The enemy within Islam
Urmi A Goswami

A story doing the rounds in America is about an Arab-looking man in a fez cap who was asked to disembark from an aircraft ready for take off. Later, he was escorted back after it was established that his records were clean and above suspicion. One does not know if this incident really took place or if it is a rumour. Either way, it is indicative of a certain perception that has gained ground after the September 11 attacks. And closely interlinked with this perception is the idea of Islamic terrorism.

Is it fair that the ordinary practitioners of Islam should be tarred by the same brush as men who use Islam to spread hate and have no compunction about killing thousands of people on a sustained basis? Of course not. It needs to be realised that those who promote and advocate terror in the name of Islam are using the faith as a vehicle. These men need to be isolated, before the world begins to see a terrorist in every Muslim.

Many have objected to the use of the term "Islamic terrorism". Many liberal, moderate Muslims have objected. They say there is nothing Islamic about terrorism. They say that Islam is a religion of peace and understanding. They will even quote verses from the Quran to illustrate their point. We all know that Islam like other religions does not preach hate and violence. We also know that little boys from poorer regions are taken to training camps or schools where they are indoctrinated to hate and oppress in the name of religion. We know that this religious instruction is not the real thing, but an interpretation that will ensure that those little boys die for the cause (whatever it is that the leader determines it to be). We know that these men are using Islam. These peddlers of hate need to be stopped.

These self-serving Muslims are defining Islam for a larger majority of Muslims as well as non-Muslims. Unfortunately, other voices in the community are not preventing them from defining Islam. Terrorists and those who support them need to be isolated, ostracised and embargoed and their ideological justifications should be rejected. Nothing justifies using religion to spread hate and terror. It is now for religious leaders, intellectuals and public figures to isolate these terrorists and to create a climate that is sufficiently unfriendly to those who use religion to spread terror.

This is a task that the non-Muslim world cannot undertake on its own. If it does, the same people that need to be isolated will raise the cry of a threatened Islam, which would only strengthen their cause. These self-appointed keepers of Islam, these usurpers of the faith, need to be stopped by other practitioners of the faith.

Leaders of the Islamic faith must confront those who use the faith to fuel hate, oppression and promote murder to further their ambitions. It is Islamic religious leaders, public figures and intellectuals of the Muslim faith, who must delegitimise the behaviour of terrorists and their groups like Osama bin Laden, Lashkar-e-Toiba, Al Qaida, Taliban, Lashkar-e-Jabbar as un-Islamic.

Those who practise the faith but do not subscribe to its extremist views need to stand up for the very same faith they say is peace loving. If they sit back or are co-opted or silenced, then very soon the terrorist will be the sole interpreter of Islam. And the verses of peace would be used to spread terror and to oppress.

We know that the men who use Islam to spread terror are not representative of the faith. So it is imperative that they be isolated before they cause any more harm. Those who disagree with the terrorists seem to have lost their voice; now is the moment to find it. Now is the time to act, before the ranks of these terrorists increase; before they take control of many more governments; before they oppress and kill any more innocent people.