The 21st Century and late 20th Century have witnessed a recrudescence in violent conflicts in various Islamic States and in various cross border conflicts that have been labelled, by ‘Powerful States’ as terrorists attacks. This concept is gaining inpopularity. We can even say that it has become a newsworthy and marketing concept (we should not forget that sensational news is what helps mass media sell their product).
Since the words ‘terrorists attacks’ have been uttered, almost every day we are brainwashed and we can even say that we are being conditioned by the mass media and those who control these media to live in constant fear of the other who is different from ‘Us’. In the present context the ‘Us’ refers to all people who abide to Eurocentrism. We are being conditioned to fear and distrust the ‘Others’ who do are different and who reject Eurocentrism such as some Oriental people.
In the anti-terrorism propaganda, terrorist attack is now closely associated to Islam or what is commonly referred to as Islamic Jihad. In actual fact, terrorist attack is nowadays universally coined to designate Islamic Jihad. Unfortunately, people who have limited knowledge about, for example, history, theology, anthropology and other social sciences easily blindly believe this somewhat distorted propaganda that Islam is violent and ‘evil’.
Distorted perception of religious war.
When we look back at the history of the present civilisation, we shall observe that religious tensions are not a modern phenomenon but are inherent to the building of our civilisation. The sacred scriptures such as the Quran and the Bible report how the ancient world was marked by religious tensions.
These tensions were exacerbated by successive Nations motivations to extend their territory and political, social and economic power.
Religious was an instrument used by political leaders to expand their power and the Roman Nation exemplifies how with the spreading of Roman Catholicism and the expansion on their territory, the Romans aimed at ruling the world.
Later these tensions were amplified into what is commonly known as a ‘religious war’ between Christianism and Islam. With the advent of Westernisation and the spreading of ‘Eurocentric value system’ which are closely associated with Christianism and especially Catholicism, the nature of these religious tensions changed.
The Islamic States that refused ‘Eurocentric value system’ were labelled as anti-Christians and the Western countries as anti-Islamic.
These tensions between these two largest religious groups have always existed. But, the building of geopolitics on these tensions have led, in contemporary times, to distorted perceptions of these conflicts. We can say that what is presently portrayed as ‘Islamic terrorist attacks’ motivated by religious underpinnings are in fact, geopolitical conflicts between two political powers that claim their supremacy and superiority.
Indeed, the demotic perception that ‘Islamic terrorist attack’ equates with Islamic Jihad is somewhat reductionist. This direct correlation is based on the tendency to literally translate this Islamic concept as Holy War and not to translate this word within the context it is being used. This association of Jihad with terrorism conflicts is a misconceptualisation of Islamic Jihad even though some fanatics and extremists have used this religious concept to claim their political actions.
In effect, in the Quran the word Jihad means striving for God by going through a spiritual holy war against evil and not systematically making war as it is commonly portrayed. It is question of perception and interpretation!
These distorted perceptions of religious conflicts in contemporary times that are fuelled by mass media and international politics are dividing the world and local population. Instead of uniting people they are creating a schism with people living in fear and distrust towards others only because of the religious and sociocultural differences.