RECENTLY, a suicide bomber blew himself up near the Prophet's Mosque in Madinah, the second holiest place in Islam. The blast took place close to the Mosque's courtyard, and not far away from the grave of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). This act is the extreme point of madness on part of someone who has gone astray after being influenced by deviant ideologies. This grave crime was committed in the vicinity of one of the third holiest mosques in Islam. The other two mosques are the Grand Mosque in Makkah and Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. It is sheer madness to kill oneself as well as innocent people without any genuine reasons. It is also an extreme level of madness to target mosques in order to kill worshipers who gathered inside the mosque or its courtyards, seeking forgiveness and mercy from Almighty Allah as well as to perform religious rituals ordained by God. We saw the madness of terror at its peak when twin brothers killed their mother and critically wounded their father and brother in another horrific incident in Riyadh during the holy month of Ramadan. How can a son dare to kill his mother who carried him in her womb for nine months and raised him after having a painful delivery? She suffered hunger to feed him, spent sleepless night to have him sound sleep, and endured hardship to make him comfortable. When he grew up, he dared to kill her, claiming falsely that he is waging jihad (holy war) by carrying out vicious attacks even against father, mother and brother. There is nothing that allows these criminals to kill innocent people, whether the victims are their relatives or unrelated ones, including security men, with justifications that are acceptable only to criminals like them. What type of madness is this that drives some individuals to kill themselves and others, including even their parents, relatives and those who gather at mosques, seeking forgiveness from Almighty Allah? How did these people get brainwashed to embrace this deviant ideology, which was neither endorsed by any heavenly religion nor acceptable to any civilized people? Whether there are any local or international forces that are behind this brainwashing so as to incite them to commit horrendous crimes? Who are responsible for spreading and funding these deviant ideologies for perpetrating the crimes and madness exceeding all limits? Combating these types of terrorism, madness and crimes is not just the responsibility of security forces alone, it is the joint responsibility of the society as a whole. Of course, the security forces have made outstanding gains in fighting the scourge of terror. However, it is also a must for both citizens and expatriates to stand by the security forces in stamping out this menace, which makes no difference between men or women; one nation or the other; and relatives or unrelated people. The entire world in general, and the Arab world in particular, are reeling from terrorism as it unleashes anarchy, terrifying the innocent civilians. All these are being done in the name of the religion of Islam even though it has nothing to do with these people and their ideology. Hence, it is the duty of both citizens and expatriates to consider themselves as security men and inform about those who are spreading these deviant thoughts as well as those who sympathize with or glorify these extremists. Similar roles need to be played by teachers at schools, preachers in their sermons at mosques and traders at their shops. All segments of the society have to play a constructive role in isolating those who are pursuing deviant ideology, extremism and terrorism by falsely claiming that they are truly representing Islam. One can claim to be a Muslim only through strictly practicing the principles of Islam in all walks of life. This was the exemplary model of those who propagated Islam in the past. People came into the fold of Islam after having been attracted to the divine religion practiced by these propagators. Many non-Muslims in various parts of the world, especially in Southeast Asia, embraced Islam through their contacts with Arab traders who came to their regions not as propagators but simply as traders. These people saw the real model of Islam in these traders, especially their honesty and trustworthiness in commercial dealings. When these people came to realize that the honest behavior of these traders emanated from their religion, they came forward to embrace it. Terrorism targets not only a single nation or followers of a particular religion, it in fact poses a danger to all nations and is a threat to the entire humanity. As for Saudi Arabia, it is one of the countries that has been subjected to the horrors of terror when this scourge first emerged in the modern world. Also, the Kingdom is among the foremost countries that started combating terror and scoring decisive victories in stamping it out. It has called on the global community to form a strong front to combat terrorism. The Kingdom also proposed creation of a global center to carry out studies about the root causes of terror and drain its sources of funding. But unfortunately, the reaction of most of the countries to this call was not up to the mark, taking into consideration the gravity of this dangerous phenomenon. Despite of all this, the Kingdom has been exerting all efforts in combating terror, especially after this menace has spread even to the holy places, targeting those who gather at mosques, as well as at shops and public places. — Dr. Ali Al-Ghamdi is a former Saudi diplomat who specializes in Southeast Asian affairs. He can be reached at [email protected]
