---

Like most beliefs, Islam is a religion of peace that has to accept that it
can also breed terror

Jason Burke
Sunday July 17, 2005
The Observer

The two young men, both clean-cut in neat trousers and well-ironed shirts,
both studying computer science at a university in Pakistan, their homeland,
have, perhaps unsurprisingly, the same views about their religion and its
relation to the events of 7 July. 'Islam is a religion of peace and no one
who does this is a true Muslim,' they say.
Then they start talking about civilian deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq:
'Every action has a reaction. An action against Muslims causes a reaction by
Muslims such as this. This is not unjustified.' There is a pause as we all
consider the patent contradiction in their responses. 'Anyway,' they say
almost together, 'it was probably the Americans or the Israelis.'



Such ludicrous conspiracy theories surfaced after 11 September and, on the
evidence of the letters pages of many newspapers in the Middle East and
south-west Asia, have once again. Quite apart from the xenophobia and
racism, such ideas are rooted in a simple evasion. The unpleasant truth is
that there are considerable elements within Islam that are very useful to
violent militants. As a result, Islam is an integral part of the threat we
now face. This is difficult for a non-Muslim to state, and leaves me open to
accusations of Islamophobia, but is true. And it needs to be admitted and
discussed, not swept under a carpet by a politically correct broom.
It is interesting to compare the statements of many of our politicians and
community leaders with those of opinion-makers overseas. I am writing this
in Pakistan, the world's second biggest Islamic nation. Alongside the
letters implying that 7/7 was the work of Mossad, there have been a number
of articles which contrast starkly with the continuous mantra heard so often
recently.

'It is no use saying that Islam is a religion of peace or that there is a
foul plot afoot to blacken its name when from Bali to Madrid to London it is
Muslims who are behind acts of terrorism,' said Ayaz Amir in Dawn, a Karachi
newspaper. 'To outsiders, a religion is known by the fruits it produces and
if the present brand of terrorism has a Muslim substance it becomes
difficult to sell the true meaning of Islam.' President Pervez Musharraf,
the ruler of Pakistan, made exactly the same point in the summer of 2001.
'How does the world see us?' he asked. 'As hypocrites and terrorists.'

Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance, but it is a religion of many
other things, too. Compare the following two quotes from the Koran: 'There
shall be no compulsion in religion' and: 'Slay the unbeliever ... wherever
you find him.' Throughout its existence, Islam has evolved into a repository
of a vast range of different resources, allowing its texts to be
interpreted, sampled and deployed in myriad ways. When the Muslims were a
persecuted minority in 7th-century Mecca, the stress lay on tolerance and
pluralism.

When the Abbassid and Ummayad empires went to war a few centuries later, the
more belligerent elements within the Koran provided justification for what
were basically campaigns for land and booty. When Baghdad was conquered by
the Mongols in 1258, Ibn Taimiya, a radical thinker often quoted by today's
extremists, called on the world's Muslims to go 'back to basics' to restore
their former strength.

....