By now, few people are in the dark about what is going on in Boston, Massachusetts. The amount of information available to people, however, has remained limited. Knee-jerk media reports had earlier suggested that a Saudi man present at the Boston Marathon was somehow involved in one of the deadliest terrorist attacks on American soil in recent times. However, when evidence surfaced that he was just as innocent as anybody else, the media was heavily criticized for being biased against people who are from Muslim countries. The criticism intensified when rumors spread that two Russian men were in fact involved in the terrorist attack. In an interesting turn of events, however, some media channels have revealed that the YouTube channel one of the two Caucasian suspects suggests that he was influenced by Islamic fundamentalists.

It is still extremely unclear whether these men carried out these attacks. The FBI has been reluctant to call them anything more than suspects, and until any court of law finds them guilty of conducting terrorist activities, it would be wrong to call them terrorists. The American people are proud of their constitution and the fact that it gives everybody the right to due process of law. Unfortunately, both men were shot down by FBI agents in their attempt to secure the American people. We will never know the exact motivation behind the attacks so we are forced to rely on what little information we have. This YouTube channel makes up the majority of that information.

If nothing else, the Boston Marathon attack has reminded many Americans that Islam is inherently violent. Such a deduction, in my opinion, is extremely unfair. I am not going to defend my point by arguing that Islam is inherently and entirely peaceful, because such a claim would be difficult to support. Even if one of the two suspects was inspired by the tenets of Islam, which I will not deny, Islam does not necessarily preach violence. All Abrahamic religions have vast room for interpretation, and that is what makes them so popular among followers. Whether it is Christianity, Judaism or Islam, religion can be interpreted to almost anything you want it to be.

Muslims have been living in America for decades now, contributing actively towards the betterment of society. I hope people realize that statements like ‘Islam means terrorism’ and ‘All Muslims are terrorists’ (just a couple that I picked up from the YouTube channel) only make them look like prejudicial, ignorant people who walk into the shallow path of stereotypes. Muslims are more than a single interpretation of Islam. Let’s not forget that. I live in a country with a Muslim-majority population. I live in the most dangerous city in the world (Time Magazine, 2012). I attended a silent protest to pay respects to the victims of the Boston Marathon massacre, even though no one from my city was even remotely responsible for the tragedy that occurred. Do all Muslims really want innocent Americans to be killed?

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Human. Pakistani. Law Student. Muslim.

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A tragic massacre occurred in Norway recently, the reason was the fear of Islam prevailing in the minds of the people. Islam is being considered a ruthless and violent religion and is thought to be dangerous for other communities who don’t care for the fundamentals of Islam. The massacre happened in Oslo and nearby Utøya, and took the lives of at least 92 innocent people.

Anders Behring Breivik (32) made his confession statement for the deadly massacre which he had deliberately planned in Oslo and Utøya. Anders Behring Breivik published a manuscript over the internet where he shed light upon the significant points regarding the killing of the innocent people.

Anders Behring Breivik confessed that it took him nine long years to plan the deadly act, the act included the bombing and brutal killing of at least 92 innocents in Oslo and nearby Utøya. Anders Behring Breivik, Christian by belief, launched a 1500 page manuscript in which he explained all of the detailsof his act and the reasons why he did it.

The manuscript he published over the internet explained his intentions. Breivik called himself as  a patriot Christian and was unhappy with the Islamization prevailing in Norway and the Western countries. The manuscript explained the following terms in his eyes:

Western European patriot,

I’m hereby sending you my new compendium (3 books); “2083 – A European Declaration of Independence”, in Word 97 format, which includes the following main topics:

1. The ongoing Islamization of Western Europe

2. The current state of the Western European Resistance Movements (anti-Marxist/anti-Jihad movements)

3. Solutions for Western Europe and how we, the cultural conservative resistance, should move forward in the coming decades

4. And covering all, highly relevant topics including solutions and strategies for all of the 8 different political fronts

The compendium/book presents advanced ideological, practical, tactical, organizational and rhetorical solutions and strategies for all patriotic-minded individuals/movements. The book will be of great interest to you whether you are a moderate or a more dedicated cultural conservative/nationalist.

Further down in the manuscript it says:

Multiculturalism (cultural Marxism/political correctness), as you might know, is the root cause of the ongoing Islamisation of Europe which has resulted in the ongoing Islamic colonization of Europe through demographic warfare and conquest. This compendium presents the solutions and explains exactly what is required of each and every one of us in the coming decades. Everyone can and should contribute in one way or another, it’s just a matter of will. 

Anders Behring Breivik, in his manuscript, detailed his agendas. According to him, the sprawling of Islam will be dangerous for the future lives of the people in the Western world. Behind the outrageous act of massacre by Anders Behring Breivik, the main reasoning happens to be the fear of Islam. We mustn’t deny the fact that the media has portrayed Islam so negatively that the general public encompasses fear regarding them, and they are bound to take such measures to kill innocent people in their self war.

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Maguindanao, Philippines – The Maguindanao massacre, killing 58 people, occurred on the morning of November 23, 2009 in the town of Ampatuan in Maguindanao province, Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. While the victims are on their way to file candidacy for Buluan Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu, they were kidnapped and violently killed.

The massacre was also called Ampatuan Massacre because the crime killing happened in this specific town and at the same time, was said to be convicted by Mangudadatu’s political rival, the Datu Unsay mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., son of Governor Andal Ampatuan Sr.

Among the 58 victims include the wife of Mangudadatu, his two sisters, local and foreign journalists, lawyers, aides, and motorists who were mistakenly identified as part of Mangudadatu’s convoy.

The incident happened about two years ago but until today, this case was not yet over. 95 are arrested as suspects, including the prime suspects Andal Ampatuan Jr. and his father Andal Amaptuan Sr.

Meanwhile, Governor Mangudadatu asked the people to be cautious against the influences of the Ampatuans.“Let us be vigilant so that we may restore not only peace and order in the province of Maguindanao but also the wealth ill gotten by them from the people. We should remain hopeful despite the slow progress of the case. Let us pray that justice shall be served in an inexpensive and expeditious manner. Let us pray that such event, one of the darkest moments in 21st century will never be repeated.” He said.

            (Hi there! I just want to give you some background of myself. I am a Catholic from the country Philippines. In my country, lots of conflicts happen between Christians, including Catholic, and the Muslims. Not just between two different groups, but sometimes conflict between two Muslim groups happen in my country. I am writing, and will probably write more articles, news and happenings in my country because of these reasons: 1) I want to promote peace and unity among my fellow Filipino people. 2) I want to give awareness to all concerned people whom I hope would be able to read my works. 3) I want to know the thoughts and opinions of my Muslim brothers and sisters. 4) I want to express my thoughts and clarify the misconceptions about Catholics and any concerned topic. I am not against on any Islamic teachings and values as well as Muslim people. In fact, I like them, you, and I highly appreciate the great teachings and praying habits of Islam religion.)

 

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Taking the sequel further, now the question is being raised that the Muslims are not native and ‎they should leave Arakan and other areas. If this argument of Buddhist monks is taken for ‎granted and accepted as it is, then they are also not from the same area like, present day ‎Israelis, Americans, Africans and several Asians, turning the world into an in-comprehensible ‎conundrum. If we trace the history of the Muslim arrival, we see that the first Muslims who ‎arrived to Myanmar landed on the coast of Arakan, present-day Rakhine and settled there ‎during 9th or 10th century. Then several Arabs and Persians passed over this route and ‎propagated Islam further and their numbers continued increasing. Now that they have almost ‎lived over there around 10,000 or their 20th generation is living over there and if they are no ‎aliens, how can the Tibetans monks be native to the land where several of their families have ‎arrived in just 18th and 19th century. The question who is native and who is native does not suit ‎in the case of Rohingya Muslims.‎

Apart from this logical fallacy, another manifestation of the Buddhist monks has come to the ‎fore in the shape that not only they were engaged in wholesale Muslim killing under the very ‎protection of the security forces, they also stopped aid providing NGO’s from approaching the ‎camps of the displaced Muslim refugees. More than 250,000 refugees are living in appalling ‎conditions where food and medicine stores are depleting fast and soon it will give birth to ‎another looming human tragedy. ‎

The second logical fallacy is that even Buddhist monks are of the view that if aid reaches the ‎Muslims, they will settle permanently over there, threatening their majority and winning in ‎elections to make road to the parliament. To some extent, this Sunni-dominated population’s ‎sudden increase makes it correct. However, this does not mean that they should be either ‎expelled or exterminated. They have full rights like their Buddhist counterparts and if they ‎cannot live together as the monks feared, it is better that the UN should be invited to find the ‎way out by dividing the country, for this land can harbor the population more than this and it ‎has also happened in Indonesia where Christian minority of East Timur suffered under the ‎Muslim majority domination and ultimately they chose to have their own separate land. ‎

The third logical fallacy is that the Burmese authorizes state that most of the Muslims migrated ‎from India and present day Pakistan due to their role in the Freedom War of 1857 and they ‎found safe havens in Myanmar. That is why they must go back to their native land. If this is ‎accepted as true, several Burmese crossed over to Bangladesh and China during Japan invasion ‎and they never came back. Moreover, it does not make sense that if a population is living in ‎some area, you should insist them to go and seek their native land they have lost for hundreds ‎of years. [to be continued]‎

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Mazhar Abbas Bhatti

Professor of English Literature and Language, professional Urdu-English Translator, writer and editor, Mazhar Abbas Bhatti has a keen eye on the global affairs and US role on the global power chessboard. He often writers for OSC and his own blog.

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