Islamic violent Extremism or Violent Extremism

During President Trump's recent visit to Saudi Arabia, the custodian of the Two Holy Sites in Makkah and Medinah made the royal announcement about something that the Muslim world has been led to believe caused by its faith. The Kingdom would set up a Global Center to combat Violent Extremism in Riyadh. The leadership of the entire Muslim world with the exception of Iran and its allies was present to take the message home that Saudi Arabia would lead the war against terrorism and extremism that President Trump called Islamist terrorism, Islamic terror, Islamic terror, and radical Muslim terrorism. President Trump contradicted himself during the speech when he said that terror has no religion and terrorists do not represent any faith. If terror has no religion that why categorize it as Islamic terror? 

Under Saudi Arabia's leadership, the Muslim world leaders, including Muslim-American organizations and leaders now would line up to combat violent extremism. Ironically, these are the leaders who for the last few years have been against Muslim participation in any federally funded program to combat violent extremism.

Violent extremism is a reality that cannot be denied, but it is not exclusively related to Muslim. It is a menace that is found in all religious communities. What is being witnessed in India in the name of cow protection is nothing but violent extremism, what is being done to Palestinians by Israeli in the name of national security is violent extremism, what is being pursued by several evangelical groups in the world clearly promotes violent extremism and what is perpetuated by Burmese Buddhist monks is nothing by plain violent extremism. But the Muslim American leadership failed to articulate its objections properly and played into the hands of those who never wanted Muslims to make use their tax dollars to serve their own interests. They fought among themselves and called those who wanted money to fight violent extremism lackeys and sell out. Their internal squabbling denied Muslim an opportunity to work with the rest of the country on the issue of violent extremism with the intention of removing the notion that as long as the US targets one religion, it would never inspire people to fight against the menace.

But now the situation is different. Saudi Arabia would lead the fight against religious extremism and the Muslim world, including the majority of the Muslim leadership in the US, would follow the Monarch.

Funds would flow from Saudi Arabia for this purpose in different parts of the world, including the US and the Trump Administration and the Monarch would determine who to classify as the terrorists and who to declare an enemy of humanity. Anyone who would not toe the Saudi way of thinking and Trump-style of administration would find himself and herself in the list of new terrorists. 

Muslim American leadership lacks the courage to question the Saudi-Trump vision of the new world in the offing. A world where  Saudis leadership would decide and determine the new face of Islam and implement it under the supervision of the Trump Administration. This vision would divide the Muslim world between Sunnis and Shias and within the Sunnis, between those who follow the Salafi version of Islam and non-Salafi versions. The Muslim world may be, into the bloodiest struggle of its existence and in the name of fighting terrorism new terrorism would be created with the approval of Saudi Monarchy and Trump.

Muslim religious leaders would be asked to seek God's blessings for the monarchy and religious decrees would be issued to declare anyone objecting to that as the kafir consigned to hellfire in this world as well as new the new world. Once again the Trump-inspired intellectuals would help the Muslim world rewrite their religion and redefine their priorities as the Reagan Administration had done in Afghanistan, wherewith the help of Muslim lives and resources, the US intellectuals defined what Jihad was and how should Muslims conduct their jihad.

All this is happening because the religious and secular leadership of Muslims in the USA and elsewhere has lost its capacity to analyze and read the events. It is still divided into sectarian, ideological, fictional, cultural, ethnic, and political linguistic camps. It is still indulging in discussions that have no relevance to what is happening in the world.

Like the Muslim world, most Muslim organizations in the US and the world are run by oligarchies who are promoting an archaic view of Islam that leaves little room for independent and critical thinking. It's a leadership that believes that the answers to all questions and challenges the Muslim Ummah has been facing were already given by preceding scholars. It's a leadership that follows despotic tendencies in its own affairs and refuses to acknowledge the changes that have taken place in the world and it's a leadership that still refuses to come on the platform to challenge the existing version of extremism and terrorism.

There were representatives from 50 countries present at the summit that Trump addressed. Not one had the courage to stand up and say that he differs from the definition of terror given by Trump and the King. Not one stood up to challenge Trump that there is no such thing called Islamic terrorism. The Muslim world leadership is no different than the Muslim American leadership because both have failed to challenge the dominant definition of terrorism, one through submission and the other through isolation.