Terrorism is Forbidden

TERRORISM IS FORBIDDEN of qital, as I mentioned earlier, rests only with established state authority. Today, there is violence in various parts of the world, which some self-styled Islamist groups claim to be Islamic jihad. The fact is that this violence is clearly a combination of proxy war and guerrilla war, and so it is haraam or forbidden, according to Islam. Some Muslims complain that the media is unfair by describing this terrorism as ‘Islamic terrorism’, thereby giving Islam a bad name. However, the question is, when people who call themselves ‘Muslim’ engage in this sort of terrorism in the name of Islam, can we blame others for referring to this violence by this name? It is for Muslims to desist from this un-Islamic violence and stop giving Islam a bad name by wrongly claiming this terrorism to be jihad. According to another Hadith report, God gives in return for gentleness what He does not in the case of hard-heartedness (Musnad Ahmad, Hadith No. 16455). This report relates to the consequences of one’s behaviour or approach. If one has a dispute or conflict with someone, fighting him or her will not solve the matter. The only way to solve it is through peaceful dialogue and exchanging views.