FOLLOWING the 9-11 terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers of New York, the Muslims suffered ferocious propaganda against their religion and the Prophet Mohamed (may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). The western media as well as some world leaders adopted a speech of hatred against Islam and Muslims to pave the way for a destructive war against Afghanistan and Iraq. At the time, some Muslims thought that the problem is the world's misunderstanding of the true image of Islam and its teachings and started defending their religion in eyes of the world by different means. Their basic defence was based on the fact that al-Qaeda, the biggest terrorist movement that claimed responsibility for the criminal assaults of 9-11, does not represent Islam that teaches respect for all human life and prohibits terrorising innocent civilians and murdering them even in wartime. More than a decade has passed since these terrible events that resulted in the murder of hundreds of thousands of persons whether in the towers, the planes crashed into them, or in the succeeding anti-terror wars launched against Afghanistan and Iraq based on a pretence that proved to be false. However, wrong perceptions about Islam haven't changed much in the western world thanks to the repeated terrorist operations being conducted by some fanatics against civilians at the different western countries. The last of these was that of the Boston Marathon bombings in April 15, which caused the death of three persons and the injury of more than 280. Investigation revealed that the perpetrators were two Muslim Chechen brothers. Some media hastily connected the perpetrators with some fanatical groups while others expressed their concern at seeing some Chechen citizens committing terrorist operation inside the US. For long the Chechen Muslims suffered injustice at the hands of successive Russian rulers who refused the province of Chechnya its heart-felt desire to become an independent state. The Russian oppression of those Muslims caused some of their political activists to adopt a militant struggle to convey their cause to the world in general and to Moscow in particular. Although their practices were very violent and targeted some civilians, the world still showed some understanding for their campaign, as the only way to protest against the Russian tyranny inflicted on them. However, moving their operations outside their country makes the world concentrate on their religion rather than their nationality. Actually, it is right to do so especially when the investigating authorities discovered that the Boston's perpetrators have no connections with any terrorist movement and that they have radicalised their Islamic vision in their own way via the internet. Herein, we as Muslims should realise that the problem is not in the West adopting a wrong vision of Islam. Instead, it is in having some Muslims adopt a distorted perception of their own religion. As admitting the problem is the right start to solving it, it is time to admit that radical thoughts have started dominating many societies including Egypt, the country of Al-Azhar (the most prestigious moderate Sunni institution in the world). Apparently, Al-Azhar, which continued protecting the Egyptian moderate vision of Islam for many centuries, failed recently to prevent the spread of fanaticism in the society because of the emergence of some radical groups and Islamist movements, such as the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists in the 1930s and 1970s respectively. Nevertheless, the blame should not be fully put on Al-Azhar. Rather the totalitarian regimes that have governed Egypt since the mid- 20th century until the eruption of January 25 Revolution also must share the blame. These regimes continued violently fighting these movements and forced them to adopt preaching in secret. At the same time, they were working on weakening the influence of Al-Azhar on society. Thus we eventually woke up to find the spread of their radical thoughts influencing many Egyptians. What happened in Egypt also happened in many other countries that long lived under totalitarian and military regimes in the Arab and Muslim countries. Now as the Arab Spring brought those fanatics to the surface to rule, it was a chance for the public as well as the religious authorities to monitor the extremists' thoughts and their distorted interpretation and perception of Islam to correct them. Therefore, Muslim scholars and preachers, especially those belonging to Al-Azhar, should admit the fact that many Muslim citizens badly need to know the truthful teachings of their religion and not just the non-Muslim world. ‘Know your religion', could define the ethos of a campaign to correct the wrong image of Islam. It can even serve as a working plan of an institution such as Al-Azhar, which should initiate in co-operation with other noted Muslim ulamas the start of correcting the wrong ideas some radical movements managed to plant in minds of many Muslims in our world. The start could be accelerated by launching a satellite channel addressing Muslims, Arabs and non-Arabs in different languages to acquaint them with the right teachings of Islam, and the great morals of Prophet Mohamed, who was described by Allah in the Holy Qur'an as "Mercy for Mankind". Prophet Mohamed (PBUH) could never be pleased by a Muslim follower who behaves violently against an animal, not to mention a fellow human being. The man, who instructed his armies never to approach a saint in his place of worship, a farmer in his field, a woman, a child or an aged person, during wartime, could not accept some persons claiming to be Muslims planting bombs in peoples' tracks at a sports event. Prophet Mohamed (PBUH) would be even more angry at the good Muslims and specialised scholars who are supposed to convey the right teachings of Islam but show no serious intent to do so. It is time for moderate Muslims worldwide to rise up and condemn these radical thoughts and criminal acts being committed against the innocent civilians in many parts of the world. For the sake of Islam and its great Prophet, it is time to move.
