For people who claim to represent Islam their ignorance of the Qur’an is telling. It seems that they do not know that the Book they claim to follow says clearly: “Whoever kills a single (innocent) human soul it is as though he has killed all of humanity.” The language is unambiguous. It could have read: “Whoever kills a single Muslim soul…” But it does not. Souls are souls regardless of their beliefs. In Paris all of humanity was murdered 129 times.
Daesh invoke Islam but act in ways absolutely repugnant to the religion. History is littered with examples of political movements who sanctified ruthlessness by aligning with one religion or the other. The cloak of religion is a superb camouflage. Barbarity walks the street more confidently when decently clad.
So, if not religion, what is Daesh about? The answer, as they say, is complicated. Despite being a recent phenomenon Daesh is in fact only the most recent, and perhaps most virulent, eruption of the magma that seethes below the surface in the Middle East. The story begins with the creation of Israel — a foreign entity created on the ancestral lands of the Palestinians. It would have been too much to expect of the Arabs to have welcomed the creation of this state in their midst. But over time, the Arabs would have come to accept their new neighbors, providing that wisdom and restraint had prevailed on both sides. It didn’t.
Wars were fought. Israel occupied additional territory. The Palestinians, those that were not expelled, were squeezed into slivers of land. Free people do not like to be imprisoned. And when they are, they react against their occupiers with whatever weapons they have. The occupier is forced to suppress the unrest with a heavy — sometimes heavier than necessary hand. The result is a self-reinforcing cycle of violence.
When the sole arbiter of international legitimacy — the United Nations — is paralyzed by partiality and influence peddling, the oppressed, in desperation, resort to armed resistance.
The United Nations post-9/11 role further added to the frustrations of the Muslim world, particularly the Arab region. Nobody ever tried to find the reasons behind the growing extremist tendencies in the Muslim world.
It did not help of course that Bush Jr. destroyed Afghanistan and then blundered into Iraq. This along with subsequent misadventures in Libya and Syria killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people. Carefully constructed security structures that kept a tight lid on violence of any kind were decimated.
So those who say that Daesh is a creation of the West are not entirely wrong. A more accurate statement would be that had it not been for western interventions in the Middle East, of which the Israeli state was the first outpost, Daesh would not exist today.
Since the original event, many mini 9/11s have occurred across the western world. Every time there is the threat of more violent retribution. But this approach is not working. The attacks keep coming. President Hollande has promised that “France will be merciless” in her response. It is time for him and other western leaders to appreciate that more violence is not the solution. It will only beget more violence
Root causes need to be addressed. Israel must be obliged to abide by UN resolutions, which call for it to return to the pre-1967 borders. The Palestinians must get their state. Interventions, occupations and aerial bombardment of Arab lands and Afghanistan by western forces must stop. The Arabs and Muslims must settle their own problems themselves. The West’s role should be that of a neutral sensible arbiter, with diplomacy not force, as its main source of leverage.
This is a moment of extreme danger. Relations between the Muslim world and the West are balanced on a cliff edge. The storms that rage in the abyss below will engulf us all. What is needed, more than ever before is statesmanship, common sense and restraint. And this must come from the leaders of the West who possess exclusively the power to change things. If they step up to their responsibility Daesh — bereft of a cause — will disappear into the harsh Middle Eastern deserts whence it emerged. If they do not, Daesh may well prove to be the thin edge of the wedge.
n The writer is Chairman of Mustaqbil Pakistan.
