Day: February 17, 2006

I received this today:

“ATTENTION! You all heard what that magazine in Denmark has published. It’s making fun of our beloved PROPHET MUHAMMAD (SAW) by drawing pictures of him and describing him as a terrorist. Moreover they refused to apologize because they considered it a practice of freedom and democracy. I ask you all to put your hands with other MUSLIMS and boycott the Denmark’s products. 1.6 billion Muslims could really slap the economy in Denmark. Please copy this text and forward this text to as many Muslims as possible Via Email via SMS Via Scrap…..I ask all of u, Muslims…Cant u spare one hour in order to spread this message among Muslims …ASAP? REMEMBER THE PROPHET (SAW) MIGHT ASK YOU ONE DAY WHAT DID YOU DO WHEN THEY MADE FUN OF ME? HOW DID YOU DEFEND ME?????”

Before I start, let me reiterate my position that as a moderate Muslim, I am deeply offended by those caricatures.

Firstly, Muhammad PBUH is a mere human. He is only above the rest because he was chosen by Allah the Almighty as His messenger to educate mankind and steer them back to the right path. Muhammad PBUH, during his lifetime, was all for peace and harmony. The only times he went to war was to defend the religion when the odds were against them. Since he is a mere human, I don’t think it will be his job to ask any of us what have we done to defend him. My question is, is boycott THE way to defend Muhammad’s image?

57% of Denmark’s trades are with the EU, Norway, Sweden, Japan, US, UK, Germany and the Eastern European countries. There are more than 200 US-owned companies operating in Denmark, exporting goods to the US. The Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) only has 56 members, and only a handful of that has more than 90% muslim population. So a boycott of Danish goods is only going to hurt the Danish people whose jobs depend on these trades that involve muslim nations. Even if the Danish government can be brought down, it will not change the character of the Danish press and what they stand for. Boycotts and sanctions only bring misery to the innocent: as evident in Iraq, Libya and Cuba. it strengthens the resolve of the governments and the people who support them.

The muslims should go back to the root of the cause: what made the cartoonists depict Muhammad PBUH as the teacher of terror, which is in contrary to what moderate muslims know? It is due to the fact that we, the moderate muslims, allow extremism to grow unchecked, and this in turn metamorphosised into full-grown terrorism (or freedom fighting, depending on the perspective you’re at it looking from). So what do the non-Muslims then think about the bombings of civilians, old folks, women, children, unarmed combattants etc? Only one thing: Islam spells terror. Therefore it must be fought without sparing any dime.

Did Muhammad PBUH not forbid Muslims from waging war against women, children, old folks, unarmed enemy combattants? Did Muhammad PBUH and his soldiers walk back to Madinatul Munawarah as their prisoners rode on camel and horsebacks? Did they also not harm any of those prisoners? After those prisoners who could read and write have taught the muslims how to read and write, they were released and sent back to Mecca. That, is the conduct of war in Islam. And in one of my previous postings, I wrote about how Muhammad PBUH forbade his men from taking revenge against the Christians under their charge after the Romans had attacked their positions, but instead ordered his men to help the Christians to rebuild or repair their places of worship.

If Muhammad PBUH has any right to enquire any of us after the end of the world, he would probably ask, “What have you done to spread the word of Islam and what it stands for?” Or, “Why did you allow your brothers and sisters desecrate the sanctity of Islam, and created more enemies of Islam?”

My solution to this would be to educate both the Islamists who aren’t Muslims, and those who are non-believers of Islam, on what Islam is, and what Islam stands for. After all, God created all of us different so we could learn from each other. With that comes understanding and tolerance.

That is how I would defend the Islam that Muhammad PBUH had brought from Allah the Almighty.

And to all, an eye for an eye will make the whole world blind in the end.