I have been trying to collect my thoughts and write something about the bombings in London… And I have so many that it has been quite a task. First I want to say that I am deeply sad for the families who lost loved ones in this incident and I hope those injured make a speedy and full recovery. I don’t condone this type of violence for whatever reasons. I am 100% for total peace on this earth from the war in Iraq to the civil wars in Africa. Now, let me qualify what I am about to say with one statement: I don’t think this was a terrorist attack at all. I will elaborate more on that, but I want to put it out there right away.
When Al-Queada, or the IRA, or The Entifada in Palestine, or any other terrorist/rebel group launches an attack, it is NEVER purely about religion. Religion is merely a small factor in the mainly political motivations of these groups. And if you look into the background of “terrorists” you will see that they are usually people who have been oppressed in some way by the government of the country they are attacking. No one called the Oklahoma City bombing a Christian terrorist act… Why are we so quick to use Islam to explain the action of Muslim terrorists?
The fact is there are more Muslim groups doing these gorilla warfare attacks right now because THEY ARE THE PEOPLE BEING OPPRESSED IN TODAYS SOCIETY. I believe 100% that if you put any person Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Hindu, Atheist, or whatever other belief in the situation that Palestinians are in right now they would fight back. If you had tanks patrolling your neighborhood daily, the Israeli Army had bulldozed your home, and your best friend shot in front of you when you were 12… You would take up arms, and you would do it without needing much convincing. Why would you be afraid to leave that life behind for the promise of doing some damage to the oppressor?
Now, all that said. There are some things I want you to ask yourself about the London attacks. Who benefits from it? Who has the power to do it? And who has the power to cover it up?(yeah, curtosy of JFK, great movie) I don’t want to be too conspiracy theory nuts about all this… But isn’t it an enormous coincidence that this happened when George Bush was being questioned about the war in Iraq, the G8 summit was going to talk about something of real importance (like the 1,000s dying of hunger and AIDS every day in this world), and the Patriot Act was up for renewal? Now, the American government can pat themselves on the back because nothing like this has happened in the US post 9/11. Now the G8 summit will shift their focus to the “war on terror”. And finally, the Patriot Act and all the things they want to add to it is a sure thing now. Food for thought, right?
Also, on Al-Jazera this morning they gave a two pieces of information that make me REALLY doubt the terrorist connection even more. 1) The Israeli Prime Minister was en route to London and was told by phone of the attacks and warned to turn back by Israeli intelligence. This may have taken place BEFORE the first bomb exploded. 2) The explosives where high powered devices, not the type that could be manufactured outside a weapons manufacturing facility.
I have some serious doubts about groups that have only done small suicide bombings and car type bombs making the leap to high-powered explosives… I also have my doubts about them launching the highly orchestrated attacks on 9/11, but that’s for another post;)
So, think about it, watch international news if you can… I say question everything.
Two Comics that go together…from 2008
7 years ago
11 comments:
Just woke up and had to check out what you wote. I totally agree with what you said.
BTW did you know that Al-Jazera is going to have a separate channel in English? I was reading it about it somewhere...If I find the story, I will post it in my blog.
Salaams and lots of hugs,
Layla
I don't think that killing innocent people does fix anything. But I think the people perpetrating the acts see it as an eye for an eye... They see innocent people in their areas dieing and it persuades them to cross the line. NOT THAT THIS IS ISLAMIC OR JUSTIFIABLE IN ANY WAY.
There is a passage in the Quran that says, "killing one innocent person is killing all of humanity" (rough translation from memory so please forgive me if it is not exact).
As for the conspiracy theory and the G8 summit... That is only one small part; I think the other two reasons I mentioned are my blog entry. And actually I was happy to hear that they seemed to have made some headway with the whole aide to impoverished countries agenda.
Layla, separate English channel! That would rock. I wouldn't have to sit there asking DH to translate all the time!LOL
And speaking of translation did you hear that there was some faulty Arabi in the letters from the “terrorists” in the London bombings? DH claims that it doesn’t make sense that an Arabic-speaking group would’ve used the wording in the letter.
Ummlayla,
Finally I am updating my blog and links and glad to have found your new site. I question everything. . . I'm one of THOSE people, you know. Love, Marian
You would be foolish to think that the number of innocent people killed in the London bombings was ANYTHING compared to the number of innocent people who have been killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. So, if we are counting casualties here I think NO ONE comes out ahead. Which is why (as I said) I am 100% against war of any kind... Violence begets violence.
I understand that people THINK Islam teaches violence, because that is the story that sells here in the US right now. But, the truth is far less dramatic and sensational. Islam does teach that we should defend ourselves and our family against people attacking us. But that is only logical. ISLAM DOES NOT TEACH OR CONDONE THE KIND OF ATTACKS THAT TERRORIST GROUPS ARE PERPETRATING.
Actually the Prophet Mohammed was known to make treaties that he knew would most likely be broken because he thought it was better to give the other party the benefit of the doubt in the hopes of avoiding war.
Now, as for attacking Muslim holy cites... You want to wake a sleeping lion... Go ahead and do that, but NO ONE could fault the Muslims worldwide for rallying forces against someone who attacked our holy sites. There is no way the government of this country would do anything that foolish. There are too many Muslims worldwide who would be a little more than angry with that.
I guess it's just sad for me that Muslims are such an easy target right now... And even though we do speak out against terrorist acts (and I am not so naive to think that there are not Muslim groups doing these things, I just don't know about whether or not they could pull off such a large scale attack) NO ONE IS LISTENING. It is far more interesting to hear Orientalists and "experts" on the Middle East paint the picture of Islam as some violent and threatening force ready to descend on the US at any time.
I am sad to see in this day of information and enlightenment that we still judge the masses on the actions of few. It is no different than in WWII when the Japanese Americans were put into prison camps. The world will get over this only when we let our barriers down and get to know each other. We need some help from Islamics to understand how to differentiate the enemy over in Iraq who hide out inside of a Mosque for protection, from any other Iraqi. If it was America, I guarantee that our churches would not house attackers who want to hide behind innocents.
Please do not take my statement with any offense, I just want to understand better so we can all get along and live happy lives on the Earth that God made for all of us to live on in peace!
Scott, what you said is true. The Muslims do need to help dispel the myths and the stereotypes. And I hope anyone with any knowledge in our communities never turns down a chance to help people become more informed about the religion. I never say no to speaking to a university group or a church, or whoever else asks me (not that I am soooo knowledgeable, I just have an interesting perspective as an American who was raised Christian). And the best thing for the Mosques around the world to do would be distance themselves from anyone involved in these terrorist activities.
But, what we are seeing in Iraq is not much different than what we saw in Vietnam. There is no way to hunt an enemy that looks like, acts like and mixes with innocent civilians. And anyone attempting to do so will ultimately fail killing 1,000s before they finally give up. And the more people die in the attempts to weed out the insurgents in Iraq the more insurgents will have new recruits. "They killed your mother for no reason, you must come fight with us!", or whatever other thing makes sense to the young person they are recruiting.
As for the WWII parallel, I have drawn it before myself. I just hope it doesn't go that far.
You say in your post that it is people who are oppressed that resort to violence, yet the four Muslims who exploded the bombs that killed 52 in London were born in England, were of middle class families, had good education and were not oppressed politically or financially.
How do you explain their actions?
Gary Aminoff
http://beartotheright.blogspot.com
Well, I also say that I am highly suspicious of the truth behind those bombings being done by any terrorist groups... But, for the sake of argument let's say they were, and that the people they are claiming did the bombings were actually the people who did them.
I think there are the fringe people in any group, and any middle class well cared for young man who gets convinced to do something like that is probably part of some fringe group. David Coresh convinced people to kill themselves, right? There have been various other cults using Christianity as their guide that have done similar things... These young men would be in the same category. Every religion has its extremists.
99.9% of the Muslims here in the US would never do anything like that. We may not agree with the government all the time, but we love the country and we love our fellow Americans. We are just as sad as anyone else when something like this happens... Maybe more so. I think people have some crazy idea from some of the media footage (mainly of some groups in Palestine) after 9/11 that we are all secretly rejoicing and praising the people doing these things. NO WAY. It could have been any of us in that building/train/bus.
As for the "average" terrorist, they are usually from a more explainable background. Look into the background of any Palestinian suicide bomber and you will see what I am talking about. I know my generalizations will not fit 100% of the time because there are people who are so empathetic to the suffering of Muslims around the world that they will do these things too. But, more often than not there is an explanation as to the motives of a suicide bomber if you look closely enough. NOT THAT IT JUSTIFIES WHAT THEY DO. I'm just saying you can have some idea what lead them to do it.
Assalamu Aleikum wa Rahamtulahi wa Barakatuhu,
After reading some of these comments, I ask myself why do these people read your blog? Are they happy to know you? Respect your religion, your feelings, your struggles? Maybe it's just me. Maybe they think that they'll "figure out" what the Muslims are really like if they delve into their personal lives (blogs would be a good place to go).
I have a news flash. Noone really knows a Muslim unless he/she is willing to understand the depth of conviction and faith we have in our deen. Until they realize that the Quran is an absolute, undeniable truth from EVERYONE'S Creator. Muslims don't believe Allah(SWT) created only Muslims, DUH. He created EVERYTHING. Therefore, everything is but a servant to Him.
And to Him belongs the attribute of Fate, among others. And I am NOT talking about terrorism, the sister was talking about people who behave desperately in a war against them, people who have been oppressed and murdered by THE EMPIRE itself. Islam has rules of war and if you check them out, honestly, you will see that they are far more civilized than the U.S.government war plans.
And, BTW, if it is a war against terror, then terror will fight back, Americans seem to forget that there are two sides to every war (sometimes more), and all sides will fight back. If the U.S. went into war, they should've realized that someone was gonna shoot back at them. Frankly, it's mind-bogging why people don't just get it. The war against Iraq, or Terror, or Afghanistan, has to be looked at starting at the root of the problem, not just randomly kill innocent people on all sides. That's horrible.
BTW, when the Oklahoma bomber was found, none accused Christianity, or his family, friends, etc. Everytime a fundamentalist Christian murders an abortion doctor, the crazy liberals are the only ones that are upset. All the other Christian groups seem to shut up because we all know what they are thinking. What messed up justice?! You don't have to go abroad to see the double standards.
I myself am a convert to Islam. Born and raised in the U.S. And frankly, as long as non-Muslims do not honestly open up to the truth of Islam, they will never understand true justice in the world. I am not saying you have to be a Muslim to understand, but you have to have a really open heart when you learn about it. Many Muslims are converts and have learned about many different religions before they converted.
BTW, that also means that offensive and bullying attitudes don't scare us. Threatening our holy places is TERRORISM itself. I should report your blog to the U.S. government. I can't believe that you are trying to talk about resolutions with bullying attitudes. So typical.
Try to look at the problems in a fair and just way, I am sure that an appropriate dialogue and solution for the world's problems will arise. Otherwise, well, it's all up to our Creator to sort us out in the end anyway.
Walaikum Asalamu,
I have asked myself the why do haters read Muslim blogs question many times... I can only think it is for amusement and to try to reassure themselves that they are somehow different than us, better.
But, as a Muslim American I feel like it is worth the hate mail to put my thoughts out there. I really want people to see that beneath the hijab I am American, just like them... Only I have focused my life on a different path, I have chosen Islam to guide me. If even one person comes away feeling like they learned something, feeling a little less reluctant to approach their Muslim neighbors I am happy.
Hey, I live in a small town... Just leaving the house as a Muslim is an act of great daring;)
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