Politicians, Government leaders, presidents and Prime Ministers, in order to impress their public, like to say that they have read the Koran. It's also become fashionable, but deeply offensive, condescending and patronising to Muslims, that non-Muslim politicians are standing up and lecturing the Muslims on the Koran and telling us what our Koran says and does not say and what our Koran sanctions and does not sanction.

A common question is posed to the Muslims: "Are you with us in our fight against terrorism or not?" Of course, as Muslims we have been instructed by Allah to combat terrorism in all its forms. And as Muslims we must denounce terrorism. And that means all forms of terrorism. TERROR BY AN INDIVIDUAL IS NO DIFFERENT TO TERROR PERPETRATED BY A GOVERNMENT. Terrorism perpetrated by a group of individuals is no worse than terrorism practised by a state, by an entire people or by a government with the acquiescence and support of their public. Terrorism, in the book of Islam and in the laws of Islam, sees no distinction, regardless of who may be perpetrating it.

But this question in itself is misleading. THE QUESTION IS: "ARE YOU WITH US OR ARE YOU AGAINST US?" The question is offensive because it divides everybody into just two camps. The first camp: those who are supposedly civilised, those who are superior in their culture, in their intelligence, in their ways, in their values and principles and even in their religion. And the second camp: those medieval, backward, barbarian terrorists.

And we are being told: "Make a choice. You're either with us or against us. BUT IN ORDER TO BE WITH US, YOU MUST ACCEPT OUR DEFINITION OF TERRORISM, YOU MUST ACCEPT WHO WE CALL A TERRORIST AND WHO WE CALL A VICTIM. You mourn when we tell you to mourn. You weep when we tell you to weep. You remember the murdered and the innocent and the casualties and you remember the victims of terror, when, where and who and how we tell you to. You have no choice in the matter." That is extremely offensive. Our answer to the question, Are you with us or against us?, is simple: we as Muslims are against terrorism in all its forms. We are with justice.

The question is: is this war against the Muslims of Afghanistan just? Is this campaign justified? Is justice with the coalition or not? And I'm sure most will say that it is offensive from the very outset to consider this war to be just. And if it is not just, then those who are perpetrating it are directly responsible for the tyranny and injustice that they are visiting upon the Muslims of Afghanistan. As such, they are tyrants and oppressors in the laws of Islam and in the sight of the Muslims. This is tyranny.

WHAT CRIME HAS THE GOVERNMENT OF AFGHANISTAN (the Taliban) COMMITTED? All they have done is they have refused to hand over a person (Osama bin Laden) who's guilt is yet to be proven. Because of that crime, the entire nation is being punished. And as a result, BECAUSE THEY STRIVE TO REPRESENT ISLAM, THE WHOLE OF ISLAM IS BEING DEMONISED. As a result, Muslims all over the globe are being discriminated against. We are being warned, hints are being dropped and a lot is happening. And worst of all, the religion of Islam itself is under attack.

Allah is not unaware of what the tyrants are doing. The Prophet prophesied the coming of a time before the day of reckoning when many signs will appear in this ummah (the global community of Muslims) and in the world.

And just some of those signs are that everything will become flipped, twisted, subverted and turned over. The Prophet says, in a hadith (collected accounts of the sayings and deeds of Muhammad): "A time will most assuredly come upon the people when the truthful will be rejected and the liar will be believed." We live in that time.

TODAY, EVERYTHING IS TWISTED. War means peace, peace means war. Naked aggression and terrorism against an impoverished people is called self-defence. ADHERING TO THE FUNDAMENTALS OF ISLAM, of one's religion, and trying to faithfully live one's life according to the example of the Prophet, peacefully, and trying to worship Allah and obey him, peacefully, IS CONSIDERED EXTREMISM. To defend one's own country from invasion by foreign forces, to resist occupation and TO STRUGGLE AGAINST OPPRESSION IS CALLED TERRORISM.

America and Britain, two countries, the most powerful combination of forces on earth, are on the warpath against a country that has suffered more than four years of drought and a number of years of famine, that has no civilian infrastructure, let alone a military infrastructure. And why is Afghanistan being bombed? We're doing it in self-defence. They call it self-defence. Isn't this tyranny, isn't this injustice, isn't this terror? How can we as Muslims support such a war? Never.

We speak in opposition to the war, peacefully. No one is speaking about breaking laws or promoting anarchy. We will not endanger the life of any innocent person, Muslim or non-Muslim. But we have the right to speak. And we must speak.

Before the enemy is bombed, the enemy is demonised. The Taliban, as a people and as a government, and the Muslims of Afghanistan who adhere to the shariah (Islamic law) have been demonised - this is part of the propaganda of war - until they are made to seem bestial, medieval, backward, until everyone is baying for their blood. The liar will be believed and the honest will be rejected.