Enemies of The Islamic World
The anti-Islamic alliance facing muslims
Subsequent chapters of this book will examine the Islamic world country
by country, and will reveal the oppression and cruelty inflicted on Muslims.
Before that, however, we need to look at the roots of the attacks directed
at the Muslim world.
The area known as the Islamic world consists of those countries which
have a majority Muslim population. It stretches from Morocco and Mauritania
in the West and as far as Indonesia in the East. The great majority, some
1 billion, of the people living in the region are Muslims. Over the last
200 years, they have come face-to-face with attacks, oppression, and terror
and have even been massacred because they are Muslims. That is because
many Muslims have been obliged to live under non-Muslim regimes, which
look with hatred at Islam.
When we look at the Islamic world today, we can clearly see that there
is an effort to crush, oppress and eliminate Muslims in Bosnia, Algeria,
Tunisia, Eritrea, Egypt, Afghanistan, East Turkestan, Chechnya, Thailand,
the Philippines, Myanmar and Sudan. At first glance, the Muslims in these
different regions may seem to be facing different enemies. The Serbs in
Bosnia, the Hindus in Kashmir, the Russians in the Caucasus, and the oppressive
regimes in countries such as Algeria, Egypt and Morocco all target Muslims.
Yet these anti-Islamic forces, which appear independent from one another,
all act with a similar logic, follow similar strategies and employ similar
methods. The singular factor they all have in common is that they are
anti-religious.
These forces which deny the existence of Allah and see divine religions
- particularly Islam, the only uncorrupted religion - as the
greatest enemy of their own secular systems and so declare violent war
on religion and believers, actually represent atheist ideologies. That
is why the true enemy facing Muslims is not the Serbs, Hindus or various
oppressive regimes, but the irreligious understanding prevailing in the
world. The roots of this war against Islam take nourishment from atheism
and go back a very long way.
Colonialism and the Hatred of Islam
The Islamic world was not always in such a position. A few hundred years
ago, it was ruled by Muslim empires. At the start of the 1700s almost
all of the Islamic world was governed by three great empires. There was
the Moghul Empire in India, while the Safavid Empire ruled Iran and its
surrounding area. The third and greatest power was the Ottoman Empire,
which held sway over the entire Balkan Peninsula as well as Anatolia (modern-day
Turkey), Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq and Syria), the Arabian Peninsula,
and North Africa.
Colonialist nations
such as Britain, France and Italy inflicted the most terrible
tortures on the Muslims living in the Islamic lands they conquered,
and carried out mass killings.
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However, these three empires gradually disappeared from world maps. The
Moghul Empire grew weak, shrank and finally collapsed. The Indian sub-continent
then fell into the hands of British colonialism. The area known as Indochina
was colonized by the French. The Safavid State in Central Asia came under
British and Russian rule. The Ottoman Empire, the third and greatest Muslim
empire, was progressively reduced in size beginning in the nineteenth
century. Ottoman lands in the West fell into the hands of Russia and the
Balkan states encouraged by it. The Middle East, Arabian Peninsula and
North Africa were occupied by the British, French and Italians. By the
end of the First World War, a large portion of the world's Muslims were
ruled by non-Muslim governments.
All of these were colonialist in nature. In the 1920s, Russia and Italy
joined the ranks of such traditional colonialists as Britain and France.
Each of these countries occupied and colonized a part of the Islamic world.
They didn't hesitate to inflict the most ruthless slaughter and torture
upon the Muslim populations under their rule. Britain and France "administered"
the Muslims in the Middle East, North Africa and the Far East. In other
words, they reaped and used the Muslim countries' natural resources for
their own interests. Soviet Russia took over all of the Caucasus and Central
Asia, and the Muslims in those regions were enslaved under the pressure
of the communist regime. Italy occupied Libya in 1911, and then set about
a bloody invasion of Abyssinia (modern-day Ethiopia) in the 1930s.
One important feature of the Middle East policies of Britain and France
was to employ artificial states adapted to serve their own interests.
This artificial order in the Middle East was a poisoned seed of never-ending
wars. These two colonialist European powers were forced to abandon the
region after the Second World War. However, they left behind them a much
more ruthless, aggressive and destructive colonialist power in their wake:
Israel.
When we look at the picture whose general outline we have just summarized,
we can clearly see that the Islamic world has been a target for foreign
powers ever since the beginning of the nineteenth century. Throughout
the ensuing 200 years, the world's Muslims have been occupied by these
powers, colonized, and subjected to oppression and cruelty. The puppet
regimes these powers installed in the Muslim world also greatly oppressed
Muslims, and they continue to do so to this very day. Moreover, the outside
powers imposed a number of ideologies that were utterly foreign to the
Islamic world, such as extreme nationalism, fascism and communism. Then
they used those who were duped by these ideologies to work against their
own Muslim communities.
The Basis of Ideologies Hostile to Islam
When we analyze the enemies of the Muslim world, we encounter three basic
ideas:
1. Western imperialism: For instance, British and French colonialism
as described above.
2. Fascism-extreme nationalism: Italian fascism, Israel, and pro-fascist
groups that cause civil wars in the Islamic world.
3. Communism: Soviet Russia, China, Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge,
communists in Afghanistan and various communist groups in the Middle East.
Close inspection reveals that each of these three is based on ideas that
emerged in the nineteenth century, and developed in the twentieth. Extreme
nationalism and the fascism that came in its wake are ideologies that
emerged entirely in the nineteenth century, and were practiced to the
greatest extent in the twentieth century. Communism began with the theory
of dialectical materialism proposed by Marx and Engels in the nineteenth
century, although the first communist regime was not installed until 1917,
in Russia.
THE CONTINUING 200
YEARS OF CRUELTY IN THE ISLAMIC WORLD

For nearly half a century Palestinian Muslims
have been forced from their homes for no reason, shot, and subjected
to torture and violence. Yet the whole world is silent in the
face of the occupying power: Israel.
It is no particular nation or society that is the enemy of the
Islamic world, but rather "ideologies" that have turned those
nations and societies into oppressors. These ideologies came to
dominate much of the world in the nineteenth century, and everywhere
they prevailed became scenes of cruelty and violence in the twentieth.
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One can say that only Western colonialism goes back to earlier centuries,
although it then consisted of limited economic initiatives and again came
to a position of global domination with its philosophy and ideological
foundations in the nineteenth century.
This shows us that the enemy of the world of Islam is not this or that
nation or civilization (Western civilization, for instance), but the "ideologies"
that turned these nations or civilizations into bloody oppressors. These
ideologies dominated a great part of the world in the nineteenth century,
and brought cruelty and savagery with them wherever they held dominion.
It was actually these ideologies that occupied, divided, plundered, enslaved
and slaughtered the Muslim world.
When we look at these three ideologies, we see that what lies behind all
of them is the West's increasing atheism. Each of them emerged as the
Western world moved away from a belief in God and religion and began to
take on a materialist worldview.
One important truth confirming this is that each of these three ideologies
is based on Darwin's theory of evolution, which was portrayed as the "scientific
basis of atheism" and which for the first time allowed atheist philosophy
to be put forward as "scientific truth."
The Links Between Darwinism, Colonialism and Fascism
Darwinism is the so-called scientific foundation of colonialism. That
is because Darwin placed the various categories of the human race at different
levels in his imaginary evolutionary process. He considered the European
white race to be the most advanced, and portrayed Asian and African tribes
as being almost at the same levels as the apes. Furthermore, he suggested
that all of mankind was in a constant state of conflict and a fight for
survival, and said that it was a "law of nature" that the West should
win this fight and enslave the other races. In his The Origin of Species,
he wrote:
Darwin's concept
of the struggle for survival was an important source of inspiration
for racism, communism and fascism, as well as imperialism.
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At some future period, not very distant as measured by centuries, the
civilised races of man will almost certainly exterminate and replace the
savage races throughout the world. At the same time the anthropomorphous
(human-like) apes... will no doubt be exterminated. The break between
man and his nearest allies will then be wider, for it will intervene in
a more civilised state, as we may hope, even than the Caucasian, and some
ape as low as baboon, instead of as now between the negro or Australian
and the gorilla.1
Darwin arrived at this interesting conclusion by means of the concept
of the struggle for survival. According to this claim, the weak are eliminated
in the fight for survival, and the strong and fit go on to survive. Moreover,
he maintained that this was necessary for universal development, in other
words that the disappearance of some races was a process that would allow
man to progress and move forward.
This unscientific idea, known as "Social Darwinism," saw wide acceptance
in the primitive scientific conditions of the time and came to be the
basic justification for European colonialism. In short, Darwinism is the
"scientific" foundation of colonialism.
Social Darwinism is as much the source of extreme nationalism and fascism
as it is of imperialism. All of the nineteenth century theoreticians who
are regarded as the founders of fascism (Friedrich Nietzsche, Heinrich
von Treitschke, Francis Galton, and Ernst Haeckel, for instance) were
strongly influenced by Darwin's theory of evolution, and particularly
by the concept of the "fight for survival." Mussolini, the Italian dictator
who established the first fascist regime, was a convinced Darwinist in
his youth and drew attention with his articles in praise of Darwin. It
is quite clear from the writings of Hitler and other senior Nazis that
they were also inspired by Social Darwinism. (For further details, see
Harun Yahya, Fascism: Darwinism's Bloody Ideology, Istanbul, Vural
Yayincilik, 2001)
Communist Ideologies' Hatred for Islam
Darwinism also forms the basis of communism. This was clearly stated
by its first founders, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Both were convinced
atheists, both saw the elimination of religious beliefs as essential for
communism, and both fully understood that the theory of evolution served
that end.
As soon as Darwin's book was published, Engels wrote to Marx as follows:
"Darwin, whom I am just now reading, is splendid." 2
On December 19, 1860, Marx replied, "This is the book that contains
the basis in natural history for our view." 3
In a letter to another socialist friend, Lassalle, dated January 16, 1861,
Marx wrote, "Darwin's work is important and suits my purpose in that
it provides a basis in natural science for the historical class struggle,"
4 thus revealing the importance of the theory of evolution
for communism.
Dictators such as Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin and Mao Tse-tung made their
own comments about communism, stating and demonstrating its ideological
links to Darwin. The theory of evolution came to be the basis of education
and even agricultural policy in communist regimes. All communist movements
found the ideological foundation and justification they were looking for
in Darwinism.
For communist ideology, so greatly influenced by Darwinism, society is
just "a herd of animals." Man is a soulless, dull creature, a "man-animal
machine," and quite worthless. The logic of "There are many in the herd,
so it doesn't matter if one is lost" rules the day. The handicapped and
those unable to work are cast out of the herd and left to die. They are
seen as sick and harmful. There are no feelings of compassion, mercy or
loyalty. Since they believe that life stops at death, they cling to life
with all their power. Since everyone is seen as an enemy and rival in
the fight for survival, everything is held against them, and hatred prevails.
It is natural that communist ideology, which creates a society with no
human or spiritual values or morality, should also be inimical to religion.
Virtues such as morality, love, affection, compassion, self-sacrifice,
cooperation and forgiveness have no place in the model aimed at by communism.
When one looks at the writings of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky,
Mao and other communist ideologues, one can see this stated quite clearly.
Marx described religion as "the opium of the people" and a culture formed
by the ruling class to keep the poor asleep. Moreover, he suggested that
religious beliefs would have to be eliminated if communism was to be achieved.
In Lenin's article "Socialism and Religion," published in 1905 in the
Russian magazine Novaya Zhizn, he described religion as a "fog"
that needed to be dispersed, and set out the atheist propaganda that communists
needed to set in motion. In his "The Attitude of the Workers' Party to
Religion," published in the magazine Proletary in 1909 as leader
of the Russian Social Democratic Party (later the Communist Party), Lenin
wrote:
The philosophical basis of Marxism, as Marx and Engels repeatedly
declared, is dialectical materialism, which has fully taken over the historical
traditions of eighteenth-century materialism in France and of Feuerbach
(first half of the nineteenth century) in Germany a materialism which
is absolutely atheistic and positively hostile to all religion. "Religion
is the opium of the people." This dictum by Marx is the corner-stone of
the whole Marxist outlook on religion. 5
Those words express Marx's enmity towards religion, and also reveal his
ignorance of it. These statements do not reflect the truth. Allah commands
people to think and inquire. It is communism and other atheist ideologies
that encourage people not to think, and to do what they are told without
question. It is clear that people who do not think will also never come
anywhere near the truth, and will thus lead lives rife with deception
and error. By thinking, man can understand the reason for the creation
of the world, and the reason for his own existence. This truth is revealed
in the Qur'an thus:
We did not create the heavens and the earth and everything
between them as a game. We did not create them except with truth but most
of them do not know it. (Qur'an, 4: 38-39)
For this reason, every individual must ponder the reason for first of
all his own creation, and then that of every being or object he sees in
the universe and will encounter throughout his life. Someone who fails
to think will only understand the truth after he is dead, in the presence
of Allah, but by then it will be far too late. Thinking while we have
the chance in this life, and then drawing conclusions, will be of great
benefit to us in the life of the hereafter. That is why Allah calls on
all people, by means of his messengers and books, to consider their own
creation and that of the whole universe:
Have they not reflected within themselves? Allah did
not create the heavens and the earth and everything between them except
with truth and for a fixed term. Yet many people reject the meeting with
their Lord. (Qur'an, 30: 8)
Enemies of religion, however, like communist leaders, make all sorts
of unfounded allegations to turn people away from religion, even going
so far as to claim that religion prevents people from thinking. As we
have seen, though, on the contrary, religion actually commands people
to think.
Conclusion
In short, it is evident that the three ideologies hostile to the Islamic
world all stem from the atheist culture that took over the Western world
in the nineteenth century.
This demonstrates once again the importance of the intellectual struggle
that needs to be waged against atheism, which is not just a force that
tries to ruin people's lives in the hereafter by destroying their religious
beliefs. Rather it also, at the same time, aims to ruin the world, turning
it into a wasteland of chaos and war, and it views Muslims as its most
important target.
That is why waging an intellectual struggle for the good is both a service
to true belief and also a great "moral war" against the "corruption" pervading
the earth. The existence of large numbers of Muslims who are still being
crushed by atheist systems all over the world reminds us how important
this struggle really is. Every ideological victory over atheism (and over
philosophies, ideologies and so-called scientific theories such as Darwinism
that lie at its foundations) is also a moral victory which helps oppressed
Muslims all over the world.
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