As if you thought it was over. Nope folks, there's more. A video has been showing where an American is beheaded with a knife. The video was titled, "Abu Musab al-Zarqawi shown slaughtering an American."
According to the BBC (linked above), one of the masked men said, "How can a free Muslim sleep well as he sees Islam slaughtered and its dignity bleeding, and the pictures of shame and the news of the devilish scorn of the people of Islam - men and women - in the prison of Abu Ghraib?"
OK, first off, nobody is slaughtering Islam. You cannot slaughter Islam, it's a religion, a deen, not a person or a goat. Just as what sick people do in the name of Islam (see above link) does not, in reality, denigrate Islam, torturing Muslims (which I obviously don't agree with) doesn't "slaughter" Islam. Each of these actions only shows the depravity of the people involved. As a Muslim, I put the onus on the Muslims. To quote Shaykh Hamza Yusuf from his article, "Religion, Violence, and the Modern World," he says, "Religious people who set aside every true and universal religious principle in the name of religion are worse than any secular beast doing the same in the name of 'might makes right.' The reason is obvious: one acts in the name of religion and causes others to hate religion; the other acts in the name of power and causes others to rightly hate the worst qualities of man."
I mean, cutting a man's head off with a knife? That's a terrible death. In Islam, prisoners of war (that is if these masked men consider themselves mujahideen and not merely brigands) cannot be treated as lifeless nothings. There are rules concerning the treatment of prisoners. Consider a quote from Islam-qa (I don't actively support many of the politics/views of this site, but this bit is informative): "If the Muslims capture them and take them to a place that has been prepared for them, they should not harm them or torture them with beatings, depriving them of food and water, leaving them out in the sun or the cold, burning them with fire, or putting covers over their mouths, ears and eyes and putting them in cages like animals. Rather they should treat them with kindness and mercy, feed them well and encourage them to enter Islam."
Consider the words of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) referring to the prisoners taken from Badr, "Take heed of the recommendations to treat the prisoners fairly." Now mind you, these prisoners spoken of were men who fought against Muslims, killing them, and fought against the Prophet himself, and would have killed him had they the chance. The man in Iraq was a civilian! An Islamic state is even expected to free a prisoner with its own funds if he is unable to pay for his freedom. Consider this article on the treatment of prisoners. Also consider the fatwa found at IslamOnline.
Sick minds begat sick actions. I think lack of education (of Islam) is a major factor in such atrocities. And I don't accept the argument of, "Well, the US/Israel/Soviet Union/Martians do terrible things too, what about them?" The evil deeds of another does not give you a line of credit to commit evil deeds of your own. If fighting the just fight means you have to fight with one hand behind your back, and perhaps die in the process, Allahu akbar, I cannot think of a greater example of being a martyr.
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to counter a wrong action with a right, and you thereby remove the power of the wrong. The cycle of violence is ended. When non-Muslims see Muslims beheading some man and shouting, "God is greatest," how many of them will accept Islam after that?
How many enemies can you make in a day?
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