The Implication of
Cruelty and Influence of the Internet
The
concept and traits of cruelty if allowed to spread freely without prevention
will definitely result in complications in the lives of mankind, as an example
if an individual has these cruel traits, they will adversely affect people in
his life.
If a husband has such cruel behavior and act
with cruelty, his behavior will negatively affect his wife and children, then
their household will be void of the feelings of love and compassion (sakinah
and muwaddah wa rahmah), and if a leader is cruel, his people will suffer in
misery.
Similarly
when people with power victimised weak
individuals or a powerful nation intrude into a weaker nation.
Peace
and prosperity that we yearn for will be lost when cruelty is allowed to take
place as cruelty is then avenged with cruelty, abuse answered with abuse, ill
feelings and jealousy supersedes all, mankind losing direction in building harmonious
lives, giving rise to a culture of cruelty. This cruel culture automatically
becomes part of human nature. This is
something that is
faced
by many nations, where its people self-radicalised
or is himself influenced by radical ideas without any guidance from a
teacher. This isn’t an extraordinary
thing or phenomenon because it can happen to any individual, race, religion or
nation as a result of the factors mentioned earlier. It becomes a phenomenon
only with the availability of advanced technological instruments.
It
is the role of ever advancing technology and mass media that shapes the thought
of every individual as all kinds of information are spread in cyber space that
can be obtained with just a click of the fingers (internet) and direct telecast
from around the world. All these events
can be seen, as if they happen right in front of their very eyes. This deeply affects the individual in
evaluating his perspective of turbulent events happening in a borderless world.
Advanced
information technology like this, shapes the thinking patterns of today’s
younger generations, the effects of which can be seen from the survey called,`
Survey of the Internet, Mental Health Issues (SIMHI) done by Crimes Against
Children Research Center, University of New Hampshire, 126 Horton Social
Science Center, Durham, with regards to the influence of the internet on
youths.
50
http://www.answers.com/topic/radicalism
51Cruel
Ideology: factors of cruel characteristics
52
http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/survey_internet_mental_health.html
It
shows that the internet’s negative influence and impact very easily shape the
thinking patterns of the young, as an example, where out of 1,504 cases studied
more than 60% from this total (internet users), had wrongfully used the
information gained, which affected their thoughts and their lives.
Similarly
in the research done by the Pew Internet and American Life Institute, 26
.on
the working paper titled, ` The Future of the Internet’, arranged by Susannah
Fox, Associate Director, Janna Quitney Anderson, Elon University and Lee Raine,
Director, have found that in the next ten years the internet influence will
become wider, very important and will encompass every aspect of man’s life.
This
can be seen from a research conducted by graduates of Nanyang Technological
University (NTU) Singapore in 2000-2001 titled,` Singapore Internet Project’,
which found at the time, there were almost 90% of students using this
technology and many more among them who were addicted on internet usage,
imagine then the impact being much worse, if the younger generation’s way of
thinking is influenced by radical elements from the internet.
The Ideology of Cruelty
and the Internet
Cruel
ideologies and inhumanity will not spread without a teacher guiding and
teaching these ideologies to an individual, but with the existence of this
borderless technology, it is as if a person does not need a teacher anymore to
teach and guide in a person’s way of thinking by advising on right and wrong,
prohibited and permissible, because there already is an alternative that takes
the place of a guide to colour the life the person wants. For people like this,
learning from a teacher is just a formality that doesn’t have a deep
educational impact on their souls.
53
http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Future_of_Internet.pdf
54http://www.ntu.edu.sg/sci/research/pdf/2000StudentDetailedFindings.pdf
56http://cyberita.asia1.com.sg/singapura/story/0,3617,97990,00.html :
Abdul Basheer: From social radical to religious radical, 12th Jun
2007
57http://www.pvtr.org/pdf/commentaries/RSIS0852007.pdf
: India
It
is not surprising that there are amongst youngsters, those who are influenced
by information obtained from the internet, who then dare to carry out radical
acts without guidance, because this technology already plays a role as teacher
and guide and this instrument is enough in being a teacher that they use, to
guide all their actions, called `self radicalism’, which is the trait of being
indfluenced by radical concepts learned by
himself through information sources from the internet.
The
existence of internet technology has also made it easy for the trait of self
radicalism and the cruel ideology to spread swiftly and conveniently within
Islam’s general public who may not have enough religious knowledge, although
they may have a good academic education, especially among the younger generation
looking for religious truth, by using internet technology as part of their
lives’ culture and guidance in seeking knowledge. As a result of ignorance of
the basic foundations of religious knowledge that differentiate right from
wrong, they get easily influenced by the concept of cruelty, which benefited
certain groups in spreading their cruel ideologies to these weak groups who are
seeking truth but are ignorant in differentiating laws underlined by Allah SWT,
until they perform damning acts that deviates and cause them to be damned.
One
of the reasons the ideology of cruelty and the concept of self radicalism
spreads easily via the internet among the general public is the psychological
approach used by these groups to broadcast their ideologies and their
understanding by uploading videos of their struggles on the internet that gain
sympathy for their causes. Weak individuals amongst the general public get
trapped and gravitate toward views and opinions, cruel in nature. Being
sympathetic and having an inclination towards extreme cruel acts are prohibited
by Allah SWT as in this decree:
و لا تركنوآ إلى الذين ظلموا فتمسكم
النار و ما لكم من دون الله من أوليآء ثم لا تنصرون
58http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psikologi,
meaning of psychology
59 surah Hud verse
113
60Al
Quran and Its Translation, Surah Huud verse 113, meaning no. 740.
Which
means: `And incline not to those who do wrong, or the fire will seize you; and
ye have no protectors other than God, nor shall ye be helped.’
Being
inclined towards cruel people means to interact with them as well as condone
their deeds. It is permissible to interact without condoning their deeds, if it
is for the sake of self defence. The conclusion that can be made from the above
verse is, it is a major sin in Islam for anyone even if he only condones these
cruel deeds, more sinful if he then also commits them, since acts of cruelty
are against Islamic teachings and principles.
It
is this combination of the concept of cruelty and the internet culture that has
become a phenomenon why these cruel acts are being committed by various levels
of society from many countries. This is
all the more apparent where there exist a society or state that is violated,
where suffering and injustice committed upon its society and country can clearly
be seen, through the influence of the internet. This easily heightens
sympathetic emotions and brings to the fore feelings of wanting to help the
downtrodden factions with whatever methods for reasons of upholding justice.
In
the context of the nation of Singapore which is racially, culturally and
religiously diverse, everyone has a responsibility to ensure that continuous
peace and harmony is protected in the country. Every individual has a role to
play in this task, irrespective of religious or cultural backgrounds of their
races, Muslims being of no exception. Each individual is responsible to
safeguard the peace and harmony of the nation by ensuring that the cruel
ideology does not spread amongst the Muslim youths of this nation.
In
reality the youths in this country are easily influenced by this concept and
ideology because a majority of them do not receive a good education on the
basic foundations and teachings of Islam. A survey showed that only 40% from
amongst 108,000 youths from the ages of 5-17 receive a basic religious
education. This clearly shows that more than 60,000 youths in that group have
no opportunity to get a basic religious education to equip them in facing the
threat of radical ideologies from the internet and mass media that will shape
their way of thinking.
61Fighting Terrorism compiled by
Abdul Halim bin Kader : Men on a mission, Battling JI belief, spreading truth,
by Zakir Hussain, quoting : Love For Nation
62
http://www.todayonline.com/articles/207460print.asp
The
awareness of this issue by regional society’s leaders had led to the
organization of a conference titled, ` Progressive Islam and the State in
Contemporary Muslim Societies, from 7-8th March 2006, where Islamic
intellectuals from various nations present the working papers discussing
progressive types of Islam and the characteristics of the current Muslim
society in this multi racial nation. Many ideas, views and proposals were
discussed in this seminar that was attended by many local and world leaders of
various religions and backgrounds.
Since a long time ago, Islamic
scholars and leaders had realized this problem and had given emphasis on the
importance of instilling Islamic values in youths from when they are very young,
as described by a Malay proverb,` Melentur buloh biar dari rebungnya’, which means `Flexing bamboo while it’s still
a shoot’. Various determined efforts by Islamic instituitions and bodies were
and is being carried out to ensure every
youth has an opportunity to experience the basics of religious education. In
reality, however, there are still a lot to be done to overcome this problem as
the challenges are not only to teach religious basics but to also find the best
ways, methods and approaches to ensure that the Islamic characteristic and
identity instill in them corresponds accurately to the concept of a moderate
society, which isn’t too conservative or too liberal.
This is as decreed by Allah SWT in
Surah Al Baqarah, verse 143 which reads:
و كذلك جعلناكم أمة وسطا لتكونوا شهدآء
على الناس و يكون الرسل عليكم شهيدا
Which
means :` Thus have we made of you an ummah (Islamic society) justly balanced
that ye might be witnesses over the nations (deeds) and the Apostle (Muhammad
SAW) a witness over yourselves.’ (your deeds)
63
http://www.ntu.edu.sg/rsis/publications/conference_reports/ProgressIslamConference06.pdf
64http://www.darulmakmur.org/articles,note.pdf,
http://www.perdaus.org.sg/mgosh/data/ET/Overview-Pergas-Perdaus_.pdf,
65http://www.i-andalus.com/artikel/KertasKerjaWacana.pdf,
http://cyberita.asia1.com.sg/singapura/story/0,3617,102329,00.html
MUIS education plan
65 Al Baqarah ayat 143
66
http://ms.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberalisme,http://www.i-andalus.com/artikel/Kertas
Kerja Wacana.pdf
The
Islamic society is encouraged to be a just society in all aspects in whatever
actions to be taken. The characteristics of justice can exists and can only be
produced upon instilling noble Islamic values, with Islamic scholars and the
society working hand in hand and co-operate to shape an ideal Islamic community
by suitably and accurately providing a
noble Islamic education. With this co-operation the teaching and way of thought
of the society can be shaped based on a model that suits the situation and
condition of that society.
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