Dysfunctional Minds Create Destruction!

 Abu Musa Al-Ash’ary narrated: The Prophet (God’s blessings be upon him) said:   “Near the befalling of the Hour [the end of the world], there will be much killing taking place”.  The audience asked: Will it be more than the scale of killing we inflict on enemies today? The   Prophet answered: “No, it is not your killing of enemies; it is rather inter-killing among yourselves”. They asked again: And will that happen while we have our minds? The Prophet answered: “the minds of people of that age will be dysfunctional!”

(Sahih [The Correct Compilation of] Ibnu Habban).

Many Muslims all over the world today feel bewildered because of conflicting situations. They find almost everywhere tyrant authorities torturing and killing innocent people, bombing and destroying houses, and expelling so many families from their homes and countries, yet they claim that they do this to defend their countries from terrorists who are now spreading so fast. At the same time, those terrorists, who carry out almost the same brutal actions, claim that they do so to change the situation to the better. Strange enough, some of them even claim that they are applying Islamic law or Shari’ah.

In reality, both parties are losing their conscious minds as has been described by the Prophet (peace and God’s blessings upon him) quoted above. And in another hadith, the Prophet said: “Near the befalling the Hour there will be days during which ignorance (of religious teachings) will spread, knowledge (of religion) will be vanish; and there will be much killing” (Narrated by Abdullah and Abu Musa, rported by Al-Bukhari in his “Collection of Hadith).

For all this, it is important for Muslims to remain steadfast in the straight path, which shields them from the evils of the two kinds of wrongdoers mentioned above and enables them to overcome them. God says: “So be steadfast (in the straight path) as you have been commanded (by God), and all who, with you, have turned unto Him; and let none of you behave in an overweening manner: for, verily, He sees all that you do” (11:112).

This steadfastness is very important especially when people of power and in position of control follow their desires. The observance of our duty of steadfastness is made possible by the fact that God has granted us the right guidance: “Then We set you upon a (clear) course of the commandment, so follow it, and do not follow the desires of those who do not know” (45:18).

True Jihad Versus False Jihad

The true jihad in Islam means a struggle against evil. It should be done only with a certain purpose and certain means as indicated in the Qur’an or in the guidance of Prophet Muhammad (peace and God’s blessings upon him).

Jihad is ordained “so that mankind may uphold justice” (see Qur’an, 57:25).  When Muslims see evil growing around, they should not defer to it, but they should strive hard to resist it by expanding and promoting Qur’an’s teachings with utmost striving (Qur’an, 25:52).

Muslims are exhorted, all the time, to call people to God’s way through peaceful means, wisdom and convincing arguments: “Call (mankind) unto your Lord’s path with wisdom and goodly exhortation, and argue with them in the most kindly manner; truly your Lord knows best those who stray from His way and He knows best those who are guided” (16:125).

This is further elaborated in another position in the Quran, indicating that the best deed is to call to the way of God, to do good deeds and to show one’s pride in submitting himself to the will and commands of God: “And who could better of speech than he who calls unto God, and does what is just and right, and says: verily, I am of those who have surrendered themselves to God? And they are not equal, the good deed and the evil deed. Repel with that which is better then, behold, he between whom and you there was enmity will be as though he were a dear friend. But none is granted it, except those who are steadfast; and none is granted it except those (deserving) of greatest good fortune!” (41:33-35).

Islam exhorts its adherents to be ever steadfast in dealing with justice, and considers leaning to hatred as a great sin deserving punishment from God in the hereafter: “O you who have attained to faith! Be ever steadfast in your devotion to God, bearing witness to the truth in all equity; and never let hatred of anyone leads you into the sin of deviating from justice. Be just: this is closest to being God-conscious. And remain conscious of God; verily, God is aware of all that you do” (5:8).

Islam forbids its adherents to befriend evildoers, to have sympathy for them, or to rely upon them: “And do not incline towards, nor rely upon, those who are bent on evildoing lest the fire (of the hereafter) touch you; for (then) you would have none to protect you from God, nor would you ever be succoured (by Him)” (11:113).

It does not content itself with that but goes further: Muslims should not stay neutral when they see oppressed people suffer of horror under tyrants, but they have to engage in jihad in order to give save and protect those helpless people, whether they are Muslims or not: “And what is wrong with you, that you do not fight in the way of God, and of the utterly helpless man and women and children who are crying: o Our Lord! Lead us forth (to freedom) out of this land whose people are oppressors, and raise for us, out of Your grace, a protector; and raise for us, out of Your grace, a helper! Those who have attained to faith fight in the cause of God, whereas those who are bent on denying the truth fight in the cause of the powers of evil. Fight, then, against those friends of Satan; verily, Satan’s guile is weak indeed!” (4:75-76).

Unfortunately, nowadays we can find here and there some groups of shrinking people raising “Islamic” slogans and spreading horror among people. They may be used by enemies of Muslims, so they can tarnish the beautiful image of Islam. What these groups do is not at all true jihad meant by Islam, but it is rather false jihad !!!

Anas bin Malik, a companion of Prophet Muhammad, narrated that once the Prophet (peace and God’s blessings upon him) addressed an expedition said: “Go in God’s Name, trusting in God, and adhering to the Religion of God’s Messenger! Do not kill a decrepit old man, nor an infant, nor a child, nor a woman. Do not be dishonest about booty, but collect your spoils; do right and act good deeds, for God loves those who do good deeds!”  (Abu Dawood).

The Fair Freedom of Expression

God has created diversity in human nature, so that each person has specified characteristics: a unique mentality, a unique feeling, a unique perspective on things, etc. Also God gave each person a certain freedom and choice to act or to behave. At the same time God has given him ordinances through Religion (a set of beliefs, values and practices based on teachings guided by a Messenger appointed by God), so that he should not use the limited freedom to disturb others. Thus there are sacred things one should handle cautiously.

One may express his opinion on certain point, as long as it is not hurting others. So I am astonished by the assumption of a number of European newspapers, that the publication of the Danish cartoons by the “Jylands Posten”, picturing Prophet Mohammad (peace and God’s blessings upon him) as a terrorist, is being considered as freedom of opinion.

Freedom of opinion is not absolute; it is limited by local and European legislation, which forbids verbal or public insulting utterances against the religion of a group of people.

The republishing of the Danish cartoons by “Charlie Hebdo” or any other newspaper is not only provocative, but goes against the fundamental human rights principles, which are based on respect for all human beings, regardless of descent or religion.

On the other hand, the outburst of violence among Muslims in many countries, in reaction to that insult, are condemnable. It would have been more appropriate to make big peaceful demonstrations, in accordance with the dignity of Islam and its Great Prophet.

The Great Prophet Mohammad gave the following example: Lady Aishah (the Prophet’s spouse) narrated: A group of Jews one day asked permission to visit the Prophet, and when they were admitted, they entered saying: “As-Samu ‘alaik” (= Death be upon you). I (=’Aishah) said to them: But death and the curse of God be upon you. Then the Prophet said to me: “O ‘Aishah, God is Kind and Lenient, and He likes that one should be kind and lenient in all matters”. I said: Haven’t you heard what they said? He said: “I have already answered them “Wa’alaikum!” (= and upon you!). (This event has been recorded by Al-Bukhari in his “Collection of Hadith”).

In this respect, the Qur’an teaches the believers not to revile others’ sacred: “And do not revile those whom they invoke other than God, lest they should revile God out of spite, and in ignorance; for goodly indeed have We made their own doings appear unto every community; then to their Lord they shall return, and He will tell them what they used to do” (6:108).

In reference to the cartoons in the French satirical weekly “Charlie Hebdo” the Catholic Pope Francis has said with fairness: “There are limits to freedom of expression when religion is insulted. However, he also said, that killing in God’s name is an absurdity”. This was said to reporters during a flight from Sri Lanka to the Philippines (www.rt.com).

I very much appreciated that declaration on the part of Pope Francis, because all other “Western” authorities said that publishing cartoons insulting Islam and Muslims is a part of the freedom of expression. However they do not tolerate any doubt (even about the number of six million) on “The horror of the Holocaust and the so-called “anti Semitic” behavior. According to them these are the utmost sacred things. But they do not accept the fact that there are sacred things for other nations. This is the unfair Freedom, the unfair Liberalism.

To be fair, one can tolerate anyone who does not have anything sacred, but he (the one who has no sacred) should tolerate others with their sacred things too.

God calls to all human beings: “O mankind! We have indeed created you all out of a male and a female, and have made you into nations and tribes, so that you might come to know one another. Verily, the noblest of you in the sight of God is the one who is most deeply conscious of Him. Truly, God is all-knowing, all aware” (49:13).