Kendall Ingram
Honors English 2
5/6/11
Radical Muslims
I. What I know
Radical Extremist Muslims, otherwise known as terrorist are a huge topic that plagues our daily lives as Americans today. The issue really came to light during and after the 9/11 attacks on the world trade center. Ever since I have been very interested in the religion of Islam .I’ve learned from past research that Islam is actually pretty close to Christianity in origin. The Koran which is Islam’s holy book includes the entire first and second testament of the Christian bible. I was very surprised when I learned this because I had always thought the two religions had nothing in common.
The leaders of these Radical Muslims are a terrorist group named al-Qaida. Until his recent death, Osama Bin Laden was the leader of this terrorist organization. His death has sparked mass controversy throughout the world; some saying he deserved to die, others saying a life is a life. While he was alive I know that Bin Laden used the word ‘Jihad’ to justify many of his monstrous acts, claiming that they were acts of god.
II.What I want to find out
I chose to do my I search on Radical Muslims and why they see us ‘westerners’ as they’re enemy. I chose this topic because I think it is remarkably important to us a society and has been in the past. I want to get inside the mind of a radical Muslim and see as they see. I try to avoid stereo typing people but I admit I am guilty of doing so when it comes to Muslims. Once before I boarded a plane I saw a Muslim man on his rug praying and it really freighted me.
After I thought about the situation at a later time it made me feel very ignorant to the culture as a whole. I feel that many good Muslim men and women are being persecuted by the actions of a few select group who know seem to be the face of their religion. My goal is to find out why these radical Muslims aim to inflict such pain to others. There has got to be deep roots in their hatred towards the west.
III.The search
Book
The title of the book is Is Islam a Religion of War or Peace, The author is Jan Einfeld. It is an imprint of Thomas Gale, a part of The Thomson Corporation, published in 2005. I am summarizing section1 (Islam Declares Holy War on America and its Allies)
Section one is mainly the declaration of jihad made by Osama Bin Laden in 1998. All I can say is wow this statement left me stunned and gave me great insight that I feel the media doesn’t cover enough. One of the first points Bin Laden brings up is that “For more than 7 years America has occupied Arab lands. The Americans continue to support the Jewish occupation of the Muslim Holy City of Jerusalem”. (pg12) In the Muslims eyes our occupation and the occupation of the Jews in Jerusalem is unholy. It is very much disrespectful to their faith. Bin Laden continues by quoting the Muslim prophet Muhammad who says “I have been sent with a sword between my hands to ensure that no one but no one but Allah is worshipped”. (pg13) These strong words make me think that by Americans (who are predominately Christian) and Jews occupying Jerusalem, Radical Muslims feel like they have to bring down the proverbial sword on us.
Bin Laden also makes this comment about American occupation in other parts of the Arab world “The best proof of this is Americans’ continuing aggression against the Iraqi people using the Peninsula as a staging post even though all its rulers are against their territories being used to that end, but they are helpless” (pg14) The key word in this excerpt to me was helpless. When a group of people feels helpless they tend to lash out at their oppressors in this case we are seen as the oppressors. The most insightfully blunt statement that Bin Laden makes may also be the most scary, it reads as followed “We issue the following order to all Muslims; The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies –civilians and military-is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it, in order to liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque (Muslim noble sanctuary in Jerusalem) and the holy mosque (Mecca) from their grip, and in order for their armies to move out of all lands of Islam, defeated and unable to threaten any Muslim”.(pg15) This statement helped me grasp the concept that radical Muslims see their most holy places as being held under siege by the American occupants of Jerusalem. To these radical Muslims our mere presence in Jerusalem is an act of holy war. They also say that our eagerness to attack Iraq only shows how desperate we are to control the Muslim people.
Article
The article is titled “From golden age to embattled faith”, written by Stevenson Swanson, a tribune national correspondent. It was published on February 8,2004 by the Chicago tribune.
The article’s first main point is that Muslim and Christian clashes date all the way back to the crusades. Europeans (predominantly Christian) invade Muslim lands in attempts to capture the holy land, and of course America essentially branched off from Europe. Today Americans now occupy much of Jerusalem (along with Jewish peoples), and Radical Muslims feel it’s their duty to restore Muslim glory and remove all infidels from the holy land. The article also states that America stationing their ‘infidel’ troops in Saudi Arabia (a place that contains Mecca one of the holiest sites in Islam) is an affront to the faith.
I also found that some of the radical Muslim hatred stems from European colonialism in the Arab world after Napoleon invaded Egypt. This is why the West (not just America) is seen as the enemy. The article states that since Europeans colonized the Muslim world they have exploited them for their resources by taking what they want and fighting for what they don’t get. I thought the article gave me very good historical knowledge on the rising tension between the Muslim world and the Western world.
Interview
For this section I interviewed two people one was my friend Muhammad who is fifteen years old and goes to buckeye high school. The interview wasn’t very successful because he isn’t a Muslim strong in his faith who knows about their history. I didn’t feel as though this interview was up to par so I interviewed a second person. This one was a woman named Abda Sahar, she is a very close friend of my aunts who referenced her to me. Abda is a 35 year old woman and grew up in Saudi Arabia until she was 16. I had met her once before and she was a very nice but I never knew she was Muslim. My aunt called her and told her about the research I was doing, she replied by saying she would be happy to help with my studies. In the interview “K” stands for my name, and “A” is representing Abda.
K: Thank you’re for accepting to help me with this project Abda I really appreciate it.
A: Your welcome, but there is one thing I have to make clear with you. Muslims and Radical Muslims are two completely different things. Yes we follow the same faith but, Radicals twist the words of the Koran and Allah and make Islam seem like a religion that preaches violence.
K: Again thank you and yes I know that the two are different in their practice. But do you know why it is that radical Muslims hate America and our allies so much?
A: Radical Muslims feel that America is corrupt and a bad influence on Muslim children. They think of the west the way the Christians see the devil, that America tempts Muslims into doing bad deeds. So they feel that it is they’re duty as good Muslims to eliminate this evil temptation.
K: What do non radical Muslims think about Americans being deceivers?
A: We feel that there is temptation all around us, and it is the choice of every individual Muslim to do either do good or become victim to the temptation. It is Allah’s way of testing us.
K:A lot of the research I did said that radical Muslims see Americans as people who oppress and essentially bully the Arab world, do you think there is any truth to this?
A: Absolutley not, the true oppressors of the Arab world are people like the Taliban who kill their own people.
K: The Taliban kills Muslims?
A:Yes and many of them, growing up in Saudi Arabia the Taliban was like an evil bedtime story parents tell their children. They kill people who they accuse of being bad Muslims. They recruit our children off the streets and fill their minds with hatred.
K: What is the goal of the Taliban?
A: They aim to destroy all faiths except for Islam.
K: Is this the same reason why terrorist groups like al-Qaida hate America?
A: No al-Qaida claim that America has bullied the Arab world for too long, this is because they support men like Saddam Hussein. Non radical Muslims do not support men like this who harm their own people. On the other hand America did little to consider the innocent people they harmed by bombarding Afghanistan.
K: I agree that they didn’t take that into consideration. What do you mean when you say America “bullied” the Arab world?
A: What I mean is that America occupies Muslim countries while waging war against other Muslim countries. Taliban and al-Qaida feel it is there duty to defend the Arab world. This is why they attack America, to show Americans what it is like to have their people killed in their home.
K: Being on this side I never really thought about it that way thank you for the information.
A: You are welcome; I wish you luck on your project
K: Thank you.
What I learned
I thought this topic was incredibly interesting to research. We see news about terrorism, and most recently Osama Bin Laden’s death all around us, and I just had to find out why. I got good perspective from a Non Radical Muslim, and also lots of good history on the roots of Muslim extremist hatred towards the west.
The biggest issue that kept coming up again and again, was that Muslims don’t want Westerners in their holy land. Radical Muslims see us waging war against Arab nations and using their land as a staging point. To them this is complete disrespect to their religion. Radical Muslims see westerners as exploiters who suck the Arab world dry of their resources (like oil) and give very little in return.
Another reason for their hatred is all the sinful activities that western countries love to enjoy. They see us as evil deceivers who aim to corrupt Muslim children. I also found that Radical Muslims believe that the west hates Islam. They claim that a perfect example of this is how eager the west was to kill innocent Muslim men women and children by bombing Iraq. Since the West is seen as mostly Christian in faith Radical Muslims preach “Jihad”, claiming that the war they fight against America and here allies is in the name of Allah.
The information I found gave me great incite on the way radical Muslims see the west. From where they stand I could see how they would have hatred towards America. I know the topic I chose was very controversial and I like knowing both sides. In some way I do see America as wrong for killing innocent people, but I think the true root of Radical Muslims hatred toward the west is much, much deeper than that.
III.Bibliography
Work Cited
Einfeld,Jan. “Is Islam a Religion of War or Peace?”.Imprint of Thomas Gale part of The Thomson coorperation.2005
Sahar,Abda.Personal Interview.May 9,2011
Swanson,Stevenson(Tribune correspondent). “From Golden age to embattled faith”. Chicago Tribune. February 8, 2004
