Before starting, it must be clear to all that this is only an analysis based on facts and circumstances. It is not intended to hurt anyone’s sentiments/beliefs/faith.
[The article, from the opinion point of view, is the author’s own input and Kailasha Foundation – Fun & Learn Portal alias Kailasha Online Learning LLP is not responsible for anything irrelevant or unsuitable.]
“The solemn charge which the Parliament preaches to all true believers is a return to the primitive unity of the world…The results may be far off, but they are certain,” when John Henry Barrows observed these lines, mankind was witnessing Parliament of World’s Religions, held from 11th to 23rd September 1893, the first formal gathering of representatives of Eastern and Western spiritual traditions, beliefs and faiths, at the shore of Lake Michigan, Chicago.
No one would have imagined at that time that the world would suffer maximum because of the differences in beliefs and faiths.
The “primitive unity”, the dream they saw, remained a fantasy.
What did not remain as the same was the world order, the longing for power? After that, the world faced two World Wars within a duration of 30 years, setting aside humanity and scathing the peace. Soon after the conclusion of WWII, in 1948 Israel was created through a partition of Palestine, which resulted in dissatisfaction among a particular ethnic group.
Origin of Modern Radical Islamic Movements:
From Al Fatah in Palestine which engendered a series of Marxist and anti-Western transformations and movements throughout the Arab and Islamic world to Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the subsequent anti-Soviet mujahideen war, lasting from 1979 to 1989, stimulating the rise and expansion of religious Islamic terrorists, the face of International terrorism which was political, started taking religious nature. Afghan invasion by USSR was done in course to obtain an upper hand over Capitalist America in the Cold War but it backfires to them and resulted in chaos, it not only spoiled USSR’s economy by created a war zone in the Afghan-Pak region. Islamic world volunteered in the Afghan war and they were supported by conservative countries like Saudi Arabia and Yemen. It was no more for the political power game. The inclusion of conservative States made it radical religious Holy War. The Islamic Jihadis began describing themselves as warriors of Islam with their goal to the establishment of Islam all over the globe. Their major establishments were in Afghanistan, Egypt, Sudan, Pakistan and some Middle East countries.
The Course of Islamic Terrorism:
It was centred in the Middle East Asia began to spread all over the globe. In the decade of 1980’s the radical phase of Islamic terrorism widened with Hezbollah, a Shia group, doing suicide bombing in the Middle East, and was linked to the 1983 bombing and subsequent deaths of 241 U.S. marines in Beirut, Lebanon, as well as multiple kidnappings of U.S. and Western civilians and government officials. USSR and USA indulged in the Cold War and sponsored terror in the rival group. The American policy of listing state sponsors was heavily politicized and did not include several countries — both allies and opponents of Washington — that, under U.S. government definitions, were guilty of supporting or using terrorism. Since the 1989 Soviet withdrawal of Afghan, Afghanistan emerged as a terrorist training ground. Pakistan, struggling to balance its needs for political-economic reform with a domestic religious agenda, provided assistance to terrorist groups both in Afghanistan and Kashmir while acting as a further transit area between the Middle East and South Asia.
In 1994, the Pakistan-Taliban militia in Afghanistan assumed several characteristics traditionally associated with state-sponsors of terrorism, providing all types of support including travel and training. Radical groups such as the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, Al Qaeda, and Lashkar-e-Taiba emerged as highly motivated and deadly groups having influence all over the world.
Laden and Al Qaeda:
Al Qaeda, founded by Abdullah Azzam in 1988, started spreading Islamic fundamentalism was soon taken under control of Osama Bin Laden, who travelled to Afghanistan in 1979 and helped organize Arab mujahideen to resist the Soviets. He spread its work in 40 countries. It soon became the symbol of Islamic Jihad and Islamic Organisations started funding it. He shifted the focus towards western world. The aim was to liberate regions which were once ruled by Muslims and to secure the rights of Muslims living in several secular non-Muslim states. The fanatics in the start of 21st Century proved the biggest terrorist attack. On September 9, 2001, they did a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks on the United States. The attacks killed 2,997 people, injured over 6,000 others, and caused at least $10 billion in infrastructure and property damage, and followed by bombings on 12 October 2002 in the tourist district of Kuta on the Indonesian island of Bali. The attack killed 202 people (including 88 Australians, 38 Indonesians, and people from more than 20 other nationalities). Despite the U.S. President’s call to “treat the Muslims with respect”, they faced hate crimes and harassment throughout the world. The whole world turned against them and the situation, which got birth in 1948 at the time of creation of Israel, got even worse.
The Observation:
Killings in the name of religion is not new to mankind. What started with Crusades or Takfir by Kharijites is now replaced by radical religious fanaticism. To gain the power in world politics, countries like U.K., U.S.A., U.S.S.R. frequently sponsored terrorism and that led the world to the rise of religious extremism.
Though the conclusion of WWII established peace in the world, however, the mankind has not really got over killings and violence. The contemporary world is facing even worse situation where religious killings have been more frequent, enormous of examples we can see all the day; and quoting them here are not worth importance.
In the period of 1893 to 2001, those 108 years, what really moved the world towards this crisis is the politicization of religion supported by First World countries and having a disastrous impact on the Third World States. What started with the peaceful Parliament of World’s Religion to unite all religions got converted into spreading propagandas. West brutally dominated East, and in consequence, the conservative Islamic society responded. What got wrong was the misinterpretation and improper implementation of the whole concept by masters of those ethnic groups. What could have ended with some settlements have now become a worldwide war, and the end of it is no near one can guess. What everyone needs to understand can be very must comprise in the views expressed in the Parliament of World’s Religions –
Every religion has been interpreted by some self-proclaimed ‘heads’ wrongly for their own benefits and the world blindly following them have forgotten the fundamentals of each and every religion, i.e.- peace and humanity. Let’s rise above those beliefs/faiths which make us apart and achieve that dream of “Primitive Unity.”
Notable referred sources:
- https://parliamentofreligions.org/content/1893-parliament-mr-mohammed-alexander-russell-webb
- http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/target/etc/modern.html
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_terrorism
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_terrorism
Other Team Members’ inputs:
Nothing has changed except the nature of attacks. Previously world wars were faought among different states , just to satisfy ego of some selfish, influencial people. And today, a war is being fought between terrorist vs different countries. This is more or less the result of the war fought in previous decades. Remember the movie ‘New York’? How an intelligent, intellectual, flamboyant personality transformed into an ashamed, awkward, and depressed one, which in turn gave rise to a terrible group of terrorists? It is shown in that movie. Just think, how many people have been punished like that in the past. The number is very large, larger than we can think. The anguish and anger had to be vented out sometimes, in some form, and now it is coming out in its most terrible form. WTC attack is nothing but one of the worst consequences of the mistakes made by previous generations. – Bhawna Shweta
In my opinion, Education is the change. Ancient Indian Education was something to be proud of. Be it Takshila or Nalanda, the world has bowed down to us in the past. But now, that heritage is only remaining in form of tourist attractions. It was Indian Education that a man with weird attire (term used as per situation at that time) in 1893 adressed the public for the first time with the salutation: “Sisters and Brothers…” and the hall witnessed one of the longest applause durations. Terrorism also is spread due to lack of proper education. – Ankit Keshan
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