ASK MAULANA

Terrorism is a phenomenon that results on account of misuse of freedom by human beings. God bestowed freedom upon mankind in order to put us to the test in this world. It is the misuse of this Godgiven freedom which creates all kinds of problems in society. As we cannot abolish this freedom, we cannot establish an ideal system. It is this fact due to which establishing a perfect society or system is simply not possible. Which extremely unfair society became fair without violent processes? The term ‘fair’ has to be understood in a pragmatic sense and not in the ideal sense. This is because in this world, everyone has been granted complete freedom to make their own moral choices. It is this freedom that divides people into two categories—those who misuse their freedom and the others who make proper use of it. In view of human freedom, I would like to present a pragmatic example of such a society which was fair—this was the society that Prophet Muhammad established and which lasted for a limited period of time— for about 25 years. It was established after a long peaceful struggle with the Quraysh tribe. A few violent clashes were merely defensive and did not last more than a couple of hours. Later on, after the death of the Prophet, this society was also marred by violence which was the result of misuse of freedom by some people called Khawarij or the uncivilized desert dwellers, who became the chief reason for the strife and violence in the society of that time. But despite their sharp differences, the opposing parties used to come together for performing the religious rites of the deceased. I do not know of any other such example. Why is there Islamophobia, but no Hinduphobia or Buddhistphobia? There’s no such thing as ‘Islamophobia’. This is a concept which only some Muslims have themselves innovated. There would have been Islamophobia if this term had been coined by the West describing their own attitude towards Islam. On the other hand, this term has been attributed to the West by the Muslim community. Thus Islamophobia is an allegation, and not a real phenomenon. It is a common perception that Muslims become emotional very easily when it comes to controversial issues. This is why people have come to fear Muslims, while Hindu and Buddhist communities are tolerant in comparison. It is because of people’s perception of Muslims as being intolerant that there is fear of Muslims, but not of people of other faiths.