“As a Muslim, I am Daesh’s first enemy"
A young Muslim shares his thoughts upon the Islamic State. "My Islam prefers living together in a contest governed by peace, brotherhood and tolerance." Meanwhile, French and Belgian police believe that a 32-year-old Belgian-Moroccan, Oussama Atar, aka Abou Ahmad, was behind the bloody attacks in Paris and Brussels.
Paris (AsiaNews) – Anti-terrorism units of the French and Belgian police have identified the mastermind of the bloody attacks in Paris and in Brussels, a 32-year-old Belgian-Moroccan, Oussama Atar, aka 'Abou Ahmad'.
Despite his young age, Atar was already known to Belgian anti-terrorist services. In 2005 he was sentenced to ten years in prison by an Iraqi court for illegally entering the country and was held in prisons run by the US Army. Inside, he might have met future "Caliph" Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
In detention Atar benefited from a wide campaign of support, seeking his release on medical grounds (he allegedly had kidney cancer). In 2012, the Belgian Government, under pressure, called on Iraqi authorities to release Atar. Once free, the latter came back to Belgium where he was arrested again in 2013 for attempting to join a jihadist group. After his release from prison, he joined the ranks of the Islamic State (Daesh) in their Iraqi-Syrian stronghold where he started to recruit aspiring suicide attackers.
Abderrahmani Kamel, a young Muslim who lives in Paris reflects on the false religious motivations behind the attacks and expresses his personal opposition to a kind of Islam that is reduced to its legal form and is an enemy of reason.
A year after the attacks at the Bataclan in Paris, French and Belgian police identified a certain Osama Atar, aka Abou Ahmad, as the mind behind the attack. He had left Belgium at 20 to fight in Iraq when the US was still involved there. During that period, he was arrested for trying to join jihadists in Syria, and sentenced to ten years in prison.
It is amazing: How someone who calls himself a believer in God can commit atrocities in the name of religion? An group of mentally ill madmen murdered 130 innocent evening on 11 November 2015. How horrible it is that they are capable of doing anything.
As a Muslim, I think that religions were revealed to propel humanity forward, to help them evolve and especially promote coexistence between all segments of human society. In other words, religions stand for peace, not violence.
If we look at the three revealed books, we discover that the war is recommended only in self defence. How is it possible that the prophets who carried the divine messages could incite hatred? They too were subjected to violence and even persecution. They too lived through conflicts and wars, but they never abandoned their goal, which was to achieve peace. Jesus said, "Love your enemies." The Qur'an says, “will you then force men till they become believers? [. . .] You are naught but a warner.” There are many examples like these in the revealed books.
“Today we are witnessing a very serious phenomenon, that of killing and offending the innocent in the name of the one who created the heavens and the earth. This phenomenon calls on every normal person to think and reflect upon it. As a Muslim, I choose to speak about terrorist groups that our religion has known, including Daesh.
“Daesh, after having exterminated groups of Iraqi Christians, continues to slaughter its fellow Muslims and exert tremendous pressure on people and this in the name of Islam. Personally, I am outraged and normally every believer should be so. Denouncing this barbarism committed in the name of religion is my sacred duty.
I have the "nerve" to say that Daesh applies Sharia to the letter. I confirm it. This is why I am sure that even if Daesh disappeared, its obscurantist ideology would remain because its seeds have always existed in our so-called Islamic jurisprudence.
My Islam is an Islam of peace, an Islam of logic and reason. My Islam makes me think about the Qur'an, analyse it. My Islam teaches me that there is "no compulsion in religion," it teaches me that we should offend no one. It teaches me that I have to defend myself when someone wants to harm me, and pave the way to peace when my enemy seeks peace.
My Islam questions the apocryphal texts and teaches me that between me and God, there is no place for the clergy (imam or other)! My Islam prefers living together in a contest governed by peace, brotherhood and tolerance.
Finally, my Islam is Daesh’s first enemy because, in its eyes, I am an enemy to defeat.
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