The 9/11 terrorist attacks and our pending task as global community

There are certain moments in life that remain etched in one’s memory forever, down to the smallest detail. September 11, 2001, is in my life amongst those unforgettable moments. 

At the time, I was living with my family in a small town in Germany, near Frankfurt. I remember that afternoon, when I came home from school, my family was sitting in front of the television, watching the news in shock, as the images looked like something out of a horror film. I was 11 years old at the time and, although the image of the collapsed towers stayed with me for the rest of the day, I was convinced that by the next day that tragedy would have faded from my memory. But the following hours, days, weeks and months proved me very wrong. Although the attack had taken place on the other corner of the world, that date marked a turning point, not only for me, but also in the international politics of the 21st century.

Firstly, today, on the eve of the commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the attacks on the Twin Towers, I wish to offer my deepest condolences to the nearly 3,000 victims who lost their lives, to their families, loved ones and to all those who suffered and continue to suffer, in one way or another, as a result of the worst terrorist attack in the history of the United States. It is also essential to pay tribute to the approximately 6,000 soldiers and all the allies who lost their lives in Afghanistan. It is worth recalling that, a few weeks after the attacks in New York, the United States, together with its allies, launched a war against Afghanistan in response. I therefore consider it essential to dedicate these lines also to the 51,000 Afghan civilians who were killed during ‘the war against terrorism’ and to the five million civilians who have been displaced from their homes over the last two decades.

At the same time, there are people who did not lose their lives or get driven from their homes, but who had to suffer – and indeed continue to suffer to this day – the consequences of the terrorist attacks. I am referring, in this case, to Muslims living in the West. Given the background that certain violent groups had hijacked the name of our religion to legitimise their atrocities, all Muslims became a target of stigmatisation, prejudice and discrimination. Consequently, terms such as ‘Jihadists,’ ‘Islamists’ or ‘Islamic terrorism’ have been attributed to us. It was a drastic shift, and many of us, sadly, have become accustomed to living with comments or ‘jokes’ about bombs, suicide attacks or terrorism.

Some of us are prepared to challenge such ideas and respond assertively. However, there will surely also be cases of Muslims who did not know how to respond or could not find the right words. I would therefore like, on behalf of those individuals, to shed some light on this much-debated issue.

First and foremost, I would like to refer to the Taliban, which is a military movement with a clear geopolitical agenda, whose origins lie in the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. In 1994, it emerged as a continuation of the various armed groups that had fought, with US support, against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In political and social terms, the Taliban claim to implement Islamic law, known as ‘Sharia,’ supposedly in its original and strict form.

However, the religion of Islam literally means ‘peace’ in Arabic. Its origins date back to the 7th century, and our faith is defined by its own teachings. For example, the Holy Qur’an, which is our primary source, categorically condemns terrorism and warns that whoever kills an innocent person acts as if they had killed all of mankind. Allah is the name of God for us; according to the first chapter of the Holy Qur’an, He is the Lord and Creator of all humanity. Thus, the expression ‘Allahu Akbar’ is not, as has been mistakenly claimed, a licence to commit atrocities, but is in fact a call, through the Divine-being, towards peace, harmony and universal brotherhood. ‘God is great’ means glorifying your Creator through love for all His creation, regardless of religion, colour or race.

Furthermore, the term ‘Sharia’, which is often misunderstood, does not, in essence, involve replacing secular constitutions with Islamic law or imposing the tenets of our faith on non-Muslims. Quite the contrary: Sharia literally means ‘path’ in Arabic and the path of Islam is followed solely by one’s own choice and decision. Similarly, ‘Jihad’ does not refer to war against ‘infidels’, but to the noble struggle against one’s own evil in the pursuit of divine love.

In short, the terrorist attacks of 9/11 created invisible walls in our coexistence as humanity. Unfortunately, a quarter of a century on, the wounds are growing ever deeper, and it seems there are an increasing number of voices advocating a return to an era of ‘medieval crusades’ or a Cold War between ‘the West and the Muslim world.’ At the same time, paradoxically, following a devastating two-decade war, when the allies withdrew from Afghanistan, the Taliban returned to power in a matter of days. The failure in Afghanistan is not an isolated episode, but a reflection of our global (dis)order, echoed by contradictions and hypocrisies.  In fact, military invasions – whether in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Lebanon or Gaza – rather than bringing peace or ‘eradicating terrorism’, have had the opposite effect.

The emergence of groups such as Al-Qaeda or ISIS, which have shattered the peace of entire communities, was no coincidence. Does this now mean that we must tolerate and accept the existence of terrorist groups and extremist ideologies? Of course not! My aim is to draw attention to the fact that these ‘cells’ always arise and grow in contexts of great economic, political and social instability. Frustration, corruption, injustice and the absence of sincere and transparent leadership are factors that fuel this type of extremist group. Similarly, the West’s recent debacle in the war against terrorism is proof that bombs, missiles and military tanks are not the appropriate or sufficient tools to protect societies from the ‘contamination’ of these movements.

In short, the fight against terrorism remains as relevant as ever and must be our shared responsibility. This objective will not be achieved through merely symbolic gestures or empty words, but through concrete decisions and political solutions that lead to social stability and, at the same time, are always rooted in universal principles of justice.

* Marwan Gill is an Imam (Islamic theologian) and President of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Argentina.