Lutfblogs: What do you imagine the front line against Islamist extremism looks like?
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| Will this war fix anything? Image courtesy Stars and Stripes. |
Does it comprise of NATO led troops, security agencies and hired guns fighting against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan?
Or is it the Iraqi and Kurdish military forces retreating against the
rising tide of the Salafist terrorists in the Middle-East?
rising tide of the Salafist terrorists in the Middle-East?
Is it the unmanned drones raining fire upon the militant hideouts in tribal Pakistan or in far-flung areas of the Yemen? Or is it yet another battlefield getting ready in Sub-Saharan Africa?
What if I told you that none of the above have anything to do with fighting extremism. These wars have everything to do with the world economy and its dependence on oil and arms trade.
But the righteous soldiers who fight the real war are not armed with any weapons. Most of them haven’t committed a single violent act in their lives. And another thing, bad guys don’t die in this war. Good guys do.
Three of its latest casualties were a 60 years old lady, a 7 years old girl and an 8 months old baby. They all died fighting the good fight against a blood thirsty mob in a city called Gujranwala, in Pakistan. The mob, charged in religious frenzy, angered by the false accusation of blasphemy torched the houses of Ahmadi Muslims and in the process, killed three of them.
The War has been on for over a hundred years. Since then, the world has seen cycles of pointless destruction the latest of which is being conducted in the guise of ‘war on terror’. This senseless violence is bringing us closer to a nuclear apocalypse.
The only way to save the world is to join the real struggle. The quest for Absolute Justice. The real Jihad to reform ourselves to change the world around us, one person at a time. I know it is cliched and perhaps too boring for those who wish to see the good triumph against evil in a fairytale fashion.
But for those who join the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community find themselves pitched against all forms of adversity on a daily basis.
From Abdul Lateef, who stood buried waist deep in a Kabul square in 1902, telling his executors that he will never renounce his belief in the Living God; to 7 year old Hira Tabassum, who recited the Kalima while she choked to death in the toxic smoke of her burning home in Gujranwala, hundreds have laid down their lives for this cause.
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| The Gujranwala mob: Dancing and celebrating after murdering two little girls and their grandmother. Courtesy: Dawn.com |
Ahmadiyya Muslims believe in true Islamic teachings of freedom of concience, thought and speech. They understand Quran and the Islamic tradition through the prophetic guidance of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who claimed to be the Divinely Guided Imam Mahdi who will reform the world.
The Real War Against Islamist Extremism, or any extremism will pick up momentum if people of all faiths will get together on some simple few principles of truth, compassion, and peace through justice. The Hindus and Christians and Jews and other good people should study the Ahmadiyah Muslim teachings to kelp save the world from discomfort and destruction.