The main conflict line in the world today is between the West and Islam – between countries mainly influenced by Christian culture with a democratic tradition, and countries mainly influenced by Islamic culture and without a democratic tradition. After September 11th, 2001, terror attributed to Islam has totally dominated the media image of the main threats in the world not only against western democracies but also against established Islamic theocracies. The terror ideology has found its base in a perverted interpretation of Islam though. Nonetheless, the world has been shaken by threat from extremist terrorist organizations and religious fanatics. Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have ignited even more hatred and interest for terrorism against western countries.
To be hopeful concerning the future, it is important not to let media decide what we should be worried about. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, more than 5 million people have died because of the war over the last 12 years. This war is rarely mentioned in media and not at all in the Wikipedia list of ongoing regional conflicts. The war going on in Kashmir – where at least 100,000 people have been killed in the last two decade – has not been mentioned either. It is not often that we are able to get information in international media about the Kashmir conflict.
The Muslim threat against western countries is the prevailing topic in all media channels. It sells well when media outlets are able to play on fear and insecurity, and resulting in en masse stigmatization of Muslims. Such a side effect can only be dealt with a broader perspective of events, their causes and consequences. Throughout the world history, Islam has mainly been a religion of peace. While in most countries with a substantial Muslim population, different religions have lived peacefully side by side too. Children from Muslim and Christian families in Syria had no problems to play and live together peacefully. In Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, Christian and Muslim Palestinians used to live in peace and harmony. Islam as a source of inspiration for terror was not a problem even here over the centuries.
The first recent clash between the White House in Washington DC and Islam occurred in 1979 when the Islamic revolution in Iran led to strong anti-American reactions and occupation of the US embassy in Teheran. Prior, we had already seen Palestinian terror, killing of civilians and innocent target groups like in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany. Yet, it was perceived as a threat in the Middle East and not to the international community. Islam’s perception of a threat in western countries is, therefore, a relatively new phenomenon.
Last century was probably the worst in the human history – 188 million people were killed – mainly because of extreme ideologies like Fascism, Nazism, socialism and communism. They were all born in Europe, and Vladimir Ilitch Lenin, Josef Stalin and Karl Marx were originally theological students, studying Christian theology and understanding of the scriptures in the Bible. We cannot compare any other century with the last one when it comes to crimes against humanity, atrocities, genocide, mass murder of innocent civilians based on several evil ideologies.
The church of Germany cooperated with Adolf Hitler and his Nazi ideology, and the catholic leadership in Italy did not protest against Mussolini and his fascist approach. Islam was not really involved in any of the major events in last century where millions and millions of innocent civilians were killed.
I am neither blaming Christianity nor the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth – Isa Il Messiah for these major events and wars. I believe that we should neither blame Islam nor the teachings of the Holy Quran for its evil interpretation. Misconstrued verses of the Holy Quran incited youth to engage themselves in terror and violence against the West. The problem lies in the human nature where greed for power, a strong drive in the direction of controlling other people is the main driving force, not Islam – not Christianity.
We should be thankful: Democracy is the prevailing ideology in the world today. While there were about 30 democracies in the world after the World War II, today there are approximately 130 in the world, depending on the definition of what is democracy. Moreover, the number of wars has dropped substantially over the last 35 years. Since 1975, the number of armed conflicts has too dropped by 40 percent. There are less wars going on now than in more than 100 years.
We have reason to be hopeful: More and more Muslims are engaging themselves in humanitarian and philanthropic work through NGOs working for peace and development cooperation in poor countries. Five years ago about 3,000 NGOs working for peace and development lobbying in the United Nations had their offices around the headquarters of the UN in New York, of which about 25 were Muslim organizations. Only in five years, the number of similar Muslim NGOs has increased substantially. On May 1, 2005, the Union of the NGOs of the Islamic World was established in Istanbul, Turkey. I had the pleasure of taking part together with representatives from North Africa to the Far East as a speaker and it was inspiring to see that over 1,000 leaders of NGOs of the Islamic world are now standing up for peace, engagement and development projects for the poor.
Mother Theresa is respected all over the world today, mainly for her work to save the lives of dying and starving children on the street, never to promote her good things. Her father was an Albanian Muslim and her mother an Armenian Christian. Her father died when she was a little girl. Despite living in poverty, she observed her mother walked around the neighbours almost every day to help them. When she used to come home, she would remind the children about these words from Jesus: All the good things you do, do them secretly, and God will reward you openly. Mother Theresa lived followed this all her life. She never tried to become famous. After more than 20 years, a British journalist, Mulcolm Muggeridge, came to Calcutta, India, and heard the rumor about this woman saving the lives of dying children on the street. He found her and wrote a book about her. And so she was out in the open – a symbol of good in the world.
When it comes to Islam and the West, we have reasons to be optimistic as more and more young Muslims may start to think and reshape the image we have of Islam as a religion of war. Imagine how this would change in the West if young Muslims from Indonesia and Pakistan go to gypsy villages in Kosovo and Romania to help this poor and oppressed group of people in Europe. This would speak stronger than any statement from established Muslim leaders that Islam is a religion of peace.
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