Anti-Islam in the Name of Islam
Some time ago, I met a Muslim who lives in America. In the course of our conversation, he mentioned that these days the image of Islam has become so negative in America that he hesitates to tell anyone that he is a Muslim. ‘If anyone asks me my religion,’ he explained, ‘I say that my religion is Humanism. If I tell them that I believe in Islam, they will at once say, “Then you must be a terrorist!”’
The man accused the media of manufacturing this image of Islam. But I replied, ‘No. Rather, this image of Islam has been created by Muslims themselves. The fact is that in various places Muslims are engaged in violent movements in the name of Islam, which the media reports. Because Muslims spearhead these violent movements in the name of Islam, the media also attributes them to Islam. When Muslims themselves are engaged in such movements in the name of Islam, how can the media call them by some other name?’
The man responded by saying that only just a few Muslims were engaged in such violent movements. Hence, he protested, it was wrong to create a negative image about all Muslims based on the actions of these few. My answer to him was, ‘It is true that relatively few Muslims are engaged in such movements. But, along with this, it is also true that the rest of the Muslims do not openly denounce such movements. They are silent on them. Hence, in accordance with Islamic principles themselves, it would not be wrong to say that, even if only a few people are directly responsible for spearheading these violent and hate-driven movements in the name of Islam, the rest of the Muslims are indirectly responsible for them.’
This approach of Muslims today is extremely lamentable. In the name of establishing ‘Islamic Government’ and ‘The Prophetic System’ (Nizam-e Mustafa) and engaging in ‘Islamic Jihad’, such acts are being committed as are completely opposed to Islam. Instead of attracting people to the religion of God, these deeds are only driving them away from it.
The Islamic System
In present times, numerous violent movements are being spearheaded in the name of establishing the ‘Islamic System’ or the ‘Prophetic System’. These movements, however, are simply a ruse to engage in a quest for political leadership in the name of Islam, and this is in spite of the fact that to launch and conduct a movement in order to acquire political dominance is itself not permissible in Islam. The aim of a genuine Islamic movement is the Islamisation of individuals, not the Islamisation of the government or the state. Accordingly, for centuries the Sufis focused on the Islamisation of individuals. This work continued, using peaceful methods, and never became a source for spreading hatred and violence. The Sufis always promoted peace and humanity, while the so-called ‘revolutionary Islamic’ movements of today are producing completely the opposite results.
The linking of Islam with hatred and violence is entirely the result of the misguidance of modern-day so-called Muslim leaders, who have been spearheading violent movements aimed at acquiring political power. Through their actions, these people have made Islam seem like a religion of hatred and violence, although, in actual fact, the Islam sent by God is a religion of peace and concern for the welfare for all. A true Muslim is one who is concerned about the welfare of humanity, not someone who is at war with humanity.
Islamic Jihad
If someone were to sit somewhere and move his hands about and stand up and then claim that he was offering his prayers in the Islamic way, his actions would not represent the Islamic form of prayer. The Islamic form of prayer has certain clearly defined conditions or requisites. Only if an action observes these conditions or requisites can it be said to constitute the Islamic form of prayer. Otherwise, it will not be considered to be such.
The same holds true of Islamic jihad. Jihad has certain clearly-determined conditions or requisites. An action that fully observes these conditions or requisites would, in God’s eyes, be a jihad. An action that does not observe these conditions or requisites is a meaningless agitation, and certainly not a jihad in the true sense.
An Islamic jihad is one which is engaged in in the path of God. To unleash war for the sake of power or wealth and other worldly things and call it jihad when it is nothing but strife or fasad is not right. Those who are involved in this sort of action definitely cannot, under any conditions, get the credit for engaging in Islamic jihad. Furthermore, according to the Islamic shariah, only an established government has the prerogative of declaring war. An individual or a group of individuals does not have the authority to declare war on its own against anyone in the name of jihad. No matter what complaint an individual or a group may have, it must necessarily act within peaceful limits. It is in no way legitimate for it to resort to war and violence.
Jihad, in the form of qital or war, is a wholly defensive action. Aggressive qital or offensive war is completely forbidden in Islam. Furthermore, if one is faced with an aggressive attack from another community, even then all possible efforts should be made to stave off war. War can only be resorted to when all efforts to stave it off or avoid it have failed. The opponents of the Prophet sought to entangle him in war and confrontation on more than 80 occasions, but he was able to avoid fighting through wise action. Only on three occasions (the battles of Badr, Uhud and Hunayn), when no option was left but war did he participate in fighting.
Another aspect of a legitimate war in Islam is that it should be an open affair. To engage in secret military actions is definitely not legitimate in Islam. And so, proxy war is regarded by Islam as illegitimate, because in such a war the government uses a group to engage in violence by providing it covert assistance, but it does not participate in the war openly itself.
Hostage-Taking
These days, some Muslims are resorting to violence against their imaginary enemies by resorting to hijacking and taking people hostage. All such tactics are completely illegitimate in Islam. Those who engage in such actions undoubtedly have no fear of being held to account by God. Otherwise, they would never do such terrible things. Such attacks target and harm innocent people. These cowardly actions are wholly against humanity as well as against the religion of God.
An instance from the life of the Prophet clearly illustrates the point that taking people as hostages is completely un-Islamic. Opponents of the Prophet in Makkah once captured some Muslims and kept them prisoner. At this time, the Prophet had entered into a treaty with the Makkans at Hudaybiya. But while entering into this treaty, he did not ask the Makkans to return the men whom they had captured. In fact, he unilaterally announced that if any of the Makkan polytheists fell into the Muslims’ hands, the Muslims would not detain them, but, rather, would send them back to the Makkans. This indicates that even if their opponents took some Muslims as hostages, it was still not legitimate for Muslims to do the same by taking some of their opponents’ men as hostage.
The Real Culprits
Who, then, are really responsible for stirring up a storm of hatred and violence in the name of Islam today? The Muslim youths who are engaged in these hate-driven and violent acts cannot be responsible for this. Rather, the blame is upon the so-called ‘Islamic thinkers’, who, in the name of ‘Islamic Revolution’, gave these youths an ideology that led to such negative consequences. These so-called ‘Islamic thinkers’ have concocted a completely false, political interpretation of Islam.
The method of Islam is the method of dawah. The opposite of this is the method of politics. The method of dawah is based on peace. The method of politics is based on confrontation. The two methods are entirely opposed to each other. Based on their particular mentality, people who choose the political method consider others as their enemies. The result of this has been that Islamic movements have turned into political movements. And then, all those wrong things that are linked to politics and political movements have come to be wrongly associated with Islam.
As a consequence of its inherent nature, dawah looks upon opponents as potential friends. With politics, it is totally the opposite. Typically, politicians see others as their opponents and enemies. This is the reason why dawah-related action engenders a ‘mercy culture’, while political agitation produces a ‘hate culture’. In a society characterized by the ‘mercy culture’, goodness will flourish. And where the ‘hate culture’ emerges, ills and violence will spread. No sort of goodness can coexist with hatred.
The Real Work To Be Done
The fact of the matter is that the present-day political agitations and the violence fomented by Muslims are not just un-Islamic but are also completely useless. Recent history provides ample evidence of this.
In the first half of the 20th century, most Muslim countries were, directly or indirectly, under the control of Western powers. Then, movements for their independence were launched. Today, all these Muslim countries are politically independent. Some 60 in number, Muslim states taken together form the largest block among the members of the United Nations. Yet, despite this, Muslims carry no weight at the global political level. The reason for this is that in the ancient past political dominance counted for everything, whereas today it has been reduced to a secondary status. Today, education, knowledge, science, technology and economics are considered more important. Merely being independent in political terms does not hold much weight in today’s world.
Because present-day Muslim countries are today considerably behind others in these non-political spheres, they have no place on the global map. Most of their people are still uneducated. In the fields of science and technology, they are still dependent on Western countries. In terms of modern standards, they have not achieved economic progress. Despite appearing to be politically sovereign, they are backward in all the modern spheres of life. Despite their political independence, they are, in reality, still dominated by others.
Several Muslim countries have, so they claim, witnessed an ‘Islamic Revolution’—for instance, Egypt, Pakistan, Iran, Sudan, Afghanistan, etc. However, these so-called ‘Islamic states’ are suffering from the same serious problems as secular Muslim states. This is because these so-called Islamic countries are as backward as the latter in the intellectual and economic fields. This is why the real work to do today is to help Muslims advance in these non-political spheres. And, undoubtedly, this work is entirely non-political. It has nothing whatsoever to do with politics and political dominance. Moreover, such non-political work is only possible while remaining within a purely peaceful framework. To be engaged in this sort of work there is no need whatsoever to spread hatred or instigate violence. This work is entirely of a positive nature, and it has nothing to do with negative activities.
