Terrorism is here defined as: "creating an atmosphere of fear by applying or employing violence against innocent civilians to achieve political, ideological or religious objectives." That is quite a general but acceptable definition between what the UN says, what the US State Department says and what everybody else says.

In this definition, unfortunately there is no distinction between somebody who maliciously goes out to target civilians to promote a political agenda and somebody who is defending his land and in the way of defending his land civilians get hurt and are victimised. But even with that definition we will address terrorism as defined here with the general terms used.

What are the fundamental Islamic values that govern the Muslim’s life and the Muslim’s conduct? First is the value of religion. Islam values religion and the freedom of faith and the freedom of choice so much so that it goes directly to say: let there be freedom and "let there be no compulsion in religion." No religion in the whole world comes as clear to this issue, the issue of coercion, the issue of conversion as Islam does. To say to its adherents you can’t! And we will talk about this in a few minutes.

* Also, the value of life is sacred and protected Islamically.

* The value of the sanity of the mind to be able to function and operate and for which purpose wine and intoxicants have been prohibited. To allow the mind to be free from any impairing factors that influences its judgment and the decision making process.

* The value of honour and dignity to protect people from slander and unfair allegations.

* The value of property and protected value that every individual’s property is protected as his own, no one can take it, demolish it or attack it for no reason.

* Justice is a central value in Islam for which we know religion was revealed and revelation was given down.

* Freedoms of all types are protected Islamicly with some few protections against human indulgence.

* And finally at the centre and the core of it all is the value and the virtue of mercy.

Life is God’s gift as we are told in the Quran; it is divinely protected and sacredly so. Killing any innocent soul is prohibited, the Quran says: "kill not any soul except in due process" - there is a rule. Allah gives life, Allah is the only source and power and authority to authorise the taking of life.

Killing one equals the killing of all. The Quran says: "therefore we have prescribed for them that anyone who kills a human soul or spreads mischief and corruption on earth it equals the killing of the entire humanity and if anyone gives life to a single human being it is as if he has given life to the entire humanity."

Suicide and revenge killing are prohibited in Islam. There are restrictions on abortion. Abortion, which is the killing of infants in the mother’s womb, is prohibited unless the mother’s life is threatened. And the reason is simple; the mother’s life is an existing life but the baby’s life is a potential life. It is a life that is potentially going to grow into a full fledged human being. Protecting whoever exists comes as a precedent over protecting the potential life.

* Due process and the rules established in Islam for capital punishment for Jihad.

* And finally the Quran always emphasises reconciliation whenever there are differences.

When the Quran says to the Prophet (s): "We sent you but as a mercy to the world." That summarises the mission of the Prophet and consequently the mission of every Muslim on earth is to bring mercy to the world.

The purpose of creation and revelation is also summarised in the Quran in surah yunus as such for mercy - "Allah created them (meaning humans) to be merciful to them" to bestow mercy on them. It is out of His mercy that he gives those who obey and gives and provides for those who don’t — those who believe and those who don’t

The merciful we are told are those who receive mercy from God. The Quran reveals to us the most important essence of the nature of God in the repetition of his attribute the "merciful" the "compassionate." Divine mercy is only received by the merciful ones – it is not for anyone who is vicious or aggressive.

Mercy with family and kin, mercy between neighbor and neighbour. Societal mercy, giving to the poor, supporting the needy, helping the stranded and the wayfarer are part and parcel of the Islamic teachings and they do not separate from theology.

Mercy even to animals and the environment that is created by God. Even when you slaughter an animal for food, the hadith of the Prophet (s) says: "Sharpen your knife", to be merciful to the animals so that you don’t torture them.

"We have given prophets the book and the balance so that people would stand for Justice." (Quran) Justice is the purpose for which prophets were sent and revelation was given down. It is the foundation of peace for the society and for the world. Without justice there cannot be peace amongst people.

The testimony with justice and for justice is highly prescribed and inscribed and engraved in the teachings of Islam. Witnesses, suspects, people are all taught to testify to the truth for the sake of justice even if it is against your parents, your children, yourself, you have to state the truth.

Injustice is a grave sin we are told in the Quran - "it is a great injustice to associate anyone with God."

Justice is not a parochial exercise; there are no two types of justice, one for Muslims and one for non-Muslims. Justice applies to all in the same way. Justice is as old as the truth itself and it stems its value from the connection between justice and the truth.

Likewise there are rules and due process to legally pursue criminals with proofs and the assumption of innocence to start with until the crime is proven beyond the reasonable doubt. And any doubt is interpreted to the favour of the accused, not the opposite.

What then is the meaning or what are the meanings of Jihad? Jihad is a word that really puzzled the world. But simply put in one form of it, it can be equated exactly with war and we’ll see that. But in its essence it is a striving and struggling with one’s self and with life to establish what is good and righteous. Striving for excellence is the essence of Jihad which is Jihad an-nafs. The Quran says: "Those who struggle in our path trying to reach closer to us, we are going to guide them to the straight path."

Jihad with the Quran, Jihad with the word of the truth is also part of Jihad. Jihad with wealth and self to support anyone to support any cause is also defined as Jihad. The call of justice, mercy, relief and helping to alleviate the suffering of others. Jihad is only to be done in the path of Allah and according to the rules of Allah. He establishes the rules, He authorises the beginning of Jihad and the methods and the means in which Jihad ought to be conducted. Anyone who strives, he strives only for himself, which means to improve himself and to get reward for striving.

Also it is for protection of basic values that we mentioned, the Quran says: "Why don’t you fight in the path of Allah and for the sick and the protection of the oppressed men, woman and children." These are the meek and the weak and the underprivileged. They deserve to be protected and they can’t be protected unless the rest of the society stands up to provide that protection.

Jihad is also a fight against tyranny, oppression and occupation. The Quran says; "Fight them so that there will be no tribulation or tyranny and oppression", so to remove tyranny people have to fight back to protect against tyranny.

The Quran also says: "If your enemies cease to attack and commit aggression you also should cease and accept there reconciliatory offers." Reconciliation is always virtuous in the Quran.

We also need to realise, Muslims lived under persecution for thirteen years of killing, stabbing, torture of all types and they never lifted a finger until it went beyond the levels they could take and they left Mecca, they went to Medina about 400 km away and the pagans still followed them there. So the Quran came down to say: "Permission has been granted for those who have been wronged and Allah is capable of providing them with support and victory."

Jihad also comes in self-defense, the Quran says: "Fight in the path of Allah, only those who fight you", this is the grand ground rule for controlling that kind of activity. It is against oppression to protect as we said before the oppressed ones and to give them freedom and liberty.

"Save non-combatants", says the Prophet. Any non-combatant men, women, children, monks, priests, minister, rabbis are all protected unless they carry arms — unless they fight. Save even animals, save the environment, save poverty, give warning before action the Quran says. Very clear instructions that you can never find anywhere. There is no instruction in the Quran or in the hadith whatsoever that equates with what one can find in other books of total obliteration, total demolition of people, animals, trees, houses everything. You can’t find similar instructions in the Quran to those given in the Old Testament for example.

You give warning, deter, you prepare power and even if you punish you punish in kind. And this verse about answering in kind, came after the Prophet was in fact betrayed by a group of tribal leaders who came to him from far and said: "send with us of you good teachers to teach us Islam to teach us the Quran", and he sent 70 of his best teachers to help them learn and in a manipulative move they killed all of them in cold blooded murder. And the Prophet rightly got very angry and said "I am going to kill them all, their men, their women, their children; I am going to destroy their fields and their houses, their animals." Then the verse came from God before he had moved to tell him: "And if you punish you punish in kind" –– "and if you are patient it is much better for those who hold on to patience."

This is the guidance of the Quran — this is the guidance of Islam. This is not about being pacifists, this is about looking at the best interest in which bloodshed is looked upon in condemnation and saving lives is looked upon in grace and honour. Patience is better, if you exercise patience this is better for all.

What is the comparison between Jihad/war in comparison to terrorism? First, Jihad as war ought to be conducted by the state that has the authority to wage war and declare war; but terrorism can be conducted by a state like that in the case of Russia against Chechnya, Israel against the Palestinians or India against Kashmir or the United States against the innocent Iraqi people. This is a state imposed type of terrorism that is uncalled for.

* The Jihad as war can be carried by an army but terrorism could be done by as we said the state or the group.

* Jihad is governed by law and terrorism by no law.

* Jihad creates controllable damage to a degree and terrorism creates havoc and uncontrollable damage.

* Jihad may create massive misery but terrorism creates horrific fear and havoc and chaos and it goes beyond the minute of the attack to instill fear in the hearts and the souls of people.

* Jihad as war is relatively limited in time or place, terrorism knows no limits or time or place.

* Jihad as war targets primarily military assets; fighters and their equipment, but terrorism targets civilians. That’s why Jihad as war is conditionally allowed in Islam when necessary, while terrorism is absolutely prohibited under any circumstances.

War is justified to respond to aggression or to protect the weak and the meek as we mentioned or to fight against occupation to protect your homeland or to fight injustices committed by any. You have to fight injustices by all means using least force as needed first and if this doesn’t repel then you use extra force as needed.

* It also is authorised to defend freedoms of religion, thought, business, travel, association and the like.

* It is also authorised to protect the fundamental values we pointed out in the beginning.

Who then would have been authorised to declare war or Jihad on behalf of the Muslim community and how does this process work? Jihad is only to be authorised and declared by a state legitimately elected ruler who has the authority by virtue of his election. He must follow certain conditions and apply them in a process whereby war is only used as a last resort. Advice and consent of the people for their representatives is needed.

* Utilising all avenues of a peaceful resolution before declaring war.

* Giving sufficient warning to the enemy which may defer aggression and prevent bloodshed.

* Preparing whatever means of power so that the enemy may stop their aggression and fighting.

* Finally fulfilling the Islamic conditions for Jihad as war. All of these conditions are required before Jihad is to be used and applied.

Now let us look at what is going on in the world. What are the sources of terrorism? Where does terrorism come from? What is the primary source of terrorism? We define several of them:

* It comes from ideological sources, motivated by an idea like religion, politics. It could be domestic; against one another in the same society like abortion clinic bombers in the United States who have an ideology that is based on religion, who want to prevent people from having an abortion. They are committing terrorism against their own neighbours.

* Or nationalist and religious and political fanaticism, were people use any means to attack their enemies.

* Circumstantial: which means motivated by circumstance; like oppression or tyranny, injustices, military rules, violent dictatorship like the ones in the Middle East and other places; torture of prisoners whether they are tortured by a freedom fighter or tortured by a liberator or tortured by their own government. Torturing prisoners, driving them crazy and they resort to revenge at the first moment they have a chance to get back at their torturers or at the society that allowed their torture. Military dictatorship which gives people the state of hopelessness and despair to get justice and they end up resorting to terrorism.

* The lack of political freedom and other types of fear corners people into violence and terrorism.

* Drug trafficking is also one huge source of random killing and attacking civilians, killing witnesses and associates to prevent against prosecution of drug traffickers.

What are the forms of terrorism? If we defined the sources, now what form does terrorism come in?

* State terrorism which is inflicted by the state either on its own people or on its neighbours or other states to impose their political will or to protect their seats and to protect the rules and regimes.

* Military occupation against the occupied people as we mentioned before.

* Military coupes that are lead by the military always end in exercising regime terrorism against the opposition.

* Group terrorism which is inflicted by an ideological, political or religious group. Violent political, militant and religious or nationalist groups. Drug traffickers as we mentioned and/or against individuals, groups or states.

Fatwa and Islamic edict: When you give a fatwa to the individual you apply this fatwa to that individual, but to take an entire nation you need a council of scholars to sit down and evaluate if the situation warrants taking the nation to war, shedding blood, sacrifice, putting all your resources and economy and society at risk. It’s not allowed for just a single person even if he may be the greatest scholar to just take the entire nation to war, except in the case of self defense against an imminent threat and imminent danger.

The following rules were violated on September 11:

* The legal mechanism of due process of war was also violated.

* The lack of political authority – people who allegedly committed the 9/11 attack did not get there by election; they had no political authority to act on behalf of the Muslim ummah or the Muslim community. They did not consult with the community as they are supposed to do so.

* They did not look for the rights of civilians as instructed by the Prophet (s).

* They also were in breach of the treaties and international law which are sanctioned Islamicly. Whenever any state gets into any agreement internationally the subject, the members and citizens of the state are Islamically obliged to live up to those expectations otherwise it becomes chaos, tribulations and no peaceful end.

* They also committed pre-meditated murder of innocent civilians – those who were in the planes and those who were in their offices doing their work.

* They committed treason and betrayal of trust by violating the privilege of getting a visa on a peaceful promise to protect your neighbour and to live in peace which are Islamically sound promises as the Quran itself says: "O you who believe keep your promises, fulfill your promises do not violate them."

* Finally, they destroyed property that belonged to others and violated a rule that is established even in declared war. That you do not destroy buildings for the sake of destruction.

Now what did Islam institute of measures to protect against terrorism?

* Number one, Islam teaches us that all people are created equal by Allah, by God. We come from one father and one mother. There is no preference for your colour, ethnicity, tongue, background, tribe or anything else. You are as equal the Prophet says: "as the teeth of one comb." The only preference is for piety (good deeds and good works).

* Islam always as we mentioned several times, gives preference to dialogue, forgiveness and peaceful resolutions to all conflicts.

* The means for achieving anything must be as honorable as the end itself. There is no allowance for the principle that the end justifies the means.

* Prohibition of extremism even in faith itself – it is prohibited to go extreme and to go to make things harder for yourself or others.

* Prohibition of conspiracy, treason and betrayal.

* Prohibition of forced conversions – in fact there is no such thing as forcing conversions on people to become Muslim. Because by the nature and definition of Islam itself, which is the willful, voluntary submission of the human will to the will of God there is no chance that coerced believers could be true believers under the power of the sword or the threat of bloodshed. There is no conversion by power for anyone to become a Muslim.

* The prohibition of killing civilians even during war.

* The prohibition of drugs, drug use and drug trafficking and drug sales and marketing.

* The prohibition of suppression and the deprivation of freedoms.

* The prohibition of aggression and attacking innocent people.

* The prohibition of occupying another land or imposing rule by force without or despite the consent of the ruled.

* The prohibition of silence about or support for transgression of the rights of others.

* The rights of prisoners of war are established clearly in Islam. The rights of prisoners in general are also protected in Islam. They ought to have good food, health care and every necessity to sustain life in good health and to come back as productive members of the society.

* Prohibition of torture under any circumstances for any reason whatsoever this reason may be.

* The rights of ambassadors and the protection of ambassadors have also been established for more than 1400 years under Islamic law.

* The rights of non-Muslim minorities living with Muslims as the saying of the Prophet testifies: "If you hurt a Christian or Jew it is as if you are hurting me" –– if you hurt them or injure them, you injure the Prophet (s).

What now are the Islamic solutions to terrorism as a problem?

* Firstly, the ideological approach – to teach Islam in its comprehensive understanding because teaching bits and pieces of Islam leads to fanaticism, extremism and terrorism. You pick one part of Islam, you pick one verse, you pick one hadith and you end up misinterpreting Islam and misapplying Islam.

* Freedom for Muslim scholars and thinkers many of whom are languishing in prisons of dictators who are supported by western powers.

* Addressing the roots of terrorism in the media instead of the superficial talk about terrorism — "Islamic terrorism" as if this was part of the religion.

* Dialogue between the East and the West – it is your role; it is my role in our part of the world to talk to our neighbors. Open up your mind and your heart and talk about serious issues instead of drinking coffee and talking about trivial issues that do not matter to our future and our co-existence.

* Focusing on conflict resolution in troubled areas – we mentioned some of those and replacing ideological impositions with ideological exchange. If the West has the right formulae let them not use power to impose even democracy, even freedom, even liberty. You can’t impose these by force. But let dialogue and intellectual exchange lead us all to what is best for everyone.

* Political approach – Islam protects the freedom of the press, publication on honesty and it institutes it as a measure and a quality to measure how good the society is.

* Freeing all political prisoners in all countries including the United States.

* Increasing punishment for torture of prisoners instead of the slap on the wrist that those inhumane practices get.

* Ending support for dictatorships.

* Requiring countries to abide by international law instead of giving a wink to those who commit terrorism and violence and torture of their subjects or others if they were our friends and punishing those who are not.

* Supporting the right to self-determination of the Palestinians or the Kashmiri’s or the Chechen’s. Why not? Why rush to only seek self-determination for the southerners in Sudan claiming that they are Christians when we know that 80 % of those are pagans and idol worshippers but just to claim that 20 % have to have control of the south with all its resources and forgetting the self determination rights of the Palestinians, the Chechens and the Kashmiris.

* Denying any country or group illegitimate gain claiming their fight against their enemy is the fight of the West against their enemy – these are not parameters that ought to be tolerated or accepted.

* Supporting the international courts of justice instead of withdrawing Western power like the United States that is afraid lest the US soldiers get caught because of their misdeeds in the international court system. Rather we should sign on and teach our soldiers to respect international law instead of violating it .

As we conclude here we have to understand that the plague of violence did not start with Muslims. Muslims constitute more than 73 % of the world’s refugees. There is no hot spot war region in the world where it is Muslims who are occupying other lands or torturing their subjects who are their enemies or it is Muslims who are aggressing against others. It is always the other way around. And as Muslims we stand with pride and support for anyone who sets out his life to defend his rights. We are going to say Islam encourages us to extend a hand of love, brotherhood and reconciliation; even enemies who have fought us can turn to become our friends tomorrow if they cease animosity, aggression and attack. This is the message of Islam and this is what will bring peace. It is the pursuit of justice that gives peace to all.