By Asghar Ali Engineer

In the recent attempted terrorist attacks in Central London and on Glasgow airport, it is alleged, Mr. Kafil Ahmed of Bangalore is involved though his brother Sabil Ahmed is not likely to be directly responsible. While Kafil is aeronautical engineer who has done his M.Phil. in the subject, Sabil Ahmed is a medical doctor. Another doctor also from Bangalore and cousin of Kafil and Sabil, Mohammad Hanif was also suspected but he is also not suspected to have played central role. Another persons involved are doctors from Iraq Mr.Bilal Abdulla and from Jordan Mr. Mohammad Asha.

The fact that Kafil, an Indian Muslim, and a highly educated youth is involved has started two controversies – one that Al-Qaeda has reached India and two, that not madrasa product but highly educated youth with technical accomplishment, is involved.

The concept of ‘jihad’ has come to be inalienably associated with madrasas and it is generally believed that madrasa youth brainwashed in jihadi outlook are involved in acts of terrorism. This is very erroneous concept. In all major acts of terrorism, whether by Muslims or by others, only modern educated youth is generally involved. Those who plan such attacks are never uneducated or madrasa educated or illiterate poverty ridden youth. No where in the world this has happened.

Who was involved in bombings in 1990s in Aum Sinrikyo of Japan? They were all educated middle class people. The entire ULFA leadership consists of modern educated youth. Same is true of LTTE leadership. The Naxalite movement was also started by University educated people and some of them in the beginning were even had Oxford and Cambridge University degrees.

Marc Sageman in his book "Understanding Terrorist Networks" published in 2004 also concluded that it was not the madrasas that were closely correlated with terrorists or terror, but modern western institutes where students from abroad can end up turning to militant Islam as a way to counter the alienation they experience or the anger they have against the government of the country.

Thus having established that it is highly educated youth who conspire to plan acts of terror it is also necessary to understand why are such educated persons involved? In fact they even make supreme sacrifice of their lives in the process. Firstly, it is only highly educated who understand the policies governments pursue to which they violently react. An illiterate person does not have such understanding and awareness. It is education which brings such awareness to them.

Secondly, why is it that those who are engineers or doctors or computer specialists that are more involved in such acts? Answer is not very difficult to find. Modern education as such is hardly based on humanitarian values and technical education, not at all. Thus they become technical experts, good engineers or doctors but have not much awareness about humanities. Their technical expertise is not tempered with higher spiritual values of love, compassion and wisdom.

These days education has become highly competitive and everyone wants to achieve at the cost of others. Competition, not cooperation, is the spirit of our education. And it is competition all the way – from degree to highly paid jobs. Widespread consumerism; and rat race it promotes, make people more and more greedy. They want more income, more comfortable life which comes only through often (immoral) competition. Humanity and human compassion is the looser.

Also, our modern education system promotes information, not knowledge. There is great difference between information and knowledge. Information is necessary part of knowledge but not sufficient for it. Higher knowledge always combines values with information along with deeper understanding of issues. As once Herbert Marcuse, an American philosopher in sixties who inspired revolutionary and humanitarian spirit among students and youth, said – our universities are centers of acknowledgment, no more centers of knowledge and they are centers of recognition, no more centers of cognition.

The university degrees thus no more provides in depth understanding and humanitarian perspective but only sufficient information for students to obtain a technical job. Such people can easily be swayed by campaigns of hatred especially if it also gives them sense of some ‘higher cause.’ Many supporters of Hindutva in USA are also highly qualified people who are made to think Hindus are suffering ‘injustice’ in their own country due to minority aggressiveness. And thus they finance Sangh Parivar in India.

Such an ideology of hate becomes more deadly, if the youth happen to come from an authoritarian culture where there are no basic freedoms in the society. There are no avenues of protest available except to take to violence and much more so if violence can be justified ideologically as in the case of ‘jihadi Islam’. Such anger is expressed through acts of violence (ideologically justified) in places where they feel great injustice is being done to members of their community.

It is important to note that terrorist attacks are taking place mainly in countries like USA and U.K. which were involved in committing aggression against Afghanistan and Iraq. Why countries of Western Europe like France, Germany, Italy etc. are not being targeted? Because these countries not only refused to join USA and U.K. in attacking Afghanistan and Iraq but had serious reservations of their own.

Australia’s citizens also paid with their lives in terror attack in Bali a few years ago because Australia also jumped to extend its support to US war of aggression against Iraq and sent its troops. Now an Australian minister admitted that it was mistake on the part of Australia to have supported Iraq war because we thought we too will get share in Iraqi oil. Thus these terror attacks, however condemnable, have justification of their own in the eyes of these young terrorists.

The timing of terror attack in Central London and Glasgow airport is also important. Blair had just resigned and Gordon Brown had taken over. Perhaps it was warning to Mr. Gordon Brown that he should keep his hands off Iraq and withdraw British forces from there. Gordon Brown is not expected to follow Blair’s policies and hence advanced warning to him.

Terror attacks can never be justified whatever the cause. Violence, however, important the cause, can never be justified. Violence is destructive of all values and totally brutalizes those who commit it. One cannot bring about justice by killing others or can never serve any cause. One must learn lesson from Iraq also. Shias and Sunnis are killing each other most brutally. It appears they have lost all sense of compassion for human life. While the Qur’an says that to kill one person is to kill entire humanity these so called followers of Qur’an are killing Muslims by hundreds.

Any version of religion which promotes intolerance and violence cannot qualify for being religion. Religion promotes nothing but truth, justice, love and compassion. Devoid of these values it could perhaps quality for political ideology but not for being religion. The Salafi Islam is highly intolerant and ideological and hence promotes narrow sectarian attitude. The Qur’anic statements about justification of war are highly contextualized and could not be read to use them for justification for killing innocent people.

Any innocent life taken by act of violence is a crime against humanity and an unpardonable sin against Allah. Taking revenge is not what Qur’an preaches nor Prophet (PBUH) ever urged his followers to do that. Qur’an repeatedly describes Allah as Ghafoor al-Rahim i.e. the pardoner and compassionate and Qur’an describes the Prophet as rahmat li’l ‘alamin i.e. mercy of the worlds.

Then can such acts of terror resulting in loss of innocent lives be ever justified in the name of Islam? Those who brainwash these educated youth have their own political axe to grind. The USA killed more than a million people in Vietnam but did these Vietnami youth resorted to any such terror bombing taking innocent lives of ordinary American? Let those Muslim youth who become victims of hate campaigns ponder over this?

Salafi Islam condemns Sufi Islam but it is Sufi Islam which is highly tolerant, peaceful and respectful of human lives. The violence torn Islamic world needs much more Sufi Islam than highly ideological Salafi Islam. A great majority of Muslims in India fortunately follow Sufi Islam and it is further tempered with by secular democracy of India and hence Al-Qaida by and large has not succeeded to penetrate Indian Islam.

It is doubtful whether Kafil has acted on behalf of Al-Qaida. Even British sources doubt this as the device used in Glasgow attack was rather crude whereas Al-Qaida uses much more sophisticated and effective devices. And even if it is Al-Qaida which is involved in this instance, it is an exception rather than the rule. Pakistani Muslims too love Sufi Islam but it is politicization and militarization of Islam which has made Pakistani society so violent as we witnessed in the case of Lal Masjid. Indian Islam, I am sure, will remain much more peaceful.