Islam and Radicalization?

Recently, the news regarding a student, Saad Aziz, from IBA being involved in alleged terrorist activities has set the media on fire. The news indeed is shocking because it questions the very role of education in terms of breeding logical and stable members of the society. I was amongst the many who were extremely taken aback by this news and I saw myself praying that this is a false allegation and that it gets to be known as such. However, if the allegations are true then there are very important factors that need to be considered before deriving any conclusions from such an incident.

Looking through all the articles and bulletins, it seemed that the student’s growing a religious tendency seemed to be the sole reason for his inclination towards such acts. While, in such time and age, due to the acts of a few, it surely does seem that religion may have some link with radicalization but that is in fact completely false and baseless. A related article by the Guardian gave useful insight on the matter, with one of its statements being; “The fact is that the role of religion in radicalization (and de-radicalization) is grossly overestimated. There is actually no empirical evidence to support the claim that religion (any religion) and ideology are the primary motivators of violent extremism.”

Although, such incidents may be becoming increasingly common, it goes against principle and logic to consider what is true for a part to be true for the whole. Perhaps a simple comparison may suffice as an explanation, Islam itself is like water; in its real form and use, it instigates life and without it there is no life. However, this very same water can wreak havoc and cause mind-blowing catastrophe when it comes in the form of tsunamis and other disasters. Similarly, our religion in its true essence is the source of life, a manual and guidance for entire mankind. However, damage takes place only when it falls in the hands of wrong people who very conveniently misquote its verses and use it as a means of brainwashing other people. These people do so in order to serve their own ulterior motives and while such motives and their causes are unknown because they cover them under the facade of religion, nonetheless, it needs to be clear that their acts are by no means in accordance to or supported by religion.

Allah is our Judge; and Islam by no means allows us to take the responsibility of judging others and taking their lives into our own hands. Our religion commands us to have courteous relations even with non-Muslims; let alone Muslims. So how can we go about judging even those who are Muslims whether they may be practicing or not. Without a doubt, our religion requires us to command good and forbid evil but it nowhere goes near to violence or to taking the lives of others into our own hands. In fact, at the time of the Prophet (S.A.W.W.) in a war, one of the Sahabah overcame his opponents and just as he was about to kill him, the opponent recited the kalima, yet the Sahabi killed him. When the Prophet (S.A.W.W) found out about this incident, he called over the Sahabi and asked the reason behind his doing so, so he said that I still killed him because I felt that he only accepted Islam due to fear and in order to save his life and not because he truly wanted to do so. The Prophet (S.A.W.W) reprimanded his act and said that did you tear open his heart that you knew his intent?

Religion and religious appearances have no link with any terrorist ideologies; just because religion is being misused by people doesn’t mean that it breeds such ideologies. Just like such people have no right to judge others similarly people should be careful of judging religious or religious looking people as well. It is as disturbing for us as it is for those who don’t adorn such appearances when people do such acts because they are not only causing direct damage as a result of their acts but also defaming and giving religion a bad name which it certainly does not deserve. It seems that the time is here about which the Prophet (S.A.W.W.) said, "There will come a time when holding on to your Emaan (belief) will be like holding onto hot coals." May Allah Ta’ala guide us and make us firm on His religion and may He protect us from those people who misinterpret it and use it to misguide others. I hope and pray that we are able to recognize people for who they are and distinguish clearly between right and wrong. This time and these incidents are a trial for everyone, may Allah Ta’ala protect us in this time.