Light of Peace

Today, many non-Muslims regard Islam as a religion that promotes violence, terrorism and war. Unfortunately, they rely in their view of Islam on the general media, which is not always accurate in reporting the news. Many media outlets, such as TV, radio, newspapers and magazines, are influenced by their investors or owners who have certain agendas and who want to promote certain values and points of view. Other media outlets are simply after the "big story", in order to make more money and more profits. Others are simply "followers", who only gather news from other sources, re-package it and try to sell it again purely as a business.

In all these cases, the news reporting is not accurate, but is driven by ulterior motives or simply by profits. Only very few media organizations are committed to providing accurate and true information, regardless of financial gain. Therefore, people today should be very careful in what they take from the media.

Before blindly accepting what the TV, radio or newspaper is reporting, one should think critically about what is being reported. Is this being reported accurately, or is it being exaggerated or even completely fabricated? Who are these people reporting the news, and do they have vested interests to report the story in a certain way, or are they completely objective and fair? Critical thinking is very important in all aspects of life, especially when it comes to accepting the media reports about important and controversial issues.

'Jihad' as Seen in the Backdrop of Crusades

No concept of Islam has been misunderstood and badly exploited against Islam itself than the concept of ‘Jihad’. This concept has been so badly distorted in the West that its true meanings have now become almost impossible to be explained to the people, particularly the youth. They have been continuously told through all sorts of media campaigns that ‘Jihad’ in Islam is nothing but sheer barbarism and an aggressive and indiscriminate use of brute force against the non Muslims Islam has been portrayed as a bunch of savage hoards, waving weapons of destruction whose mission is to wipe out the non Muslim populations, spill blood shed and enforce their own faith and beliefs with totalitarian authority. A Muslim is depicted as a person who is totally hostile to the human knowledge, is allergic to science and technology and is not ready to listen to any arguments based on logic and reasoning. A Muslim, according to the propagandists, is a rigid person with primitive and outdated beliefs and cannot be accommodated in the modern society.

The question arises; then why so much of hue and cry against Jihad? In order to understand the correct reason we may go back in history. The jihad phobia has been haunting the non Muslims, particularly the Christians since the days of the Crusades. The Crusades were an unnecessary series of wars between Muslims and Christian that could have been avoided with little diplomacy and patience. These wars were primarily fought for the occupation of the ‘sacred land’ of Palestine along with the city of Jerusalem. This land is historically considered as sacred by Muslims, Christians and the Jews, and hence all of them wanted to occupy it. Since Jews were a non entity in the days of the crusades, the decisive battles were therefore fought between the Muslims and the Christians.

In the Crusades the Christians remained the over all losers. They could not digest this defeat easily and the fighting spirit of Muslims kept haunting them through ages. After lots of studies the Christians came to the conclusion that they may never be able to defeat the Muslims till the time the spirit of jihad is alive in the Muslims. Hence a well planned and a coordinated campaign was started by the Christians to undermine the concept of jihad. The term, ‘militant Islam’, which has been in vogue in the world press for many decades and now war on terror has revitalized the same phobia, is easy to comprehend. All this is a follow-up of the same mind set to the fundamental concept of Islam and a continuation of the old Jihad’ phobia of the non-Muslims. The after-affects of the Crusades, which badly affected the relations between the Muslims and the Christians, still linger on. Some of the elements in the western countries with predominant Christian population, who do not want cordial relations with the Muslims due to their own vested interests, are still smarting under the defeat in Crusades. They have, therefore, tried all sorts of means to eliminate the spirit of Jihad from amongst the Muslims, as it was this spirit that reduced their designs to dust. Through malicious propaganda campaigns, distortion of the true concept of Jihad and labeling of Muslims as barbarous killers and usurpers, they have portrayed a horribly ugly picture of Islam in the eyes of the world.

Need to Redefine the Mutual Relationship

We have traveled through many centuries since the days of the Crusades. Neither the West now have the Christian kingdoms and states of the medieval era of knighthood, nor are the today’s Muslim countries oriented towards the conquest of foreign lands. With Israel now occupying the sacred land of Palestine and Jerusalem, the geo-political scenario has totally changed in the 21^st century. In the present era of enlightenment and science and technology, there is a need that we all, the Muslims, the Christians and even the Jews, should leave behind the times of mutual hatred and redefine the relationships based on better understanding and peaceful co-existence. Since the present day Christian nations comprise the most developed and advanced countries of the world, it is high time that they should come out of the old (and wrong) notions about the concept of jihad. On the contrary Muslim countries are still in developing stage and hence are on the receiving end, more responsibility lies with the Western nations to take this initiative and foster this new relationship.