Eng
Norv
The event in the USA on September 11, 2001 changed the entire world. It was a tragic incident for which there are no arguments to support. No believing Muslim can support such an act. Since then, the situation for Muslims worldwide has become increasingly difficult. Today, about 1.5 billion Muslims are being punished for actions carried out by a few individuals. The words Islam and terror/terrorism have today almost become synonymous.
bism
The event in the USA on September 11, 2001 changed the entire world. It was a tragic incident for which there are no arguments to support. No believing Muslim can support such an act. Since then, the situation for Muslims worldwide has become increasingly difficult. Today, about 1.5 billion Muslims are being punished for actions carried out by a few individuals. The words Islam and terror/terrorism have today almost become synonymous.
For me, the word “terror” means using violence or threats to achieve something, to target innocent civilians. Unfortunately, today no distinction is made between terror and legitimate resistance in various parts of the world. When a person blows themselves up in a bus filled with innocent civilian children, adults, and elderly, it is, in my opinion, terror. When Palestinians fight against the Israeli occupation forces, it is legitimate resistance.
When a Palestinian kills an Israeli soldier, it is reported as a “terrible murder”. When Israeli soldiers kill stone-throwing children, use stones to break the arms and legs of stone-throwing and protesting Palestinian youth, it is said that “Israel has the right to defend itself”. I cannot understand this “Christian” justice.
We Europeans unfortunately have poor memory. We have “forgotten” that it was we in Christian Europe who terrorized and killed several million Jews and later, out of shame, took land from the Palestinians and gave it to the Jews because that land was “promised to them by God”. “Of course” it wasn’t Christians who carried out and supported the terror against the Jews. It was Nazis, Germans, Italians, etc. The Quran states that Allah created the entire world. Then
shouldn’t the whole world be given to Muslims since it is our God who created it?
Time and again, Muslims say that neither they nor Islam support terrorism, but each time we are accused of not “clearly distancing ourselves from terror”. What should we Muslims do to “prove” that we and our religion are also against any form of terror?
Perhaps the solution could be that every time a terrorist act or something evil happens,
we Muslims must go to a public website and make a declaration that we, this time as well as all others, are against terror and evil acts?
I repeat what other Muslims have said countless times: Islam forbids and condemns terror. Terrorist acts carried out in the name of Islam are not in accordance with Islamic values and message. I would like to see evidence that Islam means anything else. If a few of about 1.5 billion Muslims in the world do something wrong, it cannot be attributed to Islam.
Pope Urban II started the Crusades in 1095, which in practice resulted in atrocious acts against Muslims carried out in God’s name by Christians. Church leaders supported both Adolf Hitler and Mussolini in Italy. Wasn’t that “Christian” terror? According to today’s Christian leaders, these were actions that do not align with Christian values, and thus Christianity cannot be blamed for it.
Murders and violence are committed by Neo-Nazis and sympathizers in Europe. A well-known example in Norway is the Holmlia murder where a young innocent boy named Benjamin was killed by neo-Nazis. In addition, we can from time to time read about violence from neo-Nazis. It’s called “violence” when it’s white Christian neo-Nazis who carry out the actions, even though it should also by definition have been defined as “terror”; violent acts carried out to achieve political goals. It’s called an “abhorrent act” when a young white neo-Nazi blows up a building in Oklahoma, while it’s called “terror” when dark-skinned people with Arabic names blow up a building in New York. The actions in both Oklahoma and New York were terrorism, as they affected innocent people. When Christian Ku Klux Klan members carry out terrorist acts with the Bible in hand, it’s not Christians or Christianity but the actions of some individuals. When some evil people who claim to be Muslims blow up buildings in New York, it’s Islam and Muslims who are to blame. I cannot understand this “logic”.
Then we have the “Christian” USA, the country that fights for “democracy, freedom of speech, and justice”. Many of us in Europe don’t understand why Muslims so strongly dislike the USA. “It must be because Islam and Muslims don’t want freedom of speech, freedom, and democracy”. Again, we Europeans have poor memory. We don’t need to go further back
in history than the last few decades:
We “forget” that it was the USA that bombed a factory in Sudan in 1998 that produced “dangerous chemical toxins”. The factory was actually supplying the poor population with much-needed medications. Isn’t that State Terrorism?
US-friend Saddam used chemical weapons to slaughter thousands of Kurds.
We “forget” that the USA’s war against Iraq was, according to the UN, in violation of International Law.
When an American soldier kills an injured unarmed Iraqi, against all international laws and rules, it’s an isolated incident. It’s also isolated incidents when American soldiers torture Iraqis in American prisons in Iraq. However, if it’s a person who claims to kidnap and kill in Allah’s name, it’s suddenly Islam and Muslims who are doing it. Both the murder of Margaret Hassan and innocent Iraqis and Muslims are terrorist acts.
We “forget” the hundreds, perhaps thousands, who sit in American prisons as well as at the Guantanamo base who are either “terrorists” or “unlawful combatants”. Of course, they have no right to know what they are accused of, nor the right to have their case heard in a court. Of course, they can be tortured, they are “terrorists” and “unlawful combatants”. Even though there are children as young as 13 years old held as prisoners at the base, it is not the right of Norwegian authorities to interfere in “internal American political affairs”.
We Europeans are so fond of the world’s largest democracy, the USA. It’s a country that fights to introduce democracy all over the world. That’s precisely why they strive/strived so hard to support “democracies” like the Shah in Iran, Saddam in Iraq, dictator Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, the democratic royal family in Kuwait, and their close ally Saudi Arabia. They supported from day one the “democratically elected” President Musharraf in Pakistan. All credit to the USA for its commitment to democracy in the world.
We “forget” that the USA goes to war against a country because it violates UN resolutions, while
Israel’s countless violations of human rights, International Law, and UN resolutions are overlooked.
We have also “forgotten” that the USA supported the military regime in Algeria in removing the democratically elected party only because it was a Muslim party.
My country Norway is one of the best countries to live in the world. It’s a country with beautiful nature and nice people. But the event in the USA 3 years ago has unfortunately also changed some of the situation for us Muslims here. We Muslims in Norway feel discriminated against. Today we feel that it’s almost free to bully us, attribute opinions and values to us that
we don’t stand for. For example, it is repeated time and again that Islam supports forced marriages, even though Muslim leaders can prove that Islam means the opposite. Those who support forced marriages are not acting in accordance with Sharia laws, which Hagen fears so strongly.
Another example is the untruth that has almost become a truth in Norway today,
that Islam is not compatible with democracy.
In my opinion, Carl I. Hagen is one of the foremost in making false claims about Muslims and Islam. Just yesterday, I could see him in Holmgang warning against Muslim fundamentalists and terrorists.
Hagen “forgets” that the only terrorist action we have had in recent times on Norwegian soil was carried out by Mossad agents, sent by the Israeli state. I cannot recall Hagen issuing warnings about terrorism from the Israeli state.
Nor can I remember Hagen condemning the terrorist American bombing of the pharmaceutical factory in Sudan in 1998.
Hagen constantly mentions the atrocities taking place in “Muslim” countries. What he “forgets” is that many of the leaders in “Muslim” countries are dictators supported by Christian USA. These same “Muslim” countries have also not implemented Sharia laws.
Hagen frightens the Norwegian people with “Sharia laws”. It’s not enough for Hagen when the spokesman for the Islamic Council tells him that these same Sharia laws require all Muslims to follow the laws of the country they live in. It’s a different discussion about what is so “dangerous” about Sharia laws.
I also cannot recall Hagen condemning the violence and attacks on Muslims in the Netherlands; arson of mosques, Muslim schools, and violence against Muslims. Perhaps in Hagen’s opinion, it’s not worth talking about since it’s the Muslims, with their dangerous Sharia law, who are the victims? Hagen should perhaps also demand that Norwegian Christians march to show their distance from the actions carried out against Muslims in the Netherlands.
My intention in writing this text is that these are examples of events/opinions that very well illustrate why a few Muslim youths are recruited to the evil groups. Young Muslims see that they and their religion are unfairly treated by “Christians”. Muslims want to fight against the untruths and injustice. The evil groups know how to exploit this. Opinions expressed by certain politicians and authority figures contribute to creating a greater breeding ground for recruitment to these evil groups.
It is not Muslims or Islam that carry out terrorist acts. In the same way that actions performed by various Christian countries and individuals are not actions carried out by true believing Christians or Christianity. We must have a dialogue, instead of constantly attacking each other with partly inaccurate claims. Instead of viewing each other as enemies, we should try to understand each other and find ways to live side by side.
