An Opinion about what has happened in America
By Shaykh Salmān al-'Awdah
A lot of questions are being asked these days about what happened in New York and Washington. In this article, I wish to give my opinion about some issues related to what happened. Much of what I say is my own judgment on these matters and is open to scrutiny and revision.
First of all, I would like to discuss the matter as something that has taken place in the world and cannot be undone. It is a horrible thing born of arrogance, oppression, and gross disregard for the respect of other people. It is the bitter fruit of a tree planted by America, for America has succeeded brilliantly in making enemies for itself and widening the sphere of those who are bitter towards it. This is clear from what has happened, because the finger of accusation is being pointed at a vast number of possible suspects.
The possible candidates for taking revenge against America cannot be narrowed down to a specific people or group. The Japanese, the Vietnamese, and the Arabs all have their reasons. Even the Europeans who have begun to perceive America's oppression are possible candidates. Their demonstrations against the global trade conferences are a manifestation of their enmity.
The Muslims, in spite of their remoteness from each other, have received their fair share of America's abuse. What is going on in Palestine is merely America slaughtering people with a Jewish knife.
America has not given anyone an opportunity to refrain from hating it. Therefore, it is not surprising for the Americans to be asking each other: Why is America the primary candidate for terrorism? Why is it always calling its people to return to it soil as a precaution against terrorist acts?
The Americans will find themselves in need of a bold new policy if they want to free them of this continuously awaited fear. They will have to reform their policies toward the rest of the world, just like Nixon did when he boldly announced America's withdrawal from Vietnam, saving the American people from the tragic affects of war after America had almost drowned in that quagmire. The Americans are in need of bold political reform if it wants to free itself from the perpetual enmity of other people.
The results of oppression cannot be calculated. There is no way to predict the reactions that it will cause. The reason for this is that the reactions of oppressed and subjugated people are like the shrapnel given off by an exploding bomb. It flies off in all directions and strike aimlessly at whomever they will. The reactions of those who have been wronged and oppressed know no limit or direction. They are outside the bounds of reason and sense. They occur in complete disregard of the dictates of religion, custom, and law.
The first to disregard the law are those whom the law does not afford protection. Therefore, the law does not protect against its enemies. This is what we see in some of the activities that go against the limits set by religion, law and the interests of the perpetrator himself.
Therefore, the first true remedy for this problem is to remove the element of oppression that causes people to become hateful and angry, blinding their judgment and making them fail to consider the consequences of their actions or how grossly wrong they are.
The people who covet life the most will continue to be baffled when dealing with those who throw away their lives without a thought, turning themselves into the first casualties.
This ability to inflict injury can continue unabated under all circumstances, possibly manifesting itself in even more repulsive and savage ways than it already has. It is prudent not to let such reactions repeat themselves. It is not right to allow this incident become the beginning of a continuous cycle of similar bloody events if the West decides to react without forethought or insight.
A small number of people with few resources are capable of inflicting serious damage if they have no moral inhibitions to restrain them back. The protection of civilians is a very difficult matter, especially in a time where people are extremely interdependent and interconnected with one another. It is even more difficult since weapons have become widespread and where some factions might even possess weapons of mass destruction.
Reconsidering foreign policy has now become more necessary than it has ever been before.
This atrocity has had a major impact and has met with a positive response from the world, even though we can observe that the collective outpouring of compassion and solidarity has taken an exaggerated form and that the desire to appease America can be seen from a lot of the reactions.
This atrocity is not the only atrocity to have occurred in recent times. Quite the contrary, there have been many others that have taken place right before our eyes that are no less hideous.
Who can forget the wholesale slaughter that took place in Sabra and Shattila, an event so horrible that it could bring even stones to tears? And who can forget the atrocities that occurred in Srebenica on the day that the international forces withdrew and the Serbs marched in, killing approximately ten thousand civilians and burying them in mass graves? Who can forget what happened in Burundi on the day that the corpses of all the defenceless people who were slaughtered were thrown in the lake to become food for the crocodiles? As for Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Vietnam, they have become permanently etched in the annals of history.
Why then not give these atrocities the attention that they deserve? Why are the atrocities that we must be most concerned about chosen for us as well as those that should be forgotten?
The Second World War ravaged the lives of millions of people, yet the event that continues to be talked about and lamented is the incineration of the Jews, as if this atrocity - if it truly happened - was the only tragedy ever to have occurred.
And we today see the present atrocity brought to the fore as if it is the only way terrorism occurs in the world; as if terrorism is not really terrorism unless it comes from a certain direction.
We are amazed when we hear the loud threats of revenge and annihilation when we see the people who butchered Sabra and Shatilla have become leaders of nations and the only thing that the international court has done is to preserve the status quo, while the butchers of Bosnia are receiving such a slow trial that generations might pass away before a verdict is reached.
For eleven months, while the carnage continued in Palestine, the Jews received unlimited American aid while the Palestinians received from America advice to restrain themselves. It is now Palestine's turn to give the same advice to America.
If it is true that every crisis is also an opportunity, then this is true for America today. America has the opportunity to review its foreign policy and be true to itself by recognizing that it was a full participant in the process.
In how they deal with what has happened, America today faces a test of their commitment to the ideals of justice and freedom that it calls towards. For if they target the guiltless civilians who do not participate in, choose, or have any real knowledge about the policies of their countries because they live in non-democratic countries - according to western terminology and standards - then this will provide justification for those who target the civilians in the democratic countries who do participate as individuals in selecting their leadership.
The United States will make a mistake of historical proportions if it succeeds in fostering Muslims hostility towards it in the way that it deals with this atrocity that has occurred. America will do so if it punishes the innocent for the sins of the guilty, or if it considers the culture, beliefs, teachings, and way of life of the Muslims as being responsible for what happened.
This tragedy has shown to the world's powers that relying upon peace brokerage alone is not sufficient, if these efforts are not accompanied by real dialogue, the airing of views, understanding the point of view and circumstances of others, and listening to what they have to say.
The United States espouses such virtues as freedom and human rights, but applies them selectively to further its own interest and does not treat them as true, substantial values. In a number of places in the world, like China, Turkey, Algeria, Chechnya, and Palestine, it appears quite clearly that with respect to the issue of Islāmic lands, there is a glaring bias and severe selective vision.
America now faces a difficult choice when it comes to applying its principles of justice and protecting human rights and upholding the standards that it calls towards. It is unreasonable to place all decisions on the basis of: "Are you with me or are you against me?" There are broader choices than this. In the end, there is a way of dealing with disagreement, whether it is with yourself or with others.
This atrocity has come as a sign that human power, no matter how great it might be, is limited and that human knowledge, no matter how broad it might be, has its limits as well.
Whoever would have thought that this country with all its ballistic missiles, warships, and military might be taken by surprise by such a strike like any developing country? There is no power and no strength save in Allāh.
Whoever would have thought that the intelligence network that people assumed monitored their every move would experience a breach wide enough for massive airplanes to get through?
These things show that human knowledge and power are limited and that the appearance of strength does not mean invincibility. Yet human beings have a tendency to deceive themselves, making them fail to realize this fact. They are easily intoxicated by the heady fragrance of power. As Allāh tells us in the Qur'ān:
"(They say): 'Who has more power than we do?' Yet they do not see that Allāh Who created them has more power then they do."
When certain events occur, those who are deceived by their knowledge and power learn that they are limited. It is just like what Allāh relates in the Qur'ān about the death of Sulaymān (Solomon, peace be upon him):
"And when We decreed death for him, nothing indicated his death to them except the earthworm that gnawed at his staff. Then when he fell down, it became clear to the Jinn that if they had known the unseen, they would not have remained in such degrading punishment."
The second viewpoint I would like to address is the viewpoint of Islām with respect to war in light of what is to be found in the sacred texts and in the practice of the Prophet (may the peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) and the Rightly Guided Caliphs who followed him.
This does not mean that we are making any assumptions about what had happened. We are used to the fingers of accusation being pointed at the Muslims. We must wait and see, so we do not fall into a trap that it will be impossible to get out of.
On the basis of principle, Islām prohibits targeting innocent people like women, children, and others like them even when there is actually a war being waged between the Muslims and the disbelievers. Disbelief, in and of itself, is not a justification to kill someone.
Allāh's Messenger (may the peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) and the Rightly Guided Caliphs who came after him stressed the need to protect the weak and the noncombatants and were very considerate of them.
Ibn 'Umar (may Allāh be pleased with him) said: "I saw the body of a slain woman during one of the battles of the Prophet (may the peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him), so he forbade the killing of women and children." (al-Būkhārī and Muslim) Abū Dāwūd relates from Rabāh b. Rabī' with an authentic chain of narrators that he said: "We were with Allāh's Messenger (may the peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) during a battle and we say people gathered together. He dispatched a man to find out why they were gathered. The man returned and said: 'They are gathered around a slain woman.' So Allāh's Messenger (may the peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) said: 'She should not have been attacked!' Khālid b. al-Walīd was leading the forces, so he dispatched a man to him saying: "Tell Khālid not to kill women or labourers'."
In another narration from Ibn Mājah, it is related that Allāh's Messenger (may the peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) said: "Tell him not kill children or labourers."
Labourers are not to be attacked deliberately, even if they are present during the battle, as long as their activities are not directly connected with the fighting. Workers who are not present at the battlefield are definitely not to be treated with aggression, regardless of the fact that they are in the enemy country. Abū Dāwūd relates from Anas b. Mālik (may Allāh be pleased with him) that Allāh's Messenger (may the peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) would say the following words to his troops before sending them to war: "Go forward in the name of Allāh. Do not kill an elderly person, nor a small child, nor a woman, and do not exceed the bounds."
In the Muwatta', it is related from Yahyā b. Sa'īd that Abū Bakr sent an army to Syria and went out to give them words of encouragement. He walked alongside Yazīd b. Abī Sufyān, then said: "You are going to find a group of people who have devoted themselves to the worship of Allāh (i.e. monks), so leave them to what they are doing."
It might be appropriate to make mention of the proposal that the angel of the mountainous made to Allāh's Messenger (may the peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) that he would bring the two mountains down upon the inhabitants of Mecca. Allāh's Messenger (may the peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) said: "No, I hope that Allāh will make some of their descendants worship Him alone." He said this in spite of the fact their destruction would have been of a divine nature and he and the believers with him would not have had to lift a finger against them.
Those people and these today are to be called to Islām. They are the ones to bring the message to. Failure to fulfill this duty properly at one time or another does not mean that it always has to be this way, because there is an Islāmic effort that offers the promise that this will take place.
Moreover, public places like airplanes and markets are open territory where both Muslims and Non-Muslims meet. It is also a place where adults and children, men and women are to be found. These places are never to be turned into targets, even during times of war.
The dictates of general human welfare demand that these places stay secure under all circumstances.
The third perspective that I would like to discuss is that of Islāmic Law and its general objectives, which are to achieve the general welfare and prevent that which is detrimental to it. If we look at what has happened in the light of bringing about that which is beneficial, we have to consider the following:
1. The possibility that this deed will bring about a redoubled effort to purge the world of all Islāmic struggle out of fear that these struggles might spawn similar atrocities. This would have negative repercussions on Palestine, Chechnya, Kashmir, and other Islāmic lands, even though there used to be hope that those people would hear the voice of reason and cease answering to the pressure of the Jews and blind nationalism. If the organizations that oppose occupation face a lot of resistance on account of this, it could suffocate them and bring them to ruin.
2. This could have far-reaching effects on Islāmic work. It can affect propagation of Islām, Islāmic cultural programs, welfare activities, and educational efforts. These activities might be seen to be providing a model environment for such practices and preparing an atmosphere that fosters them. We know that in actuality it is the West that brings about this atmosphere through their hostility for Muslim peoples and their turning away from their concerns.
3. Muslim people might be exposed to abuse from these oppressors, and Allāh has been helping the Afghani people who have known no rest for decades and who are in fear of witnessing a war with America as opposed to a war with Russia.
4. Islāmic concerns in Western societies have been compromised, on account of which the Muslims are in an unenviable state. Many have been exposed to oppression and hostilities. It started in the media attacks that immediately placed the responsibility for the atrocity squarely on the shoulders of the Muslims, ignoring the fact that the last terrorist attack witnessed in the United States in Oklahoma came from one of their own people. The Jews, who have tremendous influence over the media, may very well be behind the immediate accusation of the Muslims. They are among those who take advantage of horrible circumstances with a wickedness that suits them while ignoring basic human concerns. Quite the contrary, they traffic in the pains of others.
5. Because of what has happened, the image of the Muslims in the minds of people in the West will become one of a murderer who, if given the chance, would massacre people and deprive them of their rights. A normal human being is all too capable of forming a mental image on the basis of one person and then applying it to a whole culture, race, or religion.
This prevents people from accepting Islām or even considering it and frustrates the efforts of the organizations that exist to propagate Islām in the West. It creates a barrier that is almost impossible to break down or get past. Islāmic efforts are still very limited and only manage to reach a small section of the population. As for the masses, they remain captives of the media. This can even be said for a number of Muslim people who do not now the true nature of Islāmic propagation and its propagators or the methods of Islāmic workers, but only know of these horrible deeds. On the basis of the activities of a few individuals, people form an image of Islām. The majority tends to generalize things and is carried along by first impressions.
In conclusion, this is what is apparent to me from the limited time that I have had to reflect and from what present circumstances indicate. Allāh might decree that good will come to His worshippers, despite what they think and expect. "Allāh knows and you know not."
We ask Almighty Allāh by His great names and lofty attributes to protect the Muslims with their religion, their lives, their honour, and their countries. May Allāh suffice them and protect them from the evil of their enemies. We also ask Allāh to strengthen His religion, to exalt His name, help His righteous servants. May He improve the conditions of the Muslims, bring them together on the basis of the truth and their faith, and give them victory over the disbelievers.
And may the peace, blessings, and salutations of Allāh be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon His family and all of his Companions.