Ramadan, the holiest month of the Muslims when people fast during the day and offer prayers for world peace. This was the definition of Ramadan (or Ramzan as it is popularly known in our parts) that we have read in our school books. Back then we learnt that the great prophet Muhammad sacrificed his life for the sake of peace. That the holy Quran teaches us peace and brotherhood. But today when you hear someone justifying the killing of an innocent in the name of God, in the name of Allah, by reciting verses from that same holy Quran, our beliefs get shattered.
The locality where I grew up as a child, luckily we had a no. of Muslim families around us and that meant we had the chance to experience Ramadan through them. For them Ramadan was a month of joy, it was a month of happiness. The smiles in their faces spoke of the satisfaction they received by practising their religious rites during this holy month. At that moment the definition of Ramadan and that chapter about Islam in our Social Studies book seemed so just for me.
But last week the incident in Dhaka’s Holey Artisan Bakery left me completely speechless. How can someone being a Muslim kill another Muslim in the name of Allah only because she refused to save her life by reciting Quranic verses or only because one refused abandon his non-Muslim friends when all the Muslims present in the Bakery were asked to leave, and that too in the month of Ramadan. Is this what Quran taught? Is this what Prophet professed about peace, about brotherhood?
Of late the same has been repeated in Paris, Orlando, Istanbul, Iraq, Syria…., only in the name of Islam, in the name of Allah. But this is not the “Islam” that my Muslim friends back here practise. No it definitely isn’t. Then what is this fanatical version? Who created it? Why day by day so many young people are getting attracted to this version of Islam? The answer lies nowhere near. People who try to find an answer blame the west. Had not America armed the Mujahideens in Afghanistan, or had not they invaded Iraq, this would not have happened to this extent, they say. They blame illiteracy, lack of modernization of Islamic world for this havoc. But even though for one second I believe the former reason to be true to some extent, the type of modern warfare the Jihadists fight and the educational and economical backgrounds of their soldiers completely contradict the later. No, this isn’t the answer.
But whatever be the reason for this war, the victim is none other than Islam itself. It’s the innocent Muslims around us that are being shamed for someone else’s deeds. And I’m sure as the war gets uglier day by day the fingers raised against those innocent Muslims will get more and more firmer. So, I feel that the answer to this war must come from within Islam. This war between good and evil can only be won if and only if the Muslims around the world come together as a firmer force against the evil powers spreading hatred in the name of Allah, in the name of Jihad. Only then can Islam be saved. Only then can the world be saved.
N.B.: Views on this topic are always welcome for discussion. Hate comments will be blocked.
Thoughts, thoughts and thoughts............... 