As we protest...

“Muslims don’t deserve respect”. This is one of the huge numbers of responses on internet forums that have popped up after our response to the piece of garbage produced by some mindless person and directed by some senseless person. While all of us acknowledge that this is an attempt by the Zionists to demonize the Muslims and spread malice about the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) but many of us seem to support the violence which is being preperated in the name of the Prophet (peace be upon him) ‘in response’ to the video. Can we muster courage to ask ourselves the question, “Are we responding in accordance to what the Noble Prophet (peace be upon him) did when some abused him?” If the answer is No, and certainly is, we need to introspect and mend our actions so that the disservice which our actions have so far lend to our Prophet’s (peace be upon him) mission may be annulled to some extent.

          Once during the lifetime of the Prophet (peace be upon him), a funeral of a Jew passed by the Prophet (peace be upon him), His eyes became moist and became somewhat sad. Upon being enquired about the reason for being sad, He replied , “Was he not a human”? The Prophet (peace be upon him) had so much sympathy for the non-believers as he was the ‘Mercy for all the worlds’. In the same pretext, can we justify the killing of Chris Stevens, US ambassador to Libya, and the inhumane way in which he was killed in the name of protecting the honour of our Prophet (peace be upon him)? By choosing the violent and outrageous way of protesting, we are only falling into the machinations of the behind-the-screen perpetrators of such blasphemous acts. And in the process, we also lose the support of the ‘like minded’ non-Muslims who would otherwise support us in condemning the blasphemous act.

          In the lifetime of Prophet (peace be upon him) there were those who cursed and insulted him openly.  Ka’b bin al-Ashraf, a Jew, in Madina, used to recite defamatory poetry about him and made explicit poetry about the women of the Muslims. This was when the Prophet (peace be upon him) was the ruler, and Ka’b bin al-Ashraf was living under his authority in Madina.  But the Prophet (peace be upon him) didn’t ask his Companions to punish his neighbors, companions, or even his family members for what Ka’b bin al-Ashraf did.  Nor did he punish the representatives of his tribe, Banu an-Nadeer, or randomly target the Jews of Madina nor did he boycott their businesses.   Instead Prophet (peace be upon him), as the ruler, dealt with Ka’b bin al-Ashraf, the one who caused that harm specifically.

          Given our recent history of responding to such acts of sacrilege and blasphemy, it is as easy as tempting a little kid for chocolate to instigate violent protests from us. Keeping this in mind, those hell-bent upon destroying world peace and shifting power balances find this an easy way to disrupt order and sink the Muslim world into the abyss of chaos and confusion. And guess what, it is only the Muslim countries which are affected the worst kind of violence, arson, murder & destruction in the name of religion than any other country of the world.

          It is worthwhile to mention here that the ‘Arab Spring’ had somewhat destroyed the old stereotypes of Muslims dictatorships by bringing forth just rulers in countries like Tunisia & Egypt which were erstwhile ruled by corrupt dictators. Now that the new rulers in these countries were bringing to fore somewhat positive (i.e. real) facets of Islam, people came up with this movie. Now, it is not surprising to see that the same western philosophers who coined the term ‘Arab Spring’ to signify a positive change are terming the recent wave of protests as the ‘beginning of the Arab Winter’. And we are cordially (albeit unintentionally) acting as pawns in the great game of the people bent to malign the great religion – Islam.

         What we are watching now is; Muslims (protestors) fighting Muslims (policemen) in Muslim regions (Pakistan, Libya, Egypt, Kashmir); the net result being loss of Muslim lives, property and above all dignity. On Friday, which is meant to be a special day to beseech Allah to send blessings upon the Prophet (peace be upon him), more than 20 people were killed in Pakistan. This in addition to the scores others killed erstwhile.  It is not that our religious heads are silent on this matter and we can blame them for all the chaos and confusion prevailing for not reaching out to the masses. They are literally ‘shouting’ but here we are, deafened by hollow slogans, unable to hear them. It is good to see Muslims, Scholars as well as common people, working their hearts out on social networks, blogs, youtube, websites asking people to adhere to the Noble ways of Prophet (peace be upon him) while ‘protesting’ against such acts of sacrilege. Messages like this are common from the Learned Scholars, “If anyone abuses the Prophets (peace be upon them), then that does not mean the Prophets are harmed due to it; rather the person (who abuses them) is harmed and he will receive the evil repercussions.” Furthermore, “Our religion is a religion of peace; our religion is a religion of goodness. Our religion prohibits assaulting others. Our religion prohibits abusing others. Our religion gives the due right to its people (whether) Muslim or non-Muslim. And that which we hold to be from our Religion is that these chaotic actions that are carried out by some of the youth do not represent the religion of Islam or the Muslim population.” The Prophet (peace be upon him) himself stressed upon the importance of learned Scholars and termed them as the “Inheritors of the Prophets, the inheritance being Knowledge (‘Ilm)”. The need of the hour is to implement the Prophet’s (peace be upon him) teachings in every sphere of our lives and even in the way we protest!

The above write up also appeared in the Sunday, 7th October edition of Rising Kashmir.

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