People need democracy not jihad

Sir,

I would like to comment on the concept of jihad or holy war. I belong to a country that is still at war, Afghanistan. Every child born in my country is familiar with the word jihad or holy war against the infidels. Who taught us this concept? The answer is the fundamentalists or fanatics.

There are five pillars of islam ,these are prayers, zakat, fasting, haj and jihad. The first four are related to the social and mental satisfaction of people, but the concept of jihad has proved in the past and present that it has only brought destruction and misery to the people. This concept was given to Muslims fourteen hundred years ago and still the Islamic circles encourage Muslims to go on holy wars against those who do not believe in Islam.

Now some circles will say that jihad is allowed in defence, but history shows that the idea of jihad helped the rulers in the past to capture more lands and wealth. In the present age, this idea is not applicable because it brings hatred and destruction. Terrorist groups like al Qaeda and the Taliban always forced people to go on holy wars and as a result these groups brought destruction and death to innocent people. They acted like monsters in Afghanistan and destroyed the social and political structure of my country. The concept of jihad produced people like the Taliban, who banned women from going to schools, stopped citizens from acquiring higher knowledge. They deprived people from their basic human rights and killed thousands who disobeyed them. They established religious schools or madrassas, where they taught people to kill and train them for holy wars.

In the past, the Arab rulers invaded Asia and Africa and used the concept of holy wars to acquire wealth and territory and they succeeded in establishing a great empire. So the concept of holy war or jihad is to get political goals not in a right way but using violence to get it.

People need democracy not holy wars. Groups like al Qaeda and the Taliban failed to present any political and economic system to the general public. Now do not blame the Americans or British in their fight against terrorism, somebody has to stop these groups.

The Americans did the right thing when they attacked Afghanistan. The world needs peace and terrorists must be punished. 

Baryalay Khan
Emba, Paphos

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