UNITING AGAINST RADICALISM

HARUN YAHYA

Radical tendencies, irrespective of their origin, are one of the most
dangerous threats to world peace and security. Radicalism means to
advocate fundamental and sudden changes by means of uncompromising and
hard-line policies. In an environment where mutual acceptance and
understanding have ceased to exist, people begin to feel animosity
toward different ideologies or races without knowing what the other
party really represents or believes.
In our own time, radicalism has emerged among Muslims, Christians, and
Jews. This situation is abused and taken advantage of by proponents of
Samuel Huntington's proposed clash of civilizations theory. The scale of
radicalism's threat to world peace has become apparent in the 9/11
attacks on the United States and its consequences. The fact that these
attacks are widely believed to have been carried out in the name of
Islam resulted in a great deal of prejudice against Muslims and
misunderstanding of Islam. Given the fact that Islam prohibits all acts
of violence and aggression, most of the Islamic world condemned these
terrorist attacks. Muslims prayed alongside Christians for the innocent
lives lost, and American Muslims rushed to the aid of the victims.
Despite this, prejudice against Muslims in the United States and some
European countries has vastly increased, and incidences of violence have
been reported. In order to eradicate radicalism and its damaging
consequences, cultural and educational campaigns designed to reach all
sections of society must be organized. We can list the topics and the
responsibilities of various sections of society to be covered by this
program, as follows:
An awareness that radicalism, an extremist tendency that is incompatible
with true religious morality, must be defeated ideologically so that its
claim to be acting in the name of religion can be exposed as false.
People of all three divinely revealed religions must be told that they
have a responsibility to be compassionate, patient, gentle, friendly,
polite, and respectful. They have to be made aware that God forbids
violence, aggression, and anything that harms innocent people. They must
understand that it is wrong to go down that path. These efforts will
ensure that all radicals will be recognized as misguided liars and
thereby prevented from finding new recruits.
A program must be designed to give full and accurate information about
all parties involved in the conflict, so that international dialogue
becomes possible. An important step toward mutually friendly relations
is the creation of an environment in which Jews, Christians, and Muslims
can begin to know each other's beliefs, traditions, and rituals better.
This can be done through cultural and educational programs. As people
come to know each other better, they will realize that they have many
things in common. This, in turn, will make reconciliation possible.
Muslims, Christians, and Jews should tell one another about their
respective worldviews in line with God's divine books of revelation,
thereby preventing the mutual misunderstanding and radicalism caused by
a lack of accurate knowledge.
The media must support the cultural activities necessary to create an
environment conducive to international dialogue. They should refrain
from sensationalism, which incites violence and segregation, and focus
on broadcasts that encourage moderation and acceptance. Carefully
prepared broadcasts by the western media will play an important role in
eradicating the currently widespread anti-Muslim prejudice. Muslim media
organizations, for their part, must refrain from broadcasts and opinions
that incite hatred toward non-Muslims and concentrate instead on
cultural and spiritual education in the Islamic world.
Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religious leaders and opinion makers must
identify people who are bent on portraying myths and false beliefs as
part of the religious code. They must teach people that God commands
believers to be balanced and gentle, and that all extremism is contrary
to religious morality. Political leaders must support this awareness
campaign in order to prevent extremism in society and to prepare the
ground for moderation.
These and similar joint efforts will eradicate the conditions conducive
to radicalism. In Qur'an 2:113, God reveals that the Jews claimed that
the Christians "have nothing to stand on" and vice versa. In reality,
God knows best who is right, which is why genuine believers must seek to
draw closer to God instead of accusing one another. The following verse
reveals that people who act otherwise are wrong:
The Jews say: "The Christians have nothing to stand on," and the
Christians say: "The Jews have nothing to stand on," yet they both
recite the Book. Those who do not know say the same as they say. God
will judge between them on the Day of Resurrection regarding the things
about which they differ. (Qur'an, 2:113)
Eradicating the harm caused by Jewish, Christian, and Muslim radicals is
possible only if all moderate, peace-loving, civilized, and genuinely
religious people cooperate and form an alliance. Such an alliance will
defeat those who present war and conflict as the only option, and
disprove the assertions of those who advocate a show of force as the
only way to achieve security and prevent further bloodshed, tears, and
material damage.

Qur'anic Morality Forbids Extremism
Islamic societies have been centers of mutual acceptance and goodwill
toward non-Muslims throughout history, particularly in our Prophet's
(may God bless him and grant him peace) time.
Radicalism is an ideological movement and political approach that is
foreign to Islam. When radical groups are examined, it gradually becomes
clear that they are, in reality, using a compilation of communist
slogans and methods or that they have adopted the "fanatical rage of the
Time of Ignorance" (Qur'an, 48:26). One of the common characteristics of
such ideologies is their emotional force, an underlying cause of
radicalism that is totally incompatible with God's commands. The Qur'an
describes Muslims as people who control their anger and who are
reasonable, moderate, and tolerant. Muslims must be polite and
respectful when interacting with people of different beliefs and
ideologies.
All Muslims must refrain from a harsh, angry, and challenging approach,
for these are contrary to the Qur'an's method and essence. Instead,
Muslims must adopt the accepting, moderate, calm, and rational approach
described in the Qur'an. In other words, they must be role models for
humanity and earn people's admiration for the morality of Islam and
themselves. Muslims should also make great progress and produce superb
works of science, culture, art, and aesthetics, as well as live Islam in
the best way, and thus represent it to the world.

Profile on Harun Yahya:
A leading intellectual from Turkey, Harun Yahya is well-known as the
author of important works disclosing the imposture of evolutionists,
their invalid claims, and the dark liaisons between Darwinism and such
bloody ideologies as fascism and communism. Harun Yahya enjoys a wide
readership from all nations, languages and religions and many of his
books have been translated into more than 40 languages. All of Harun
Yahya's works share one single goal: to convey the Qur' an's message,
encourage readers to consider basic faith-related issues such as God's
Existence and Unity and the hereafter; and to expose godless systems'
feeble foundations and perverted ideologies. Harun Yahya's works have
also been received with interest by Western scientific circles, and some
of his scientific texts have been reviewed in various scientific
journals as the most important expositions of Islamic creationism. These
journals include The New Scientist, Science, NCSE (National Center for
Science Education) Reports, and The Cladistics.