KUALA LUMPUR, October 22 (IslamOnline.net) - Muslims must stand up for their rights and question the motives behind the so-called war against terrorism, said the president of a Malaysian Muslim Youth Movement on Wednesday, October 22.

“Muslims are so scared that they even do not question their rights. This is a question of human rights,” Ahmad Azam Abdul Rahman, the president of the movement, known as Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (ABIM) told IslamOnline.net.

Leading the ABIM, a non-partisan and non-profit organization established in 1971 to undertake Islamic da’wah in Malaysia, in the middle of the so-called war against terrorism and watching the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) showing its inability to deliver the goods in these circumstances, Abdul Rahman spoke about the challenges that are facing Muslims.

“One must remember that this “terrorism” thing is the invention of the West. During the 70’s, they created the word fundamentalism and the Muslims too said yes there are Muslim fundamentalist. After this word was used up, they created “Muslim radical”, after that they created extremists, and then we Muslims too agreed there were extremist Muslims,” he explained.

“Today they create the word “terrorists” and associate it to the Muslims and Muslims too says yes there are Muslim terrorists and make it a national policy to fight terrorism and accept what the west says for granted. That should not be the way,” he insisted.

“They are always putting us in a corner. We cannot think on how to develop the Ummah because we are with an ‘under siege’ mentality. Muslims are worried and scared because after that, we do not know what label is going to be put on us.

“The situation in the Muslim world is such that Muslims are now too careful and do not want to help others in Kashmir for example because we may be termed terrorists.

“In the end the terror agenda is to cut the Muslims further so that the Muslims would not be connected and be disoriented and we cannot help others but take care of own selves because we don’t know if we are going to be next,” he added.

He argued that if Muslims refuse this entire terrorist agenda, saying: “there are no terrorists, you are the terrorist, then there will be a different situation altogether”.

“Their aim is to make Muslims fight each other and prevent us from being united and this is what the western world wants: Let the Muslims fight among them,” he added.

The ABIM, a non-partisan and non-profit organization established in 1971 to undertake Islamic da’wah in Malaysia, submitted a memorandum to the head of States of the OIC at the Summit in Putrajaya held on October 12, urging the Islamic organization to set up a Secretariat for Peace Initiatives and Muslim Unity.

“The Secretariat serves to help resolve outstanding political and human rights issues affecting Muslim countries and Muslim minorities,” Abdul Rahman said.

The future of the OIC will depend on the commitment of its leadership to implement all the recommendations especially on the reforming of the organization itself, Abdul Rahman added.

“They need to revamp the whole organization drastically be able to face the challenges that the Muslim world is facing today,” he said.

He urges Muslims to reject the label of terrorism and to start questioning the agenda behind it.

“If Muslims refuse this entire terrorist agenda, saying there are no terrorists, you are the terrorist, then there will be a different situation altogether. Their aim is to make Muslims fight each other and prevent us from being united,” Abdul Rahman said.

“The OIC should take up the issue of Guantanamo and question why the Muslims are being held there. In term of human rights we should have access to those held there,” said the ABIM president.

“We cannot rely on information given to us by the United States and they can arrest any one and say this is a terrorist. The OIC should question this,” he said.

“The people are frustrated and the responsible parties are are not addressing issues of concern,” he said.

He also pointed out that the OIC needs a complete revamp, a new image and new tools that would make it an active group that could defend Muslims and Islam in the world of tomorrow.

He suggested that members of the OIC should be given the power to vote. “This will give the OIC strength and will allow it to act fast on issues that have remained stagnant for decades and even centuries,” said the ABIM president.

In order to serve the Muslim Ummah better, the ABIM suggest the creation of a Union of Muslim Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) that would act as the platform for the ordinary people to speak out on the real problems affecting them.

He also said the OIC should also give more attention to Muslims in Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Chechnya where they are real crises.

“At least the OIC had a consensus on Zionism. I am quite happy that the OIC leaders supported the strong views of Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.