Fortsetzung: Terrorism, Jihad, and the Muslim Community - A Malaysian Perspective

Elina Norr

The Muslim in the Mirror

As stressed above, the real work in projecting "the true image of Islam", however, must begin with a concerted initiative by the Muslim community, itself. To borrow a religious phrase, "God helps those who help themselves".

The glory days of the Islamic civilization, which lasted for 13 centuries and inspired the Renaissance in Europe, have not been revisited since. The Muslim world missed the Industrial Revolution because of its suspicion of "secular" knowledge and inventions. Today, the lingering internal divisiveness, return to radical fervour and a rejection of all ideas deemed "Western", and therefore, "un-Islamic", by certain quarters threaten to further retard any progress of the Muslim world in the Information and Communications Technology age. The socio-economic results of this would be crippling in even five years given the speed at which technology presently revolutionizes.

The Qur'an enjoins its followers to be charitable to the less fortunate with the logic that for there to be charity, there must, first of all, be halal wealth acquired to be available for equitable distribution. This, in turn, can only come about through the acquisition of knowledge and skills necessary for the success of enterprise. Therefore, it is this that is of worldly priority in the life of a Muslim. Indeed, the very first command issued by the Qur'an was to read, "Iqraq". In correcting the current image of Islam as the face of militancy, fanaticism and poverty, Muslims must return to understanding the true teachings of their own religion, of engaging in the wholehearted pursuit of knowledge and scientific innovation, of sidelining suspicions of non-Islamic sources of knowledge, and be courageous enough to call for the validity of contemporary ijtihad (interpretation) in comprehending Islam to be a living religion, not fossilized in ancient times. Abdullah Ahmad Badawi called for a hijrah (migration) of the mind for all Muslims - to move spiritually and mentally from the present state of stagnation and despair, as well as to abandon mental blocks that Muslims, themselves, have erected[xi].

There must, of course, never be the equation of terror with any race, religion, nationality or civilization nor must there be a linking of terror with all Muslims simply because they happen to be co-religionists of the extreme minority who have misguidedly Islamized terrorism. The real work, however, lies with the Muslims, themselves. The challenge is not only to prove to the rest of the world that Islam is, indeed, a religion of peace, moderation, and prosperity, in practice, but also to overcome fellow Muslims who have hijacked their own religion in promoting conflict and militancy through a flawed understanding of Islam, or a deliberate manipulation of the religion for political purposes.

Much of the Muslim world is presently considered underdeveloped. Yet, with approximately two billion Muslims amounting to one-third of the world's population today, there is enormous economic potential within the Muslim world yet untapped. A return to intellectual curiosity, creative innovation and spirit of entrepreneurship will be a good lesson learnt from the early history of the Islamic development in Medina when Islamic trade flourished and Muslims forged a successful and independent financial community. Thus, economic development became a solid foundation for the advancement of society, in general. A sovereign and prosperous society with an equitable economic distribution system, in any age, will weed out feelings of injustice, oppression, and resentment upon which terrorism feeds.

Only with the reinvigoration of an ongoing internal jihad to strive for knowledge, development, unity-building, and the acceptance of peaceful co-existence with other faiths, as during Prophet Muhammad's administration of Medina, can the ummah truly prosper and the root causes of terrorism be removed. The likes of Osama bin Laden can, hopefully, then be condemned to pointlessness.

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