Reports | 25 05 2020
By: Ahmad Mawlud al-Tayyar
After every terrorist act anywhere in the world, many Arabs and Muslims put their hands on their hearts, and some of them murmur hushed prayers to God asking that the perpetrator not be one of theirs.
This is a frequent occurs, the last instance of which had been following the terrorist act that hit the French newspaper "Charlie Hebdo."
This response is a rather simple, yet sound, act by Arabs and Muslims. No sane person wishes to be personally identified with the killer, neither that his ideology, culture, or religion be identified with such acts. Yet, with each act of terrorism perpetrated by Muslims, some Arab and Muslim writers, journalists and Facebook commentators jump to attack the Islamic Qur'anic text; making it the cause of terrorism, throwing the onus of blame onto it, and arguing that this text carries the root of all terrorism within it.
Whether this terrorism is perpetrated by al-Qaeda, ISIS, or any other Islamic organization makes no differnce to them. The "Qur'anic text" itself is the killer, and these perpetrators are merely remote-controlled by the text itself. But, is the Qur'anic text truly responsible for all terrorism carried out by Muslims?
If ony we discard all these "impressionist" campaigns that are quick to attack Islam by the aforementioned parties, which seem to follow on the heels of every terrorist act. One simply cannot count on knee-jerk reactions which, it is no secret, represent an unconscious defense mechanism seeking purification and salvation, especially from some of those who reside in Europe and the West generally; or try to hastily understand and establish any role for the "text" in those successive calamities that come down on us all, and which shall drag all of us to the bottom of the abyss with them—if we have not already reached this rock bottom.
The text, any text, is not a mythical creature isolated from the conditions of its own birth; Quranic text here—and despite its sacred nature—is a direct product of psychological, social, cultural, civilizational, historical factors; and, more importantly, is also subject to political machinations and debates centered on the struggle for power.
This has emerged immediately after the murder of Uthman [the third "Rightly-Guided Caliph"], the battle of Siffin [the first civil war between Sunni and the newly-born Shi'a Muslims], and the words of Ali bin Abi Talib [the fourth "Rightly-Guided Caliph"] that the Qur'an "is multi-faceted" [i.e. carries multiple interpretations]. Gudied by the aforementioned, it would be fair to to say that hoisting the Qur'an as an argument in the face of opponents has become a persistent practice from the Battle of Siffin—and perhaps before it—right down to al-Qaeda and ISIS in our time. All these Islamic sects claim to be the sole legitimate representative of Islam, the true commanders of the state and society, all direct Quranic verses towards their own sacreds, and in accordance with their own purposes and discretions. The question that arises here, and is directed at all those who thrust the blame at the Qur'ani text, is:
Which is more powerful—the authority of the text or the authority of the group claiming salvation for itself? Did the killer who held a knife to the neck of Naguib Mahfouz [Nobel-winning Egyptian novelist] even read a Qur'anic text? Or was he merely driven by the power of the Islamic group that controlled him? Has any of those who commit criminal acts even read one single [Qur'anic] verse? Is it the text that truly prompts and causes of all the devastation in which we live? Or is that directly related to the vagaries of history, economy, policy and political relations?
No harm here to expand the range of questions within the same context, and the relationship of the [Qur'anic] text to terrorism: To which text exactly did Hitler or Mussolini relate in their terror because of which the lives of millions of innocent people were spent? What are the texts that blessed each crusade launched in the quest for its versio of a "holy jihad?" Last but not least: What is the text from which Bashar al-Assad reads, in his deadly quest to turn Syria into a country without people?
Some might argue that some texts—whether religious, nationalist, or the like—carries in them fascism, extremism, and death. This while partially true, does not make the text alone a killer, divorced from the context. Text—specifically, religious text—in itself, is not an authority; it merely provides a cover, restored from oblivion with the dust of history shaken off it, re-interpreted. People are then classified anew and subordinated to interpreters, who will each attempt to regress history.
Holding Qur'anic text sole responsibility and making it the sole cause of violence and extremism, does not merely represent intellectual lethargy, but actually is a form of counter-extremism as well.
* Opinion articles do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Radio Rozana.
* This article is published under the partnership agreement between Radio Rozana and Huna Sawtak [Here is Your Voice].