Do Muslim Outcries Against Defamation Serve God?

Anisa Abd el Fattah

Posted Feb 7, 2006      •Permalink      • Printer-Friendly Version
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Do Muslim outcries against defamation serve God?

Anisa Abd el Fattah


The Internet is flooded with articles and other written protests against the Danish for the caricatures that appeared in a Danish, and then in other European newspapers, that supposedly portrayed the prophet Muhammad as a terrorist. In some Muslim countries Danish embassies have been burned, and news reports from the Muslim world say that in other Muslim countries, police have turned on rioters and that as many as 14 have been shot, and killed or wounded.

Danish cartoonists cannot produce a caricature of the prophet Muhammad because they have never seen the prophet Muhammad (sa), and neither have we. These symbols they have sought to create are little more than provocation. Do we not understand that no one can draw a picture of the prophet Muhammad, since no one now living has any picture of him, not mental, nor physical. Understanding that fact, we must ask ourselves why the Danes sought to inflame Muslim passions to the extent that people would fill the streets with violent protests, threaten the lives of Danish people, and burn down embassies, by creating these symbols. Surely they knew that this would be the reaction, since they are well aware of the fact that Muslims lack real leadership, and that a few hotheads, spewing self defeating rhetoric can easily get Muslims into the streets to “defend the prophet Muhammad or Islam, or the Qur’an.” 

Tales of Qur’an flushing some months ago, created a similar reaction that led to little more than the deaths of Muslim rioters, carried out by Muslim police, and increased tensions between Muslims and non-Muslims. The reaction did not increase respect for, or acceptance of the Holy Qur’an by those who reject Islam as a religion of God, and prophet Muhammad as one of many monotheist prophets. Such outbursts do not protect the Qur’an from those who do, and will always feel that the desecration of a book hurts those who love and respect the book, and so desecration of religious symbols has become a popular means of striking out at people who believe in God, and especially those who believe in Islam.

In today’s world, it is not only popular, but also acceptable to defame Islam and to desecrate Islamic symbols. What we need to understand, or least consider is that the people who are attacking, are not only after Islam, they are after religion. They have started with Islam because it’s an easy, and popular thing to do.

Islam is much more than a book, and neither God, or the prophet Muhammad needs Muslims, or anyone else, to fill the streets in violent rage provoked by ignorant people who enjoy seeing the pain, and hearing the out crying because it satisfies these wicked people to feel that they can hurt Muslims with such trivial and childish actions. Don’t they know that God is the Creator of the universe, and no matter what they do to us, or the Qur’an, or even to create false images of the prophet Muhammad (sa) will not save their souls on
the Day of Judgment?  These same types of people have been busy defaming the Church, and also seeking to pit Christians against Muslims, and Jews, and Jews against
Muslims and Christians, and vice versa.  Religion has been center stage as the primary target of various types of provocation, slander and attacks that go un-addressed because it is popular to attack religion, and to blame religion for all of the world’s ills, and it is entertaining to watch religious people make fools of themselves, substantiating the claims of
secularists that religious people cannot be trusted with the reigns of power because we are driven not by love of God and man, but rather by the love of symbols, and superstition, and self. It is helpful to the secularists and materialists to show that religious people are all fanatics, and that we are not moved by poverty, and injustice and tangible
injustices and real crimes, but rather we are moved to action by symbolism and theatrics, in other words, they know that religion in the modern world has become much like clubs, where everything is motivated by ego, pride and competition. They mock us because they know that we are not acting out because of love of God. We are acting out because we are hurt that someone would care so little about what we believe in, and love.

This is about us, and we should not fool ourselves, or let anyone else fool us to believe that by filling the streets with Muslim blood, spilled in protests over a symbol created by non-believers, that we have served God.

Government sponsored religion of course doesn’t have this problem. It is accepted, petted, and encouraged to promote the States agenda, which is to silence the voices of true believers and the activism of true believers, since these are the people who will eradicate the corruption and racism that engenders poverty, that will improve the human condition, and hold the elite and government officials accountable for their greed and their crimes. The real people of God will stand up and go to the streets to oppose war,
crimes against humanity and real injustices, and not for symbols.

Muslims should go home, and repent. We need to ask God to forgive us because we have become a people who feel that the purpose of Din is to protect symbols, and that our faith is supposed to be a source of pride. We need to ask God to teach us the faith of prophets, who never fought against anyone because of a personal attack, a personal feeling, a vendetta, or for pride.  They fought to free people, to establish justice, and to save the weak and oppressed from tyranny, not because of hurt feelings and pride. The prophet
Muhammad’s enemies used to throw garbage on him, and spit on him, and place the entrails of animals on his back when he would bow to pray. He never struck out at them, or even attempted to hide himself, or to defend himself.

The European media has shown a harsh insensitivity to the feelings of Muslims, yet Europe has the strictest anti-Semitism laws in the world. This should inform us that the people of Europe are sensitive to race, yet they do not feel obliged to respect, or to protect the sanctity of religion, and that should come as no surprise.

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