Page 146 - The Winter of Islam and the Spring to Come

THE WINTER OF ISLAM AND THE SPRING TO COME
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rooted and thousands of animals were slaughtered.
However, France finally accepted the Algerians' desire for inde-
pendence, although French forces had never hesitated to kill innocent
people, women, children and the elderly. In 1959, French President de
Gaulle announced in a speech given to the United Nations that he
would recognize Algeria's independence. The FLN and France declared
a ceasefire with the Evian agreements, and Algeria finally gained its in-
dependence in 1962. The seven-and-a-half-year struggle for indepen-
dence from colonialist France left behind it 1.5 million Algerian dead.
This violence carried out by the French government of that time is
a sad confirmation of the disbelieving and corrupt character revealed to
us in the Qur'an. Destroying defenseless peoples' ability to make a liv-
ing in time of war, causing famines which make it impossible for them
to survive, and leaving them in poverty and want are all methods that
cruel regimes have resorted to throughout history:
Whenever he holds the upperhand, he goes about the earth corrupt-
ing it, destroying (people's) crops and animals. Allah does not love
corruption. ( Surat al-Baqara: 205)
We must not forget, however, that people who implement such
policies in this world will pay the price in the next. In the Qur'an Allah
gives Muslims the following good news:

That abode of the hereafter – We grant it to those who do not seek to
exalt themselves in the earth or to cause corruption in it. The suc-
cessful outcome is for those who believe. (Surat al-Qasas: 83)

Tortures the Algerian People Suffered at the Hands

of the French
The oppressive and ruthless policy adopted by France throughout
the Algerian war of independence was savagely criticized by a great
many French intellectuals, and civilian initiatives were taken to put a
halt to the oppression. This violence, believed to have been consigned
to the dusty pages of history when Algeria finally gained indepen-
dence, has recently been placed back on the agenda by recent state-