By Mohammed Sadullah Khan
The
recent statement of the mufti of Lebanon's Sunni Muslims to Pope Benedict XVI
that he would consider "any attack on a Christian as an attack on all
Muslims”, needs to be highlighted. This is not a bold statement but a true view
of Islam. Muslims are guided by Quran,
which is the holy book of Islam and it is the most read book in the World
today. I have not come across similar
statements from any other religious leaders of the world.
Film
titled “Innocence of Muslims” by Nakoula Basseley Nakoula under the alias name
Sam Bacile with the sole intention of provoking and inciting Muslims is highly
condemnable. Muslims love their Prophet
(PBUH) more than their own selves. Hence
anything against prophet (PBUH) is bound to inflame the passions of
Muslims. Nakoula, being an Arab knew very
well the reaction of Muslims to his film.
Since he made the film with bad motive, he should be convicted for
premeditated Murder of innocent victims and destruction of properties
throughout the world. Along with him
all the people who are associated with the film like by funding, acting and
promoting should also be prosecuted. On this controversial issue the Islamic
view in nutshell is very clear and the Quran clearly guides all the Muslims by
its verses. The Holy Qur’an says:
“Revile not ye Those whom they call upon Besides Allah, lest They out of spite
Revile Allah In their ignorance.” [Holy Qur’an 6:108]. Hence Muslims do not indulge in such acts as
has been committed by this man and his friends. There may be guidance in almost
all the religions of the world about not ridiculing other religions and
communities, which should be highlighted and propagated to avoid such incidents
in future. There is a greater responsibility of the religious leaders and
community leaders in educating their flocks about the mischief mongers on the
fringes, out to cause trouble in the society.
On
the violence post movie, again there is a clear-cut guidance from Quran. No
amount of unjust policies of America, no amount of discrimination and no amount
of hate mongering will ever allow the Killing of any innocent human being as it
is against the teachings of Islam.
According to the Qur’an, killing any person without a just cause is as
big a sin as killing the whole humanity and saving the life of one person is as
good deed as saving the whole humanity. This beautiful guidance is the best
guidance anyone can produce on protecting the lives of human beings. If all the humanity follows this beautiful
guidance then the whole World will become a better place to live in.
No
doubt there has been demonization of Islam and Muslims, even-though the Muslims
are the worst victims of terrorism and discrimination throughout the
World. Even the common Islamic words
like Jihad and Kafir has been misused to create hatred and resentment among
non-Muslims. The root cause of all the
major problems is moral corruption and not due to any religion. The energy
spent on hating a particular religion or community should be spend on
understanding that religion in right perspective or at-least in understanding
own religion or ideology. One of the good features of human beings is that more
than ninety nine percent of the human beings behave humanely irrespective of
their religious or ideological affiliations, unless provoked and manipulated. Understanding
the true Islamic view will dispel many myths surrounding the Islamic
terminology, Islam and Muslims. It is the duty of religious heads, preachers,
community leaders, different governmental and non-governmental organizations
and media to understand the problem and address the issues causing provocation,
manipulation, friction and declining moral values in the world.
By
Mohammed Sadullah Khan, based in Riyadh is a Faculty Member and Freelance
Writer and can be reached at mosakhan40@gmail.com
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