Frédéric Ganneval reflects on the Copenhagen attack which, this past weekend, brought terrorism and its victims back to the forefront! “Within Tous Unis En France, everyone is free to hold their own opinions and share them, we do not judge others. Therefore, it is in a personal capacity that I am expressing my analysis, which only engages me, but I wanted to share my feelings with you.”
Since the Paris attacks, I have repeatedly said that we must not deny that the perpetrators of these attacks are Muslims and identify as such. They knew when carrying out these attacks that they would be sacrificing their lives for their ideal. How many men on Earth are willing to die for their ideas? Very few.
My message is considered quite distant from the politically correct view which states that they are fake Muslims or have misunderstood Islam. I insist that I believe it is a mistake to think that way because, with the intent of preventing generalizations, the opposite effect is occurring. Muslims today live in fear, ostracized and affected deeply when their places of worship are increasingly targeted, not just by simple graffiti but also by gunfire.
There are violent passages, anger, revenge, etc., in the Quran, as in all revealed religions.
Every practitioner must make an effort to interpret the literal text to extract its deep meaning and often the philosophical message associated with it. For this, there is the teaching of rabbis, priests, and imams to guide the reading and explore the hidden meanings, but there are also sectarian movements, self-proclaimed fanatics in each religion who feed hatred for political purposes. They use the name of God to serve themselves instead of serving God.
Let’s stop denying that the terrorists in Paris and Copenhagen are Muslims. They simply embody a radical Islam, which is far from resembling that practiced by the overwhelming majority of Muslims around the world.
It is only in this way that we can separate the wheat from the chaff. It is only in this way that light will emerge and that non-Muslims will understand that not all who proclaim Allahu Akbar! do so with the same intention, that the “jihad” recklessly mentioned in the media is not a bad word, call to murder, or something to be feared.
For 99.99% of our Muslim brothers, jihad is indeed a duty of struggle, but first a struggle against one’s ego, to improve, grow, and become a better person with oneself and also for and with others.
by Frédéric Ganneval
