Terrorism
“When a man dwells (in mind) on the objects of
sense, he creates an attraction for them.
Attraction develops into desire. Desire (thwarted)
breeds anger. Anger (passion) turns to delusion.
Delusion (wrong thinking) leads to loss of memory.
Through loss of memory (our god-like attributes), Reason
is shattered. And loss of Reason leads to
destruction (his and others)” *
*see also, a further Quotation, at
the end of this Chapter.
How do fundamentalist Muslims form their
ideology, which rejects other religions, live in a
mentally autistic universe and which rejects
modernity?
Many religions have traditions in which
aggression, violence and war have become sanctified.
Sanctified is ‘to be made Holy’ this violence
becomes a form of religious devotion like prayer or
reading sacred scripture.
Violence is a fault from which no major religion
has historically been free.
Looking for the causes of extremism,
(politicians) might usefully listen to the
electorate on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and act
on the rule of law.
The (UK) state has a dilemma, encourage moderate
Islam, absurdities and all, or shirk from
interfering, letting extremists blossom.
Terrorists should be isolated and treated as the
criminals they are, not give their beliefs credence
by making a values-based contest, good-us and
evil-them.
Terrorism falsely sanctioned by bigots is a
scourge of both Islamic and Western societies.
They seek to extinguish all criticism of their
religion and culture while with no sense of
contradiction spitting hatred and a doctrine of
destruction.
Terrorism is designed to frighten people into
submitting to some group’s desires which have not
been (tried or) achieved through normal political
processes.
Many madrasahs (Koran schools, learning centres)
today are seen as ideological and political training
grounds for criticism of the West.
Many madrasahs are responsible for radical
political indoctrination of students.
There was certainly no suggestion that the
invasion of Iraq would make us (in Europe) more
vulnerable to terrorism.
The Iraq conflict has become the cause celebre
for jihadists, breeding a deep resentment of U.S.
involvement in the Muslim world.
Islam could be suffering from a profound
inferiority complex.
There is an irrational and infantile belief that
this inferiority complex can only be assuaged when
the supremacy of Islam is imposed on the world no
matter what large parts of it have to destroyed in
the victory.
The Saudi Arabian government is afraid militant
Muslims will overthrow the government. Many citizens
there would like to destroy our culture.
The attitude of many Muslims towards the West and
Christianity is coloured by the Crusades of medieval
times and European domination and colonialism.
The best course is (for us, and politicians,
religious leaders) probably to just keep quiet and
let the Security services do their job.
A truly radical Muslim would seek to change
peacefully some of the tenets and practices of Islam
which have become fossilised.
 Preachers of hate, whatever their cause, crave a
stage and giving them one (say on radio, prime time)
plays into their hands and spreads intolerant views.
Extremists can be heard, but question them
robustly. For instant, on their views of ‘intolerant
democracy’, women in society, of minorities and
sexuality.
With extremists unquestioned hard by
interviewers, their assertions delivered
unchallenged, free speech in our Western democracy
comes at a high price.
A soldier-scholar has said: in Islam war is waged
to establish supremacy of the Lord only when every
other argument has failed to convince those who
reject His Will, and work against the every purpose
of the creation of Mankind.
Jihad means much more (than that of holy war
against infidels), not least a personal internal
struggle to seek the divine presence.
Religious terrorists use violence to achieve
goals, employing violence in the name of “a higher
cause, even divine Will”; how different is this from
common thuggery?
A Muslim writer states that those who reject
Islam are viewed as a cancerous growth to be
violently removed (murdered?)
A relatively few fringe fanatics are the
activists but a vast rank-and-file supports them.
Radical Islam is spreading across Europe among
(disillusioned) descendants of Muslim immigrants.
Many are dangerous and deludedly committed.
Anyone who kills a human being, except as
punishment for murder of villainy in the land, shall
be regarded as killing all mankind (the Koran). Bin
Laden invoked the caveat.
In Europe, host countries never learned to
integrate newcomers. Their immigrants are rententive
of their ways, resent Western dominance, dissident
and exalted by revivalism.
Only Muslim fanatics defend their beliefs by
burning churches and destroying embassies, by
blowing themselves up and killing people.
Bin Laden selects only those verses (from the
Koran) that fit his message and ignores their
original context and the variety of historical
differences by committed Muslims on how to apply
them.
Bin Laden collapses the broad spectrum of Koranic
teaching into a double requirement: first believe,
then fight.
If developed, a new religion would not exhort
people to kill, maim and devastate the innocent in
some God’s name or politically-motivated outrage.
Sadly, people in the UK who could be ‘groomed’ to
do us harm are among Muslims, but the Irish
dimension means Catholics too.
In the middle East, Western economics brought
poverty, politics brought tyranny, and warfare
brought defeat; they listened to new voices telling
them old Islamic ways were best, with a return to
God’s True Path.
There are potentially thousands (of Muslims) in
the UK who from a sense of inadequacy and
powerlessness might be or become involved in
terrorism.
A significant proportion of the Islamic community
does believe that suicide bombers are martyrs
carrying out a religious duty.
Suicide bombing causes Islamophobia.
It is impossible to reconcile the consistent
Koranic teaching, that God is most merciful, with
suicide bombing.
Suicide bombing is indiscriminate and murders the
faithful and the infidel alike.
* (At beginning of Chapter) This insight
(précis-ed)
into a man’s (and women’s) psychology
is further expanded by the Maharishi in
another translation published in
the Nineteen Sixties.
One who is not turned to the Divine, but (in
the mind) towards objects of the senses, gradually
sinks deeper and deeper into the mire of delusion
until he perishes. Thought is a great force in man.
Desire turns into action. Anger arises from
weakness, or inability to fulfil one’s desires
generally attributed to obstacles. Anger excites the
mind which loses its balance and power of (right)
discrimination. It loses proper vision and foresight
and a right sense of values. Delusion obscures
memory. One feels disconnected from the harmonious
rhythm of life. Wisdom fails and the intellect
ceases to function. Intellect is the finest aspect
of one’s subjective nature. As long as the intellect
is intact there is every hope of advancement and
fulfilment in life. The destruction of the intellect
results in a man’s ruin. |
