Many years before, when the brutality of militants was not as widespread, there were only Al-Qaeda and Taliban in the arena, and their worst shape in the form of ISIS had not yet emerged, I was sitting with a scholar of our neighborhood. Unlike a typical religious scholar, he was a person who enjoyed sitting with common people, had a mobile phone with latest features, was a strong supporter of modern education and encouraged his madrasa students to study English and it became the basis of our friendship as well. Those days were the days of suicide bombings and suicide bombers targeted people without any discrimination. No place was safe of their brutality; mosques, bazaars, wedding halls, sports grounds and all other places where neutral and innocent people assembled in large numbers. A latest suicide attack in a shopping mall had left dozens dead, hundreds injured, and there was an air of sorrow in the city. We were discussing the same sad incident and the scholar seemed sadder than anyone I had seen in those days. At once he said, ‘I exactly don’t remember if it was the saying of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) or one of the great saints but it said that a day would come when a person sitting in the east would be responsible for the death of a person who gets killed in the north. I thought about this saying for many days and searched in the books but could not find any satisfactory explanation but now I understand it. As these suicide attacks have started in the name of religion, in which large number of innocent and neutral people are killed, I am growing in confidence that it was said about people of this age.’ Not understanding enough, I asked for some more explanation. The scholar said, ‘These suicide attacks are carried out in the name of Islam but now everyone knows that there is no Jihad or Islam behind these and it is an international game played by international players on our soil and they use the name of Islam for promotion of their agendas. There are three kinds of people in our society in this regard. One who are directly involved in this. Their top leaders are given handsome money by some hidden hands and they absolutely know what they are doing. Then comes the turn of people who believe that a true jihad is in progress and they morally or financially support them. On the other hand, there are those who despise any violence and bloodshed on the name of Islam and they want to stop it but they are scared of becoming targets themselves and so they remain silent. However, in all these, the biggest and most disastrous share is of those who do not know the reality of this great game and they talk in favor of these. Just think about the suicide attacker of this recent attack. He was a teenager who had come from a village thousands of kilometers away. In his village, there are those who always talk in favor of jihad and suicide attacks but they never realize that their talks would persuade a person to fall victim to the group of terrorists and commit suicide. If they had realized that their persuasion would have killed dozens of innocent people, they could have never said anything but they keep talking. It is the reason why, they are also equally responsible for the death of people who are killed thousands of kilometers away from them.’

When he said this, I also started thinking about large number of people found in our surrounding who are in habit of talking about something and they are not sure about the consequences of it. Thanks to the increasing access to internet, Facebook, Youtube and other sites where they can find a lot of false literature, photos and videos about these sensitive issues, they always have a lot to talk about. People in our society never think what might be the possible outcomes of their comments and put their indirect in the drastic and disastrous consequences that might stem from comments and thoughts expressed by them. Thanks to increasing awareness in major cities like Kabul where people are now getting bold to talk against anything stupid carried out in the name of Islam. The situation is the most painful for those religious scholars and educated people who see that the peaceful image of Islam has badly been shattered due to these suicide attacks. Islam, that was once associated with peace and tolerance has now become synonymous to violence, torture, and suicide attacks. It is the reason why, more and more people are now talking against acts of violence and religious scholars are also asserting that in true Islamic teachings, there is no room for torture, violence and suicide attacks and the people who do so are miles away from any kind of jihad and they are either the agents of their foreign masters or have become puppets in the hands of those who want to destroy the image of Islam by using its name. In the same way, common public is also getting confidence to talk against these things.

However, this is not the case in villages or far distant remote areas. There, people are still emotionally following those who take the name of Islam and suicide attacks are still considered as part of jihad. The reason is absolutely evident; they never had any opportunity to get access to neutral information and they believed in whatever was said to them. Even in big cities, there are present large numbers of scholars who still talk in favor of jihad or who are silent and afraid of talking against violence in the name of Islam. There is also present a small minority that seems much impressed from these scholars and they blindly follow whatever they hear from their favorite scholars. Their level of influence then makes them say the same things that they hear. Their illiteracy and limited access to religious teachings and literature make the work easy.

We are passing through hard times. The menace of terrorism is getting strong and many new organizations are getting birth. It started with Taliban, then Al-Qaeda, then Haqqani network and now the most disastrous, ISIS and of course, the new breeds of terrorism, Boko Haram and Al-Shabab in Nigeria and we are not sure as which shapes it would take in future. It is a controversial issue as from where they are getting financial and strategic support and which countries are behind them. However, it is for sure that they are getting moral support from the masses of these countries. The menace will keep changing its name and shape but it will re-emerge from different parts of the world in different shapes and by different names until and unless we don’t decide that after this, we will not support any organization that uses terror and violence in the name of Islam. There are so many ways of promoting Islam and changing the society but no scholar can claim that violence, terror and suicides have any room in true Islamic teachings.