Terror is fundamentally un-Islamic

By Angela Stephens

In the wake of the U.S. attacks in Afghanistan and Sudan, we must heed President Clinton's words and not turn this into a U.S. war against Islam.

At the time of the embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania two weeks ago, a gathering of Islamic leaders half a world away was discussing world peace in the 21st century.

"Religion has never called for terrorist actions," said Sheikh Hisham Kabbani, chairman of the second International Islamic Unity Conference, held in Washington. "It is extremists, with their narrow-minded interpretations, who hide behind the name of religion to justify terrorist acts."

Some commentators utter the term "Islamic extremist" when they talk of the embassy bombings as though the two words were inextricably linked. Yet extremism is neither characteristic of nor condoned by Islam, as Clinton noted.

The Prophet Mohammed, who revealed Islam in the 7th century, is recorded as having told his followers: "You should not be extremists." Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's observation after the bombings that "terrorism is not a manifestation of religious faith" was an elementary yet profound reminder that political acts carried out under the guise of religion are no reflection on the value of that religion.

No true Muslim could possibly justify these acts of violence. Islam's holy book, the Koran, reminds Muslims of God's instructions to the Jews not to commit murder: "We laid it down for the Israelites that whoever killed a human being, except as a punishment for murder or other villainy in the land, shall be looked upon as though he had killed all mankind."

And though the Koran encourages Muslims to defend themselves, it warns against aggression: "Fight for the sake of God those that fight against you, but do not attack them first. God does not love the aggressors."

The vast majority of the world's 1 billion Muslims are living peaceably with their neighbors, including those in this country. But the impression many people are left with — particularly if they have had no contact with Muslims — is that practitioners of Islam are violent, anti-American terrorists.

In a recent Roper poll, more than half the respondents described Islam as inherently anti-American, anti-Western or supportive of terrorism — though only 5 percent said they'd had much contact with Muslims themselves.

Incidents of harassment and violence against American Muslims and Arabs have risen sharply following dramatic and devastating events such as the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and 1996 crash of TWA flight 800, even though in both events there was no connection to Islam or the Middle East.

After the Oklahoma City bombing, the media rushed to spread rumors of Middle Eastern-looking suspects, only to learn later that the bomber was a fair-haired soldier and decorated Gulf War veteran. We never labeled him a "Christian terrorist," though one might argue that is what he was.

As a result of the initial misreporting after the Oklahoma City tragedy, the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington documented more than 200 incidents of threats, assaults and harassment targeting American Muslims.

The council reported a 60 percent rise in discrimination against Muslims in 1997, compared to the previous year, including individuals being questioned at airports because of their name, appearance or travel destination.

Don't be misled by political zealotry cloaked in a religious banner. The bombings in East Africa, like previous attacks on Americans in Saudi Arabia and Lebanon, are political acts of war hiding behind religion. The bombers are pretenders to their faith.