The "sensational" news regarding the vandalism of the Taleban leaders in ordering the destruction of the Buddhist relics in Afghanistan was splashed across the media, which naturally elicited a strong response from the Buddhist populace in particular, and the entire world in general. This subject became a more sensitive religious issue, in view of the fact that issue was made into an Islamic one by those Talebans, who purportedly carried out their vile ideas in the name of Islam.

This position is both erratic and misleading, in the backdrop of the stance Islam takes in respect of this issue as well as how Muslims have acted in Afghanistan itself, which has been under Muslim rule for several centuries. Therefore, it is pertinent to address this issue dispassionately and inform the world of the actual background to this issue.

Let us take an interest in looking into the history of Afghanistan. When Bamiyan became a centre for Buddhism and the major part played by Islam and successive Muslim governments in preserving these great monuments and what made them preserve these monuments for over 1400 years - 14 centuries.

For centuries Bamiyan, a town in Northern Afghanistan, South - Western Asia was a major caravan stopover on the route between central Asia and India. The town became a centre for Buddhism from the 2nd through to the 9th centuries AD.

The town is an ancient site, and lies just north of the Baba mountain range in the western Hindu Kush with the capital city of Kabul 150 km (93 miles) to the north-east. Buddhist monuments were erected in the rocks and cliffs of the valley walls. The south side of the valley has been carved into numerous caverns containing religious statues. There are two great Buddha figures, the most famous of which is a semi-detached statue called the Great Buddha of Bamiyan, which is 55 m (180 ft) in height and was first described in 630 AD by the Chinese traveller Xuanzang. Nearby are countless grottoes, decorated with well preserved wall paintings in Graeco-Buddhistic and Kushano Sassanian (3rd-century AD Indo-Persian) styles.

The region was conquered by the Arabs in the 7th Century and Turkish Rule was established in the 10th Century. Its early history is obscure, but its history has been preserved from the moment Arabs entered the territory and Bamiyan flourished as a fortress town from the 9th to the 12th centuries AD under the Islamic Ghurid dynasty.

Muhammad of Ghur (?-1206), also called Muizuddin Muhammad ibn Shaam or Shihabuddin Muhammad Ghori, Muslim conqueror of northern India. In 1173, Muhammad rose to control the Turkish Ghurid Empire, centred in what is now west-central Afghanistan.

Thus, one would also see that Buddhist monuments and the Buddhist culture have flourished and have been preserved and protected and history of Bamiyan created and preserved only from the moment the Arabs stepped into the region in the 7th century and subsequently by the various Islamic Dynasties that controlled the region.

If one inquires as to how and why the Muslims and the Islamic rulers and governments protected these great Buddhist monuments and Buddhist culture, it would be quite clear that it was because it is an injunction in the Holy Quran, which made them protect these cultures, successively and continuously for a period of over 1400 years. The Holy Quran states:

In the following chapters and verses:

12.109. Nor did we send before thee (as Apostles) any but men whom we did inspire (men) living in human habitations. Do they not travel through the earth and see what was the end of those before them? But the home of the hereafter is best for those who do right. Will ye not then understand?

22.46. Do they not travel through the land so that their hearts (and mind) may thus learn wisdom and their ears may thus learn to hear? Truly it is not their eyes that are blind but their hearts which are in their breasts.

29.20. Say: "Travel through the earth and see how Allah did originate creation: so will Allah produce a later creation: for Allah has power over all things.

30.9. Do they not travel through the earth and see what was the End of those before them? They were superior to them in strength: they tilled the soil and populated it in greater numbers than these have done: there came to them their apostles with Clear Signs; it was not Allah Who wronged them but they wronged their own souls.

40.21. Do they not travel through the earth and see what was the end of those before them? They were even superior to them in strength and in the traces (they have left) in the land: but Allah did call them to account for their sins and none had they to defend them against Allah.

47.10. Do they not travel through the earth and see what was the end of those before them.

There are 13 such injunctions in the Holy Quran exhorting man to see what civilizations were there before him - How did some of those civilizations prosper!

Why some of those civilizations were destroyed and for us to learn good lessons from them and also learn wisdom from such civilizations.

Consequently, what follows is that those civilizations and monuments have to be preserved and protected, only then that people can learn wisdom - were the explanations given by our Holy Prophet Muhummed (PBUH) if they are destroyed?

And the verse in Chapter six verse 108:

6.108. Do not revile those who worship beside Allah ........ Thus unto every nation have we made their deed seem fair. Then unto their Lord is their return, and He will tell them what they used to do.

So you can see the exhortations of the Holy Quran and the explanations given by the Holy Prophet of Islam [PBUH] are very specific and very much to the point. One cannot even insult or criticize other religions just because they do not worship Allah - One has a duty as a Muslim to protect their rights, their civilizations as well as their monuments.

Now this scum of the earth, the satanic manifestation describing itself as the "TALEBAN" is now trying to deny these Holy injunctions and is now trying to teach the Islamic world, the Taleban’s stupid interpretation and trying its best to call it Islam. What the stupid Taleban is now trying to say is that Islam has not been practiced for 1400 years.

A critical student of history would note that the origins of Taleban as a political force cannot be referred to as Islamic. Rather, it was mooted and encouraged by imperialist forces, which were not only far from being Islamic, but also working against Islamic interests worldwide and distorting Islam as a ‘religion of violence’. Under this regime, Muslims are suffering immensely - economically, politically, culturally, socially and religiously. Therefore, any misinterpretation of Taleban gimmicks as acts condoned by Islam and the Muslims is not only misleading, but also unfair to those professing the glorious faith of Islam.

So do not be misled by the false slogans of the reactionary forces, their agents and their stooges, whose vile machinations are directed at causing so much unrest and chaos in the whole wide world.

Islam has nothing to do with neither the Taleban nor the Taleban with Islam.

—Lankan Assn. of Muslim Professionals(LAMP)