Islam is a faith of peace, justice and service to humanity as well as a civilizing force for humanity wherever it is introduced and established. Even though Islam forbids violence, especially against innocent and defenseless people and even though Islam has been in the west for centuries, Muslims are still left defending their faith from hatred, contempt, and ignorance as if all Muslims are responsible for the sins of a few. Everyone knows that many people have and will use religion (inappropriately) and Scriptural verses (out of context) to justify their otherwise evil behaviour. For example, many white supremacist groups use Biblical verses to rationalize their racist beliefs and behaviours and many have very Christian-sounding names for their churches and organizations. Why are they not referred to as Christian supremacists, Christian fundamentalists, or Christian extremists? We live in the age of information. Considering all the information, groups, and other resources available to western world, Muslims should not have to justify, defend, or apologize for the noble faith of Islam. There is no cause, justification, or reason for violence or terror in Islam. Islam, like the truth, speaks for itself.
As far the Osama bin Laden is concerned, the investigation against him is in the early stages and it is not conclusive. He is just a suspect. There is a procedure in any court of law that it follows and without that no punishment is given to the suspect. Majority of the Muslims feels that the greatness of character counts to a great extent. Osama bin Ladin should present himself to Americans who want him and say that I am ready to face the charges. He is a single person and a single person’s interests are not more important than the interests of entire Muslim nation and a Muslim country. He should have greatness of character in this time.
A very unfortunate situation with the present Muslims is that they do not have a leader or leading organization, which can help them in making critical decisions. There are two leading Muslim organizations, OIC (Organizations of Islamic Countries) and World Muslim League (WML) but both of these organizations have become very ineffective. Muslims around the world realize that the United Nations is in fact United States and there is a big vacuum for the Muslims to be heard on the worldwide level. 99.99% of Muslims around the world are shouting and telling the western world that they are too Against Terrorism. They have also been victim of terrorism, hate and discrimination in Palestine, Kashmir, Chechnya, Kossovo, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, India, Burma, USA, Canada, UK and many other countries but the voice of 1.5 billion Muslims falls on deaf ears. Do we know why?
Mr. Syed B. Soharwardy is Founder and President of Muslims Against Terrorism (M-A-T)
