Recently I came across an interview about an Iranian woman by BBC, in which a case of mistaken identity resulted in her being arrested by the Iranian authorities and followed by her eventual escape from Iran. The thing that caught my attention in the interview was her reference to the government of Iran. Normally, in most countries, and in India, people refer to their government as “our government or Indian government”. But the woman in the interview time and time again referred to the Iranian government as the “Islamic republic”. I found it extremely strange that she referred to her country in a religious perspective as if trying to show that all Islamic countries harrass their own citizens in the way it happened to her. Even in a country like Saudi Arabia where the official religion is Islam it is never referred to as the Islamic kingdom by its media and people; it is only referred to as the Kingdom.
My point is that today everywhere around the world acts done by Muslims or in the slightest way connected to Islam are being referred to as Islamic; it could be Islamic terrrorism , Islamic extremism, Islamic fundamentalism, among many examples.
Consider the following examples. As we all know, the Taleban are always referred to as Islamist militants. This gives the illusion to those unaware, particularly non-Muslims, that they are fighting because they are Muslims, against non-Muslims rather than for the freedom of their country.
Another example is that of the new Egypt government. Time and time again they are being referred to as Islamist government to show that every Islamic government is “typically” Islamic, “authoritarian”, “uncomprimising”, “hardliner” and needless to say pro-Hamas and anti-Israeli. Even in other countries where the Arab Spring took place, headlines like ‘Islamists take control in elections’, ‘Islamists to assume power in Tunisia’ are made to mean as if all these governments came to power through illegitimate means.
Take another example which is quite recent: “ Islamist clerics demand ban on video”.
It seems that the word Islamic or Islamist has been used to show to the world that anything Islamic or anybody Islamist is bad for the society. Phrases like Islamic Shariah, Islamist government and Islamist terrorists are used to defame Islam. Another way of misguiding the public about Muslims is using words like “conservative” and “Islamic clerics”.
The word Islamic terrorists so common nowadays in the media has been coined to give the illusion that those committing terrorist acts are doing this because they are Muslims or as if their religion is encouraging them to do it. But as Dr. Zakir Naik rightly pointed out in one of his speeches that the term ‘Islamic terrorist’ is like saying ‘peaceful terrorist’ as Islam is a word which means peace among other meanings. There is nothing like ‘peaceful terrorism’; Islam and terrorism are two opposite ideologies.
Similarly, the word Islamic Shari’ah, against which so many people rally, is used in the western media nowadays to mean that Shari’ah is Islamic therefore dangerous. In short, all these words are the methods by which the one-sided media tries to show that Islam is a curse for society. This one-sided media seems to have little or no place for anything “Christian”, “Hindu”, “Jewish” etc.
The infamous drug cartel of South America and the US is never referred to as Christian in anyway while they love to make headlines like “Poppin business of Islamist Taleban in Afghanistan”. And the world’s biggest and most powerful terrorist organisation Israel is never referred to as being terrorist nor is its handiwork referred to as Jewish atrocities or Jewish terrorism. The Norwegian gunman who killed 69 innocent people in Norway has always from the beginning been referred to as a “right wing extremist” rather than a Christian extremist despite it being obvious in his confession that he was an extremist Christian follwing Hindutva ideology.
I feel Muslim organisations should work on removing misconception about the words Islamist and Islamic which seem to have found a new meaning thanks to the media.