Muslims worldwide are in shock since Eid this year came after a series of terrorist attacks in four countries that left more than 350 dead and hundreds injured.
The first attack was at the airport in Istanbul, Turkey on June 28, in which three terrorists entered shooting in the arrival and departure halls, and then exploded bombs strapped to their bodies.
Then it was the bloody kidnapping of foreign diners at a restaurant in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on July 2, in which several Japanese and Italian nationals lost their lives after not being able to recite a verse of the Holy Qur’an. The eight terrorists cut the throats of their victims.
Then there were at least two large explosions in a central Baghdad street where people were shopping for Eid gifts. They killed at least 200 people.
Finally it was a series of three blasts from suicide bombers on July 4 in three Saudi cities. The first was a Pakistani driver who blew himself up 10 meters from the US Consulate in Jeddah. After that two suicide bombers blew themselves up in front of a Shiite mosque in Qatif. The last attack, and perhaps the most shocking, was the terrorist who approached the police guarding the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah, the second holiest city in the world for Muslims. He asked the police if he could eat with them, as they were breaking their fast at the end of the day on the penultimate day of Ramadan. When they said yes, he blew himself up, killing four policemen and wounding several others.
What is noticeable is that the terrorist group Daesh has not claimed responsibility for any of the attacks, despite all the evidence pointing to the group. In previous attacks on Shiite mosques in Saudi Arabia where terrorists blew themselves up, Daesh claimed responsibility for the attacks. Several analysts said it might be a Daesh tactic not to lose even more popularity among certain sectors of Muslims.
“All will see that these extremists are not Muslims, but essentially anti-Islam and anti-Muslim,” said Prof. Muqtedar Khan of the University of Delaware in the US in an interview with the Correio Braziliense.
Muslims were shocked by the attack so close to the Prophet’s Mosque, something that neither the Al-Qaeda terrorist group tried in more than 10 years of attacks in the Kingdom. To many observers it should not be a surprise since Daesh has said many times that it wants to overthrow the Saudi government and then control the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah. “This attack has made it very clear that ISIS (Daesh) does not believe in moral red lines,” said Saudi analyst Fahad Nazer to the Los Angeles Times. “Even Al-Qaeda, which is itself certainly brutal, never targeted Muslims in houses of worship. Daesh has done so repeatedly.”
Columnist David Ignatius of the Washington Post this week suggested the formation of an intelligence command, between the US, Europe, Turkey, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Pakistan, to fight and defeat the plague of Daesh. He notes that the Saudis managed to defeat Al-Qaeda in the Kingdom after a series of terrorist attacks from 2003 to 2008. Ignatius also said that other Arab countries, namely Egypt, Morocco, Jordan and the UAE, have to be included in anti-terror front.
What most hurt the feelings of Muslims was the fact that the Prophet’s Mosque, the second holiest place for Muslims, was targeted by terrorists who call themselves Muslims. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) came to Madinah when he migrated from Makkah, persecuted by non-believers who rejected his message from God. It was also in this city where the Prophet gave shelter to Christians from Najran, and where he had Jewish neighbors. Madinah has always been a welcoming place for the persecuted, a place of peace and protection. That’s why the city has such a very special place in the heart of every Muslim.
But more importantly in all of this is the distorted ideology of “takfiri,” where some Muslim extremists find it permissible to kill people whom they believe are not good Muslims. The most recent example was when two Saudi twins stabbed their mother to death in Riyadh on June 24 because she did not support Daesh. This generated a debate in Saudi Arabia over the 13th century Islamic scholar Ibn Taymiyya, who lived in Damascus and preached that it was permissible to kill relatives if they were apostates. Minister of Islamic Affairs, Call and Guidance Saleh Al-Asheikh disputed this interpretation of Ibn Taymiyya, saying that the scholar meant that a Muslim man in a war against apostates could kill his own father if he had renounced Islam. Daesh has distorted the teachings of Ibn Taymiyya and used his teachings to justify the killing of thousands of Muslims just because they judge them to be bad Muslims. Only Allah can judge in the Final Day of Judgment who has been a good or bad Muslim.
Saudi Arabia and other Muslim countries have a duty to retake the moderate narrative of Islam, and not let Daesh misrepresent, distort and destroy the image of a religion of peace, justice and especially of mercy.
The first attack was at the airport in Istanbul, Turkey on June 28, in which three terrorists entered shooting in the arrival and departure halls, and then exploded bombs strapped to their bodies.
Then it was the bloody kidnapping of foreign diners at a restaurant in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on July 2, in which several Japanese and Italian nationals lost their lives after not being able to recite a verse of the Holy Qur’an. The eight terrorists cut the throats of their victims.
Then there were at least two large explosions in a central Baghdad street where people were shopping for Eid gifts. They killed at least 200 people.
Finally it was a series of three blasts from suicide bombers on July 4 in three Saudi cities. The first was a Pakistani driver who blew himself up 10 meters from the US Consulate in Jeddah. After that two suicide bombers blew themselves up in front of a Shiite mosque in Qatif. The last attack, and perhaps the most shocking, was the terrorist who approached the police guarding the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah, the second holiest city in the world for Muslims. He asked the police if he could eat with them, as they were breaking their fast at the end of the day on the penultimate day of Ramadan. When they said yes, he blew himself up, killing four policemen and wounding several others.
What is noticeable is that the terrorist group Daesh has not claimed responsibility for any of the attacks, despite all the evidence pointing to the group. In previous attacks on Shiite mosques in Saudi Arabia where terrorists blew themselves up, Daesh claimed responsibility for the attacks. Several analysts said it might be a Daesh tactic not to lose even more popularity among certain sectors of Muslims.
“All will see that these extremists are not Muslims, but essentially anti-Islam and anti-Muslim,” said Prof. Muqtedar Khan of the University of Delaware in the US in an interview with the Correio Braziliense.
Muslims were shocked by the attack so close to the Prophet’s Mosque, something that neither the Al-Qaeda terrorist group tried in more than 10 years of attacks in the Kingdom. To many observers it should not be a surprise since Daesh has said many times that it wants to overthrow the Saudi government and then control the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah. “This attack has made it very clear that ISIS (Daesh) does not believe in moral red lines,” said Saudi analyst Fahad Nazer to the Los Angeles Times. “Even Al-Qaeda, which is itself certainly brutal, never targeted Muslims in houses of worship. Daesh has done so repeatedly.”
Columnist David Ignatius of the Washington Post this week suggested the formation of an intelligence command, between the US, Europe, Turkey, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Pakistan, to fight and defeat the plague of Daesh. He notes that the Saudis managed to defeat Al-Qaeda in the Kingdom after a series of terrorist attacks from 2003 to 2008. Ignatius also said that other Arab countries, namely Egypt, Morocco, Jordan and the UAE, have to be included in anti-terror front.
What most hurt the feelings of Muslims was the fact that the Prophet’s Mosque, the second holiest place for Muslims, was targeted by terrorists who call themselves Muslims. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) came to Madinah when he migrated from Makkah, persecuted by non-believers who rejected his message from God. It was also in this city where the Prophet gave shelter to Christians from Najran, and where he had Jewish neighbors. Madinah has always been a welcoming place for the persecuted, a place of peace and protection. That’s why the city has such a very special place in the heart of every Muslim.
But more importantly in all of this is the distorted ideology of “takfiri,” where some Muslim extremists find it permissible to kill people whom they believe are not good Muslims. The most recent example was when two Saudi twins stabbed their mother to death in Riyadh on June 24 because she did not support Daesh. This generated a debate in Saudi Arabia over the 13th century Islamic scholar Ibn Taymiyya, who lived in Damascus and preached that it was permissible to kill relatives if they were apostates. Minister of Islamic Affairs, Call and Guidance Saleh Al-Asheikh disputed this interpretation of Ibn Taymiyya, saying that the scholar meant that a Muslim man in a war against apostates could kill his own father if he had renounced Islam. Daesh has distorted the teachings of Ibn Taymiyya and used his teachings to justify the killing of thousands of Muslims just because they judge them to be bad Muslims. Only Allah can judge in the Final Day of Judgment who has been a good or bad Muslim.
Saudi Arabia and other Muslim countries have a duty to retake the moderate narrative of Islam, and not let Daesh misrepresent, distort and destroy the image of a religion of peace, justice and especially of mercy.
