Both the deadly terrorist organisations, the al-Qaeda and the Islamic States have claimed a series of killings in Bangladesh over the past year, attacking liberals and foreigners. On Friday, militants stormed a restaurant in Dhaka and killed 20 people, all of them foreigners, in an attack claimed by the IS. Bangladesh’s government has denied the involvement of foreign terrorist groups, but some security experts said the restaurant attack undermined that position. In a latest development, a regional branch of the al-Qaeda urged Muslims in India to revolt and carry out lone wolf attacks, a U.S. monitoring site reported, and days after the rival jihadi movement Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for Bangladesh’s worst militant attack.
The call by al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) follows warnings by security officials and experts that the two groups are trying to outdo each other in the region and claim the mantle of global jihad. An online audio message purportedly from Asim Umar, head of AQIS, said Indian Muslims must follow the example of youths in Europe and strike against Indian police and senior officials, holding them responsible for communal violence. In it message, AQIS said Muslims were present in every part of India and must use their strength to reclaim power in a country, they ruled for centuries. Since its formation in 2014, AQIS has been trying to incite attacks, but India’s Muslims, who number more than 160 million, have been largely unmoved. Only a handful are known to have tried to join the IS, if various reports have to be believed.
Now the question remains here, why Muslims are falling in the trap of these terrorists’ organizations, and who is sponsoring them? Some studies indicate that one of the factors could be chauvinism or the distrust of the non-Muslims. Many Islamic countries actively and systematically promote the hatred of the Jews, the America and the West in general. You must see yourself as the victim and the non-Muslims as the autocrats in order to hate them enough to kill them. A great number of Muslims, perhaps the majority, are at this stage. Not all these Muslims are going to become terrorists, but a great majority of them are convinced that America and particularly the Jews are responsible for everything that is wrong in their lives.
The other factor that makes them susceptible to become terrorists is being hit by a crisis. Personal problems, especially if they are experienced at youth, seem greater than they actually are and tend to make life look meaningless. During these crises, people often seek spiritual guidance in their religions and some youngsters, out of desperation, may even commit suicide. Here is where the danger lies. When young Muslims in crisis seek spiritual guidance from their holy book, the ‘mullas’ misinterpret the aayats of the Quran to them and seed hatred in them to become a jihadi aka terrorist in their minds. Life is already meaningless; suicide does not seem like a bad idea. In Islam, you can become a martyr – end your miserable life and gain the rewards of the afterlife too. This is like killing two birds with one stone.
Muslims are led to believe that America and especially the Jews who “run the world by proxy” (as the Malaysian PM, Dr. Mahathir said) are responsible for all their miseries. They see themselves as victims. Once they identify their alleged victimizers, they are ready to take their revenge – a revenge that is glorified by all the Muslims and is encouraged. Here is where the Quran provides them with “guidance” and confirmation. But that is not all. You also need the support and reassurance of others. The whole Islamic ethos encourages becoming a martyr. Therefore to say that just by reading the Quran, loving Muslims become terrorists is not entirely true. A whole range of conditions must be present for that to happen. The problem is that, all those conditions that prepare a Muslim to become a terrorist are also caused by their religious leaders and preachers. These conditions are not cultural, ethnic, political or economic, they are religious. The hatred of the Jews and the non-Muslims has its roots in the Quran. Most of the crises that Muslim youth face, like lack of opportunity and loss of hope are also the result of the failure of Islam in solving the real problems of Muslims and particularly the youth.
One more factor is the lack of self-esteem and the prevalent feeling of unimportance among Muslims, and Islam’s scholastic fiasco in rearing confident, positive and successful humans. Terrorists are losers who seek their glory in martyrdom. Few brainless conditioned Muslims, fall prey to every trap, be it emotional or religious, and they hold gun in hand without giving a thought that they collectively are tarnishing their religion and its people at large. Here question arise that, why Muslims fail to deal with such maniac? The simple answer is that they are divided in sects and some fears Allah and some fears them in the name of Allah, which make them unable to deal with each other.
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