The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), widely known as IS, shocked the world further by releasing another video of the executions of a Japanese citizen on Saturday. IS earlier in 2014 killed two American journalists, a British aid worker and a French tourist. Amidst the sharp outrages among the world conscience including the Muslims, IS has been showing its heinous audacities in the name of Islam. The latest IS killing of the Japanese hostage, Haruna Yukawa, 42, an adventurer, has raised the question all over the world as the killers had demanded a $200 million ransom from Japan for the release of the two Japanese. The other Japanese, a journalist namely Kenji Goto, is still captive to the IS militants.
It is now conspicuous that what the atrocities the IS did can never be an Islamic ideology. Islam cannot support killing people, and this cliché is not confined only to human beings, even a tiny insect in nature can never be killed without due justification. This is the true teaching of Islam, and therefore, the IS works against Islam and it is not in conjunction with the spirit of Islam. Rather, when Goto’s mother made an emotional plea for her son’s release on Friday, and this human appeal has raised questions for the justification of such killing which in all sense goes against Islam.
“My son Kenji is not an enemy of the people of the Islamic faith. I can only pray as a mother for his release,” Junko Ishido said. “If I could offer my life I would plead that my son be released, it would be a small sacrifice on my part.”
Japanese Prime Minister Sinzo Abe expressed his deep shock and anger over the issue. He said it was an ‘outrageous and unforgivable act of violence’. The US President Barack Obama has termed the killing ‘brutal murder’ and that the United States would stand “shoulder to shoulder” with Japan. The US President called for the immediate release of the second Japanese hostage, Kenji Goto. Most of the world leaders including Muslims also condemned the killing. Even the Japanese Muslim leaders have called the IS capture of the two Japanese hostages an “unforgivable act of cruelty”. They said that the IS militant group does not represent them and could further propagate misconceptions about the religion.
However, kidnappings and killings have become a business for IS to create its fund. The video released by IS on Tuesday showed two Japanese hostages in orange jumpsuits as their captor threatened to behead them with a knife if a ransom of $200 million was not paid up in 72 hours. “You now have 72 hours to pressure your government into making a wise decision by paying the $200 million to save the lives of your citizens,” the captor said in the video, adding that the ransom is to match the amount Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe promised in non-military aid to countries fighting terrorism in the Middle East at the start of his tour in the region.
The next video which claimed to contain the voice of Goto, however, said that the IS no longer want money. They demanded immediate release of Ms. Rishawi who was in prison in Jordan since 2005 for allegedly bombing a hotel in Amman that killed dozens of people and is referred as Jordan’s 9/11. Ms. Rishawi’s husband blew himself up in a wedding hall, but she survived.
The IS, commonly called as the offshoot of al-Qaeda was initially backed by some western countries to rebel against the Syrian regime. Though it provoked the Muslims at its primary stage, but gradually it is becoming clear that the motto of IS is against the ideology of Islam. The Muslim scholars now doubt that IS is working as the agent of the enemies of Islam. Some even say that Israel is ingeniously behind the plot of IS to put aside the world’s on-going sympathy to Palestine. Israel’s oppression, suppression, torture, killings (including war and war crimes) and at the top of all the disregard shown to Islam have gripped the Muslim psyche the world over for long.
The Muslims have long been misunderstood by the West. An incident like killing the hostages further breeds the illusion that Islam is a religion for terrorists. Killing of innocent person is tantamount to killing all of the mankind. The Islamic State terrorists, whose acts contradict Islam’s respect for human life, “are not Muslims.” The extremist group doesn’t belong to the Muslim Ummah.
Ofcourse, we strongly demand that IS must stop its unethical acts of killing people (may be non-Muslim, but all are human beings and have the right to life). They should go by the large-heartedness and righteous acts of Muslim leaders as set by the Holy Prophet of Islam. We also want the Muslims everywhere to denounce such murderers for money and expose them as non-Muslims. They are part of the conspiracy against the Muslims and Islam.
