This is not an article written with anti-Islamic feelings. It is not written with intentions to point a finger at the followers of any particular religion. I respect all religions and bear no prejudices against any one of them. I do not have any intentions of hurting the sentiments of the followers Islam. It is an article purely written as an appeal to people of the Muslim community to help in fighting terrorism.

The recent terrorist attack on Mumbai by Pakistani fundamentalists got me thinking about a basic fact that most of the terrorist attacks that have been carried out to date, not only in India, but the rest of the world are from different Islamic outfits. Why so? Why are some Muslims so very unhappy with the rest of the world? Why are they resorting to terrorism? Their act is unfortunately giving their religion a bad name.

The Muslim culture is one of the richest cultures of the world. History reveals that some of the greatest heroes of this world are followers of Islam. The Mogul period in India was a time of peace and prosperity. Some of the illustrious Mogul Emperors like Akbar and Shah Jahan have left invaluable imprints of the rich Muslim culture in India. Akbar was known for his religious tolerance. During his period a follower of Hinduism and a follower of Islam knew no differences. Shah Jahan gave us the Taj Mahal, which has stood the test of time to prove itself as one of the seven Wonders of the World, once again. Its rather hard to believe that some descendents of these great legendary figures, the pride of this world, are hopeless misanthropists desperately wanting to get whatever they want to by ultimate acts of cowardice. Yes, I call terrorism an act of cowardice because the perpetrators are proving their mettle by waging wars against innocent people.

I know that the Muslim community has a lot of peace loving people throughout the world. Even the people of Pakistan or other Muslim countries do not like all this and are suffering humiliation because of some people of their community performing such heinous crimes. Earlier, people of all communities could mix together without any hassles. But now, in order to mix with people of different communities we need to be confirmed that they do not have any terrorist links. This is very sad and it hurts. But this is something very true.

I do agree that logically, a religion does not have anything to with terrorism, but why are some followers of one particular religion wanting to destabilize and decapitate human life on this planet so much and that too in the name of religion and God? They have degraded themselves so much that now they are targeting their own people. It is rather unfortunate that the followers of other religions are also fast learning from them.

At this juncture, I can only think of one remedy to this problem. Only the followers of Islam can save this planet from further destruction. Instead of assuming a passive role and being just observant, the peace loving religious leaders and common people of the Muslim community should talk to the religious fanatics of their community. They should let them know that by causing terrorism, they are only insulting their God. They will never reach Heaven by taking the lives of children. They should visit the places where young children are given training to become terrorists and remove all the hatred that is being nurtured for the other communities. People belonging to other communities are outsiders and they cannot bring any reforms. The terrorists will not take it from people belonging to other communities. It is only people belonging to their own community who can do this and I earnestly request them to.

image: lovestarrecords