The Syrian refugee crisis has slowly turned into a critical debate whether they are safe for Europe and USA because many fear that terrorists may take cover of the resettlement of the refugees on humanitarian cause to become security threats to them at the end.
The Paris attack was carried out by a group of radicals, they were Muslims by origin but not devout Islamist and practicing Muslims. The leader of the Paris attack has never visited a mosque in his lifetime for prayers as his family claims. They were indeed social outcast and cannot be said that they represent Islam to put blame on all Muslims and the religion that speaks for peace and to shun violence.
But the matter has become complicated with the claiming of responsibility by Islamic State that their fighters have carried out the Paris carnage. They are out to exploit the young people in Europe as they are facing exclusions in the society slowly many of them to become radicals.
Muslim scholars have already spoken out on the issue saying there is nothing like Islamic State to represent Islam. Those who speak of Caliphate are indeed terrorists. “There is nothing Islamic about such people and their actions are evil, and outside the boundaries set by our faith,” the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) said immediately condemning the carnage.
The Imam of the Al-Mustafa Islamic Centre and Chair of the Irish Muslim Peace & Integration Council dismissed the terrorists’ claim that they are Muslims. He said “Terrorists have no religion whatsoever. Their religion is intolerance and hatred for Peace.”
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) similarly condemned terror attacks in Paris and said, “These savage and despicable attacks on civilians, whether they occur in Paris, Beirut or any other city, are outrageous and without justification. We condemn these horrific crimes in the strongest terms possible.” The attackers must be tried and their presence must be destroyed.
Al Arabiya, a Saudi-owned news company, reported that Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, and Egypt have also expressed solidarity with Paris victims and condemned the attacks.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak denounced ISIS and vowed that his Muslim-majority country is ready to fight the extremist group alongside other nations.
They do not represent any race, religion or creed. They are terrorists and should be confronted as such with the full force of the law, he said calling for global action.
But the Paris attack is now giving the biggest pretext to undo the refugee settlement plan in Europe and the USA. About a dozen US state governors have already opposed President Barack Obama’s plan to take 10,000 refugees in the first phase.
We believe the concerns have valid grounds but what needs to be clear is that why helpless Syrian refugees should be blamed when none of the brutal attackers were from Syrian refugees.
Terrorists in the West are essentially homegrown miscreants from social exclusion. In the US they are radicalized by extreme right ideologues and that is what is also taking place in Europe to make them terrorists. The Paris attack or attack on satire magazine Charlie Hebdu is the work of such extremists coming from within the country.
The disclosure that the ringleader of Paris attack Abdel Hamed Abaud was not an Islamist activist but a homegrown terrorist is an eye-opener to French domestic politics. The family sources revealed as reported in the media that they have not seen him ever going to mosque for prayers.
He attended a Catholic school in Brussels’s neighbourhood and left it at some point to become an anti-social and grew up with other spoiled young men looking for a cause in their life.
Many Muslim leaders including Malaysian former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad openly blamed the fanatical Jewish conspiracy to create enmity between the West and the Muslim countries. Everybody knows how brutal Israel is against Palestinian Muslims. There are fanatics who are worse than the terrorists who call them Muslims.
