France has declared war on ISIS and their associates, following the most brazen and devastating terror attack on French soil since World War II, killing 129 and injuring another 352. It is a deplorable, condemnable, horrific act of stark violence, worthy of resolute, perseverant, swift action. Pitting the west against Islam is the ideological lynchpin that seems to hold these terror groups together, and the galvanization occurs from selective quotations of scripture and other holy texts.
One of the first questions that media pundits and anchors asked was how the French government will safeguard the inevitable backlash against the sizable Muslim population that resides in France (an estimated 6 million). Islamophobia will only worsen, as after the Charlie Hebdo attacks in January, anti-Muslim incidents in France rose by 281%. It is perpetuated further by the same media that inquires about the Muslim community’s safety. CNN anchors Isha Sesay and John Vause unabashedly berated and harassed Yaser Louati of the Collective Against Islamophobia in France, staking the claim that there is not enough condemnation from the Muslim community on the attacks.
This need for condemnation seems to be a universal pattern following terror incidents in the name of Islam. It also becomes difficult to continue to defend Islam, and its peaceful teachings, when every incident has Muslim radicals behind it. The diametrically opposite positions on the matter are “this is the true face of Islam” or “this has nothing to do with Islam”. The latter gets increasingly untenable when these groups quote holy text and demonstrate unflinching tenacity and consistency in perpetuating these attacks.
A major contributor to this feeling of resentment and hatred against Muslims is the media, and the general apathy of western leaders (not people – leaders) to show the same level of consideration when devastating terror attacks against Muslim targets happen in the rest of the world. In Pakistan alone, as of November 8, 2015, 20,790 civilians and 6,336 security forces’ personnel have been killed in terrorism-related incidents. Pakistan ranks third in the Global Terrorism Index 2014 which ranks the countries most affected by terrorism; the other countries in the top five are Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria and Syria. A UN report, which received next to no media attention, stated that in the first eight months of 2014 over 9,000 civilians had been brutally murdered by ISIS in Syria, a large percentage of them Muslims. In fact, some estimate that since inception, ISIS is responsible for nearly 100,000 Muslim deaths worldwide, including Muslims murdered in the Parisian attacks.
The point is this: Muslims face the brunt of terror attacks around the world by the widest margin. The National Counter-Terrorism Center in the US estimates that Muslims account for 97% of the terrorism-related deaths around the world. Other religions, ideologically represented by the west, account for the remaining 3%. Unfortunately, the media seems least interested in showing these facts. Few realize that fanning the flames of Islamophobia is tantamount to advancing the goals of groups like ISIS, who want to deepen and widen this ideological divide. Fewer still realize the significance of responding with equal rage, sorrow and determination when these attacks occur, a day earlier no less, in Beirut, Lebanon.
Is Islam to be blamed for ISIS? Does the horrific and gut-churning ideology it represents rooted in Islamic religious text? Is this the true face of Islam? Is the Islamic State, truly Islamic? Perhaps the best defense was offered by historian Reza Aslan, “Islam doesn't promote violence or peace. Islam is just a religion and like every religion in the world it depends on what you bring to it. If you're a violent person, your Islam, your Judaism, your Christianity, your Hinduism is gonna be violent. There are marauding Buddhist monks in Myanmar slaughtering women and children. Does Buddhism promote violence? Of course not. People are violent or peaceful and that depends on their politics, their social world, the ways that they see their communities.”
We can blame Islam and Muslims all we want, and declare war on these terrorists when our homes and friends and families come under fire. But it bears reiterating that the biggest target of the so-called Islamist terror groups’ attacks are Muslims by a margin of 97%; that fear-mongering refugees and Muslims as the real enemy is playing into the hands of groups like ISIS, which want to exploit this divide to recruit, expand and prosper; and that this war has been already waging for fifteen years in Muslim countries. These are crucial distinctions that so few are aware of, and fewer still adhere to.
The author is a journalist a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Research and Security Studies, Islamabad
Email: zeeshan.salahuddin@gmail.com
Twitter: @zeesalahuddin
One of the first questions that media pundits and anchors asked was how the French government will safeguard the inevitable backlash against the sizable Muslim population that resides in France (an estimated 6 million). Islamophobia will only worsen, as after the Charlie Hebdo attacks in January, anti-Muslim incidents in France rose by 281%. It is perpetuated further by the same media that inquires about the Muslim community’s safety. CNN anchors Isha Sesay and John Vause unabashedly berated and harassed Yaser Louati of the Collective Against Islamophobia in France, staking the claim that there is not enough condemnation from the Muslim community on the attacks.
This need for condemnation seems to be a universal pattern following terror incidents in the name of Islam. It also becomes difficult to continue to defend Islam, and its peaceful teachings, when every incident has Muslim radicals behind it. The diametrically opposite positions on the matter are “this is the true face of Islam” or “this has nothing to do with Islam”. The latter gets increasingly untenable when these groups quote holy text and demonstrate unflinching tenacity and consistency in perpetuating these attacks.
A major contributor to this feeling of resentment and hatred against Muslims is the media, and the general apathy of western leaders (not people – leaders) to show the same level of consideration when devastating terror attacks against Muslim targets happen in the rest of the world. In Pakistan alone, as of November 8, 2015, 20,790 civilians and 6,336 security forces’ personnel have been killed in terrorism-related incidents. Pakistan ranks third in the Global Terrorism Index 2014 which ranks the countries most affected by terrorism; the other countries in the top five are Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria and Syria. A UN report, which received next to no media attention, stated that in the first eight months of 2014 over 9,000 civilians had been brutally murdered by ISIS in Syria, a large percentage of them Muslims. In fact, some estimate that since inception, ISIS is responsible for nearly 100,000 Muslim deaths worldwide, including Muslims murdered in the Parisian attacks.
The point is this: Muslims face the brunt of terror attacks around the world by the widest margin. The National Counter-Terrorism Center in the US estimates that Muslims account for 97% of the terrorism-related deaths around the world. Other religions, ideologically represented by the west, account for the remaining 3%. Unfortunately, the media seems least interested in showing these facts. Few realize that fanning the flames of Islamophobia is tantamount to advancing the goals of groups like ISIS, who want to deepen and widen this ideological divide. Fewer still realize the significance of responding with equal rage, sorrow and determination when these attacks occur, a day earlier no less, in Beirut, Lebanon.
Is Islam to be blamed for ISIS? Does the horrific and gut-churning ideology it represents rooted in Islamic religious text? Is this the true face of Islam? Is the Islamic State, truly Islamic? Perhaps the best defense was offered by historian Reza Aslan, “Islam doesn't promote violence or peace. Islam is just a religion and like every religion in the world it depends on what you bring to it. If you're a violent person, your Islam, your Judaism, your Christianity, your Hinduism is gonna be violent. There are marauding Buddhist monks in Myanmar slaughtering women and children. Does Buddhism promote violence? Of course not. People are violent or peaceful and that depends on their politics, their social world, the ways that they see their communities.”
We can blame Islam and Muslims all we want, and declare war on these terrorists when our homes and friends and families come under fire. But it bears reiterating that the biggest target of the so-called Islamist terror groups’ attacks are Muslims by a margin of 97%; that fear-mongering refugees and Muslims as the real enemy is playing into the hands of groups like ISIS, which want to exploit this divide to recruit, expand and prosper; and that this war has been already waging for fifteen years in Muslim countries. These are crucial distinctions that so few are aware of, and fewer still adhere to.
The author is a journalist a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Research and Security Studies, Islamabad
Email: zeeshan.salahuddin@gmail.com
Twitter: @zeesalahuddin