A religious man is a person who holds God and man in one thought at one time, at all times, who suffers harm done to others, whose greatest passion is compassion, whose greatest strength is love and defiance of despair.
It was September 11, 2001 when I first came across the word ‘terrorism’ or ‘terrorists’ and the word made its way into my mind’s dictionary. 9 years have gone and now terrorism is such a big problem that even if you ask a 6-year-old about it he/she will probably know the meaning. And according to me it’s undoubtedly the biggest threat to the mankind right now.
“Terrorists have no religion” This is one phrase which has been used for infinite number of times now and has actually become a clichéd. But still, I absolutely believe in it and I hope that there will be a day when people will stop weighing Terrorism and Religion on the same balance!
I am 22 and though I am not an expert in religious studies and through this post I am not discussing what religion teaches or orders because as far as my knowledge goes I think no religion in this world believes in violence. And though I might sound dramatic when I say this but essentially we all are humans at the end of the day and what should matter is just humanity! Now, as far as I remember, this inter mixing of religion with terrorism started off from the west and one religion that came under scanner was ISLAM and innocent Muslims became the victims of someone else’s deeds.
I haven’t read the Quran and I certainly don’t know much about Islam but still I am 100% sure that what is said about Islam and interpreted about it is absolutely untrue. And I was shocked to know that how many of my friends (whom I considered uber cool & smart) hated Muslims. It’s certainly not about being ‘narrow minded’ or ‘broad minded’ because you have all sorts of people from all walks of life having a set notion towards Islam that it’s bad.
And now with the recent developments in the Mecca Masjid & Ajmer Blast case we have a new term coined by the police ‘HINDU TERROR’! And let me be honest here that though I am advocating the cause that Terrorists have no religion but I did feel bad, in fact really bad when I heard it. I could feel what a normal and average Muslim would have been going through all these years when people made the claims that “All Terrorists are Muslims”!
But this is just one side of the coin because merely by saying that terrorists have no religion things don’t get that simple. Because the situation is not always hunky dory. The fact is if you catch a Ajmal Kasab or Afzal Guru they remain a Muslim. Similarly if Sadhvi Pragya or Abhinav Barat come under scanner they remain a Hindu. But the larger question here is that are all Muslims or all Hindus terrorists? Or Is it right to link religion to terrorism? These questions need some serious answers.
Howsoever good we might be and howsoever mature we might act but the fact is you can’t take the name away from a terrorist. And I beg to differ with Shakespeare here when he said “What lies in a name”! When it comes to terrorism much lies in the name. Fine, religion doesn’t teach all this but at the end I can bet that if a certain X,Y or Z is termed a terrorist people notice the religion and it is something which I believe will never change!
The only thing we need to understand is that few people who do all these heinous crimes do not represent their religious community at all. And it’s unfortunate when people start judging a religion and its followers on this. This attitude and this thinking need to change! But at the same time what I know is that religion cannot be taken out of terrorism. What originated as a concept from the West is now accepted everywhere. Need of the hour is that we should know where to draw a line!!
As I end this post I do hope that religion and terrorism are not seen in the same light anymore but let me end it on a pragmatic thought which says that terrorism will always haunt religion because now our minds work on this and I am sorry to say but I don’t see the things improving in near future. Muslims live with it and Hindus will now start living with it!! Don’t know if any other religion is on target!
Read these beautiful lines while I was searching the net so I leave you all with it:
Right Reverie's Blog 
“Terrorists r inhuman, who have lost their humanity, they do not resemble any name, religion, or country.” Good Post dude… 🙂
LikeLike
I guess i dnt nid 2 say anythn on ths topic… After all v hv discussed ths umpteen number of times…
Bt criusly speaking… i agree wid each n every point mentioned… Gud wrk… Kip it up!!!!
LikeLike
Its very important for all of us to understand that Terrorist are bad people n it has nothing to do wid dere religion……Associating Islam wid Terror activities is d worst thought which ever came to human mind. Bad n evil ppl are just bad…it doesnt matter whether dey are Hindu, sikh or christian…..!!! Its high tym we stop relating and looking at ppl wid eyes covered wid mask of religion, caste n creed!!!
LikeLike
……………………… I become speechless wen my friends come up wit such wonderful mindshattering topics ,n it gives me immense pleasure to congratulate my dear frnd rahul for such a work worth acclaim.. Being a muslim even i faced many phrases and allegations on islam,pierced my heart but had to face it due to d deeds of few who do such things which aren’t supported by islam or by any religion.. N feels very sad when now a terminology HINDU TERRORISTS s being emerging… Good work bro 🙂 even i believe in the phrase TERRORISM HAS NO RELIGION BUT ALL TERRORISTS REPRESENT ONLY ONE RELIGION THATS VIOLENCE WHICH S NEVER PREACHED IN ANY RELIGION AT ANY TIME.. Keep it up buddy waiting for ur next one :)… Dr Waseem Ansari
LikeLike
A wonderful article. Being a teacher, I have always found that the thoughts of youth are unbiased; right or wrong but they write what they feel. Here is 24 carat truth and that too how Rahul has perceived in his very young age. The first happiness for me is to see a youth thinking, diving in the ocean of thoughts and presenting gems to us. (True to myself, let me record here that what I said is free of exaggeration.
Now to the point of his write up. A few dirty myth the innocent youth is free of are the following.
1. The history of conflict of early Muslim Civilization with nature (the scarcity of water where and when Islam sprang up, led to the struggle with others, even the name Sharia literally means “the path that leads to watering land) as well as with the Christianity (in the absence of any other religion the name Kafir is used for non-believers of Islam) has been interpreted as if it has led the whole community to be insensitive and cruel.
My point: Now the time has come, youth will no longer infer the same (utterly illogical and wrong inference).
2. The resistance in the Islamists to change with time and bring reforms.
The fact: Any religion, whatsoever has a degree of rigidity in it because the religious leaders could never arguably transpired the facts to the society. Could it be because the society as a whole was not well equipped with the thinking brains or the leaders did not allow them to be thinkers fearing that they (religious leaders) will be relegated. But in any case, the society was made to follow certain rules (social or religious) by ordering them.
Till today the religious leaders do not convince us by arguing like a math teacher would explain Pythagoras Theorem to the students.
I must mention here that I honestly believe that the tendency to oppose the reforms is higher among Muslims (mainly in undeveloped or developing countries) than that in any other religion but the cause for that is the lack of education. But slowly the phenomenon of education is spreading over the Muslim Community too. Turkey is one of the best examples I would quote.
Oh god…. I went on pouring in my views, let me stop here.
Finally, Rahul you really deserve a word of appreciation for sharing your thoughts with the society. I am sure more and more of our young Indian friends will also develop the habit of thinking and expressing themselves.
Love
Dinesh Karia
LikeLike