Middle East Violence - part II

It is part 2 of my answer to the question of the reason for which violence consistent with the Middle East if Islam is a religion of Pacific. In the first part, I simply gave an account of the 4 major wars in Middle East , the Egypt and Israel were gone, and how from the point of view of the Egypt they were for most of the nationalist wars. Religion was not completely absent from the photo, however, with the religious claim to the land of Palestine by Israel, but continue with discussing the recent rise of radicalism in Egypt.

Sadat, the Egyptian President who made peace with Israel was somehow responsible for the rise of religious activism in Egypt. It is said that he encouraged religious groups to emerge and thrive to control the tide of the movement of the Communists in Egypt. They were allowed to be active, recruiting at universities, trade unions, etc. These religious groups were mostly moderate, but the environment was ripe for radicalism to emerge. Economic policies of Sadat, long years of wars have made large segments of the society of poor, illiterate, desperate and hopeless; creating a fertile ground to create radical and incite hatred for society. These radical groups adopted obscure religious books, written by unknown, at least for moderates, in society. At the time that the realization of Sadat, the side effect of his plan to fight against communism, things themselves to at the outset. The radical groups who condemned the whole of society emerged. Those who were not with them were against them. They were ready to kidnap, kill, bomb innocent Muslims and Christians both in Egypt to try to create public anger to overthrow the Government. Sadat counter hard, thousands were jailed, tortured and probably more than that. His last days were dark for anyone who dared disagree with him.

Disappearance of Sadat came on the anniversary of what he saw as the day of his glorious victory on Israel. He was assassinated by one of the activists that his policies helped create in Egypt. His death has introduced laws of emergency Egypt in 1981. The Egypt is still under the control of these acts to this day. The huge repression on religious, moderate and radical groups, did not eliminate terrorism and its dangers in Egypt. The terrorist attacks in the Egypt occur few and hit targets tourists particularly to embarrass the Government. In recent years, I have observed that Egyptian society was slowly tend to become more conservative and more religious. Most of the women are now wearing Hijab; a scarf covering their hair. Many are trying to learn more about Islam and the Koran. This, however, more a tour is self-guided return to religious roots that can help in terms of fight against radicalism in society.

In summary this part up, political manipulation, economic conditions, despair, oppression and ignorance were and still are responsible for the creation of radicalism everywhere in the world and not an inherent message of violence in Islam.

Mohamed A, [http://www.homeforthoughts.com]