Qaisar Hamid Metawea Al-Madina The religious deterrent does exist in our society. It not only exists there but runs high. Almighty Allah should always be thanked and appreciated for this. However, through this very door, some people of devious thinking come and try to influence our society, especially the minds of its young members. They interpret verses of the Qur'an and use both strong and weak traditions attributed to the Prophet (peace be upon him) to serve their vested interests. Though most members of society condemn terrorist operations and refuse to join terrorist organizations, there are some people who prefer to keep silent on the actions and activities of these groups. You may also detect in the speech of these people an insinuation that the terrorists may be right, especially when their targets are non-Muslims or the followers of other Muslims sects. We have experienced a real dilemma after the end of the Afghan jihad, which gave birth to Al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda mushroomed in Afghanistan and grew to become an international terrorist network, threatening world peace and security. It declared a war on the Jews and the "crusaders". Some people, who themselves were not extremists, had expressed admiration for Al-Qaeda. They mistakenly believed that it was the strong shield of Islam and the tool that would restore the past glories of Muslims. After a little while, those who supported Al-Qaeda even by their hearts discovered that it was terrorist downright and not different from any other terrorist groups. They soon realized that Al-Qaeda was only after bloodshed, death and destruction in the name of Islam. They have finally become fully aware that Al-Qaeda has severely hurt Islam everywhere in the world and badly distorted its image. Today we have another terrorist organization that came out of Al-Qaeda's womb — Daesh. In a short time, Daesh has proved that it is more radicalized, dangerous and influential than Al-Qaeda, which is its biological mother. Daesh has a wider media and geographic presence. It claims that it has established a caliphate on the swathes of territories it seized from Iraq and Syria. This organization is also tampering with people's sentiments and playing with their yearning when they promise to restore the Islamic caliphate along with other majestic goals. Though Daesh has committed all sorts of disgusting crimes, some people are still defending it or at least abstaining from criticizing it. These people may not themselves be hardliners, members of Daesh or have any intention of joining the organization but they are skeptical because Daesh may, after all, turn out to be correct. This is the same problem that we faced with Al-Qaeda after the end of the Afghan jihad against the Soviets. Here lies the danger. Whenever a well-organized terrorist organization appears and raises some lofty slogans, we tend to believe it. We will not feel comfortable to openly criticize it even if we refuse to join it or publicly announce our support for it. This problem points to the need of increasing awareness in society about the dangers of terrorism and extremism. Nobody should be neutral on this issue. We have a tendency to strongly condemn a terrorist act if it is against the Sunni Muslims and we hesitate when it is against other sects. Terrorism against anyone, anytime and anywhere is terrorism. We should not have any confusion in this respect. The societal culture against terrorism is the responsibility of every member of society. There is no justification for terrorism or terrorist organizations. Regardless of their targets, terrorists remain terrorists. These killers can never be right.
