subject: Who started Terrorism? [print this page] Who started Terrorism? Who started Terrorism?
Speaking Of Terrorism
By
Chandrasekharan Kunnath
Introduction
This article is about a particular connotation of terrorism. The word terrorism is quite wide in scope ranging from personal intimidation to the belligerent acts of a neighbouring country that has expansionist designs.
What is terrorism?
In this article, terrorism is defined as killing in the name of God. It manifests itself as religious fanaticism. Incidentally, the United States Department of Defense defines terrorism as "the calculated use of unlawful violence or threat of unlawful violence to inculcate fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological." Within this definition, there are three key elementsviolence, fear, and intimidationand they produce terror in the victims. The FBI uses this: "Terrorism is the unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives." The U.S. Department of State defines "terrorism" to be "premeditated politically-motivated violence perpetrated against non-combatant targets by sub-national groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience. (Source: http://www.terrorism-research.com/) This definition is much wider in scope than the meaning assigned to terrorism in this article..
The legitimization of terrorism
How does a terrorist legitimize his terrorist acts? He believes he is a freedom fighter fighting for a noble and just cause more important than his own life. He is convinced that he has a special place in history and heaven if he is killed while executing an act of terrorism. He is not a mere mercenary fighting for money. Money is of secondary importance to him although it is essential. The terrorist believes that taking a few lives is justifiable when it is designed to enhance, emancipate or save a large number of lives.
The reason for terrorism
Terrorism originates in a fundamental belief that the God of a particular religion is superior to the God of any other religion. God may have a thousand names and a thousand forms but no religion seems to be based on the concept of a universal God; a God that existed before all religions and that will exist after all religions; a God that is beyond all religion. This unreasonable orientation makes the adherents of a particular religion perceive the followers of other religions as infidels who are to be exterminated in order to preserve the true religion. Killing in the name of God was thus seen as a holy duty as the killer was simply obeying the command of his God!
Nothing new
Terrorism is nothing new to humanity; it is as old as civilization itself. It has been used both as a tactic and a strategy throughout recorded history. Those practising it believe that it is a justifiable reaction to oppression, a holy duty etc. The victims of terrorism understandably feel that it is an abominable atrocity, a heinous crime etc. Obviously, a lot depends on whose point of view one is thinking of. Whatever the point of view, the truth is that killing in the name of God is the worst kind of crime against humanity and cannot be condoned under any circumstances.
The origin of terrorism
The history of terrorism will not be complete without mentioning the crusades. What were the crusades? They were holy wars waged by the Christian states of Europe against the Saracens. The term Saracen' was used to denote a person of Islamic origin a pagan or unbeliever. The fact that Muslims had a God called Allah did not seem to make any difference as the Christians did not recognize any God other than the God of their bible
Christians fought the earliest crusades from 1095 when Pope Claremont preached the First Crusade at the Council of Claremont. The Pope's preaching led to thousands immediately affixing the cross to their garments - the name Crusade given to the Holy Wars came from old French word 'crois' meaning 'cross'. The Crusades were great military expeditions undertaken by the Christian nations of Europe for the purpose of rescuing the holy places of Palestine from the hands of the Mohammedans. They were eight in number, the first four being sometimes called the Principal Crusades, and the remaining four the Minor Crusades. In addition there was a Children's Crusade. There were several other expeditionsthat were insignificant in numbers or results. Source (http://www.middle-ages.org.uk/the-crusades.htm)
Jihad
Christians were up against the phenomenon of Jihad when they fought their crusades against the Muslims. Jihad was a constant struggle to preserve Muslim faith and defend the Muslim's right to freedom of worship. Source: http://islam.about.com/od/jihad/Jihad_in_Islam.htm
Terrorism in Islam
Islam does not try to defend or justify terrorism under any valid interpretation. What does the Qur'an say about terrorism? Muslims claim that their faith promotes justice, peace, and freedom. Critics of the faith (and some Muslims themselves) cite verses from the Qur'an that seem to promote violent, armed warfare. How can these different images be reconciled? The entire Qur'an, taken as a complete text, gives a message of hope, faith, and peace to a community of one billion people. The overwhelming message is that peace is to be found through faith in God, and justice among fellow human beings. At the time the Qur'an was revealed (7th century A.D.), there was no United Nations or Amnesty International to keep the peace or expose injustice. Inter-tribal violence and vengeance was commonplace. As a matter of survival, one should have been willing to defend against aggression from all sides. Nevertheless, the Qur'an repeatedly urges forgiveness and restraint, and warns believers not to "transgress" or become "oppressors."
Hinduism and Terrorism
There is no recorded history of terrorism (in the sense of killing in the name of God) in Hinduism in India. Hinduism being a non-violent and tolerant religion, terrorism is inconceivable in Hinduism. The father of the Indian nation rigorously practised true Hinduism but unfortunately Hinduism is tending to be a fanatical religion and an increasing number of Hindu fanatics are prepared to kill in the name of religion. This is deplorable but understandable too. Over the years of Muslim invasions and conquests, large numbers of Hindus converted to Islam. Hindus submitted to conversion without an armed struggle as Hinduism is founded on non-violence. Hindus seem to believe in the principle, "If you can't beat them, join them". More often than not, the conversions were forced. In fact, there are very few original Muslims in India. All but a few people of Persian, Iranian or Afghan origin are Hindus who have converted to Islam. The people who practise terrorism in India are all Hindus converted to Islam. That is an irony because it boils down to this: Hindus who have converted to Islam live in India and kill Hindus.
New perspective
Who started terrorism? European Christians who fought the crusades under the orders of the Pope from 1095 not to preserve and defend their faith but to exterminate Saracens who were Muslims and who were perceived by the Christians as pagans or infidels. Jihad started as a reaction to the crusades a violent attempt to preserve and defend the Islamic faith. Later, it turned pro-active and anticipatory. Muslims too began killing in the name of God and continue to do so although the Christians have stopped fighting their crusades. Things got out of control and today we have a situation where Muslims kill in the name of God disregarding the dictates of the Qur'an. Jihad seems to have lost its original meaning. The result is that Christians who started killing in the name of God now complain against it very loudly and call it terrorism forgetting that they were the original perpetrators of acts of terrorism. The world has three kinds of people: (1) Christians and people belonging to other non-violent religions. (2) Non-violent Muslims and (3) Pure terrorists (mostly Muslims) with destructive aims.
Solution and conclusion
Ultimately, the reconciliation and integration of the three groups mentioned above is the only sane and sensible solution to the problem of terrorism. Assuming that none of the three groups is atheistic, they could unite under the banner of a religion-less God the God who was there before all religions and who will be there after all religions . If the world does not make a move in this direction, religion will continue to kill more and more people: it will be the single cause of more deaths than natural calamities, war and disease put together.
