Dr. Khalid Al-Shafi
After a few days of the bloody explosion at Ali bin Abi Talib’s mosque in Al Qatif, the same terrorist again tried to detonate a bomb at Al Anoud mosque in Dammam city in Saudi Arabia.
It is sad and painful to see such incidents targeting places of worship such as mosques, churches and temples in Iraq, Syria, Pakistan and recently Saudi Arabia.
No one has the right to kill people in the name of religion because religion is mercy and love for people, not for killing and bloodshed.
It is sedition, where a victim does not know why he is being killed and the killer does not know why he is killing. The worst thing is the shedding of the blood of innocent people under false religious slogans, which should be abhorred, as they have nothing to do with Islam. But what needs to be emphasised is that terrorism is a temporary phenomenon which will disappear and our homelands, people and societies will survive.
Extremism and terrorism are phenomena that need to be dealt with in a scientific and objective way, and with wisdom, without exaggeration or underestimation.
The first step is that we need to admit that terrorism is a destructive fact, there are dirty plans being made, the lives of innocent people are being taken away and victims and families are grieving.
There have been actions and reactions that seem to be irrational and need to be reviewed.
The lesson learned from these ugly incidents is that all need to stand up and fight extremism, terrorism and obscurantist movements on a daily and strategic basis because everyone is targeted.
The scourge should be addressed at the root and this requires awareness, clear thinking, tolerance, openness and respect for the principle of co-existence.
Media outlets supporting and inciting violence, hatred and killings should be criminalised. Terrorism has no specific language, identity, religion or sect because all are involved in one way or the other. Therefore, confrontation must be collective and should reflect unity and the aspiration for social peace, security and love.
We need to unite against all forms of foreign intervention and ambitions and work together to achieve further development and prosperity.
The Peninsula
