Muslims Rage and 9/11
By
Olisa Adigwe
One year after the horrific attacks in New York and Washington, it is important to look back and see what we have so far learned about that day of infamy. I watched the TV on 9/11/2002 it was filled with TV documentaries replaying the videos of those attacks, interviews of survivals and those who witnessed the attacks. The pundits gave their opinions of why the attacks had been possible and what to do to discourage any future attacks. All the pundits agreed that terrorists should be fished out anywhere they could be found and punished including any state that harbor or sponsor them. That was the initial policy response of President George Bush in the wake of those attacks. A year later that policy and the attacks on Osama bin Laden hideout in the caves of Afghanistan and increased security at the airports and many other places have worked to forestall any other major attacks. Whether Osama bin Laden is dead or alive, we know that the smooth functioning of his organization has been disrupted. However there are still many Islamic fanatics all over the world.
Remember that Osama bin Laden is still considered a hero among some of our Muslim brothers and sisters. Nevertheless, if the intent of the 9/11 attacks was to rally Muslims everywhere and initiate jihad on the infidels he was badly mistaken. Apart from the initial jubilation in capitals of many Islamic countries and other Islamic enclaves, the superior power of United States and its allies have since muted those excitements.
What happened on September 11 last year was an attack on liberal values, progress and modernism. Fanatic adherents of Islamic faith have long ago declared war on all non-believers of their faith. Anybody of a different faith is branded an infidel. This perspective by the extremist Muslims has been a key source of motivation for their violence against non-Islamic believers. Often you will hear many clerics and intellectuals say that Islam is a peaceful religion. But the aggressiveness of the fanatics towards the infidels all over the world has given lie to that claim.
They believe that infidels lack spiritual value. But unlike the Islamic countries that are medieval and backward, America is open, prosperous and modern.
Unlike the monolithic Islamic societies, America recognizes the value of diversity of ideas and promotes tolerance. In America freedom is a watch-word. It is cherished here unlike in the Islamic societies. America is a secular society where people of different religious persuasions can reside harmoniously. Muslim fanatics can not understand these. They are envious, they are jealous and they are brimming with hate.
To be sure not too many people will like people who are successful, powerful and, yes sometimes arrogant, as America and other western countries are perceived. Western nations and America represent modernity and freedom while the majority of Muslim world represents repression of women's rights, anti-western civilization and a throw back to medieval times.
Islam was once a dominant religion in the world but its influence has been declining and this is a source of anger for many extreme adherents. You could observe their frustration when a tiny state of Israel projects her power against Palestine or any other Middle Eastern countries.
Many despotic leaders and clerics of the Islamic faith have continued to exploit this sense of frustration fanning the people's anger. The clerics continue to preach hate that non-believers are infidels and some might even add that infidels deserve death should they refuse to convert to Islam. Is Islam a religion of intolerance? This question has often been asked of our Muslim brothers and sisters and to date no satisfactory answer has been given. Often they will give you a long lengthy lecture of their faith without denying their intolerance or anger towards people of other faith. Because of their intolerance there is always a problem wherever Muslims and other faiths meet. We have witnessed numerous interfaith clashes from India to Nigeria. Some Leaders of Islamic countries having failed at governance instead of owning up to their failure would find scapegoats in Israel, Americans or the other western supporters of Israel. These Muslim Leaders have done this for many years and have gotten good at it - hiding their incompetence. The gullible masses would absorb their messages and at the slightest opportunity would vent their anger at the great 'satan' - western nations or infidels.
The behaviors of these Muslim Leaders and their subjects are creating distrust, disillusionment and troubles all over the world from India to Philippines, and from Kenya to Nigeria. The young Muslims are enraged. Part of that rage has found expression in suicide bombings and the horrific attacks such as in New York and Washington. And to lesser extent it has also found expression in numerous religious riots in Nigeria.
Recent news reports has it that Bola Tinubu, the Governor of Lagos State, is under intense pressure to introduce Sharia Laws in Lagos. Now Amina Lawal is counting her remaining days on earth and President Obasanjo is dreading the day he would weep for her.
Instead of working to improve the lives of Lagosians, the Governor is trying to make it more difficult, instead of working to improve transportation system in Lagos he's trying to increase the burden on women obtaining public conveyances. If the Governor's statement was a trial balloon on the feasibility of Sharia laws in Lagos, will those close to him immediately advise him against it. Sharia Laws are unprogressive laws, they retard development and highly discriminatory against women. In the dawn of twenty first century, they have no place in our cosmopolitan Lagos. Once initiated, they would incubate Muslim rage in Southern Nigeria. I have seen the city of New York after 9/11, it is not pretty.
It is so unfortunate that we have Muslim rage in Northern Nigeria and many other places in the world but the responsible thing for any decent Leader is to discourage its further growth anywhere. President Bush is basically on the right course leading United States in this titanic struggle to defend freedom and crush terrorism and African leaders should not be afraid to join him because history will prove them right and those fanatics wrong.
Olisa Adigwe
Lowell, Massachusetts