On Islam, terrorists and terrorism
Dr. Zakir Naik said, “No religion encourages terrorist acts or violence. The word ‘Islam’ itself means ‘Peace, obtained by submitting yourself to the Almighty’. Anyone, be it Muslim or non-Muslim, who kills an innocent Muslim or a non-Muslim, kills the entire humanity. However, Islam goes a step further to say that if one saves innocent lives, the whole of humanity is saved. Injustice is the root cause of terrorism…”
He continued, “Palestinians are called terrorists just because they are fighting to get their land back.” By citing examples of LTTE (in Sri Lanka), IRA (in UK), Lord’s Salvation Army, which trains the young children to conduct terrorist attacks, and many other non-Muslim terrorist outfits he further said that, the lives claimed by these outfits are more than the ones by the Muslim terrorists.
Dr. Zakir said Naxalites/Maoists across India and the LTTE in Sri Lanka were non- Muslim terror organisations, which had had developed pan regional bases beyond national boundaries. Other such non-Muslim terror outfits included the United Liberation Front of Asom, National Democratic Front of Bodoland and All Tripura Tiger Force in the Northeast, Naik noted.
Drawing on international examples, Dr. Zakir said that the Japanese Red Army, Lord’s Salvation Army and the ETA in Spain were also non-Islamic in character and composition.
“So nothing is more removed from truth as to suggest that Muslims have monopolized terrorism,” said Dr. Naik. He said the Irish Republican Army, which was considered to be terrorist group, has a history of 100 years of violence against the British, but the British government doesn’t seem to be scared about them as they are about radical Islamic groups.
Besides, he also mentioned, “Even a single killing by a Muslim is condemned by Islam, whatsoever the reasons.”
On the Media, Judiciary and Politicians
Dr. Zakir appreciated the Indian media for being unbiased and upright while reporting the communal riots. He further expressed that it is the plot of the Western media to destroy Muslims.
He also said that the media controlled by the political authorities is biased and does not portray the truth or reality. He stated, “Islam does not justify using wrong means to reach the right goals. People should not take the law in their hands.”
“India has seen maximum number of communal riots in recent years. Politicians have been using the ‘Divide and Rule Policy’ to secure their vote banks. However, the masses should not get instigated by them. Terrorism is a monopoly of politicians. People, regardless of their religion, wish to live harmonious lives, but politicians feed the feeling of hatred amongst them,” he opined while speaking about the role of politicians in the society today.
“We should learn how to turn the tables and convey the real meaning,” said Dr. Zakir, while calling on Muslims to dispel the media’s vilifying of Muslims and the importance of having Muslim television channels and newspapers.
Later at a private Iftar organized for journalists at Jeddah, Dr. Zakir called on Muslim businessmen across the world to boycott the US dollar and predicted that such a move would, within two years, see the end of the US as an economic superpower.
Having described the war on terror as an excuse to take control of Middle Eastern oil reserves, Dr. Zakir called on businessmen to boycott the dollar. “Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has provided us with a strategy to stop the US, which is to target the US economy. The first thing we should do is to stop dealing in dollars… America is presently in debt, the dollar is in debt and half the finance of the country is in debt,” he claimed.
Dr. Zakir added that if governments were unwilling to boycott the dollar then businessmen and businesswomen should themselves individually boycott the currency and advised them to deal in riyals, dirhams, gold and euros.
“Use the euro as an alternative. The process of having an Islamic currency would take time and so we shouldn’t wait for that,” he said, adding, “Now if someone insists on dealing in dollars then make sure you change currency as soon as possible. When you change the currency then the banks will send the dollars back to the US — within two years their economy will collapse. For us to achieve this, we need our businessmen to stop dealing in dollars. Once their economy collapses then their position as an economic superpower will end.” Dr. Naik said.
Also watch : JOF’09 – United for His Pleasure – Speech by Sh Abdur Raheem Green at JOF 2009 Conference.
No comments:
Post a Comment