By Dr. Samuel Adjei Sarfo
Attorney and Counselor at Law
Let me first begin this article with a caveat that I hate all established religions. My hatred is not based on ignorance of the religious phenomenon but too much knowledge of its phenomenology. I read the whole Bible at the age of sixteen, the Quran at twenty-three, The Book of the Mormons at twenty-five and the Baghavad Gita at twenty nine. I also had some training from some of the best scholars of religion during my studies at the University of Cape Coast. My experience assured me that religion is a mere charade concocted to control the minds of the masses. After my readings and training, I concluded that established religion is trash. And I have chosen to do the most good to the most people at the most time. That now is my personal religion.
But even if you think that religion is related to any human progress in any obscure way, consider that you have never met anybody who is righteous mainly on account of his or her religion. In fact, more likely than not, all those flaunting their religion on their sleeves are mere hypocrites likely to inflict maximum damage on others while still believing that they are worshipping their god. The very few devotees who are good people are not good because of their religion but rather in spite of it! And if in doubt, think about the magnitude of corruption in our country Ghana, and consider the fraction of the perpetrators who call themselves religious, and you will understand the gargantuan nature of the hypocrisy here.
So the present Islamist terrorism is no exception to the toxicity of religion as a matter of fact. It merely defines in more palpable relief the true aspect of the religious phenomenon when it is stripped of all its frills and pretentions. When religion is viewed in all its nakedness, it can present a rarely hideous face. So the success of the religious movement lies in the concealment of its true nature from the masses of the people. Those who convert others into their religion must take time to hide their true intent and purpose, which is to control people’s minds, body and soul and leave devotees to become some lobotomized idiots who will act at the beck and call of these religious leaders. Religion should pretend to be your best bet for salvation while screwing up your head and transmogrifying you into a kind of zombie. This is the standard method of its recruitment of devotees. That is why Islamic terrorism must be surprising to those of us who are true students of religion. Islamic terrorism lays bare the hidden nature of religion and exposes its true face of evil, instead of concealing it. And this is suicidal to the survival of the fate of a faith whose spread must heavily depend upon a charade of some goodness. Besides, terrorism diminishes the appeal of Islam and grants its detractors the very weapon with which to exterminate it. Thus, Islamic terrorism is so anti-Islam that it could be likened to a snake busily biting its own head!
If you look at the whole decade of terrorism and its effect on the Islamic faith, you will see that it has inflicted substantial injury to the faith. 9/11 merely gave USA the pretext to attack Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria, and to reinforce its presence in Egypt, Pakistan, Jordan and many other Muslim countries. And it is true that three thousand people died on American soil, but consider that nearly a million Muslim lives have been lost or destroyed as a result of the 9/11 attacks and other terrorist attacks elsewhere. Osama Bin Laden himself was caught and killed like a dog and thrown into the middle of the sea somewhere. Other Muslim leaders have either been extra-judicially executed or are in hiding or languishing in prison without trial. So what has been the dividends of the terroristic attacks of 9/11 and at any other place? This type of reasoning must dissuade any terrorist action which has the delusion of advancing any cause in Islam. Unfortunately it has not.
And a real example of the futility of Islamic terrorism is the recent attack on the Charlie Hebdo newspaper that published cartoons of the prophet Mohammed. Consider whatever it has done to advance the cause of Islam, and you will find that it has done nothing but the utmost harm! I did not even know about the existence of such a paper until after the attack. Neither did I care about what it churned out by way of satire. Now some terrorists go and kill twelve people producing this paper and all of a sudden, everybody will be looking to buy a copy. Then it has united everybody against the religion and created an excuse to monitor its members and deprive them of the usual freedoms enjoyed by others in this country. Moreover, it has further diminished the image of the religion in the eyes of the world.
Meanwhile, there are those who are whining that it is not fair to paint the Islamic faith with the broad strokes of terrorism perpetrated by a few members. But we must understand that the bad nuts will always describe the lot, whether we like it or not. And at a time of unprecedented terrorism emanating from Islamic radicals, don't expect anybody to pay attention to anything good in this religion. The bad guys have already characterized it for generations to come: Terrorism is now pinned to Islam, no matter how unfair the tag. But Islamic scholars and devotees can rise up as one and condemn all despicable acts associated with the religion.
So far, that has not happened, and in many instances, we have some mixed and feeble whispers of condemnation here and there. The forked tongues of Muslim scholars and devotees on the issue of terrorism have given rise to Al Quaeda, the Taliban, ISIS and Boko Haram, and have virtually swallowed Islam's contribution to human civilization. If satirizing the Prophet and angering Islamists can bring death to the innocent, that alone can smear the religion for all time and portray its members as incapable of any sound logic. So, unless Muslims rise to destroy those who have appropriated their name to perpetrate violence, the world will continue to exert retribution upon every devotee of this religion in one way or the other, and the religion will be waging a war of attrition against itself and go extinct in one generation.
Islam is now at its imagistic nadir because of international terrorism. If the worst enemies of the prophet were to come together to concoct a way to make this religion hateful and repugnant, they could not have done a greater harm than these terrorists; and the way for Islam to redeem what is left of its tattered image is to overwhelm these mad men by a massive rise and resistance against their heinous activities. Otherwise, innocent Muslims stand to pay the price. The leader of Hezbollah has recently stated that the terrorists do more harm to Islam than any cartoon or book written against Islam. His wise words must set the stage for the battle of Muslims to purge terrorism from within itself.
Samuel Adjei Sarfo is a Doctor of Laws, Attorney and Counselor at Law, a Teacher of Lore, Certified High School English Educator, Researcher and Scholar. He can be reached at sarfoadjei@yahoo.com
