The eve of Ramadan, which awaited its end on July 5th, marked its closure with deafening gunshots in a cafe situated in a diplomatic area named Gulshan, in the capital city of Bangladesh. On the same day, another attack plagued the city of Medina in Saudi Arabia, a city eclipsed only by Mecca in the Muslim’s sacred imagination. The same Ramadan which is an epitome of peace, charity, forgiveness and self-sacrifice, saw several lives being claimed. From Orlando and Yemen last month; Istanbul, Dhaka and Medina last week, all of humanity was targeted. India came close to such scenes but timely intervention by NIA in Hyderabad busted an ISIS module which was in last stages of carrying out such attacks.
“God wants you to die”, said a terrorist in the café in Dhaka after a hostage failed to escape, as if he heard it from God in first person. The youth emasculated by the distorted interpretations of the Quran have put an ever increasing threat on millions of people preoccupied with the festivities of Ramadan. While God’s teachings have nothing to do with this madness, such acts are testament to the brainwashing that has caused damage to communities within and outside Islam.
Moreover, the lone wolf attack in Orlando by an educated youth calls for immediate steps to de-radicalise.
All this is sometimes beyond reason of a human being, be him of any religion. The skewed interpretations of Quran by some is sometimes blamed as culprit. But what about all those who understand the beauty of religion, and care not raise their voices? Isn’t it time that we stop pointing fingers at everything but introspect ourselves? There is an urgent need to present before the world alternate liberal and all-embracing interpretations so that religion is never used as tool to spread hatred and terror. The solution to terror is in each one of us. The solution to terror is love, compassion, fraternity.
“Terrorism knows no religion”
