The Evil of Selective Information

terrorism. The present-day terrorism is certainly a result of this phenomenon. In the practice of one-sided reporting, the Muslim community is involved to a much greater extent than other communities are. Two examples illustrate this point. The first is of a book authored by the Syrian Muslim scholar Shaykh Abd ar-Rahman Hasan Habannaka al-Maydani. He has compiled several books in the Arabic language with the title, Silsilah A‘daa al-Islam (Series on the Enemies of Islam, 2000). The title of one book in this series is Ajniha al-Makar ath-Thalatha wa Khawafiha (The Three Wings of Conspiracy and their Secondary Feathers). In this book he mentions three antiMuslim conspiracies at work to destroy Islam and Muslims. According to the author, these three conspiracies are: the Christian Mission (at-tabshir), Orientalism (al-istishraq) and Colonialism (al-isti‘mar). However, this kind of labelling is completely unjustified for those targeted by this author are not conspirators. Their activities are purely representative of the concerned groups’ point of view. Each group has its point of view just as Muslims have their point of view. The above kind of labelling is the result of a lack of objectivity in viewing these factors and typifying them in a selective manner. If others also look at Muslims’ activities in a selective manner, then they too would think that Muslims were involved in conspiracy. For example, a survey reported by the media said that Islam was the fastest growing religion in the UK.1 If taken in a selective way, others would tend to think that