All Muslims are terrorists.’ “Islam will destroy the
world.” “All the Muslims want to kill us.” What are we to make of these
political slogans? Is every person who calls out Allahu akbar intending to kill
people? Let’s take a step back and learn some facts.
Around the year 600 CE, the prophet Muhammad began spreading the principles of
Islam among pagans living in the Arabian Peninsula, but left the Jews and
Christians alone since they were considered Ahle-kitab, (people of the book),
who believed in one god. The Koran praises the Jews, calling them God’s first
choice, and the second chapter, verse 21-22, even says the Land of Israel was
given to the Jewish people and that the Jews must never leave the land. Of
course, you’ll never hear any ISIS or Hamas leader quoting this verse.
In its early days, Islam suffered from a number of internal conflicts, but the
main rift took place in 632 CE when Muhammad died without having appointed a
successor, and two groups split over whether its next leader should be chosen
democratically, or Muhammad’s relatives should rule.
The Shi’ites believed that Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law Ali was chosen by
Allah to rule, whereas the Sunnis believed Muhammad’s friend and adviser Abu
Bakr was the Muslims’ rightful caliph. Following the Sunnis’ victory, the
Shi’ites split off and settled in northern Saudi Arabia and what is today Iran
and Iraq. The hatred between these two groups has become even more extreme than
their hatred of the Jews; a great example of this is the long-standing war
between Hezbollah and ISIS.
The common denominator between these radical Muslim groups is their desire to
establish a religious Islamic caliphate throughout the Middle East. From their
point of view, all the countries in the region are the enemy – Jews and Muslims
alike (but the Muslims first and foremost). ISIS claims it has branches all
across the Middle East and Africa, whose goal is to overthrow existing regimes
and establish a caliphate in their place.
But we should stick to the facts. At its height, ISIS numbered over 25,000
fighters in Iraq and Syria, plus thousands more in Boko Haram in Africa and in
Islamic State groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
According to current estimates, Hamas has 15,000 to 20,000 fighters in its
ranks, as well as tens of thousands of supporters.
In the Shia camp, Hezbollah has about 35,000 regular and reserves fighters and
has a circle of support made up by tens of thousands of volunteers. If we add
up all these figures, we end up with hundreds of thousands of radical Muslim
terrorists who operate throughout the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, plus quite
a large number of supporters.
There are more than 1.5 billion Muslims in the world. Yet, less than 0.01% of
them are actively involved in terrorism, and a little less than 0.1% of them support
terrorist organizations.
And according to all data available, a maximum of 10% of Muslims support the
religious struggle to obliterate all other religions and install an Islamic
caliphate throughout the entire planet.
So how
did we arrive at the point where people all around the world are impacted so
greatly and live in such fear? The surprising answer to this question lies
in the West, where people support democratic and pluralistic regimes. In
universal justice and laws, in freedom and human rights. Islamic terrorists
don’t care about any of these ideals, and when Western leaders display
weakness, are fearful of using military might, and obey strict international
laws regarding military actions and punishing terrorists, this only serves to
encourage terrorist organizations.
They are only concerned about their own survival, and not about the future of
the world. In this fashion, ISIS has operated unhindered for years now. Boko
Haram has murdered tens of thousands of people in Africa without anyone batting
an eye. And this is how Hamas has remained in power all these years despite its
reign of terror. And thus the Western world sits powerless in the face of these
terrorist organizations.
This situation is not irreversible, but it does require a change in mindset
and an internalization of the reality, especially among EU countries. There
needs to be cooperation by world leaders if we are to take back control from
this relatively small number of terrorists who are wreaking havoc on civilians
the world over.
Making a successful change would involve:-
- - imposing emergency regulations in
Western countries,
- - carrying out legislative changes
that would enable security and intelligence forces to do their jobs properly.
-
Western militaries must engage in
action without fearing legal restrictions. Intelligence gathering agencies must
share intel and carry out preventive actions that would neutralize terrorist
cells. All of this activity must be backed by international law enforcement
agencies.
We
must understand that we will not survive unless we follow the proverb “When in
Rome, do as the Romans do.” Since we live in a jungle, we must begin behaving
like the savage tribes that live there. Otherwise, we will soon find ourselves
turning into fodder for these murderous tribes.
It’s clear that Islam as a religion is not the problem, but only terrorists and
leaders who are acting in the name of Islam. This threat has not taken over the
world yet, but if we ignore what’s happening in front of our eyes and let more
and more countries around the world crumple under radical Islam’s influence,
the situation will continue to worsen significantly. We can’t let that happen.