Understanding Love from the Heart of Islam

Marilou Guieb

A Muslim cannot be a terrorist. And a terrorist cannot be a Muslim.

In a forum called Global Terrorism and Radical Groups organized by the Hotel and Restaurant Association of Baguio (HRAB), Dr. Cihangir Arslan, or Dr. Hans, quoted these words of Fethullah Gulen, a prominent Muslim scholar dedicated to education and interfaith harmony.

Arslan, an educator himself who has set up schools in Zamboanga and Manila as president of the Pacific Dialogue Foundation, is an ardent lecturer on interfaith harmony and the essence of the Islam religion.

In the light of threats of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) establishing a caliphate in Marawi and the monstrous atrocities committed by the Maute Group and foreign fighters in Marawi, his advocacy is now more urgently pushed.

“Some people have no mercy beheading people. These are real terrorists. Please do not generalize. There are terrorists in Marawi, but, please, do not put Moslems under the same category because that makes another problem, “ he said.

Arslan, an educator himself who has set up schools in Zamboanga and Manila as president of the Pacific Dialogue Foundation, is an ardent lecturer on interfaith harmony and the essence of the Islam religion.

In the light of threats of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) establishing a caliphate in Marawi and the monstrous atrocities committed by the Maute Group and foreign fighters in Marawi, his advocacy is now more urgently pushed.

“Some people have no mercy beheading people. These are real terrorists. Please do not generalize. There are terrorists in Marawi, but, please, do not put Moslems under the same category because that makes another problem, “ he said.

Arslan put his religion’s perspective from the teachings of the Koran that Islam is a religion of peace. The Arabic root word of Islam refers to peace, purity, submission and obedience, he began his lecture. Islam is strictly against extremism and recommends moderation and balance in everything: belief, worship, conduct and legislation, he added.

He quotes from the Koran: “Oh mankind! We created you from a single [pair] of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know each other [Not that you may despise each other].” (Koran 49:13)

“As you can see in the quoted verse Koran, Allah [or God, is just the Arabic translation. In fact, you can see God is mentioned as Allah in the Arabic version of the Holy Bible] is telling that male and female are equal and he is ordering us to do interfaith dialogue to get to know each other. Clearly, he is not telling us to discriminate or harm or destroy each other!” he said.

Three temples that still stand side by side in Istanbul, Turkey, his home country, tell the story that Islam embraced people of other religions. The three temples are a mosque, a church and a synagogue established 400 years ago during the Ottoman Empire period, an empire that lived Islam thoroughly.

Arslan told the story of early interfaith harmony centuries ago. “When Ottoman conquered Istanbul, Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror met with religious leaders of Christian communities in Istanbul and informed them that they can live freely and peacefully in his country, no harm will come to them because of their religion. In fact, in case of some people who didn’t get Islam well, Sultan Mehmet assigned a troop of soldiers to ensure the security of non-Muslims living in Istanbul,” he said.

In fact, Islam does not allow war, except in five circumstances: “And the state must start the war. And war must always be just defensive, allowed under the following situations: An attack to your family, your property [and] your sanity, then you can defend them and yourself.

“If there is an attack to your country, then the state [it must be the state/government of the country. It can’t be an individual or group of people’s decision] has the right to protect its people,

“If there is an attack to your religion, then the state has the right to defend it.

The ISIS is known to take verses from the Koran to defend their cruel acts.

Arslan said the Koran is made of 6,666 verses and revealed to humanity in a span of 23 years. Most of the verses were revealed after an occasion to enlighten humanity on how to act in such cases.

“So, to be able to understand the message of Koran, a simple translation of the verse from Arabic may not be enough. We have to have a holistic approach to the messages to be able to interpret them correctly,” he added.

And contrary to what is now transpiring in Marawi and wherever the ISIS and extremists are, Arslan said Islam has rules and prohibitions in times of war: Harming children, women, the elderly, clergy (imam or priest or anyone in service of God); harming nature, cutting fruitful trees; slaughtering animals except for food, harming villages, fields and gardens; and fighting against anyone who doesn’t wield a weapon are all prohibited.

Arslan also said the Koran says if the combatant stops fighting and asks for peace, then, as a Muslim, you have to stop fighting and look for peace as well. “And if they incline to peace, then incline to it [also] and rely upon Allah. Indeed, it is He who is the Hearing, the Knowing.” Koran, 8:61

Arslan added the most reliable sources of Islam are the teachings of Koran and teachings/statements of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH). In the Prophet’s statements, you can see many promoting dialogue and good relations between Muslims and non-Muslims.

In one of his statements he said, “Those who are being unjustly to Jews and Christians will be answering me first on the Judgment Day.” In another one he is saying, “Those who are being unjustly to Jews and Christians will not be able to enter the paradise.”

This is why he says that to be a suicide bomber is to commit a mortal sin in Islam.

Arslan also told the story of the first interfaith dialogue actions between Muslims and non-Muslims that took place during Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) time.

One occasion took place when the Christians in Najran City wanted to visit Medina and talk with the prophet of this new religion (Islam) they were hearing about. A total of 61 people led by one bishop came to Medina and were welcomed by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in the very first mosque of Islam. They sat, ate and exchanged information, and even slept there, and when the Christians wanted to pray, Prophet Muhammad asked his fellow Muslims (PBUH) to leave the mosque to their Christian brothers so they could pray in the mosque in their own way.

“Since there is no way for anyone to know Islam better than Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), then there can’t be any problem for a Christian to come to a mosque to pray. And Muslims have to learn about our religion and about our Prophet better,” Arslan said.

Arslan also said people generally think of “jihad” as Holy War.

In fact, when you translate Holy War to Arabic, it makes another term made of two words (Harb al-Muqadis). Jihad by word means “struggle”, he added.

Jihad, he said, is mentioned in Koran 34 times. There are two kinds of jihad, the greater and the lesser one. The greater jihad mentioned in Koran 30 times refers to one’s self-struggle against a person’s sinful, carnal desires (i.e., lying, stealing, committing adultery). The lesser jihad is mentioned four times only, and refers to the defensive-purpose battles that were mentioned before.

Meanwhile, Dr. Stephen Cutler also spoke in the forum on Daesh and terrorism in the Philippines. He traced the beginnings of ISIS, what makes them strong and the new threats posed by the terrorist group.

Cutler was a career special agent and the chief of the Federal Bureau of Investigation with the US Embassy in the Philippines for five years. He is now the director of Guide Meridian, a Philippine company that specializes in data collection, analysis and management.

He reminded how the ISIS became flush with cash from revenues of selling oil from the fields it controls in Syria’s northern province, Dier-al-Zour.

The ISIS has taken over six Syrian oil and gas fields, as well as al-Omar, Syria’s largest oil facility that can produce 75,000 barrels of oil a day.

So the ISIS is not all about religion, he said. It is not a group that is easy to dismantle because it does not use a traditional military hierarchy.

“The structures being established indicate that, even if the actual leaders are killed, the system has created a succession procedure that will allow it to survive, just like Al-Qaeda survived the killing of Osama Bin Laden,” he said.

Like Arslan, Cutler believes extremists spoil what Islam truly is.

Cutler said that in the future, extremists inspired by the IS may seek to carry out attacks at home not necessarily ordered by the IS. Think of it like franchises, he added.

He identified the three threats from the ISIS as destabilization of the Middle East, fear of new attacks and 12,000 foreign fighters.

Moreover, because terrorists believe suicide bombers and bombings are well recognized by now and easier to spot, they have turned to new devices, such as vehicles (London Bridge tragedy), blades (stabbing incidents), hands, fire and any other available tool at hand.

He recommends that, in the midst of all these uncertainties, one must stay strong and focused on truth and justice, learn about threats, practice, enforce solid physical security skills and encourage good governance in local areas.

He lauded the HRAB for organizing the forum, as he said awareness and understanding the trends in threats is the stepping stone to protecting people, especially in vulnerable spaces like hotels frequented by tourists.

Arslan said the focus must be on the real problems the world faces that cause extremism as cited by Bediuzzaman Said Nursi (1876-1960), a Turkish Muslim scholar: ignorance, poverty and disunity.

More than half of Muslim countries have less than a 50-percent literacy rate. Of the 146 countries surveyed by Transparency International (TI) on Corruption Index, 35 Muslim countries appear among the top 70, Arslan said.

He added most Afro-Asian Muslim countries, about half of the population lives below the poverty line. The collective GDP of the Muslim world is just about 5 percent of the world GDP.

Most Muslim countries are under autocratic or dictatorial rule.

For Arslan, the best antidote to extremism is a religious education that teaches the tradition in a holistic and contextualized way. To resist the deceit of radical ideologues, young Muslims must understand the spirit of their Scripture and overarching principles of their Prophet’s life.

Arslan continues to educate, establishing schools and taking it as a personal mission to carry the love professed by Islam in lectures around the country.

Published on Business Mirror, 3 September 2017, Sunday