The issue of terrorism is considered to be a great challenge in the present era. Terrorists are threatening all humanity without any reason and today we see that they even attack ordinary civilians as well.
In addition to the threats that terrorists pose to global security, it can be claimed that the current terrorism crisis has created additional problems and challenges for Muslims. This is due to the fact that, enemies of Islam, who have always looked for an excuse to annihilate Islam, which they assume as an obstacle on their way to their purposes, have now found the best way of doing so through Islamophobia and the issue of terrorism. This is while, unfortunately, a small extremist and dogmatic group of people, including the Wahhabis and Takfiri groups, who know nothing of Islam at all, provide the enemies with proper excuse to add fuel to the flames of Islamophobia.
Thus, in order to come up with the best ways out of the terrorism crisis, it is necessary to make use of the insightful views of great religious authorities including those of Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi regarding the ways of dealing with violence and extremism which is spread by the Takfiri terrorists. What follows is an overview of his eminence’s views on how to eradicate terrorism.
The necessity of exposing the duplicity of the West regarding the “war on terror”
In today’s world, terms such as “fighting terrorism” originally used to refer to a noble cause, are exploited by tyrants and unjust rulers and heads of states, who pursue their own sinister agenda through them hence, those among them who are more adept in the distortion of facts and mischievous plots will be more successful in achieving their sinister goals. Such a situation has created a heavy responsibility for true Muslim scholars and the pious religious authorities to enlighten the people and raise public awareness regarding the severity of the situation they live in. This way, the tyrants and their puppets, the terrorist groups, will not be able to exploit noble terms and noble causes as a cover under which to pursue their own evil plots and secure the foundations of their authoritarian regimes.
Moreover, it is now a known fact that the enemies of Islam, headed by the US and Israel, are seeking to fuel the flames of religious and sectarian war among Muslims by secretly supporting such terrorist groups and their atrocities. What is most astonishing is that the true supporters of terrorism constantly lie about their own agenda and accuse other countries of supporting terrorism. An example is the US president who has on several occasions called Iran the greatest supporter of terrorism! Such heinous lies are being told while it is a known fact that Iran has been a victim of terrorism for many decades and is most serious in fighting it.
Indeed, such lying has made the Western states lose their credibility even with their friends and allies. It is now a known fact that some of these Western states are responsible for creating terrorist and Takfiri groups such as the ISIL, and also for supporting them. Terrorist groups such as ISIL are, as reliable sources of information indicate, not very high in number, yet they are being fully supported and were it not for such support, it would not be so difficult to eradicate them.
Perhaps the most interesting, yet unbelievable, issue in this regard is that the founders and the creators of these terrorist groups are now condemning their atrocities and crimes, which is to say that they are, in fact, condemning themselves. For instance, the United States sends agents to train these terrorists in Syria and Iraq and Saudi Arabia and some other states in the region provide them with financial support and armament. Similarly, Israel fully supports these terrorists and Turkey buys the oil that they steal from fields in Syria and Iraq, hence, it provides them with a good financial support. Now if such support was not given to them, the ISIL and other similar Takfiri terrorist group would not be able to live on.
Therefore, considering their duplicity regarding the “fight on terror” and their exploitation of terrorism wherever it serves their interests, the Europeans are no longer to be trusted in matters related to fighting terrorism, as they do whatever they like without any regard for other people and their interests.
One of the means with which this key challenge of today’s world can be overcome is the mass media. Thus, the mass media must be employed and their networks must be strengthened. We can see that, though at the time being Iran is the most serious country in fighting terrorism in the world, the imperialist powers are making every effort through their propaganda in their mass media to depict Iran as a country which supports terrorism.
Therefore, if Muslim people are able to establish powerful media with vast coverage and network, they will be able to enlighten the public opinion of the international community, hence to expose the untrue nature of the propaganda by the enemies of Islam.
The necessity of opposing the blatant “good terrorist/bad terrorist” strategy
Indeed, by dividing the issue of terrorism in to two poles, calling those terrorists who serve their interests “good terrorists” and anyone else who opposes their interests “bad terrorists”, the criminal heads of the US government are pursuing their agenda everywhere in the world, bringing destruction and ruin for the people of the world. They even go as far as totally disregarding the resolutions of the Security Council and those of the general assembly of the UN, stating, rather flagrantly, that they would do whatever they deem fit to support their interests in the world even if they are in violation of UN resolutions! They further shamelessly state that it is their interests which determine who is a terrorist and who is not, and so based on this arrogant conduct, they have called those countries, which oppose their policies “axis of evil” and others that support them their allies!
For instance, the resistance movement of Hezbollah in Lebanon is labeled as a terrorist group because of defending the sovereignty of their country against the occupation of Israel. However, the blood thirsty terrorists in Syria who are guilty of such war crimes as massacring huge numbers of civilians, including women and children, bombing and destroying hospitals, mosques and academic centers, and laying waste to the people’s homes in Syria are not only not considered to be terrorists, but they are to receive more support and arms!
It is through their preposterous justifications that the Americans have supported terrorist groups like MKO and allows them to even travel and live in America with ease. Thus, it should be realized that the Americans seek their own interests in anything, and they have never been much serious in fighting terrorism and issues such as human rights are only political means in their hands with which to pursue their agenda. Therefore, they might even grant political asylum to the famous heads of the terrorists in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan if they believe this serves their interests.
However, in spite of all the Western and Zionist propaganda, the truth will be uncovered and history will judge them all, and states like the US and its regional allies such as the Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Qatar, that have supported the terrorists will, no doubt, be condemned.
Resistance: the key to conquering and exterminating terrorism
Indeed the US and other Western governments seek to overthrow the legitimate Syrian government through supporting terrorism in Syria. They need to do that so as to carry on with their plan of disintegrating Syria and weakening the resistance against Israel. Therefore, instead of entering the war themselves, as they used to do, they have conspired to provoke the Muslim people to fight each other, then imported terrorists to Syria to fight their war, so that the attention of Muslims is diverted away from the atrocities Israel is committing in Palestine towards themselves.
Thus, the best way of fighting this hostile strategy that the Western powers pursue is the one adopted by Iran, Syria, Iraq and Hezbollah, i.e. the strategy of resistance.
Rejection of Takfir, the only way of repelling terrorism
Unfortunately, the heinous and evil phenomenon of Takfir (excommunication) is the inauspicious product of the Wahhabi and Salafi interpretation of Islam, which has planted the seeds of violence in the minds of many people in the world and has provided the enemies of Islam with the excuse to promote Islamophobia in the world and depict Muslim people in many countries as a number of savage killers! Surely the adverse propaganda of the Americans and the Zionists has been quite helpful in this regard! However, this is all while the true Islam is, and has ever been, a religion of peace, justice and love.
Therefore, the Takfiri terrorists, who have plagued the world of humanity, are merely savage terrorists no matter what their nationality or religion is. This is a danger that we have been warning the world about for years. Thus, the ISIL terrorist group should be considered as the legitimate child of extremist Wahabism, and so first their underlying Takfiri school of thought must be scientifically eradicated before the group itself is dealt with.
The Saudis, who claim to publish the highest number of Qurans in the world, must be asked that how much of the contents and the teachings of the Quran they truly practice; they must tell the world how they justify the contradiction between their acts of supporting the terrorists, who have spilled the blood of countless innocent Muslims, and the teachings of the Quran which strictly ban the killing of innocent people.
How can you justify the act of supporting some blood thirsty and atrocious terrorists who are alien to Islam and humanity and who are attacking people in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and other Muslim countries and spill the blood of innocent people at will?
These terrorists are a group of savage, murderous criminals who have broken every single rule of Islam and, indeed, this terrorism crisis has, by no means, been originated from Shiite and Sunnite convictions; rather, the Takfiri terrorism is the ominous fruit of the extremist Wahhabi school of thought.
Thus, the origins of all the atrocities and crimes committed by Takfiri terrorists can be found in Wahhabism. I remember that once someone brought me the textbooks that are taught in the high schools of Saudi Arabia and I saw that in those books it was explicitly taught to the students that those who visit the tombs of the dead are pagans, hence, it is permissible to kill them and take away all their properties and that this can be done to anyone who visits the tombs of the dead, whether Shiites or Sunnites, because Sunnite Muslims also visit the tombs of the dead. Thus, the Saudi regime must answer the contradiction in their actions, as they condemn the Takfiri terrorists while their high school textbooks are filled with Takfiri teachings!
Therefore, we advise them to close down their evil seminary schools where they teach such evil Takfiri teachings and spread Takfir and terror all over the world.
Indeed, the ISIL and the Al-Nusrah terrorists, who are slaughtering innocent Muslims everywhere, are the evil fruits of the evil Wahhabi school of thought.
The indispensable role of Muslim scholars in fighting terrorism
Needless to say, that the existence of ISIL terrorists serves the interests of the US and other western powers and, quite naturally, they will not exterminate something that serves their interests. However, Muslim scholars can help exterminate these terrorists by refuting the intellectual foundations and basic teachings of Takfirism which will make it extremely difficult for the Takfiri terrorist groups to carry on their recruitment of new members.
Thus, this calls for an organized attempt on the part of all Muslim scholars to systematically criticize and disprove the weak foundations of the convictions of the Takfiri terrorists, which is to say, to criticize and refute the evil teachings of Wahhabism. This way, it can be proven that these beliefs and teachings have nothing to do, whatsoever, with Islam and the Quran.
How much longer do Muslim scholars intend to remain silent and just watch that these atrocious terrorists are introduced to the world as the representatives of Islam, and Islam is depicted as “the religion of violence”? How much longer do they want to remain silent and just watch, as Islam and Muslims are defamed and the true teachings and culture of Islam, which is the religion of affection and kindness, are concealed? The time has come for a council of great Muslim religious authorities to be established so that they can find a solution to this problem.
If there are still people who are naive enough to assume that the target of the Takfiri terrorism is only Shiite Muslims, they should think again, since the truth of the atrocities committed by these terrorist groups in Iraq, Syria, and elsewhere has clearly proven that they indiscriminately kill everyone, whether Shiite or Sunnite. Thus, we should be worried, as these terrorist groups and those who support them are planning to commit so much crime in the name of Islam that one day all the people of the world recognize Islam as synonymous with terror.
Obviously, had it not been for the wise decisions of the Shiite religious authorities and the staunch and sincere support given by the Islamic Republic of Iran to the people of Iraq and Syria, who knows what would have happened to these two countries? It was the fatwas of the Shiite religious authorities and the support given by the Islamic Republic of Iran to the people of these two countries that stopped the Takfiri terrorists from advancing and destroying these two countries city by city. Moreover, the Sunnite scholars and religious authorities have also renounced all these terrorists and have clearly declared them not to be Muslims at all. However, it is the Wahhabi scholars who have disgraced and dishonored themselves by their contradictory statements and assertions about the Takfiri terrorism. Thus, they are advised to think wisely and protect their honor and dignity by publicly repudiating extremism and Takfirism.
Indeed, history will condemn all the terrorists who bring death and destruction on the innocent people of Syria, as it will condemn scholars like Qaradawi who have turned a blind eye on the reality.
Then, there is the contradiction in the words and deeds of Wahhabi scholars who, on the one hand, hold conferences in which they repudiated Takfirism, so as to renounce ISIL terrorists and deny any link with them, and on the other, they issue fatwas in which they authorize the slaughter of innocent Muslims in Yemen and they go so far as to allow the grand mufti of Saudi Arabia issue a fatwa and excommunicate the people of Yemen and call them unbelievers! It is rather strange that these individuals, who call themselves religious authorities, neglect the roots of this terrorism crisis and merely condemn what is but the superficial surface of the problem. Those who add fuel to the flames of Takfirism and terrorism must know that it is a fire that will not be confined in one place and will one day devour its creators as well.
Unity of the Muslim Ummah, an essential factor in fighting terrorism
The unity of the Muslim people is an essential factor in fighting terrorism. Islam is strictly against terrorism and so based on the teachings of Islam terrorist attacks are to be condemned wherever they are carried out. Indeed, the inauspicious phenomenon of terrorism is totally against the teachings of Islam and neither has Islam ever taken sides with these Takfiri terrorists, nor have these terrorists ever had any regard at all for the laws and the teachings of Islam.
Therefore, Islam condemns terror of any kind and against all the people. The fact that various conferences have been held to repudiate Takfirism and terrorism in the holy city of Qom in Iran and in various other Muslim countries including Egypt and Syria clearly shows that ISIL have nothing to do with Islam. Thus, the Muslim Ummah must be awakened and they must be united, for it is through such unity that we will be able to exterminate the Takfiris and terrorists. However, despite all these efforts, there are still some Muslim states that fully support the terrorists.
The cessation of the West’s support for violence and terrorism the essential factor in exterminating terrorism
Unfortunately, it is because some of the Muslim and Arab states, along with the so-called western proponents of Human Rights including the US and Israel, provide terrorist groups with aid and support that we are witnessing so many atrocities and horrific crimes being committed in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and many other countries.
It is now a known fact that the ISIL terrorist group is being practically supported by money from Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and by arms they receive from Israel, the US and other western powers delivered to them through Turkey, which also provides ISIL and other terrorist groups with anything else that they need!
Thus, those so-called proponents of Human Rights must be held accountable now for their support for terrorism. They must be told that they need not form an alliance to fight ISIL, and that the only thing they need to do is to stop giving ISIL terrorists support and leave us alone in fighting and exterminating them. There is no doubt that, if these terrorist groups do not receive support, they will not last even for a month and they can be eradicated easily afterwards.
We hope that the westerners and other states in the region that provide these terrorists with support and equipment, would come back to their senses and stop their support for terrorism, because so long as they air-d r o p arms and supplies for these terrorists, these terrorists cannot be effectively exterminated.
The necessity of a pervasive condemnation of terrorism by the whole international community
When terrorism becomes a common means for some countries to secure their interests with and when they support it in their media by calling it “good-terrorism” other states will also be tempted to do the same. There are radicals everywhere, hence, once they realize that they can utilize terrorism as a means with which to support their interests, no one will be safe from terrorism anywhere in the world. However, if the whole world practically opposes terrorism, no one will ever think of using terrorism for their own cause. Therefore, in order to restore security to their countries, all the people of the world must fight terrorism.
For instance, French officials must know that the dark history of France during their colonialism and the atrocities that they committed in Muslim countries has not been forgotten. They have a lot of interests in the Muslim countries and so they constantly lie and pretend to be concerned about “their security” and that they care about “fighting terrorism”. However, despite of all these beautiful political gestures, they constantly support terrorism and insecurity in other countries. Now we see that those who have created terrorist groups are now being inflicted by the terrorism crisis in their homeland.
Final remarks
It must be noted that we, Muslims, strictly believe that the supporters of terrorists will pay the price for betraying the Muslim Ummah and for supporting the killing of countless innocent people and trying to undermine the Islamic resistance, by being engulfed by the flames of terrorism that they themselves created and spread. Moreover, we believe that the savage terrorists and those who support them will one day be accountable for their evil deeds and will be punished for their many crimes.
Thus, we say but one thing to those who support terrorism, including Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the US, and Israel: “shame on you for supporting terrorists who commit such inhumane, horrendous and heinous crimes every day which cannot be justified by any excuse at all”. We would also like to remind states like Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar, that they must expect the ISIL to turn their backs on them one day. They are silent now because they need their support.
It must also be kept in mind that the flames of the fire of terrorism cannot be confined in the Muslim countries only, because now that the world has been changed in to a global village, insecurity in one region easily spreads to other regions as well. A sign of this was the Paris attacks which left the whole Europe in a state of panic, and which can also spread to other parts of Europe as well.
Thus, those who have created and nurtured terrorism and violence should know that the beast they have created is now coming back to attack its creators and the problem of Takfiri terrorism will inflict all those who have supported it.
Researched, compiled and edited by the deputy of News editorial;
The website of the office of Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi (www.Makarem.ir)
