September 11th Attacks on 2001 by Al Qaeda
On a peaceful Tuesday (September 11th, 2001) morning, 19 members of the Al-Qaeda terrorist group hijacked 4 different passenger planes and attacked several significant properties of the US, including the two towers of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon (headquarters of United States Department of Defense). Al-Qaeda, led by Osama Bin Laden (until his death in 2011) is an extremist Islamic group whose primary objective is to take over the Muslim world in the Middle East. In other words, they are trying to reshape the Muslim world, by establishing a single Islamic political leadership from some of the temporal states in the Middle East. As the US was the predominant “foreign” nation involved in matters of the Middle East, it was certainly a great hindrance, or impediment, for the Al-Qaeda group, who were trying to take over this region to achieve their goal. To give an unambiguous, straightforward message to the US to withdraw its troops from the Middle East, and simply just stopping their expansion, the Al-Qaeda group delivered one of the deadliest attacks on the US.
This event that occurred a little over a decade ago is very relevant to Islam. Al-Qaeda is an extremist Islamic group who have the same beliefs as any other Muslims. However, this incident proved that they either don’t always follow everything that is written in the Quran, or everyone has different interpretations of the Quran. This is because the Quran says that they should emphasize “generosity” and “social justice”, and that Muslims should “focus on overcoming immorality within themselves”. Nonetheless, the actions that they took on September 11th weren’t actually correlating to the message in the Quran. Most likely due to this event, many people that don’t really know much about Islam perceive all Muslims as “terrorists.” In addition, Osama Bin-Laden, the former leader of the Al-Qaeda, devised this act because he believed that the American troops “were too close to Mecca” and that they “had occupied the holiest places [of the Middle East], the Arabian Peninsula, plundering its riches, dictating to its rulers, humiliating its people, terrorizing its neighbors, and turning its bases in the Peninsula into a spearhead through which to fight the neighboring Muslim peoples." Although this does not go against any official Muslim beliefs, this caused a myriad of Muslims to become angered, or more specifically the Al Qaeda group.
Not only was Muslim power was the motive for the 9/11 attacks, the Persian Gulf War was also an incentive for Al-Qaeda. It began as an invasion of Kuwait by the Iraqi troops. Former United States President George H. W. Bush was bothered by this, and released troops to Saudi Arabia. After the war was over, 5,000 American soldiers were required to remain in this area in case some other major situation occurred. This also led to the attacks on the Twin Towers. Late Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin-Laden quotes, "the Americans are once against trying to repeat the horrific massacres, as though they are not content with the protracted blockade imposed after the ferocious war or the fragmentation and devastation....On that basis, and in compliance with Allah's order, we issue the following fatwa to all Muslims: The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies—civilians and military—is an individual duty for every Muslim..." This excerpt is from the 1998 fatawa, stating terror onto the Americans and their allies.
To summarize, even though one's beliefs should be respected and are very important, it is very inhumane to affect others' situations in a negative way which brings harm to them. One shouldn't be selfish and egocentric, and should not harm or terrorize other people in order to accomplish their own goals. Although some solutions, such as stopping terrorism, are necessary to calm things down, they shouldn't be used to damage others unethically. Nevertheless, terrorism and violence shouldn't be used to selfishly achieve one's goals. The Al-Qaeda did not keep this in mind and the aftereffects of such events. (JUDGEMENT)
This event that occurred a little over a decade ago is very relevant to Islam. Al-Qaeda is an extremist Islamic group who have the same beliefs as any other Muslims. However, this incident proved that they either don’t always follow everything that is written in the Quran, or everyone has different interpretations of the Quran. This is because the Quran says that they should emphasize “generosity” and “social justice”, and that Muslims should “focus on overcoming immorality within themselves”. Nonetheless, the actions that they took on September 11th weren’t actually correlating to the message in the Quran. Most likely due to this event, many people that don’t really know much about Islam perceive all Muslims as “terrorists.” In addition, Osama Bin-Laden, the former leader of the Al-Qaeda, devised this act because he believed that the American troops “were too close to Mecca” and that they “had occupied the holiest places [of the Middle East], the Arabian Peninsula, plundering its riches, dictating to its rulers, humiliating its people, terrorizing its neighbors, and turning its bases in the Peninsula into a spearhead through which to fight the neighboring Muslim peoples." Although this does not go against any official Muslim beliefs, this caused a myriad of Muslims to become angered, or more specifically the Al Qaeda group.
Not only was Muslim power was the motive for the 9/11 attacks, the Persian Gulf War was also an incentive for Al-Qaeda. It began as an invasion of Kuwait by the Iraqi troops. Former United States President George H. W. Bush was bothered by this, and released troops to Saudi Arabia. After the war was over, 5,000 American soldiers were required to remain in this area in case some other major situation occurred. This also led to the attacks on the Twin Towers. Late Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin-Laden quotes, "the Americans are once against trying to repeat the horrific massacres, as though they are not content with the protracted blockade imposed after the ferocious war or the fragmentation and devastation....On that basis, and in compliance with Allah's order, we issue the following fatwa to all Muslims: The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies—civilians and military—is an individual duty for every Muslim..." This excerpt is from the 1998 fatawa, stating terror onto the Americans and their allies.
To summarize, even though one's beliefs should be respected and are very important, it is very inhumane to affect others' situations in a negative way which brings harm to them. One shouldn't be selfish and egocentric, and should not harm or terrorize other people in order to accomplish their own goals. Although some solutions, such as stopping terrorism, are necessary to calm things down, they shouldn't be used to damage others unethically. Nevertheless, terrorism and violence shouldn't be used to selfishly achieve one's goals. The Al-Qaeda did not keep this in mind and the aftereffects of such events. (JUDGEMENT)
Solutions
Since the attacks of Al Qaeda, there have been a lot of people thinking that all Muslims are bad. We have come up with several Islam based solutions that can stop people from thinking stereotypically. First, according to the Islamic belief, Muslims believe that no soul is responsible for their sins and faults. If Americans went by this Islamic belief, they can forgive the 9/11 incident and they can go on with their lives and stop people from thinking horribly about Islam. Second, according to Islam, both Adam and Eve were sinned for their wrong doing. They believe that both of them were disobeying Allah; however, Allah forgave their sins. Like Allah, if Americans believed in Allah, they could try representing Allah. They could forgive what Al Qaeda did and stop people from thinking negatively.