Originally posted on The Charlotte Observer
Another day, another terrorist attack orchestrated by the perverted group called ISIS. The religion to which I adhere, Islam, stands for peace. It is once again under the media spotlight for all the wrong reasons. How could ISIS justify the Paris attack, which killed nearly 150 innocent souls, and the Beirut bombing last week as Islamic while the Quran categorically states, “whosoever killed an innocent person, it shall be as if he has killed all mankind” (5:33)?
Lets face facts. If ISIS’ perverted version of Islam is accepted as true Islam, then one would wonder if the God they claim to represent is devoid of reason or is completely out of touch with the rules of morality and decency. If the God on whose behalf they claim to fight wants to spread Islam by killing innocent people, then the question one may ask is whether there is anything this God desires other than blood and violence and who will be left on earth to worship their bloodthirsty God if everyone gets killed in their outrageous campaign?
Let us be clear about this : the actions of ISIS are un-Islamic and must be condemned under no uncertain terms. ISIS does not represent the true Islam and is thus only masquerading and preying on the ignorance of marginalized youth from across the globe to achieve political control in the Middle East.
Over the past few weeks, ISIS has demonstrated their ingenuity in killing by supposedly bringing down a Russian passenger jet in Egypt and the current merciless killings in Paris just to mention a few. We cannot sit down or be intimidated by these lunatics and let them dictate our way of life. If we give them a strong media platform or accept them as the true face of Islam, we will continue to elevate their status and they will continue to spew their unfounded version of so-called Islam on us.
If this bloodthirsty God that ISIS follows had a true understanding of history and human progress, he would know that the sword can win territories, but it has never won the hearts and minds of people in the annals of history. In addition, in the 21st century, where information travels on the Internet faster than the most advanced missiles’ on earth, the pen is mightier than the sword in the propagation of Islam.
The true teachings of Islam as practiced by Ahmadiyya Muslim Community since it inception in 1889 are focused on using the pen but not the sword to spread the beautiful teaching of Islam to the rest of the world. We live in a society where there is much misinformation, intimidation and fear of Islam due to the actions of extremist group like ISIS and a lack of knowledge of Islam by the general public. The best way to dispel this fear, intimidation and misinformation is through the pen and not the sword, in line with human dignity, wisdom and the current human progress.
Judging from current events, no one knows what this barbaric group has under their sleeves. Prevention is always better than cure and thus eradication of ISIS and not glorifying their atrocities in the media – which has given them a newfound celebrity status – is the sure way of curtailing their propaganda.
ISIS’ recruitment strategy represents a real security threat to all of us and therefore demands an unbiased approach to surgically remove this cancer from society, instead of the usual bashing of Islam, which has absolutely nothing to do with this current crisis.
