by Idris Tawfiq
How many of us have been frustrated over the last weeks by our seeming inability to do anything at all in the face of insults to Islam? The anti-islam film, The Innocence of Muslims, made by a group of fanatics in the United States and deliberately intended to give offence to Muslims, has sparked fury across the world and has been the direct cause of death and carnage. But, for most Muslims, death and carnage is just not an appropriate response and it is not one we are comfortable with. So what can we do? Are we just to sit back while our Prophet is insulted?
Danish Cartoons
There is, in fact, much we can do and there is no reason at all for us to be downcast. Before we tackle that, though, let us put the controversy in context.
Seven years ago, when those cartoons were first published in Denmark insulting Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) by showing him as a man of violence, the fallout was tragic. Many people died. What is more, the violent and angry response of some Muslims managed to fix in the minds of people in the West the idea that Islam is violent and uncompromising. The talk of a clash of civilisations took root in people’s minds. We have been living with that legacy ever since.
I remember well the day the Cartoon controversy first erupted. That night on the television news, the first item was given over to statement by the Grand Imam of Al Azhar that Islam is not violent. He condemned the cartoons, but pointed out that Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was not a man of violence at all. Indeed, he showed that throughout the Prophet’s life; he responded to personal insult with a real inner strength and, most of the time, allowed them to pass. The Grand Imam further went on to say that Islam is a religion of peace and that it rejects violence. The word “islam” he pointed out, comes from an Arabic root that means both peace and submission.
The second item on the television news that evening could not have been in greater contrast to what the first item had said. It showed angry crowds of Muslims, burning flags and throwing stones and screaming out death to the enemies of Islam. If anyone had been convinced by the words of the Grand Imam, their minds were quickly changed by what they saw with their own eyes on their television screens. “How could Islam possibly be a religion of peace,” they thought, “if this is how Muslims react to some cartoons in a newspaper?”
In the ensuing months, much damage was done, both literally and figuratively, to relations between Muslims and those who know nothing of the real message of Islam. During the coverage of the recent anti-islam film we have seen a similar dilemma unfold before our eyes. Many moderate Muslim leaders have said one thing, but many thousands of Muslims have done something else.
It hurts any Muslim to see Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) insulted. Only Muslims can really understand this. The only comparison I can give, and the only one that might make sense to someone who is not Muslim, is to liken it to someone insulting your mother. No one wants to see his/her mother insulted and his/her immediate reaction to such an insult would be to strike out at the one who gave the insult. No matter how educated a person might be, his immediate knee-jerk response to such an insult would be to hit out. The only difficulty with such situation, if we compare it to the insults to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), is the immediate one of who to strike out at? If someone insulted your mother, he might be standing there in front of you, so you have right in front of you the one to direct your anger at. With this film, though, the ones doing the insulting didn’t even make themselves known. So who do we direct our anger at?
Two Wrongs Don’t Make One Right
As the present Grand Imam of Al Azhar has pointed out in response to the film, Islam does not allow the punishment of the innocent along with the guilty. The American Ambassador to Libya, however much he might represent a country that some Muslims might not like, was not responsible for the film. It is not permissible and is quite beyond the bounds of Islam to kill such a man. Similarly, the owners of all those shops and businesses throughout the world that have been burned to the ground as a result of the film were not responsible for its making. Harming them or their property is targeting the wrong people.
As President George W Bush found out in his so-called War Against Terror, it isn’t always possible to find the culprits one wants to find. For ten years the United States and its allies waged a war against this group or that, causing the deaths of many innocent people as a result. Even after ten years they haven’t really defeated their hidden enemy.
So who are Muslims to react against? Who do we target our anger at? How do we respond when our beloved Prophet is vilified?
Somehow, most Muslims know deep down that burning flags and throwing stones is not the response. They see clearly that such a response has a negative result, branding Islam as violent. The sad fact is that a small group of individuals with a cheap camcorder have been able to insult Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and the feelings of one and a half billion Muslims throughout the world and they have then sat back and laughed heartily at the response they provoked. If their aim was to make Muslims look foolish and violent, then they succeeded in that aim.
Let us be quite clear. Five times a day as Muslims we don’t cry out “America Akbar!” We don’t shout “Israel Akbar!” No, as Muslims we declare “Allah Akbar”, that God Almighty is the Greatest. He is the one who created the heavens and the earth and everything in between. The world belongs to Him and there is nothing that men and women can do that can harm Him in any way. We know as Muslims that the victory belongs to God and to Islam. People drawing a cartoon or making a film can do nothing to harm either God Almighty or His beloved Prophet.
For better or worse, this film has directed the attention of people throughout the world once again on Islam and Muslims. If we are to react to the film, we need to remember this. You know, after the tragedy of 9/11 in the USA, many thousands of people became Muslim. The direct result of such a horrific thing was that God drew people to Him.
Doing Nothing is Not an Option
In the same way, we can use the fallout from this film to draw others to Islam. People need to know, first of all, that Islam is not to be insulted. We don’t need to burn a flag to make that clear. In fact, anyone can burn a flag or throw a stone.
How many of those people burning flags, though, responded in a positive way to what had happened?
How many picked up the telephone or went to the computer or took up pen and paper and contacted their elected representatives? That might seem a weak response, but it isn’t. If one and a half billion Muslims were to make clear to their members of parliament that such insults are not acceptable, their members of parliament would have to sit up and listen. As Muslims we don’t use the power that we have. In the United Kingdom, for example, there are around two million Muslims. Imagine the impact it would have if two million people got in touch with their elected representatives. It would cause an uproar in the corridors of power.
So that is the first way we can respond. We can also, within the limits of our own circumstances, use such social media as Twitter and Facebook, or write to our local newspaper. Doing nothing is not an option. Sitting back and sighing is a weak response. More than anything, though, our response should be to tell the world what Prophet Muhammad and Islam are really like. Instead of crying out that we are prepared to die for the Prophet, we should show the rest of the world that we are prepared to live for him. Picking up a stone is an easy response. Living an exemplary life is not so easy. Telling the world with a banner that Islam is a religion of peace is easy. Living that message is a lifetime’s work.
As Muslims, we are called to submit to God Almighty. In doing so, we find the peace in our hearts that Islam offers. The correct response to those who insult Prophet Muhammad may not seem very exciting, but it is the right one. We should show them by our lives that they are wrong. If one and a half billion Muslims lived the message of Islam, how the world would be changed. How the mighty powers of the West would sit up and listen if all of us behaved as true Muslims.
Let us use this episode of malicious men deliberately trying to insult Islam and let us turn it against them. The world’s eyes are on us all. Let us tell the world by our own lives, inshallah, that Islam is beautiful, gentle and sweet.
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