De-terrorizing the Terror of Terrorism
The police’s arrest on January 7, 2005 of 16 mostly revert-Muslim suspected “Islamic militants planning a weekend suicide bomb attack on a Roman Catholic procession” in Quiapo, Manila is yet another signpost that a diabolic campaign of equating conversion/reversion to Islam as recruitment in terrorism has long been unleashed.
Regardless of whether the arrested suspects are indeed guilty or not, one
thing is certain; that this incident is a clear indication that the rope
through which the Sword of Damocles is hung above the head of every revert
Muslim is becoming thinner and thinner.
The exigency of setting up a sort of umbrella organization, or at least, an
unofficial loose confederation of revert-Muslims adhering to the Ahl al-Bayt
(‘a) in the country has long been felt. The quantitative increase of these
revert brothers as well as such recent circumstances affecting the peaceful
propagation of the Ahl al-Bayt’s lofty teachings, however, suggest that this
kind of venture is indeed a toolkit for survival.
Along this line, an unofficial loose confederation at the initial stage
seems practical, feasible and preferable to an official umbrella
organization, which usually tends to break up once the “external threat”
diminishes. Sometimes, the umbrella organization could also break up even if
the said threat is still in full swing.
Once the loose confederation is set up, it has to address the following
concerns:
* Voice in the media;
* Campaign against the Wahhabi creed;
* Coping up with double isolations;
* Facing da‘wah challenges; and
* Efforts for further integration.
With the close collaboration of the bulk of Muntazirin in the country, the
Ahl al-Bayt (‘a)-adherent revert Muslims have to spearhead a media-based
information-drive of clarifying to the non-Muslims the authentic position of
Islam vis-à-vis terrorism and violence. Special stress must be laid on
exposing the fallacy of the Wahhabi adherence to the Machiavellian principle
of using “holy” ends in resorting to unlawful means.
That the Wahhabi patrons from Saudi Arabia and other countries have
significant role in the Islamic reversion phenomenon in the Philippines is
an undeniable fact. The revert Muslims in general must be reminded, however,
that if their goal is indeed to know and follow the unsullied truth, then
they are not supposed to swallow hook, line and sinker of their patrons’
ideology and financial support together.
Usually, any Christian who embraces Islam is ostracized by his or her
family, friends and relatives. He will experience another ostracism (this
time on the part of his or her fellow Muslims), if he or she adheres to the
teachings of Islam as explained by the Holy Prophet (s) and his Ahl al-Bayt
(‘a). Thus, the loose confederation has to think for concrete measures to at
least mitigate the harshness of these double isolations, and thus, helping
the new believers cope up with the situation.
Not to mention the da‘wah challenges facing the Balik-Islam (revert-Muslims)
in general, there are particular issues in propagation that the Shi‘ah
revert-Muslims have to deal with. One illustrious example is the case of
“Christ’s crucifixion”. As exemplified by Shaykh Ahmad Deedat’s “Crucifixion
or Cruci-fiction?”, the Islamic materials on comparative religion prevalent
in the country are based on the Sunni line that Jesus Christ (‘a) could have
really been nailed on the cross but he did not die. The Shi‘ah belief,
however, is that it does not behoove any prophet of God to undergo such
humiliating ordeals (see, for instance, Mir Ahmad ‘Ali’s Tafsir).
Lastly, with the existence and activities of the loose confederation, there
must be sincere efforts to improve the level of integration and cohesion of
the members so as to pave the way for an official umbrella organization that
is expected to be stable enough to withstand many-and-one challenges.
These are the proper ways, we think, of de-terrorizing the terror of
terrorism.
Shajaratun Muntazirah Newsletter Issue 6, Vol. 2, No. 2 (March-April 2005)
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