Extremism, Terrorism and Religions

A mosque housing nearly Protected content who were saying their Friday prayers was attacked by a suicide-bomber, killing 70 and crippling 125. The reaction of the political agent of Khyber was that “the attackers could not be Muslims because Muslims would never attack a mosque and that a Muslim would never spill the blood of a Muslim, especially when he was saying his namaz”. This statement flies against the worldwide evidence of Muslims at sectarian and national war with and against each other in many different places and at different times in history. Most regrettably, the conclusion thereafter drawn by some TV anchors was that a “foreign” non-Muslim power had staged the attack to destabilise Pakistan. Of course, one can only read “India” into this allegation, which is not very original.

The political agent said something else of interest without making the necessary connections himself, possibly for reasons of simplicity of mind or just fear. He said the attack came because the mosque was next to the checkpost of Baghiari and that among the people killed were many “khasadars”, or local levies, standing guard at the checkpost, a number of whom had been killed in the attack while praying. Later, a government official, who was less opaque about what had happened, clearly accused the Taliban of having done the job in retaliation against a recent operation by the khasadars and other security personnel targeting a militant group in Khyber that owed allegiance to Baitullah Mehsud, the self-proclaimed leader of the Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan.

When Pakistanis say that “Muslims can’t do this or that” in or out of Pakistan, they are being hypocritical. There are all sorts of Muslims, moderates and extremists, Sufis and Wahabis, and so on. The fact also is that some sorts of Muslims have been killing other sorts of Muslims from Algeria to Iraq to Afghanistan and Pakistan for the past two decades. They dynamite sacred mausoleums, they blow up mosques and routinely kill other Muslims in the act of praying. What is happening in Pakistan today is serious violence against the state of Pakistan by local warlords who are affiliated with the Taliban who in turn are linked up with Al Qaeda. We may have weak resolve to take on the enemy but there is no validity in the assertion that we don’t know who is killing us. (

Terrorist has no religion

Holy war, suicide bombings, fighting for faith, and killing in the name of God — from Crusaders to terrorists, from sacred shrines to New York City, history is tainted by a grave disease afflicting humankind. While all the known religions of the world call for LOVE, PEACE, TOLERANCE, FREEDOM OF BELIEF AND MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING, many of the terrorists’ acts are committed in this world by people who call themselves religious, and attribute their horrendous and evil acts to the religion. However, God condemns their acts in the scripture. The true religion of Islam forbids the killing of innocent people, irrespective of the cause—religious, political or social beliefs. This is stated in the Quran, the holy book of Muslims.
[Quran 6:151] “...You shall not kill — GOD has made life sacred — except in the course of justice. These are His commandments to you, that you may understand
The religion of Islam should not be confused with what these terrorists have done. The terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaida who kill innocent people are actually, by the definition of the Quran, not Muslims, but plain murderers. Who would like to describe Hitler or the likes of Ku Klux Klan There is no religious scripture that does not condemn terrorism. Every righteous person in any religion would condemn such actions regardless of terrorist’s race, country or religious background

Mehtab Qureshi