Ramadan is one of the holy celebrations in Islam where Muslims around the world commemorate to strengthen their faith and to make their relationship strong with Allah. Muslims also see Ramadan as a time for peace and spiritual renewal. It is considered as most sacred because in Islam, Muslims believe that Angel Gabriel appeared to Prophet Mohammad and revealed to him the Quran. They believed that this divine event happened during Ramadan.
With all this in context, like any other celebration and sacred event in Islam, terrorists took this opportunity to twist the real meaning of Ramadan and jive it to their ideology of terrorism to become acceptable in Islam. According to the analysis conducted by NBC News on ISIS’s terrorism activities during Ramadan, they said that the ISIS believed “Ramadan is a favorable time to fight because “the devils” are chained up and the heaven is open.” This is according to the ISIS propaganda magazine known as Dabiq, where one of the magazine issues released during 2015 Ramadan stated: “This is because Allah opens gates for the Muslims in Ramadan and upon them, He sends His mercy. Thus, it is indeed a noble month. The gates of Jannah (heaven) are opened and the gates of Hell are closed. The devils are chained up. It is a noble month in which good deeds are multiplied and lowly desires are subdued.” The ISIS used this kind of proof that shows that the Quran or Islam supported their terroristic acts so that they may justify it to other believers that their actions are all based in their faith. Aside from ISIS, other terrorist groups used the same narratives to give way for their attacks. This information somehow correlates to the study and data presented on Datagraver website, a Netherland-based company that provides data insights in population, society, and security. According to them, between 2006-2015, terrorism attacks in Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia were high during Ramadan days than non-Ramadan days. Even the attack by jihadist groups was high during Ramadan than non-Ramadan days according to the data provided by Big, Allied and Dangerous (BAAD), an online data platform of terrorist-related studies.
Given the facts and studies conducted, it is somehow alarming that these scenarios may happen again during Ramadan and for some years to come. With this, the Ummah is still condemning the act of terrorism which is a vital step to end the atrocities and to remind fellow Muslims and other people that justification of terrorism is haram and it has no place in Islam.
