On Saturday, September 21, the Westgate shopping mall in Kenyan capital of Nairobi was attacked by gunmen of an Islamist military group by name of ‘Al-Shabab.’ Armed men took hostage the people shopping in the mall and Kenyan army had to undertake a military operation to bring an end to this carnage. When all the five militants were gunned down on September 24, 61 civilian hostages and six security members were also killed in the operation while more than 200 were injured in this five days long military operation. It is believed that dozens of bodies are still buried under the rubble and the number of casualties would increase.

When this attack was in the media, a faction of Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for an attack carried out in a church in Peshawar city of Pakistan. On Sunday, when All Saints church was full of Pakistani Christians gathered for the Sunday service, two suicide bombers blew themselves up in the midst of the church hall. According to the experts, each bomber carried explosives of more than 6 kilograms. After the blast, the horrible scenes of blast moved the people with fear and agony as human body parts were hanging from the ceiling while walls of the church were colored by the human blood. The incident took lives of more than 80 worshippers while more than 140 were injured. The victims included men, women and children.

These two incidents made a very bad impact of suicide attacks, militancy, Islamic groups and frankly speaking, of the image of Islam. There is no doubt that suicide attacks and killing of innocents have long been declared to be ‘Non-Islamic’ by Islamic scholars in different countries of the world like Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and Pakistan, where the first country is considered to be the religious center of this religion while last two countries are the worst victims of this notorious form of militancy. Majority of the educated people in Afghanistan and Pakistan believe that such incidents are detrimental to the cause and objectives set for Muslims by Islam but there are still present a lot of people who either accept them as justified or if not, are not fully confident to talk against them.

Within our limited knowledge scenario, we may not be much aware of the perceptions being spreading about Muslims and Islam but those Muslims who are living in the Non-Muslim countries or who are living out of this limited mindset, believe that they are feeling great difficulty in defending their faith and belief in their religion and in some cases, they feel ashamed of being a member of this religion which is used by some people in such a brutal and illogical ways. However, it must be understood clearly that real problem doesn’t lie in the religion or its teachings but the problem lies in the way some people claim to be its members and use its name for their own purposes.

However we try to close our eyes towards the ground realities, sooner or later, we will have to face the reality and however bitter it is, we will have to accept it. When a person living outside our society talks in such a manner, we declare him to be under the influence of secular ideas and thus reject and ignore his criticism but this situation is not going to remain the same.

I have a question to all those who are continually observing these incidents and are in habit of thinking rationally. Don’t you feel that your thoughts and feelings towards your established set of beliefs are changing gradually and the ideals that were once dear to you, have lost their meaning. At the same time, don’t you notice in your surrounding that number of people who are openly discussing and criticizing these issues are increasing with every passing day and the issues that were once taken to be much sensitive to be disclosed and discussed, are now being discussed more openly and similarly, the ideas and thoughts that were limited to some secular-minded people are now spreading more and more in general public?

Let’s try to understand this situation with some examples, and in order to respect and protect their privacy, we would mention them by names of Mr. X and Mr. Y. Once, Mr. X used to be a very enthusiastic person who believed that Islam is a religion of peace and we should all work for spreading its unique teachings. Later on, with the increase in the number of suicide bombings and other strange acts on the name of Islam, he started defending these acts and tried to give any kind of explanation to these. After some time, he not only stopped defending but slowly started criticizing them. Then he was of the view that he felt ashamed on being a Muslim when its name was associated only with cruelty, immature and stupid actions, brutal killings and inflicting harm to others. Now, he is of the view that secularism is a better option as it doesn’t pose any kind of danger to the lives of others and at least, it doesn’t harm anyone if doesn’t do any good. He was of the view that religion should be made limited to the private lives of people because our people are not much mature and with such immature mentality, they cannot avoid associating a strange kind of emotional and often hatred-enticed feeling that is often problematic for themselves, the society and people living in it.

On the other hand, Mr. Y was like typical boys in his teen ages, but with the passage of time, his habit of book reading intensified and then he came along a number of books of Western philosophy. These philosophers changed his set of beliefs and he slowly started doubting on the beliefs and practices of his religion. Unfortunately, the illiteracy, poverty, social miseries, and strange practices on the name of religion and of course, the brutalities and bloodshed on the name of progress of religion made him believe the Western philosophers who regarded religion as an obstacle in the social progress of human beings and a tool used by some clever members of society to befool the illiterate masses for their personal gains.

It is not a hidden fact that brutalities and irrational practices of Western church turned the people against it and people first embraced secularism which later on lead to atheism. Now church has become a paralyzed organ of the Western society and it is taken as something unimportant and unnecessary.

Suicide attacks are increasing, sectarian rifts are widening, and beliefs and intimacy of people towards their religion is deteriorating. On the name of religion, these things are happening and people are being pushed away from this religion of peace. This conspiracy is going on but, we, as public are silent. Some of us fear criticism, some of us fear becoming a victim of their armed retaliation and vengeance while there are many who are silent as this setup is beneficial for them. But the biggest problem is the fear of standing alone and the day when many of us will shout together, we will discover that there were thousands who wanted to do the same.