Islam against extremism and terrorism
In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Bestower of Mercy.
Our Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was sent as a mercy to mankind; he taught us to fulfil the rights of our creator, Allah, through gratitude and worship, and fulfil the rights of creation through goodness, service and preventing harm.
Muslims are encouraged to be charitable and helpful members of their community, so-much-so that even removing a harmful object from the path is considered to be a charity. The Prophet ﷺ said, “Verily, your smile in the face of your brother is charity. Lifting harming things from the road is recorded for you as charity. Pouring your leftovers in the vessel of your brother is charity. Enjoining good and forbidding evil is your charity. Guiding a lost person is charity.”
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said. “Let a man support his brother whether he is oppressing or being oppressed. If he is oppressing others, then stop him, for that is supporting him. If he is being oppressed, then support him.” [Sahih Muslim].
Islam strongly forbids the violation of any innocent soul, irrespective of faith, colour and ethnicity. The Prophet ﷺ severely forbade extremism when he said, “Beware of extremism in religion, for those before you underwent destruction for their being extremist in religion.”
Terrorist organisations
Groups such as al-Qaeda, ISIS, Boko Ḥarām and al-Shabāb are extremist, terrorist and a modern manifestations of an ancient radical sect who expelled the companions of the Prophet Muḥammad (peace be upon him) from Islām, revolted against them and assassinated two of the first four caliphs of Islām – ʿUthmān and ʿAlī. Both were sons-in-law of the Prophet and from the best and most righteous of the Muslims. These renegades also attempted to assassinate Muʿāwiyah and ʿAmr bin al-Āṣ, another two companions who were delegated rulers over Syria and Egypt respectively.
The appearance of this group was prophesised by Muḥammad (peace be upon him) and the Prophetic traditions regarding them and their traits are well-documented and famous. They appeared only 25 years after the Prophet. The Prophet stated that they will be youthful and foolish-minded, with little understanding of the religion, having outward devotion which does not really touch their hearts at all, and will depart from Islām and kill Muslims. They were labelled as the Khārijites, which means “extremist renegades” who depart from the main body of Muslims.
Their ideology is as follows: They excommunicate the Muslim leaders on account of perceived or actual injustices in social and economic affairs, accusing them of not judging fully by God’s law. They then claim that the lands ruled over by these ‘apostate’ Muslim rulers are lands of disbelief whose inhabitants, rulers and ruled, must be fought and killed to enable them to establish “legitimate authority” in the form of a caliphate. Their terrorism is now directed at Muslims and Non-Muslims.
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