(A Rebuttal to Tasleema Nasreen’s article)
Mubashir Hassan
On 13th of
January an article titled ‘Will gunmen get me too? Ending terror requires that
Islam is reformed, modernized’’ authored by Tasleema Nasreen, in response to
Chare Hebdo incident, was published in Times
of India. I am responding to same.
A false theory has been circulated that Islam promotes
violence and it favours killings. However it is contrary to the actual facts.
Qur’an nowhere speaks of violence or of killing. It is the misinterpretation
and misunderstanding of the highest degree to state that Qur’an directs Muslims
to kill infidels. The verses she refers to pertain to war time and can’t be
quoted divorced from the historical circumstances which were the immediate
causes for their revelations (Asbabe Nazool).
In order to
understand Qur’aan we must have the requisite expertise. No Muslim studies
Qur’an in isolation and has to depend upon the commentaries of the renowned
scholars for comprehension. The Qu'ranic verses are the fountains of knowledge
and an extremely delicate and difficult undertaking for which the Arabic language
alone is not enough but a mufassir or commentator of the Qur'an must
have vast and deep knowledge of the syntax, etymology, rhetoric, and literature
of the Arabic language, as well as, that of prophetic Traditions, sayings of
the companions, principles governing jurisprudence and exegesis, doctrinal
articles of belief and scholastics.
Even an Arab has to study the Qur’an from a trained
person to understand it. This is why the noble Companions, whose mother-tongue
was Arabic used to spend long periods of time in learning the Qur’an from the
Holy Prophet. Umar RA, spent twelve years in learning and meditating over Surah
Baqara and Abdullah ibn Umar RA spent eight years to learn it. (Qurtubi).
A common man has to depend upon the commentary of the
mufassirs (commentators) and a serious Muslim who is serious to learn Qur’an
has to make an exhaustive study of many commentaries besides for the
understanding Quran one needs to be pious so that the Qu'ranic meaning descends
upon his heart. In the words of Allama Iqbal RA,
Teray dil per jab tak
na hoo nazool e Qur’an/Girah kusha hai na Razi na sahib e Kashaf
(Unless the Bookʹs each
verse and part be revealed unto your heart,/Interpreters, though much profound,
its subtle points cannot expound.)
Great scholars of
Quran, who have dedicated their whole lives to the learning and understanding
of the Quran, never claim to be its experts and are always eager to learn more,
how can a person, by just reading some translations claim to have understood the
verses of the Quran and then use the same to mislead people. Why are such
people living under such a wrong impression that they are experts enough to give lectures on
Quran.
The verses under reference are not
instructions to individuals but to well established Muslim governments pertaining
to war time. Islam does not ask you to kill innocent people. In fact Qu'ranic
clear injunctions are: “Let there be no compulsion in religion. Truth stands
out clear from error; whoever rejects evil and believes in Allah hath grasped
the most trustworthy hand-hold that never breaks.”(Al Qur’an 2:256), And “Say:
‘The truth is from your Lord.’ Then whosoever wills, let him believe, and
whosoever wills, let him disbelieve” (al-Kahf 18:29)
By picking up a verse here and there and quoting the same
in support of one’s thoughts is worst kind of deceit and fraud. I wonder
wherefrom has the author grasped the meaning with which she is misleading the
world and how people are accepting her version. Allah says in Qur’an, “Nay they
charge with falsehood that whose knowledge they cannot compass even before the
elucidation thereof hath reached them: thus did those before them make charges
of falsehood: but see what was the end of those who did wrong!” (Ch. Yunus
verse 39)
I do not condone
the acts under discussion but the author talks about talent and freedom of
speech. But having talent does not mean that you use it for derogating extraordinary
great Men. Men who shaped history of the world. Just imagine a world without
prophets, there would have been no morals, no knowledge and no ethics. A
barbaric world!
You can’t, by your
lampooning and cartooning, misrepresent the messages delivered and mislead
people in the name of freedom of expression and try to diminish the stature of
great people. This is the height of stupidity to regard lampooning Prophets of
God as the “intelligent work of art”. It is the product of a dirty mind. You
can’t justify your devil-inspired acts under the pretext of “freedom of
speech”. Using derogatory anti religious language, your aim is just to get fame
in literally circles, to appear as brave and liberal. Wouldn't unbridled
freedom of speech lead to anarchy and barbarism, where everybody would be free
to use his/her talent in denigrating others and the talent would be measured by
your power to abuse, denigrate and deprecate others, and greater the
personality mocked at, more talented you would be considered. Would it not
amount to anarchy?
It was Charlie Hebdo that fired Maurice Sinet in
2009 for drawing a cartoon that was considered anti-Semitic. Concealing of your face from dirty ogling is not allowed but
you are free to express whatever dirty thoughts come to your mind. It appears
there is a conscious effort to drag men to the level of beasts and to get rid
of humanity, of civilization and of decent living.
In the last part Tasleema asks: “One has to know what
mantra makes terrorists tick and influences them to take up arms.” There is no
such Mantra and she need not find it. It is west that has, through its
cunningness and scheming, pushed the Muslims to it. Colonization with the aim
of looting the resources of Muslims and the dismemberment of Ottoman Empire
were the initial causes. The resources of Muslims have been plundered and
looted by the west. They have seen to it that the governments in Muslim nations
are loyal to it; otherwise they waste no time in toppling it over. Creation of
Israel – that too illegally — in the midst of Muslim nations and then to help
it become a strong military power at the cost of puppet governments, so as to
keep Muslims fragmented and weak. Then secularization and so on. The west tried
to thrust its own culture and its own laws and its own economic system on the
Muslims. Who toppled the democratic government of Egypt? For their own
countries they want only democracy and when it spreads to Muslim nations they
oppose it vehemently. What happened to Afghanistan? Who bombarded Pakistan.
These are factors that lead to the disillusion of Muslims. The causes for the
present forms of extremism are more of a political and economical in nature
than religious.
We Muslims are very sensitive about Prophet Mohammad
(SAW) and for that matter we respect other Prophets, like Musa (AS), E’sa (AS)
equally and can’t even tolerate that they be lampooned or satirized. Prophet
Mohammad ((SAW)) is valued above everything else. The love for Prophet is
selfless, knowing no bounds and superseding everything unbound by any time or
space limits. It is not unreasonable or blind love but as we Muslims grow older
the greatness of our Prophet dawns upon us. The love of Prophet gets inscribed
upon our hearts. His conduct and his morals are beyond any comparison. They are
the examples. Flawless and Peerless personality. We look towards him for
setting up the standards, for mending our day to day routine affairs. We
endeavour to follow his ways as from the conviction we know that his example is
the best to follow and the only right way. Whatever and in what manner the
Prophet performed any act, that is the criterion for us to judge the rightness
of an act. It is not our blind following, but a conviction that the Prophetic
Acts are divinely guided, so they can’t be defective.
We are attached to him through a legacy of spirituality.
He is a fountain of blessings from which we draw inspirations. We realise the
advantages which accrued to humanity because of him. Why should we not love
him? It is natural part of our E'maan and it is connected with the sublimity of
our love and relation with our Prophet. Those who talk of freedom of speech
should know that hurting or abusing the Prophet Mohammad (SAW) in any way is too
painful for Muslims; it is like piercing hearts with a knife. Such painful
things are provocative. They know it. Such provocations should not be
considered as freedom of speech.
At
the end she talks about reformation of Islam. It is simply laughable. Such
words emanate from such people who are unable to comprehend the beauty of
Islam. It is perfect Deen, perfect way of life and any endeavour to reform the
Perfect would only result in its deterioration.
There are restrictions within which we are required to live our lives.
Yes Islam does not allow free mixing of men and women, there are no pre-marital
relations, there is no drinking, gambling, interest based banking, and Islam
does not allow taking life except under proper procedure of law. We do not have unwed mothers and children who
are thrown on streets. There is no unjust distribution of wealth – a world
where the wealth of 1% exceeds the wealth of 99%. Ours is not a society where
the children do not know as to whom he was born, our elders do not die in old
age Homes. Our elders do not live alone. we have an unparallel freedom of
speech where an old lady asks the head of the state as to wherefrom he got full
dress when others could not prepare full dress from the same quantity of cloth
they got from Bait ul Mal. Our judicial system is so unbiased fearless that the
Judge tells the head of the state (Hazrat Ali) that he can’t accept his
witnesses as one was his son and the other his slave even though the opponent
in the case was a Jew. So much equality that the Head of the state holds the
rope of the camel and the slave is on the camel. We are not allowed to mock at
the religious figures of others.
These are our principles of our Deen. Can any system
match this system? This is our way of life and who dare call it as barbaric?
Are not these principles the foundations of a civilized nation? Is not it a
peaceful system? Is not this the way of life that would withstand the pressures
that are ripping the western nations apart. The family, which is the basic unit
of the civilization, is at stake in the west and soon it would give way to more
disintegration. Down the timeline the west would crave for a civilization but
it would always find itself drifting away.
Who needs the reformation? When you do not know and
understand the message of Islam how can you talk of its reformation? You need
to understand Islam first, and then give us sermons. It is your mind that needs
reformation, not the religion of Allah.
Email: mubashir_07@rediffmail.com
