Interview with HH Younus AlGohar: ISIS and Their Ugly Plans

The following is the transcript of an interview with His Holiness Younus AlGohar carried out by a journalist from the Daily Mirror in Sri Lanka. His Holiness Younus AlGohar is the official representative of Lord Ra Riaz Gohar Shahi.

There is a religious war going on in the world. People are always talking about the danger of the Islamic world and how they are causing destruction - how they are destroying many historical monuments unnecessarily. Is this a way to build the religion?

That is a very good question actually. At the same time, it needs people to understand it well. The problem is how brave we are to listen to the truth. The media all over the world should be singing the truth and telling the public what is right and wrong. The media is like a mirror. Politicians have problems; even if they know the truth, first they have to see what fits in their agenda. But the media doesn’t have any agenda for except looking for stories that can sell like hot cakes. However the media can really help, because it is the media which will carve the minds of the public.

The question that you asked is my favourite subject these days. What is religion to do with the lives of people and how important - especially in the recent times - is the religion in one’s life? Is it going to bring any good change in his or her life? Is it going to jeopardise the peace of people either in one country or on an international level?

There are many religions and it is very unfortunate that in almost every religion there is a group of people who have adopted extremism. They become very narrow-minded and they have taken it to harm others. But no extremist group in any religion has taken extremism as far as ISIS has.

ISIS has become a global threat. Especially in America, Canada and countries in Europe, they become worried about how to resolve this issue. How to stop ISIS from committing humanitarian crimes every day. Brutality has gone to its peak. Another global problem is that every now and then from countries like Australia, America, Canada, England and countries in Europe, they seek concealed, discreet supporters of ISIS.

Do you mean the Wahhabi sect?

Yes. In order to understand ISIS and their ugly plans, one has to go through the history of the Wahhabi sect. The principle supporter of Wahhabism is Saudi Arabia. Any politician in any country would think at least ten times before they can obviously take a decision against Saudi Arabia. But you cannot deny the fact that Saudi Arabia and Wahhabism are two different pictures of the same face. A lot has been discussed in the international media.

We need to understand what Wahhabism is and what Saudi Arabia’s role is in Wahhabism. I want to give you a brief history. Wahhabism starts from Mohammad bin Abdul Wahhab Najadi. Najd is the central province in Saudi Arabia. He was born there and he became a self-proclaimed Islamic scholar. He said, ‘They must follow Islam the way it was practised at the time of Prophet Mohammad.’

But that’s just one thing. And then there are all the other th

ings were added from himself. [He said], ‘What Prophet Mohammad and his followers practised at that time was pure Islam. So we have to go back to that old practice. And whoever among Muslims do not accept it should not be regarded as Muslims. They must be killed, their properties taken as forfeit. Their daughters must be snatched away from them; you can sleep with them and can kill them.’

Any religion, when it was established, its directives that came from God through the prophet or messenger from that religion were in accordance with the people and their civilisation at that time. But when the religion grows with the elapse of time, so many things change according to the need and necessity of people at the time. So many modifications come into place. If you do not accept those modifications and replacements in the directives, then this is what happens.

Do most Muslims in the world follow Wahhabism?

No, that’s not true.

No true Muslim can be a terrorist.

Wahhabism is not the mainstream Islam. Islam has been the religion