretexts for acts of terrorism is
tantamount to approving them.”
Mr. Al-Qallab went on to comment on the
activities of the advocates of ‘Political Islam’ and
ended his op-ed column by stating:
“It is not surprising at all that
parties associated with ‘Political Islam’ engage in
opportunistic and pragmatic political activities under the banner of Islam.
However, had they been truly honest, they ought to be defending the Islamic
religion by unmasking those terrorist organizations that have given Islam an
ugly face. In the final analysis, and regardless of the many names that
terrorist groups use, they have only one goal, to kill for the sake of killing,
and to commit crime for the sake of crime.”
“By embarking on the justification of
acts of terrorism, and by offering terrorists a logistical-ideological support,
groups and parties advocating Political Islam place themselves
within the circle of Irhab; and betray the great Islamic mission
which they claim to be their own!”
The openness of this columnist is very
salutary and must be commended. However, he, as well as many other Muslim
writers, sees no connection between the sacred texts of Islam (Qur’an, Hadith,
and the Life of the Prophet) and the phenomenon of Islamic terrorism during the
last 1400 years. What a pity!
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