#Current Affairs

Terrorism Violates 3 Key Tenets of Islam

Published

January 8, 2015

Acts of terrorism are un-Islamic acts; this applies to all acts of terrorism, such as the recent attacks in France, Australia, and Pakistan.

There has been a claim that extremists or terrorists justify their acts using Islamic text like the Quran (Words of God, as believed by Muslims) and Sunnah (tradition of the Prophet Muhammad ). This short article should help dismantle such a claim.

I believe acts of terrorism that we see committed against innocent civilians violate Islamic principles in three major ways.

Terrorism doesn’t distinguish between combatants and non-combatants

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Terrorists might use some passages in the Quran that talk about combat to justify their murder of innocent civilians. The Quran very clearly made the distinction between those who fight you and those who don’t fight you. There are two key verses in this regard that we find in the Chapter 60 of the Quran:

Allah does not forbid you from those who do not fight you because of religion and do not expel you from your homes – from being righteous toward them and acting justly toward them. Indeed, Allah loves those who act justly [60:8]

Allah only forbids you from those who fight you because of religion and expel you from your homes and aid in your expulsion – [forbids] that you make allies of them. And whoever makes allies of them, then it is those who are the wrongdoers. [60:9]

These two verses make a clear distinction between those who directly fought you and drove you out of your land and those who didn’t. Some people might claim that all verses like these were abrogated. But according to major Muslim exegesis scholars like Tabari and Qurtubi, these verses were NOT abrogated.

Terrorism is treacherous and treachery is absolutely forbidden

When you accept to live in a country, there is an implicit or an explicit contract that you will not wish harm to the country or its citizens. Guarding contracts is a very sacred duty in Islam [5:1].

Even in times of war, one has to abide by treaties and contracts. If one fears betrayal from the enemy, then you have to inform them first that you’d like to end the treaty. This is so that both sides are on equal terms and no one side is surprised by the other attacking while they felt secure from their harm. If you don’t do that, God calls you a traitor. Read Quran 8:58.

Unfortunately, now we have some people, Muslims and non-Muslims, claiming that Islam teaches treachery or deception? It’s very explicit in the Quran that “God does not like traitors” 8:58

Terrorism violates the rights of neighbor

The people we live with are people who feel safe from our harm. Those are people who live with us in the same neighborhood, same city, and same country. Those are the people who go to the same grocery stores and send their kids to the same school. Those are people we call neighbor and who deserve our best treatment.

There is a very important narration from Prophet Muhammad , that I don’t see quoted often, that’s key in this regard. It carefully depicts the behavior of an extremist who will turn against his neighbor. Yes, one of the most telling trait of an extremist or a terrorist is that they turn against their own neighbor. Here is the narration:

عن حذيفة بن اليمان قال قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم “إنما أتخوّف عليكم رجلا قرأ القرآن حتى إذا رُئي عليه بهجته وكان ردءا للإسلام، اعتزل إلى ما شاء الله، وخرج على جاره بسيفه، ورماه بالشرك” هذا لفظ البزّار في مسنده

From Hudhaifah , he said the Prophet said, “what I fear on you is a man who read the Quran until when its beauty was seen on him he went to seclusion for however long God wills, then he came out with the sword against his neighbor and accused him with heresy” this is the wording of al-Bazzar in his book al-Musnad.

There are several narrations for this Hadith, I just selected the shortest version. But a lot can be learned from the other versions as well.

What is very interesting about this narration is that the Prophet himself feared that such people will later appear in his community. Those are people who are religious, who will read the religious text, but who will have a drastically different understanding of the text. So we have a direct statement from the Prophet that those people cannot possibly have the correct understanding of Islam. In the contrary, those will be bad news for everyone, hence the fear of the Prophet .

Finally, I don’t believe that the problem of terrorism, just like any other crime, will be totally eradicated. But I hope that whoever reads this article, especially the youth, will see that terrorism is the antithesis of what Islam asks for.

For more from the author, you can follow his Facebook.

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Born and raised in Lebanon, Hlayhel began attending study circles at his local mosque when he was ten. He came to the United States at 17 and studied electrical engineering at the University of Houston. At its MSA, he met Sh Yasir Qadhi and worked together to raise Islamic awareness on campus. Hlayhel studied traditional sciences of Aqeedah (Islamic creed), Fiqh (Islamic law) and Nahw (Arabic grammar) under Sh Waleed Basyouni and Sh Waleed Idriss Meneese among others. After settling in Phoenix AZ, he worked tirelessly, in the capacity of a board member then a chairman, to revive the then dead AZ chapter of CAIR in order to face the growing Islamophobia in that state and to address the resulting civil right violations. Today, he's considered the second founder of a strong CAIR-AZ. In addition, Hlayhel is a part-time imam at the Islamic Center of the Northeast Valley in Phoenix, husband and father of four. His current topics of interest include positive Islam, youth coaching, and countering Islamophobia.

11 Comments

John Howard

January 8, 2015 at 3:04 AM

Yet it still doesn’t across to your own people
The west’s patience is fast running out

Reply
- Sheima Sumer
  
  January 9, 2015 at 3:44 PM
  
  I hear your frustration, Mr. John Howard. As you can see, Muslims, such as those on this website and countless others, are trying to educate our community on this sad issue. I as a Muslim am deeply saddened by the terrorists’ ruthless actions and hope that Muslims will educate themselves about their own religion, which actually condemns all forms of terrorism and only allows fighting in self defense.
  
  Reply
- Brother
  
  January 10, 2015 at 11:17 PM
  
  Just curious, what will happen, or at least what do you think should happen when patience of west runs out?
  
  Reply
- Brother
  
  January 13, 2015 at 11:06 PM
  
  I read a comment in an article on msn from someone who is going by the same name you do. I don’t know if its the same person as you, but that person made some very hateful remarks about anything Islam or Muslim and basically trying to lobby others to join it. It kind of reminded of that guy on the radio in that movie Hotel Rwanda if you’ve ever seen it. I sure hope you are not that same person. If you are, then I encourage you to read about the life of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and learn what tolerance is. I recommend ‘The Sealed Nectar’. May Allah guide me and you.
  
  Reply
asma

January 8, 2015 at 8:16 AM

Asalamualikum Brother,
JazakAllah, after reading your article and the verses of Quran and Ahdees my confusion about this issue is cleared. We really need to tell others that Islam forbids these acts. Islam is peace and I am proud to be a Muslim. Alhumdulillah!

Reply
scorpius

January 9, 2015 at 1:27 AM

If Islam forbids these acts then why are so many Muslims committing them in the name of Islam, Mohammad and Allah?

Reply
- Brother
  
  January 10, 2015 at 11:37 PM
  
  The answer is very complicated. Simple answer is terrorists have a disease in their hearts which manifest into terrorism which they think will end oppression, injustice, tyranny, war etc in Muslim lands while they paradoxically bring more of it. Unfortunately, they assign their actions to Islam thus giving it a bad name. For getting the complicated answer, you would probably need to read history of Islam and learn about the Islamic caliphate (not IS) and it fall and colonialism leading up to present circumstances.
  
  Reply
  - Anonymous
    
    January 11, 2015 at 6:22 AM
    
    Well, President el-Sisi doesn’t see it as complicated. It’s as easy as many leaders in Islam promote the sick ideology that gives rise to murder and terrorism.
    
    http://edition.cnn.com/2015/01/06/africa/egypt-president-speech/
    
    el-Sisi is proving him to be better than his two dictatorial predecessors in office.
    
    Reply
- Sheima Salam Sumer
  
  January 11, 2015 at 6:10 AM
  
  Scorpius, you ask a very valid question. Terrorists have sick hearts that are disconnected from their Creator. They use religion to justify their actions, even though Islam forbids killing noncombatants and violating rules of society. Unfortunately many Muslims do not study their religion and do not read the Quran with understanding. History shows that many terrorists collaborate with atheists, communists, etc to achieve their sick goals, so their true motive is not religion, but something else that reflects the sickness of their hearts.
  
  Reply
Sheima Sumer

January 9, 2015 at 3:45 PM

JazakAllah khair for this short and clear article. I just shared it on facebook.

Reply
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