Morten Storm, the Danish co-author of the 2014 book Agent Storm: My Life Inside Al Qaeda and the CIA, recently aired his anti-Islamic views on Fox News, abusing this media platform to spout blasphemous opinions. This former terrorist turned double agent was radicalised in prison and was later recruited by the CIA and MI6 as a spy. Ultimately, he betrayed his masters by going public and he is now betraying his adopted faith of Islam.
Storm is an authority on terror, not on Islam. He is capitalising on heightened fears in response to the Paris attacks, whipping-up Islamophobia with cherry-picked quotes from our Holy Book taken out of context.
Genuine Muslims would not dream of libelling other religions. We respect the faiths of the People of the Book (Christians and Jews) .
To refute this individual’s propaganda, I enlisted the help of Sheikh Fares Al Mustafa, imam of the Al Farooq Omar bin Al Khattab Mosque in Dubai.
Islam is a merciful and peaceful faith. Muslims end their prayers with the word “peace”. Muslims greet each other, saying “peace” and Allah will welcome all those who enter Paradise with a greeting of peace.
Yet Storm characterises Islam as “violent, intolerant and very dangerous for the whole world”.
There are many references to peace and mercy in the Quran and 113 verses start with the words: “In the name of Allah, the All-Merciful and Most Merciful.”
Storm alleges: “Allah encourages the Muslims to fight until there are no religions left. That means everything is wiped out …”
That’s nothing but a fabrication. The verses in the Holy Book covering war purely relate to self-defensive conflicts. Surat Al Baqarah verse 90 reads: “And fight in the way of Allah against those who fight with you, but do not transgress. Surely Allah loves not the transgressors.” Do not transgress in this context means do not initiate war.
Islam is tolerant of other beliefs: “For you, is your religion, and for me is my religion,” is the message of verse 6 of Surat Al Kafirun.
I dare Storm to find a single verse in the Quran that encourages believers to force non-believers to convert by the sword.
Islam did not spread through Malaysia and Indonesia, home to more than 250 million Muslims, by the sword. There are more than 200 million Muslims in China, but they were not coerced. Moreover, the Tatars in Central Asia willingly embraced Islam and are now rediscovering their Islamic roots.
The life of the Prophet Mohammed evidences his respect for other religious figures. Our joy in the celebration of the birth of Issa (Jesus) is no less than our joy when celebrating the birth of the Prophet Mohammed. Indeed, there are more verses about Issa and his mother Mariam in the Holy Book than on the lineage of the Prophet Mohammed.
When Morten says Islam approves of terrorist acts, he again proves his ignorance. The Prophet Mohammed did, indeed, say: “I have been helped by terror [in the hearts of my enemies].” But, as the narrator Ibn Hubaira explains, he was referring to the fear God instilled in his enemies’ hearts; fear that allowed the Prophet to be victorious without blood being spilt.
Storm’s assertion that the Prophet approved the killing of women and babies is scandalous. Islam does not permit the killing of women, minors, the mentally unstable, the bedridden or any other non-combatants. It is explicitly forbidden.
Hadith 2613, Sunan Abu-Dawud, narrated by Anas ibn Malik, states: “When the Prophet sent an army for battle, he said: ‘Go in Allah’s name, trusting in Allah, and adhering to the religion of Allah’s Apostle. Do not kill a decrepit old man, or a young infant, or a child, or a woman; do not be dishonest about booty, but collect your spoils, do right and act well, for Allah loves those who do well.”
Storm also spouted the terrorists’ interpretation of verse 39 of Surat Al Anfal: “And fight them until there is no fitnah (rebellion) and [until] the religion, all of it, is for Allah.” Sheikh Fares emphasises that the verse is unrelated to the People of the Book. “It aimed at pushing back against the aggression of idol worshippers in Mecca during a period when Muslims were not sufficiently strong. Takfiris would agree with Storm’s conclusions because it suits their own murderous ends.”
Islam cannot be learnt from a terrorist’s handbook and, moreover, there are strong indicators that terrorists are not generally motivated by religious beliefs but rather by political or mercenary objectives.
I would urge all Muslims to counteract the falsehoods disseminated by Islam’s haters. Radicals and Islamophobes are opposite sides of the same extremist coin. They need to realise that there is no honour in guns. All men are brothers in humanity and the voice of love must prevail over the voices of war.
My fervent prayer is that God will protect all peoples from the scourge of terrorism. May peace and security prevail over all evil intentions.
Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor is chairman of Al Habtoor Group
