National Hero
Muslims allow themselves to be provoked when they find a picture of the Prophet. It is hero worship: it is undoubtedly not God-worship.
A B. Sc. student burst into the office of the Dean in the Department of Theology at Aligarh Muslim University. “This is a Muslim University!” he said with great vehemence. “You are in charge of the religious affairs here. I must bring to your notice that there is a book in English in the Azad Library, which contains a picture of our Holy Prophet, may peace be upon him; you must have this book removed immediately from the library, otherwise...”
The Dean of Theology replied, “You know how big the Azad Library is. Books keep coming to it from different parts of the world. We would also receive books that make fun of God. In such circumstances, will you be provoked every time you come upon a book of this nature?” “Sir,” the student replied, “God belongs to everybody, but the Holy Prophet belongs to us.” (Ehtisab, Aligarh, May 15, 1984)
Why did the student think of God as belonging to all while he thought of the Prophet as his own? The reason was that he regarded the Prophet as the national hero of his community. Every community has a hero who is a source of their pride, just as every community regards its hero as superior to heroes of other communities. God can be familiar to all, but no such sharing is possible regarding a national hero. Due to this communal psychology, the Muslim student lost his temper at the disrespect shown to the Prophet, whereas he did not show such annoyance when God was made fun of.
This incident aptly portrays the attitude of present-day Muslims, who never celebrate God’s Day, but who mark the Prophet’s Day with great pomp and ceremony all over the world. The reason is that, according to their narrow-mindedness, they do not feel any affinity with God because they do not take any personal pride in Him. However, on the other hand, since Prophet Muhammad has become their hero on the plane of history and, in that sense, is a source of pride for the Muslim community, they celebrate in his honour to express their natural feelings of pride.
Atheism is the order of the day. However, Muslims feel no enthusiasm about working towards the intellectual domination of monotheism over atheism. Instead, they allow themselves to be provoked by finding a picture of the Prophet. It, indeed, is hero worship. However, it is undoubtedly not God-worship.
