Muslims shouldn't justify murder

Muslims shouldn't justify murder

The mood in Indonesia now after the Bali bomb is one of deep
shame and trying to come to grips with how something like this
could happen in the great Republic.

This is a nation that prides itself on its religious tolerance
and great traditions as a leading light of the Non-Aligned Group
of Nations. Religious tolerance, enshrined in Indonesia's
Constitution, is part of the life of Indonesia's Muslim
population, the other 10 percent being Hinduism, Catholic,
Protestant and Buddhist.

Many Indonesians are now questioning the concept of non-
alignment, and are seeing that some issues are worth pursuing
with other concerned nations, and this vast group of people is
praying that the Bali bomb was not the work of so called Islamic
militants.

The central core of Islam is the following of the straight and
righteous path which is the first part of what the Koran calls
the supreme triumph. The righteous path is clearly defined in the
Koran. To walk that path, a Muslim should be devout, sincere,
patient, humble, charitable and chaste.

What has happened in Bali is a terrible atrocity against all
mankind. If by some awful truth, these killers are Islamic
militants, surely they are not of Islam. Surely the Bali killers
and the bin-Ladens of the world, the tyrants who use weapons of
mass destruction against their own people and fund mass terrorism
follow an evil path, a path that is most definitely not of Islam,
a path of repeated and deliberate errors.

No man or woman of any religion could say the Bali bombers,
have done good works, and because of their deliberate errors,
have surely left the path of righteousness. How could any Muslim
support a concept of God that included the mass murder of
innocent people? It is the Word of God that condemns terrorism in
Islam. Thus it is written in the Koran.
And it is certainly time for the world's religious leaders of
Islam to speak out and also condemn these outrageous men who
shame Islam in the eyes of the world.

Whatever your religion, the Bali bomb was an abomination of
evil. Something like this hurts every man and woman's concept of
what it means to be human. It is times like this that one turns
to God and asks: "Why?"

GREG WARNER

Jakarta