Answer
Salam (Peace) Dear Norman,
Thank you for your question and for contacting Ask About Islam.
Islam does not believe in killing the infidels; rather it believes in conveying the “message of peace.” The word “Islam” itself is derived from the Arabic word ‘salam‘ which means peace.
Thus, the word that stands for the religion of God, Islam, it means the peace that can be attained in this life and in the life to come through submitting to God’s will. Islam believes that all the prophets taught this very same idea of submitting to one God.
If Islam was simply killing and terrorizing, how could it ever become a world religion, if one man in Makkah originally preached it? Do you think that force can spread a religion and make it survive the vicissitudes of fourteen centuries?
Right at this moment, in spite of all the hostile propaganda unleashed against Islam, it is the fastest growing religion, a fact acknowledged by friends and foes alike.
You need to refer to the original sources of Islam, in order to know what it really is. The stereotypes, presented by the media about Islam, which might really be misleading, simply affect so many people.
In fact, others than those whom were charged by the crime could have been behind the September 11th attacks. This is if the evidence is ever exhaustively examined. Note that al-Qaeda is still considered the “prime suspect”. Still, the media is at the disposal of forces, least interested in the truth.
Please consider the following facts, before you judge:
1. The Washington Post reported that a number of U.S. commentators, including former CIA Director R. James Woolsey, have argued that the sophistication of the attacks required sponsorship beyond the logistical capabilities of Bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network and that, more scrutiny must be given to other involvements.
2. On September 20th, the FBI said that it had doubts about the identities of some of the hijackers. On the very same day, President George Bush said, “We know exactly who these people are and which governments are supporting them.” It sounds as though the president knew something that the FBI and the American public didn’t.
3. It is indeed a bit preposterous to believe that the man living in the stone age conditions, in the mountain caves of Afghanistan, masterminded or managed the September 11th attacks, from over there by remote control.
4. It is said that the US has no dearth of enemies, so please read the following quote about September 11th:
“… it could have been well signed by the ghosts of the victims of America’s old wars. These are the millions killed in Korea, Vietnam and Cambodia, the 17,500 killed when Israel – backed by the US – invaded Lebanon in 1982, the 200,000 Iraqis killed in Operation Desert Storm, the thousands of Palestinians who have died fighting Israel’s occupation of the West Bank. Let alone the millions who died, in Yugoslavia, Somalia, Haiti, Chile, Nicaragua, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, Panama, at the hands of terrorists and dictators in numerous genocides, supported by the American government, which trained, bankrolled and supplied them with arms. This is actually far from being a comprehensive list.” (Arundhati Roy: “The Algebra of Infinite Justice”, September 29, 2001 – The Guardian)
For the above reasons, to pin the attacks on Islam is untenable. Even if some Muslims were involved in those attacks, this is no reason to blame Islam. It is exactly as we cannot blame Christianity for the attacks on innocent men, women and children in Afghanistan.
Someone recently said that if Osama bin Laden did not exist, America would have invented him. Still, in a way, America did invent him. He was among the mujahideen who moved to Afghanistan in 1979, when the CIA commenced its operations there. Bin Laden has the distinction of being created by the CIA and being wanted by the FBI.
In the course of a fortnight after the attacks, he was promoted from suspect to prime suspect and then, despite the lack of any real evidence, straight up the charts to being “wanted dead or alive”.
Bush declared that the reason for attacking Afghanistan was that the Taliban did not hand over Osama to him; and they had demanded evidence, still Bush treated that reasonable demand with disdain. At the time, Bush said that getting one man (Osama) cannot be a reason for this war, yet the war must continue. As for “the civilized world” that supported Bush’s war, it doesn’t see anything wrong in that.
Well.. Norman, I am not sure if these points would help realize who exactly believes in killing infidels and who is being really killed. I hope some of these points would serve as some keys for you to start searching by your self for the real truth.
Salam and please keep in touch.