Muslim Islamic Mainstream Terrorism. This is a complicated, nuanced issue that needs contextualization and clarification. What is the definition of Terrorism or Terror? Does systemic bias, racism or Islamophobia distort or colour the definition?
Before attempting to answer the question of Islamic terrorism, we will challenge the question itself. Is it fair and just to resist tyranny and oppression? Those in power will resist the resistance and label the resisters struggling for freedom as terrorists. Where the men fighting for American independence heroes? The British government did not see them as heroes. But called them terrorists. According to the dictionary, a terrorist is an advocate or practitioner of terrorism as a means of coercion, a person who employs terror or terrorism, especially as a political weapon.
Accusations of terrorist or terrorism are subjective terms that depend wholly on perspective.
Next we will examine how intentions play a role in categorizing Muslim Islamic mainstream terrorism.
Mens Rea refers to criminal intent. The literal translation from Latin is “guilty mind.” The plural of mens rea is mentes reae. Mens rea refers to the state of mind statutorily required to convict a particular defendant of a particular crime. Article Cornell Law School.
Tafseer Ibn Sa’di, p., 98
The kuffaar whom we fight will themselves benefit from jihad. We strive against them and fight them so that they will enter the religion of Allaah, which is acceptable to Him, which will lead to their salvation in this world and in the Hereafter.
Muslim commit Violent Jihad with a pure heart filled with concern for their fellow man.
Imam Abdool Hamid Full Article
Our goal as Muslims should be to transform, to move it along. We do not want to take over for the sake of taking over. By change, what I mean is to improve the lives of people. That’s why Islam came.
Can Muslims engaging in Jihad to bring the blessings of Islam and Allah to all mankind in all lands be classified as terrorism?
Mohammed the Prophet PBUH, from the inception of Islam, enjoined Muslims to liberate Constantinople from Christianity and bring the Byzantine empire into the fold of Islam.
Pious Muslims follow what they truly believe. If they are religiously compelled to engage in violent terrorism, should they be admired and respected or vilified and detested?
Shaikh Yasir Qadhi
There is a fine line between fanaticism and righteousness. A group of overzealous rebels took the holiest place on earth as hostage claiming they have the promised Mahdi [Muslim Messiah] in their midst. These rebels were not pagans or idol worshipers; on the contrary, they were, outwardly at least, pious Muslims. Many of them were Hufadh [Muslims who memorized the Quran] and students of knowledge.
ISIS members or supporters of ISIS, or other such groups, self identify as Muslims. Is it appropriate for the mainstream media to strip away these people’s preferred identity. This can be categorized as a human rights violation.
Toronto Imam Shabbir Ally affirms that ISIS and Al-Qaida members are indeed Muslim.
ISIS published its manifesto, in which it cites verses of the Quran, the Hadith and rulings of Muslim scholars, and citations from tasveer (commentary on the Quran), to justify their position. And they are recruiting young people by giving them this ideology, peppered with all of these citations… basically that the Prophet PBUH said “I have been ordered to fight people until they testify that there is no God but God.” Muhammad is the messenger of God; they offer prayer and give charity.
Mens Rea refers to criminal intent. It is acknowledged that Islam is a world religion. People of the Muslim faith are imbedded into the fabric of Western civilization. How then can we justify classifying as terrorists those who adhere to the religion of Islam and who commit jihad in good faith?
Imam Hakim Quick
The ex-president of a CCI (Canadian Council of Imams) is calling for a generation of Muslims to rise up and sacrifice their lives to advance the cause of Allah.
Omar Khadar illustrates that an army of ten thousand Muslim teenagers, raised in the West and willing to kill and die to advance the cause of Islam, is within the realm of possibilities.
In 2010, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Khadr’s detainment violated “the principles of fundamental justice” and “the most basic Canadian standards about the treatment of youth suspects.
Imam Suleiman Bengarsa
The Imam dispels the notion that Islam was only spread by peaceful means.
Some people go around and say ‘Islam was never spread by the sword’. That is a blatant lie. Islam was many times spread by the sword. The Sharia was spread by the sword.
Muslim Islamic Mainstream Terrorism is contextualized
Canadian Imam Younus Kathrada
I said may Allah aid the mujahideen in every place. And for those who are the enemies of Allah and want to spread that we are making supplications for the mujahideen, – then I say to you: yes, we are praying for the mujahideen. Jihad in Islam means to struggle to establish justice. And Justice means to establish the religion of Islam.
Islam Q&A is an academic, educational, da‘wah website which aims to offer advice and academic answers based on evidence from religious texts in an adequate and easy-to-understand manner. These answers are supervised by Shaykh Muhammad Saalih al-Munajjid
We have already stated in question no. 34830 that jihad is of two types: taking the initiative in fighting and jihad in self-defence. LINK
Undoubtedly taking the initiative in fighting has a great effect in spreading Islam and bringing people into the religion of Allaah in crowds. Hence the hearts of the enemies of Islam are filled with fear of jihad.
In the English-language Muslim World Magazine it says: There should be some kind of fear in the western world, one of the causes of which is that since the time it first appeared in Makkah, Islam has never decreased in numbers, rather it has always continued to increase and spread. Moreover Islam is not only a religion, rather one of its pillars is jihad.
[al-Anfaal 8:60]
If Islam was only spread by peaceful means, what would the kuffaar have to be afraid of? Of mere words spoken on the tongue? In al-Saheehayn it is narrated that the Prophet PBUH said: “I have been supported with fear as far as a month’s journey.” Would the kuffaar be afraid of being told, “become Muslim, but if you do not then you are free to believe and do whatever you want”? or were they afraid of jihad and the imposition of the jizyah and being humiliated? That may make them enter Islam so that they may be spared this humiliation.
Is Committing Terrorism and Spreading Terror Mainstream Islam?
Shaykh ‘Abd al-Rahmaan al-Sa’di said in his commentary on this verse:
Here Allaah states the purpose behind fighting for His sake, which is not to shed the blood of the kaafirs and take their wealth; rather the purpose is so that all religion (worship) will be for Allaah alone, and the religion of Allaah will prevail over all other religions, and everything that goes against that, whether it is shirk or anything else – which is what is meant by fitnah – will be repelled. If this purpose is achieved, there will be no killing or fighting.
Tafseer Ibn Sa’di, p., 98
The kuffaar whom we fight will themselves benefit from jihad. We strive against them and fight them so that they will enter the religion of Allaah, which is acceptable to Him, which will lead to their salvation in this world and in the Hereafter.
Muslim Islamic Mainstream Terrorism
Conclusion