Terrorism: The West’s Greatest Slander Against Muslims

In Islam, it is strictly forbidden to accept or spread accusations against anyone without proper verification. Attacking someone based on assumptions is not only prohibited but considered a grave sin.

Allah the Almighty, in His eternal way of life—Islam—has commanded that even harbouring negative thoughts about others without clear evidence is forbidden.

He says in the Qur’an: "O believers, avoid most suspicions. Indeed, some suspicions are sinful" (Surah Al-Hujurat, 12). In another verse, He says: "Do not pursue that of which you have no knowledge" (Surah Bani Isra’il, 36).

If merely entertaining unfounded suspicion is a sin, then knowingly framing an innocent person as a terrorist is an atrocious crime beyond measure.

In the past century, perhaps the greatest falsehood that imperialist powers have successfully propagated is the idea that “Islam means terrorism” and that “Muslims are terrorists.” This is the biggest and most dangerous lie funded and fuelled by global superpowers.

Anyone who has travelled to Europe or America will likely have faced humiliation simply for having a Muslim name. This is a symptom of rampant Islamophobia.

At one time, Bangladesh too became a playground for these international conspiracies. Pious individuals were labelled as terrorists without any credible reason. During arrests, authorities would strategically place religious books such as Fazail-e-Amaal, Hikayat-e-Sahaba, and even translations of the Qur’an beside them and claim these were “jihadi materials.” By that logic, every household with a Qur’an could be branded a terrorist cell—an absurd and dangerous assumption.

Their approach has often lacked the slightest caution; whatever was at hand was labelled “terrorist literature.”

Today, many senior law enforcement officials have admitted that these staged dramas were, in fact, fictional. At least 10–12 specialised units in various security agencies operate in the name of combating terrorism—funded by taxpayer money.

Yet, while these forces exist to arrest so-called terrorists, the country remains plagued by major crimes such as murder, rape, extortion, and corruption—without any special forces assigned to tackle them.

Ordinary citizens often don’t receive adequate services due to manpower shortages in law enforcement, but numerous units continue to operate solely to ‘hunt terrorists’.

Why? Simply to please Western powers by performing in a script they themselves have written. This is a deep-rooted conspiracy to disconnect the people of this country from religion.

The West knows that the people of Bangladesh are devout and love their scholars. They listen to their guidance. Therefore, a sustained effort is underway to smear Islamic scholars as terrorists and create public doubt, ultimately driving people away from Islam.

Time and again, this ‘terror drama’ has been staged. Yet few expected that in this day and age, such old tactics would return. Recently, a few young scholars and preachers were accused of terrorism.

The motive behind smearing their character is transparent: their writings, research, and da'wah have disturbed the sleep of certain Western quarters. Thus, their reputations had to be tarnished.

This obsessive branding of Muslims as terrorists has even created confusion around the concept of jihad. When Christians announce crusades or religious wars, no one calls it terrorism. Yet jihad, one of Islam’s noble tenets, is constantly misrepresented. Jihad has clear conditions and guidelines in Islam. It does not involve harming innocent people. The West has long tried to equate jihad with terrorism. But the reality is: jihad is divine instruction, a call to liberate the oppressed. Terrorism, in contrast, is a tool to crush and silence the weak.

To tarnish the concept of jihad, Western actors have even created factions among Muslims, funding and training them to carry out violent acts—then using those incidents to portray jihad as violent extremism. Sadly, even some well-meaning Muslims fall into this trap.

It is high time we realise the depth of this conspiracy and reject the false equivalence between Islam and terrorism. Awareness and unwavering faith are our strongest defences.

Popular Islamic scholar, writer, preacher Shaykh Ahmadullah delivered this as sermon of Jumah prayer.