On July 22, Anders Behrin Breivik, a blond blue-eyed Norwegian and a Christian, suddenly went berserk and began indiscriminately shooting people at a campsite in Oslo, killing 76. A moment’s silence, please, let us share the sorrow of their families.
The perpetrator was caught red-handed and confessed, yet in Norway, there was total disbelief. This could not have been one of their own; such an act in Oslo; not by a Christian? There had to be a Muslim connection! Sounds familiar? Yes, for years we, in Pakistan continued to delude ourselves too. Muslims don’t kill Muslims! There had to be an Indian, or Israeli, or CIA connection! But whether there was a connection or not, Pakistanis Muslims continue killing their brother, sisters and children.
In Oslo, there was a Muslim connection. Breivik says that he was enraged by the thought that Muslims were beginning to occupy Norway! But who did he kill? And I am not going to dwell on whether he was part of an organisation called ‘The Army of God’, and there is also considerable speculation and some evidence to indicate that he may not have been alone. Why did he target this camp and these Norwegians?
He alone knows the real reason or, if he was part of a group, other members might know. Based on media reports, I can merely speculate and, considering that Breivik was a victim of Islamophobia, the reason has to be connected to Islam. Apparently, the Norwegian foreign minister visited this particular camp the day before the tragic killing spree and was greeted with an unapologetic call for the rights of Palestinians with placards reading ‘Boycott Israel’! Could that have caused him to target the Utoeya Labour Youth Camp?
Doesn’t that sound familiar? Try crying out for the rights of Ahmadis, or Hindu or Christian minorities, or against the laws on blasphemy in Pakistani streets and join Salmaan Taseer!
Ironically, within hours of the incident, The New York Times (NYT) published an online report quoting an unnamed analyst, saying that an unknown Islamic organization, Ansaar-al-Jihad-al-Aalami, had claimed responsibility! It turned out that someone, using a false name had posted an argument on a website which translated to ‘This was Allah’s punishment for the evil that the west is doing in Libya and Afghanistan’!
Accusations of the NYT again acting on CIA’s instructions to stoke anti-Muslim rage in Europe ran rife and the online report by the NYT quietly disappeared! A well-known American radio show host, Alex Jones, is already referring to the Oslo incident as a “flag terror attack” intended to incite Islamophobia in Europe. Directly or indirectly, innocent Norwegian citizens; men, women, and children have died because of Islam. Breivik hated Muslims and killed innocent Norwegians (if my earlier speculation is correct), for supporting the cause of oppressed Muslims.
What will this lead to?
There will be some ‘rednecks’ for whom this will be enough to further stoke Islamophobia. This line of thinking goes something like this: If Muslims weren’t such evil beings, guilty of such crimes, no poor Christian Norwegian soul would have hated them so much as to kill these innocents.
For others, more reasonable people, it will be a clear signal not to support any cause relating to the oppression of Muslims.
Doubtless, there will be thousands of courageous Norwegians who will be even more determined to support the oppressed; any oppressed, irrespective of religion, colour, caste, or creed, but they are bound to be in a minority.
Whether or not it was a conspiracy, as Alex Jones thinks it is, the end result is inevitable. The ultimate global victors are forces of bigotry and obscurantism; those who cannot help spewing hate.
There can be no peace in the world so long as hate continues to thrive and this tragedy in Norway cannot but cultivate increasing hate.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 31st, 2011.
COMMENTS (19)
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@Nadeem: I can't speak for other European countries, but Norway will never do any of those things you said. There is one party in Norway that is against non western immigration. But even they don't plan on sending anybody out of Norway. Well.. Except those that has committed crimes. They've said they want asylum-seekers that break the law before getting permanent residence in Norway should be deported. Since most rapes and violence in Norway are committed by non western immigrants/asylum-seekers, they have gotten more and more support the last couple of years. about 25% of the votes. But not enough to win the election. As most Norwegians despise that party, and what they stand for. And now.. Seeing as Breivik was once a member of this party. Infact, he was still a member when he started planing his act of terror. And only was removed automatically due to not paying the membership fee. (Guess he was too busy building the bomb). And the reason he attacked the Government building and Utøya, was because The Labour Party (Social Democrats) was in power, and they stood for everything he didn't. And Utøya where the the Labour party's Youth wing (mostly teenagers) where having their summer camp. This has resulted in a massive new support for the labour party, and with them in power. Muslims will be treated like any other Norwegian citizen. And Norway will continue to help those in need around the world as best we can. If you read European newspapers after the Oslo Bomb, you will notice they aren't talking about kicking out immigrants anymore, they are talking about how to deal with Right Wing Extremists. Hopefully something good will come from this tragedy. And people will finally understand that not all Muslims, or Right-Wing Christians are Terrorists, Extremists in any shape or form is a threat to regular people.
Whenever there is news of a bomb blast, the first reaction among Muslims is : "Oh God, please please let the terrorist better not be a Muslim ! "
And Pakistanis feel, "Oh God, please please let the terrorist better not be a Pakistani Muslim !"
This is a perception among common people everywhere. And introspect and tell honestly: who is responsible for this?
@Arifq: I agree the media owes to Muslims a public apology. At least once they have gone wrong.
Qadir type persons try to put their words in others mouth. The thinking that a christian cannot do it may exist in pakistani kind of mind set but others do not think in this narrow way. People know that criminals could be of any religion and nobody tried to defend this guy's act because he is christian. Now if you compare with pakistan, people from all shades ( from illitrate to literate to Phd) will give you some or other excuse for 9/11, many will claim that it actually didn't happen and is just a hoax, did you see this kind of disinformation in this case?
Religion is the opium for masses, so said a philosopher. Now which country is most obsessed with and addicted to this opium? No marks for guessing correct.
True, hatred generates hatred and there is no end to it, if once started. It is most deadly crime against the humanity. We, Muslims, should now adopt the slogan
LOVE FOR EVERY BODY,HATRED FOR NOBODYwas our motto and will remain for ever. Love has prevailed and will always prevail. We should first devote our attention to our own societies. Imams, Ulemas and Mashaique can play an important role to eradicate culture of hatred.Now that it is clear that Muslims in Europe are not 'assimiliating' - in other words multiculturalism has failed - what does white+christian Europe plan to do about it? Mass deportation? Mass (forced) conversion? Genocide?
@ Dag...Thanx for clarifying ceratin things about Norwegians..We share ur grief and pray for the departed souls, we admire your resilience and the courage with which you have handled this situation.
However, if u think Paksitanis will refrain from bringing religion into anything and everything, then u do not understand Pakistan !!!
Wusatullah Khan of BBC Urdu dot Com has said that if not the accused, his handler could be Pakistani or Muslim!
Reading FT (Financial Times) the very next day of the attack would have left its readers convinced this was the workings of Muslim terrorists. There has been no public apology or retraction by popular media which confirms the generally accepted racial discrimination of muslims. To be honest, the day of the attack our first thought was let it not be another Jihadist and we all felt relieved when it was not one of us. We have reached this point because of the extremists and thanks to the inflammatory rhetoric which is openly preached and published in our media. Let this be a wake up call to both sides, we cannot permit this sickness to grow, world needs to calm down and be objective in their criticism.
I meant shape the future....Ramadan Mubarak!
If Islam left Violent JIhad and death for apostates in the past (in word and deed) all this non-sense of objecting to all things Islamic would dwindle down to next to nothing. Ancient religions seem quaint and cruel because they are anachronistic. People generally like Muslims but are utterly shocked when they learn about Islamic notions e.g. 9:29 that says that non-Muslims have to be essentially slaves paying protection money(jiziya) or be killed. Would any Muslim allow this to happen to the Ummah? Well, please don´t take offense if Godś other creations feel the same. In order to have a resistance Westerners try to educate themselves about Islam and sometimes say hurtful things in the process. Please don´t let it hurt your feelings and cloud your thinking. No amount of PR will help such an ideology where one group is great and the other has to be subdued or killed. Reform is not blasphemy, in fact it mad Europe and America much better than when we had similar elements mixed in our Institutions. Besides as soon as Sharia is interpreted and applied by men all of the divinity flies out the window so please consider these factors when you have a chance to face the future! Even those who know and love Muslims will fear Islam and eventually the idea of using nukes etc,,,would seem like the only way to stop the onslaught of violence. After that I don´t know how we can fix things. Next time you think itś the fault of the infidels or so....consider how Islam will prosper if it´s goodness is verifiable. People like the warmth of Muslims but are extremely suspicious when Muslims aren´t completely honest about what is supposed to be the ¨perfect and complete¨ word of God. Everyone knows an all powerful God wouldn´t have to use deception (kitman) to achieve his goals. So let it be our goal to let the ¨other¨ know we respect God´s creations and unless he tells us DIRECTLY to otherwise we´ll put the crusades and jihad behind us!
Mr. Qadir, you clearly do not understand Norway - neither what has happened here recently, nor what is happening now.
First, several Muslim groups and notably one Muslim cleric from Iraq have very recently threatened harm against Norwegian government officials, so the initial assumption that an attack on a government building was by one of these groups was unsurprising, if not logical, given recent events.
Once we knew who actually did this, however, no one was searching for any "Muslim" connection. Your goal may be to cast Muslims as the persecuted victims this week in Norway, but the truth is none of that was happening here. The day after the shooting we were not trying to blame Muslims or Islamization or anything besides that one man. We focused only on that man's intolerance and hatred. We talked about his connections to the church and to several political parties. We examined about his bigotry and his methodical planning that was months in the making (and not, as you supposed it to be, a last minute decision).
Stop trying to victimize others and yourself. No one here is viewing this as an attack caused, either directly or indirectly, by Islam or Muslims. This attacked was caused solely by one man - one self-proclaimed Christian "Crusader of God", and he alone is to blame. Listen to our speeches, read our papers, browse our blogs, and you will not find the division and racism you imagine, but rather a strong sense of support and love. You may view the victims as Muslims or Christians, but we view them as our friends and families. Everyone who died that day was equally Norwegian and equally innocent.
And how now will we move forward? You believe it will be with hate and division. You, clearly, have not spent the last week in Oslo. Because here, at all our vigils, all our churches, all our impromptu memorials on street corners, there is love and support. No hate, no anger - at least none besides that directed against Brevik himself - no accusations against one part of society or the other. No, we are not the divided society you mistakenly believe us to be. We are united in our support for everyone, our love for our neighbors, and our conviction that nothing like this will ever happen again here. And, I promise you, we are the majority.
I really wonder why wud the killer in this instance in Norway ... killed his fellow religion people ... and not others as otherwise... ie ... like Mumbai like attacks ... Sunnis killing Shias ... Was he so fed up by his very own people who were so impotent not to retaliate ?? What now if they start retaliating ... will retaliating to bombings and public killings will be called "Christian Terrorists ?? or Hindu terrorists ??? or Jewísh terrorists ??? the list can go longer ... as all other religions are even the sub caste of the muslims are not tolerated and killed with impunity ....is anybody thinking ???
Re ".There can be no peace in the world so long as hate continues to thrive..."
Some of us wd settle for stopping bloodshed! And this IS happening: War between, say, France and Germany today is unthinkable, while they we actively killing each other during millennia up to the 1950's. Northern Ireland? Cyprus?
It's the religions taht seem to foment the worst cases of hatred and violence.
Let's not over-reach; let us settle for the achievable - ceasing the bloodshed. That's feasible!
Believing the biblical gospel and following the teachings of Jesus is what makes one a Christian, not claiming to be a Christian. There are many who claim to be Christian who know nothing of Jesus who do all sorts of sick stuff in His name, not unlike the crusades. Having said that, it doesn't matter who the people were, what their backgrounds were, or whatever, this entire event was a tragedy. The man responsible will stand and be judged by Christ for his sins, as all humanity ultimately will.
I am totally unapologetic for thinking the person was probably Muslim. Most attacks like this are. Also Al-Queda promised retaliation against Norway just a week before. Why doesn't the author deal with how Muslims always scapegoat Jews and the west for everything? Most Muslims still don't believe Muslims causedf 9-11. How is this not bigotry?
Just as Taliban kill fellow Pakistanis while ostensibly fighting the Americans, that Norwegian terrorist started killing fellow citizens in his hatred for Muslims. Bigotry deprives the person of the ability to think critically and analyze in a rational manner.