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.
The production of the 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
