Islam vs Terror ........... ................ ( 2001 )

I want to thank The Times of India for carrying a detailed interview with All India Muslim Personal Law Board President Qazi Mujahidul Islam who presented Islam in its true meaning and motto and rightly distanced it from the terrorist attacks of 11th September and from those responsible. Whether this kind of acts in the name of Islam serves any purpose or not, it surely does great harm to Islam itself.

Notwithstanding the anger of the muslims over America's role in West Asian wars and territorial conflicts, Islam would never approve of attacking from behind and killing unarmed civilians. Islamic history is the witness of this fact. Right from the Prophet and his Caliphs in the early days of Islam in Arab to Salahuddin Ayyubi in 11th century Jerusalem and Shah Waliyullah, Ahmed Shaheed Barelvi, Qasim Nanautwi and Rasheed Ahmed Gangohi in pre-1857 India, they always first united the muslims, prepared the military forces and then fought a declared war. Suicide squad has never been a part of Islamic holy war. In fact, in the 12th century when this mode of attack was started by Hassan Al Sabah - an ismaili shia'ite, Imam Ghazaali, one of the great theologians, had warned the
muslims of this menace.

But what is the root cause of terrorism in the first place? The Qazi himself hinted the answer only next day of the attacks when he reacted by saying: "yeh to uuper ka zakhm hai, kharabi to khoon main hai." It's time that US looks into its foreign policies and behaves impartially while playing big brother in settling the international disputes.

A Case of Death Sentence for Rapists

Death sentence is the most just punishment for the rapists for two simple reasons: the victim can live rest of her life with hope and faith in the society; second, it is the only deterrence for the to-be rapists. But, like other crimes which have death sentences, rape is to be defined and proven not only from forensic point of view but also from other social, psychological and circumstantial aspects. The very notion that rape is generally revenge-driven is to be changed to a wider observation: the rapists and victims are mostly not rivals of each other in any sense. Rather they are either acquainted or totally unknown to each other. The neighbors and friends may be examples of the former category whereas militants, men-in-uniform, dacoits and rioters are much known examples of the latter.

Hence, we can say that rapists are generally opportunists and the victims are in physically and/or emotionally weaker position. Rapes are generally not executed with planning and never for a bigger objective unlike other death-related crimes of robbery, assassination, murders, riots or trait. What is the motive, then? In most cases, it is the fulfillment of sexual requirement or sexual indulgence induced by alcohol or drugs. That’s why, I think, the culprit is generally a male aged between 16 to 60 and the victim is a female aged between 14 to 40. Even the cases where the victim is a child (girl/boy) or an eunuch are only supporting the theory that the crime of rape is opportunity-driven and mostly for sexual satisfaction.

But, if death and trauma will become results of these crimes then we have to follow the simple rules sustainable peace in the society: ‘prevention is better than cure’ and ‘be vigilant, avoid wars’. Protectionism is practiced only when there is Regulationism. For example, Islamic regulatory rules (like VEIL, NO ALCOHOL, NO MAN-WOMAN MIXING) make women least vulnerable and the culprit gets most strict punishment, in case he offends women by daring all her preventive barriers. Without any regulations, capital punishment is an injustice to men.