“Adopt my faith, or die!” That is the slogan of the fanatics. There is no such concept as democracy, freedom of ideas, love, respect, affection, friendship or altruism in fanaticism. Some people imagine that fanaticism, and its offshoot radicalism, can settle inside a true faith. Yet fanaticism is itself a religion; there are representatives of the religion of fanaticism inside every idea. There are fanatics in Islam, in Judaism and in Christianity, just as there are in Marxism, fascism and atheism. They all espouse the same false faith; “I don't like your ideas! Either go along with my ideas, or die!”
In recent times in particular, this fanaticism has largely wound up being equated with Islam. Indeed, certain groups call this religion of fanaticism Islam and they have turned their fears of fanaticism toward Islam, so much so that Islam, an Abrahamic faith, has come to stand for “fear.” Islamophobia is talked about all over the world. People are unaware that their fears stem, not from Islam, but from fanaticism. They fail to see that the fanatical faith produced by peddlers of superstition has appeared in the name of Islam; nobody has ever told them that this is not Islam. Neither the radicals who emerge in the name of Islam nor the Islamophobes who fear those radicals have been shown that Islam has nothing to do with this fanatical, terrifying, loveless and hate-filled faith. The radicals of Islam have begun harming the entire world, but Muslims most of all.
The phrase “moderate Islam” was invented for that reason. As if there were such things as a savage Islam on one hand and a moderate model of Islam on the other, Muslims opposed to the savagery of the radicals began being referred to as “moderate Muslims.” Voices opposed to Islam admired the advocates of moderate Islam, but regarded them as weak in the face of the radicals. They imagined that some peace-loving people were trying to soften a savage religion (surely Islam is above that). They even called this “reform in Islam,” and referred to the advocates of moderate Islam as “reformists.” However nobody has managed to show that this is not a reform, but is in fact the real Islam. Although the opponents of Islam admire the “reformists,” the false strength stemming from radical violence and the idea that they represent the real Islam predominated.
Peace-loving Muslims are not trying to soften, reform or moderate Islam. Our main aim as peaceable Muslims is to intellectually eliminate a falsehood that has been propagated under the name of Islam for many years. It is to eliminate the radicalism, fanaticism and bigotry displayed for years under the name of Islam and to eradicate that nonsensical faith that has nothing to do with the true Islam, and to describe the truth of Islam with evidence from the Qur’an. It is to put an end to the worst defamation of Islam being done by the fanatics up until now.
The fanatics’ problem is that they learn their faith from specious superstition. However, those who criticize those fanatics are sometimes just as radical as them and believe in the accuracy of that same superstition. The more we produce evidence from the Qur’an, the more they try to produce their own from the superstition the fanatics subscribe to. That is where they make their gravest mistake.
If people want to know the true Islam and find a solution to fanaticism, then they must heed the true faith described in the Qur’an. Unless they do that, radicalism will continue to plague the world.
