Combating Terrorism

By:

Dr. Ali S. Awadh Asseri

(Former Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon)

ROOT CAUSE OF TERRORISM

Islamophobia

     Various instances of racist victimization of Muslim immigrants in Europe, North America and Australia in the pre – and post – 11 September 2001 period aside, the publication and republication of the blasphemous drawings of the holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) in Danish and other Western newspapers since September 2005, and the internet release of a film, ‘Fitna’ by a Dutch lawmaker in March 2008 desecrating the verses of the holy Qur’an, have enraged the entire Muslim world populace. Some miscreants in the Western media and politics are, no doubt, engaged in an ill-intended campaign to hurt the religious sensitivities of the Muslims by publishing blasphemous material and misreporting the words of the Islamic scripture, and inciting them for a militant-reactionary response.

     Some deviant organizations have directly fallen into the trap set by these miscreants, and engaged in violent-terrorist acts. However, broadly speaking, the Muslim world’s protest on matter has been confined to public rallies and official reactions. Such recurrent instances of blasphemy, emanating especially from Denmark and the Netherlands, have, in fact, led to a global debate about the limits on freedom of expression, and the urgent need for balancing it with an obligatory respect for religion. Having said this, the fact remains that as long as some miscreants are bent upon defaming the religion of Islam and Muslims as a people, a viable political context will always be there for some deviants in the world to come up with a terrorist response to such blasphemous acts.

(To be continued)