Injustice and the Ideology of Cruelty (5)

7). Allah SWT Will Not Give Them Guidance

Allah SWT’s decree in Surah Al An Aam, verse 144, which said:

       إن الله لا يهدى القوم الظالمين    

Which means: ` For God guideth not people who do wrong.’

All of Allah SWT’s decrees above show Allah’s attitude towards groups that do cruel deeds, they will not get a place by Allah SWT on this earth or in the hereafter, Allah SWT does not accept their way of life to a point that Allah SWT is unwaveringly firm in showing hatred, anger and curses upon them and for them the threat and punishment most painful has been prepared in the hereafter for their characters and their cruel deeds whilst on earth.

Although Allah SWT has such a firm attitude towards people who are cruel, this does not mean that Allah SWT does not accept repentance and give forgiveness to them, if they truly repent and return to the right path, because Allah SWT’s forgiveness is vast, as in His decree in Surah Ar Ra’d, verse 6, which said:

و إن ربك لذو مغفرة للناس على ظلمهم و إن ربك لشديد العقاب

Which means:` But verily thy Lord is full of forgiveness for mankind for their wrong doing and verily thy Lord is (also)strict in punishment.

In this verse, Allah SWT wants to explain to mankind that even though they have cruel traits and have done cruel deeds, should they then become aware and repent upon these actions, Allah SWT will still forgive and accept their repentance as His forgiveness is limitless.

Since the events of September 11, 2001 (911), there has been many usage of the words radical, extremists, terrorists, fanatics and words of a similar nature that are linked to certain specific groups, until there are factions who interweave radical and extremist traits containing elements of cruelty to be a part of the concept and teachings of Islam, that are, in their judgments that Islam does indeed teach its followers such traits. This adds to misunderstanding that already exists and current problems.  The characteristics of being (radical) can mean wholly radical, unsuspected major wrong doer or major crime.

When translated with reference to: http:// en. Wikipedia.org./wiki/ Radicalism, the meaning of radical from its basic word (English Language) can have several different meanings from different perspective, whether mathematical, chemistry, linguistics, politics, commerce or slang.

In a lot of cases, the title radical or extremist is given by one party to a certain group, especially in matters related to ideology or political knowledge in which the labeling party cannot accept the ideology, opinion or deeds of a certain group that are against their own ideology or opinion, or both parties have ideologies or principles that are vastly different from each other, giving rise to accusations between them over these titles, and this doesn’t  means that the accusing party that issues titles of radicalism, extremism, terrorism or fanaticism are themselves excluded from similar titles.

The words radical, extremist, terrorist or fanatic that are used to label a certain group become synonymous words to reflect the attitude and fearsome deeds done by that group, and much is linked with the problem of known political issues or ideology that encourages terrorism and destruction, which if viewed and researched, these traits and actions are not dissimilar to the cruelty that is prohibited by Allah SWT in all Allah’s decrees before this.

¹²Events of 9/11, 2 airplanes crashed into WTC in NY,USA

^.13. http://www.ntu.edu.sg/rsis/publications/conference_reports/Progressive Islam Conference06.pdf The meaning of progressive Islam-Syed Hussain Alattas

¹⁴. Translation Dictionary –English-Malay, Arranged by Ainon Mohd. And Abdullah Hassan

¹⁵. Ref:http://en. Wikipedia.org/wiki/Radicalism

¹⁶. Complete Dictionary; extremist demanding for opinions that are beyond bounds

¹⁷. Synonyms

 

In reality, whatever form of cruel acts that are done, be it destruction, damage, abuse, force, wickedness and wrong doing done by man, whether towards other men, towards Allah SWT’s creations, animals, plants or anything found on this earth are deeds prohibited by Allah SWT on mankind and Allah’s other creatures.  As well as the trait or human attitude that refuses to obey and be convinced of Allah’s existence, is deemed a form of cruel behavior, as in Allah SWT’s decree in Surah Luqman, verse 13, which said:

و إذ قال لقمان لإبنه و هو يعظه يا بني لا تشرك بالله إن الشرك لظلم عظيم

Which means: `Behold, Luqman said to his son, by way of instruction: `O my son! Join not in worship (others) with God, for false worship is indeed the highest wrong doing.’

If the above decree of Allah SWT is examined, this verse clearly shows that all forms of defiance towards the essence of Allah SWT and His holy words are man’s wrong doing towards his Creator, for which there isn’t any sin bigger than this.

The traits of cruelty that Allah SWT has remarked on, in the above verses, brings a meaning and understanding that is much wider than the traits of radicalism, extremism or terrorism, in fact it encompasses ideological traits that, in political maneuvers or deeds causes damage, destruction, cruelty and other sufferings, when applied to every aspect of human life, mankind, creatures on this earth and towards the Creator. Allah SWT forbids upon people of faith (who believes in Allah) and also deems a cruel act, the labeling of terms of radicalism, extremism, or fanaticism used by certain groups to categorize another.

If deeds or traits that are cruel, under whatever given titles, labels, or names, are disallowed and prohibited in Islam, it is then, the responsibility of Muslims to prohibit, hinder and distance themselves from such acts. It is apparent from all of Allah SWT’s decrees and the `hadiths’ of Prophet SAW prohibiting Muslims from cruel acts on this earth, but unfortunately, there are certain factions of Muslims who do cruel deeds with the excuse that Islam allows these deeds,  or because they have previously been mistreated or abused by certain groups.

As a result of having been abused, they then similarly perform abuses that the abusing groups had inflicted upon them, if they were treated with brute force, they will also use similar force, or when they had been treated with violence, destruction and ruin, they will then do the same, in fact in a way more brutal than they experienced, as a form of retaliation and revenge of hateful feelings towards groups that had abused them.

The reasons allowing these cruel acts become more complicated when certain parties justify their actions by propping up their views using arguments that they brought forth from the Al-Quran and `sunnah’ (traditions of the Prophet SAW), whereby they argue that these acts of theirs are allowed by the religion. There appears to be different opinions, where these acts are justified from a particular perspective, like the Bali bombing although the majority of Islamic Scholars condemns these cruel acts.

 

Islam prohibits cruelty in retaliation to similar abuses, which however doesn’t mean that victims are not allowed to defend their rights, this being permissible in Islamic Syariah (jurisprudence), or acting within the scope of law that have been determined for the defense of self, as well as in a situation where one is abused or ill-treated by a certain group.  This however doesn’t mean that a person can intentionally, similarly abuse his abuser or the civil society of innocent people.

 

Islam gives a right to an individual to defend himself (his life), religion, mind, honor or property when it is felt that one of these five is under threat, but the action is just to defend these rights from being violated by any perpetrator, without retaliating more than the determined bounds, that is cruelty aimed at the perpetrators, by cruel violations upon the public. Such is the beauty of Islam in which cruel abuses should not be reciprocated with similar cruelty.

 

 

¹⁸ I fought terrorists! Abdul Aziz@Imam Samudra@Qudama,with arguments supporting his cruel acts

¹⁹ Unlicensed to Kill: Countering Imam Samudra’s justification for Bali Bombing, Ustaz Haniff Hassan and its contents, edicts of World scholars prohibiting acts of terror

 

Confirmation and prohibition of this can be seen in Allah SWT’s decree in Surah Al Baqarah, verse 190 which said:

"و قاتلوا فى سبيل الله الذين يقاتلونكم و لا تعتدوا إن الله لا يحب المعتدين"

`Fight in the cause of God those who fight you, but do not transgress limits’.

The verse above confirms that the command to do `jihad’ or go to war, is permitted upon the believers by Allah, when the enemy starts the war first or is the first to violate, the command of war towards the enemy is only an act of self defense from being abused or violated and Allah SWT prohibits His believers from acting beyond bounds.  This doesn’t mean that Muslims only prepare themselves for jihad at the last moments when the enemy has struck. The preparation always to be ready is an injunction upon Muslims, as in Allah SWT’s decree in Surah Al Anfal, verse 60, which said: