B i s m i l l a a h i r R a h m a a n i r R a h e e m
The Mockery of the Prophet
Sall Allaahu`alayhi wa sallam
By Imaam Mohamed Baianonie
Most likely all of us have read the recent national and international headlines about insulting cartoons mocking our beloved Prophet Muhammad sall�Allaahu �alayhi wa sallam. There are several important points that we must consider when reacting to such insults against our faith. As Muslims, we love and glorify our Prophet sall �Allaahu �alayhi wa sallam but we don�t just believe and glorify him; we believe in all the prophets �alayhissmusalaam sent to mankind. We believe that all prophets sent by Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta�aala were among the best of the people and if anyone disbelieves or disrespects any of them then it consequently implies disbelief or disrespect to all of them.
The first idea that should come to mind is that the Prophet sall �Allaahu �alayhi wa sallam has been ridiculed and disrespected many times throughout history. In fact, as many Qur�aanic verses will show us, all the noble messengers of Allaah, without exception, were badly mistreated by their own people. Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta�aala says in what can be translated as, �Indeed (many) Messengers were mocked before you (O Muhammad), but the scoffers (mockers) were surrounded by that, with which they used to mock (i.e. in Allaah�s torment).� (Al-Anbiyaa� 21:41) All prophets�alayhimussa laam were abused verbally and physically, and some were even killed.
Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta�aala mentioned many of these accusations in the Qur�aan and taught us how the prophets demonstrated patience and remained steadfast despite the abuse.
The people used to mock their prophets and accuse them of being liars, crazy, magicians, poets, and corrupt. Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta�aala did not ignore these false accusations. Rather addressed the insults by responding to them objectively in a way that made the truth clear to all people.
Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta�aala ordered the messengers to be firm and patient, and to remain focused on delivering the message with forgiveness for the ignorant. Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta�aala says in what can be translated as, �(O Muhammad) Therefore proclaim openly, that which you are commanded, and turn away from the polytheists. Truly! We will suffice you against the scoffers. Indeed, We know that your breast is distressed at what they say. So glorify the praises of your Lord and be of those who prostrate themselves (to Him) and worship your Lord until there comes unto you the death.� (Al-Hijr 15:94-95-97- 98-99)
We should understand that this mockery of the Prophet Muhammad sall �Allaahu �alayhi wa sallam does not lessen him in anyway from his noble position in the eyes of Allaah or the people. Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta�aala is the One who raised him in his position and stature in this life and the Hereafter. Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta�aala says in what can be translated as, �And We raised high your fame (O Muhammad).� (Ash-Sharh 94:4). Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta�aala raised him in stature and fame because of the special qualities that He has given to him. Surely the one whose fame is raised high by Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta�aala no one can lower it. Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta�aala raised his Prophet�s fame high when he combined His Prophet sall �Allaahu �alayhi wa sallam�s name with His own Name in the Shahaadah (twin testimony of faith), �Ashadoo anlaa ilaaha illa-Allaah wa ashadoo anna Muhammadar Rasool-Allaah.� (47:19, 20:8, 3:18, 59:22-3) This statement �I bear witness that there is no deity worthy to be worshipped but Allaah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and messenger.� has been repeated many times by those who deliver speeches, those who call for prayer, and those who pray. Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta�aala raised high His Prophet sall �Allaahu �alayhi wa sallam when Allaah took oath on all the previous prophets to believe in Muhammad and to order their followers to believe in him as well. Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta�aala has raised high His Prophet in many other ways. Some scholars count over fifty instances, but we do not have enough time today to mention them all.
We should understand that the mockery of the Prophet sall �Allaahu �alayhi wa sallam is a test from Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta�aala for us. Allaah is watching how we will react to this test. The decision of our actions is up to us. Will we react in the proper way by controlling our emotions and anger, or will we overreact and commit mistakes like the injuring and killing of people and damaging property? Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta�aala and His Prophet sall �Allaahu �alayhi wa sallam would not be pleased with us if we tried to correct a mistake by committing other serious mistakes.
We should understand as Muslims that this mockery of the Prophet comes as a test to determine the type of relationship we truly have to the Prophet sall �Allaahu �alayhi wa sallam. Is it a strong and correct relationship as Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta�aala and His Prophet sall �Allaahu �alayhi wa sallam want it to be? Or is it a weak and incorrect relationship? To answer this we must ask ourselves the following questions
� Did we learn about the personality of the Prophet Muhammad sall �Allaahu �alayhi wa sallam through the study of his biography and teach it to our children, to the Muslims, and non-Muslims alike?
� Did we learn about the personality of the Prophet Muhammad sall �Allaahu �alayhi wa sallam through the study of his sayings and actions and teach it to our children, to the Muslims, and non-Muslims alike?
� Did we learn how to live our lives and make him our best example in all aspects of our religious and worldly lives through the study of his biography and traditions?
� Do we truly believe in him and believe in what he conveyed to us from his Lord and obey him in all his commands?
� Do we truly love him deeply from our hearts; a love that is more special and stronger than our love to our wealth, ourselves, our families, and all other people?
� Do we truly carry his message and convey it to all of mankind until it becomes a mercy for them as Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta�aala wants it to be? Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta�aala says in what can be translated as, �And We have sent (You O Muhammad) not but as a Mercy for the Alalameen (all that exists).� (Al-Anbiyaa� 21:107)
� Do we truly honour him by invoking our prayers, blessings, and salutations on him as Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta�aala order us in what can be translated as, �O you who believe! Send your salaat on him (Muhammad) with the salutation.� (Al-Ahzaab 33:56)
� Do we supplicate to him by repeating what the Muazzain says when calling to prayer and asking Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta�aala to grant him Al-Waseela, which is the highest degree in Paradise ?
� Do we truly respect him as we have been commanded by Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta�aala by not calling him in the same way we call onto each other, and by not raising our voices in his place?
As for the people who want to hurt the Prophet Muhammad sall �Allaahu �alayhi wa sallam by their mockery we warn them of what Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta�aala says in what can be translated as, �Verily, those who annoy Allaah and His Messenger, Allaah has cursed them in this world and in the Hereafter. And has prepared for them a humiliating torment.� (Al-Ahzaab 33:57)
We should ask ourselves the question, �If Prophet Muhammad sall �Allaahu �alayhi wa sallam was alive today how would he respond to these insults?� We will find the answer to this question if we study his biography.
When the Quraysh in Makkah persecuted the prophet he decided to seek assistance from the tribe of Thaqif. He sall �Allaahu �alayhi wa sallam was hopeful that they would accept Islam. When he sall �Allaahu�alayhi wa sallam arrived in At-Ta�if, he approached a group of the leaders from the tribe of Thaqif. He sat down with them, and called them to Islam. However, they received him in a very disrespectful manner. In fact, their harshness and ugly words took him utterly by surprise.
The Messenger then asked them, at very least, not to inform the Quraysh of his visit, but they refused. They then stirred up their slaves and children against him, and ordered them to curse and shout at him. They threw stones at him until his feet bled. He sall �Allaahu �alayhi wa sallam eventually reached a garden and after resting under a shade of a tree supplicated to Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta�aala with great humility: �O Allaah it is to You that I bring my weakness, my helplessness, and my humiliation. O Most Merciful of the merciful, You are the Sustainer of those who are deemed weak, and You are my Sustainer. On whom but You shall I rely? On some distant personage who regards me with displeasure? Or on a foe to whom I have surrendered? So long as You are not displeased with me, then I have no cause for dismay. I take refuge in the light of Your face by which the darkness is illuminated, and in which both this world and the next are set aright. The well-being which You bestow upon me is too all encompassing for You to pour out Your wrath or displeasure upon me. To You I shall continue to turn until I have won Your favor, and there is no power or strength except in You.�
In another incident, A�isha radiallaahu �anha asked the Messenger of Allaah, �Have you ever gone through any experience harsher than the battle of Uhud?� He sall �Allaahu �alayhi wa sallam replied, �The most difficult thing that I ever suffered at the hands of your people was on the day of Al-Aqabah, when I presented myself to on of their leaders, and he did not respond as I had hoped. I departed, feeling anxious and lost, and I remained in this state until I reached an area outside of Makkah. Then I looked up, and what I found was that I was in the midst of a cloud which had overshadowed me. When I looked to see what was happening, I saw Gabriel in the cloud, calling to me and saying, �Allaah Almighty has heard the words spoken to you by your people and the manner in which they responded to you. Moreover, He has sent you the angel of the mountains, for you to give him whatever command you so desire.� Then the angel of the mountains called out to me with a greeting of peace, saying, �O Muhammad, Allaah has heard the words spoken to you by your people, and I am the angel of the mountains. You Lord has sent me to you, for you to give me whatever command you wish. What then do you command? If you want me to bring the two great mountains of Makkah down upon them, I will do so.� But I said, �All I wish is for Allaah to bring forth from their offspring those who worship Allaah alone and associate no partners with Him.� (Reported by Bukhaari and Muslim)
The Prophet Muhammad sall �Allaahu �alayhi wa sallam always used to supplicate to Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta�aala by saying, �O� Allaah forgive my people because they do not know.� (Reported by Bukhaari and Muslim)
Also after the battle of Uhud some of his companions asked him to curse the Quraysh because of what they have done to him and he responded, �O Allaah guide them and bring them into Islam.� Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta�aala later accepted his supplication and they became Muslims.
In another occasion, when the Prophet Muhammad sall �Allaahu�alayhi wa sallam conquered Makkah, while his soldiers were around him, he gathered all Makkan people in the Masjid yard and then prayed in the Ka�bah and then came out and said to the people, �What do you think I will do with you?� They said you are a noble brother and the son of a noble brother. The Prophet sall �Allaahu�alayhi wa sallam then replied, �Today I will tell you what Prophet Joseph (Yusoof) told his brothers, (which is) no harm on you today and may Allaah forgive you for all that you have done. Go! You are all free.�
After reading all these stories from the Prophet sall �Allaahu�alayhi wa sallam�s Life, we come to the conclusion that if Prophet Muhammad sall �Allaahu �alayhi wa sallam was alive today he would not respond to these allegations except in the same manner that he responded in the past. This is because of his great and noble personality. Surely the Prophet sall �Allaahu �alayhi wa sallam would not accept the reaction of many Muslims around the world, who attempt to defend his honor, by causing the injury and killing of many innocent people and the damage of property.
Today and in the future, let�s respond to these and similar allegations by educating ourselves, our children, Muslims, and non-Muslims about Islam and the life of our Prophet Muhammad sall �Allaahu �alayhi wa sallam. This way we will please Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta�aala and His Messenger Muhammad sall �Allaahu �alayhi wa sallam and it will be a great benefit to all mankind.
http://austrolabe. com/2008/ 03/30/fitna/
Fitna?
Posted by Amir
March 30th, 2008
So Geert Wilder�s video Fitna has finally been released onto the internet. And what a reaction there has been.
Network Solutions pulled the site that was supposed to be hosting the film. Techcrunch is worried that Google might experience a �Muslim backlash�. Live Leak, who originally hosted the film, have now pulled it down because of �credible threats�. The Singaporean government has condemned it. The UAE government has condemned it. The Council of Europe has spoken out against it. Afghanistan has expressed concern. Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir has said Malay Muslims are annoyed by it and is calling for a worldwide boycott of Dutch products. Indonesia has condemned it. The OIC naturally condemns it too.
That�s a lot of government and official condemnation for a 17 minute film on Youtube. However, rather than the riots and rivers of blood that the pre-release marketing led us to believe would be the natural consequence of Wilders� little film, the response from actual Muslims has been, well, not much of a response at all.
As far as such things go, Wilder�s film is quite a weak effort. It�s unlikely to provoke anyone to anything except, perhaps, fall asleep or yawn. Wilders has simply taken various photos and videos of Muslims doing or saying bad or outrageous things (that already exist on the internet at places like MEMRI anyway), thrown in some headlines from Dutch papers, some verses from the Qu�ran, some statistics on Muslim immigration and population growth, and finally added some spooky-sounding music to give, I suppose, gravitas to the whole thing.
The thing that strikes me more than its offensiveness is its lack of originality. Wilders, apparently unable to come up with a suitably offensive shtick of his own, attempts to ride on the coattails of the Danish cartoons; appropriating one of their cartoons � without permission � and using that to start and close his video. He�s now being sued for that. He used footage from an interview with Theo van Gogh without permission. And the owner of that footage is considering legal action too. Where he was original � perhaps too original � was in using the photo of a Dutch-Moroccan rapper instead of a terrorist. He�s now being threatened with legal action for that. Fitna is proving to be more of a fitna for Mr Wilders than for anyone else.
And, as for the content, then, of course, Muslims have done some terrible things in the past and the threat of terrorism is very real and must be confronted by Muslims and non-Muslims alike. However, Wilders� message isn�t directed at that minority of Muslims who carry out or threaten terrorist attacks but at all Muslims: he views all Muslims as being the �problem�. By doing so, he is intentionally seeking to smear the vast majority of Muslims who find terrorism and violence every bit as abhorrent as the average European non-Muslim; and have, contrary to what some people like to allege, been condemning terrorism every time it has occurred. This is completely counter-productive.
In his comments on Andrew Bolt�s blog, Shibli Zaman makes this point very eloquently and points out the fact that, despite having a large number of Muslims, the United States does not have any issues whatsoever with its domestic Muslim population; which suggests that whatever challenges Europe may face are not the result of the religiousness of their Muslim population but other factors (most notably the welfare state and rigid labour market policies that keep new entrants excluded and therefore alienated). Interestingly, although some of these European �liberals� are very happy demanding that Muslims liberalise their social attitudes, they rarely seem interested in economic liberalisation and making the necessary adjustments that would have a far more appreciable effect than heckling and complaining.
Wilders is not immune to this curious hypocrisy. On the one hand, he and his supporters have rejected the wrongheaded calls for Fitna to be banned; arguing, quite rightly, that freedom of speech and expression must be protected (even if that speech offends some members of society). And yet, on the other hand, a key component of Wilder�s �final solution� to the European Muslim question, is to ban the Qu�ran because he doesn�t like its content.
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Fitna The Movie: A message to young Muslims in the West
http://www.turntois lam.com:80/ forum/showthread .php?t=30669
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