Content area
Full Text
Introduction
Donald Trump, the US president is targeting Muslims on the pretext of the war against terrorism. He is under influence of a common myth invented after 911 by Christian fundamentalists, Neocons and Islamophobes that Islam is to be blamed for militancy and terrorism for fuelling wars. This is corollary to the earlier myth persistently propagated mostly by atheists that "The religion is to be totally blamed as the main cause of violence and wars throughout the history of mankind" with the change that, the word 'religion' has been replaced with 'Islam'. This trend is highly dangerous, counterproductive, un-American and inhuman, many civilised people in the West and elsewhere have also been influenced by this negative propaganda. The rhetoric and actions of President Trump and his administration are fueling anti-Muslim and antiimmigrant bigotry that exists among Trump supporters. The controversial executive order (suspended by courts), which some are now referring to as a "Muslim ban" stops immigration to the U.S. for all nationals of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Sudan and Yemen for 90 to 120 days, with-the acceptance of Syrian refugees indefinitely suspended. It also contains a provision giving preferential treatment to minority religions that is non-Muslims in these countries. Trump himself announced that priority would be given to christian refugees. And this move reinforces the administration's apparent focus on Islam as a means to defeat terrorists. Trump is using religion as a tool to get political support from the vote bank he created through his hate campaign. The BJP led Indian government is also openly adhering to anti-Muslim policies. Such an open anti-Muslim attitude by so called biggest democracies is against the basic norms of democracy.
If it is assumed for a moment that Islam is especially predisposed towards violence, then one has to prove why the history of Jihadi terrorism is so very short: this is emphatically a late 20th and early 21st century phenomenon, yet Islam has been around since the seventh century, writes David Shariatmadari in The Guardian. What about its wars of conquest? Well they definitely happened, but not in a way that marks Islam out from other cultures. The subsequent wave of imperial expansionism came via the sky-worshipping Mongols, before they settled down to become Muslims. Not...