In the name of Allah,
Most Gracious, Most Merciful,
Praise be to Allah,
the Cherisher and Sustainer of the Worlds,
and Peace and Prayer be upon the Final Prophet and Messenger. Abdullah Yusuf Ali, The Holy Quran
***
This article will be published in our Kelas Peradaban Nabawi's monthly article where I am in charge of the Publications unit. I will not be held responsible for any misinterpretation of my article and should anyone copy paste this without my permission and out of context, I won't be able to do anything about it but I know someOne Who will definitely take your action into account. See you in The Hereafter.
***
This is my first time writing about this and I am very certain that most of us are familiar with this issue, especially when you are always, if not most of the time, updated with the news feed on Facebook.
Generally I will be writing on the misconception on Islam but I will be more focused on the issue regarding our beloved Prophet s.a.w.
Recently I have heard and read so many comments on the recently viral Youtube movie entitled The Real Life of Muhammad, or The Innocence of Muslims. So I watched the so-called enraging video but I was only able to watch it up to the first few minutes because the movie was, to my opinion, so absurd.
My feelings after I watched that, you might have a slight objection to this, but I confess I do not feel anger or fury watching the movie. Not even the slightest.
In fact, what I do feel is pity, because it was so obvious how misguided the movie producer of our Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. I might have been a bit distracted with how amateur the actors/actresses and how ugly the props was but anyhow, the message is crystal clear ; the producer was ignorant of Islam, and obviously he did not know a thing, not the slightest bit, about Islam, particularly about our Prophet.
There is a saying that goes along this line, that people are always afraid of what they don't know.
It would be a different thing if that person is so knowledgeable about the Deen and still try to tamper with the purity of the Deen than a person who is ignorant and become an anti-Islam because they were purely influenced by the manipulative mass media.
I do not mean to say that I am not sensitive to the mockery and ridicule that the disbelievers try to do towards our Deen. In my opinion, being sensitive does not mean that you have to do a street demonstration or be hostile towards the non-Muslims. To be fair, the non-Muslims too should not base Islam on a one person's act but try to learn about Islam before they accuse Islam of terrorism or a religion of deterioration.
No matter what they do, be it caricatures, videos, or publishing insulting articles about our Prophet, we must always put our rationality before our emotions because to blindly declare a war on the non-Muslims would a very unwise choice and our Prophet wouldn't have wanted that.
I think if our Prophet is still here with us today, he would have asked us to increase our effort in educating the world about Islam and spread the message first. And only after we are rejected, then we should let them keep to their opinion and only launch assault ONLY if they start to terrorize us, no matter in what way.
And here we are, just sitting there not doing anything about spreading the message of Islam, but when misconceptions on Islam arises, we angrily rise up from our chairs and start doing protests and act violently, be it in verbal or physical. And we say the non-Muslims are completely at fault?
I do not have anything against the people involved with the street demonstrations regarding this issue but from my point of view, I do not see the impact that it will cause. I would say that boycotting the Youtube would prove to be more efficient than doing a street demo because when you are demonstrating, yelling on the streets, more and more misconception will arise and one conclusion will be definite, that is, Muslims are easily agitated. Doesn't Islam itself means 'peace'?
So, yes, think before you say something, no matter how overwhelmed you are by the video or by other ridicule made by the ignorant. Think of the Deen, before you indulge on expressing your emotion.
So what we can do is that perhaps, first things first, we may introduce to them our Prophet so that they may love our Prophet the way we do.
And perhaps the crucial question here is to try asking yourself first, how well did you yourself know Muhammad s.a.w and did you really love him in the first place, or is it that you're just joining the ride when everyone's excited about getting angry for him?
Remember, it is our job to make it right, and that job is to educate, not to aggravate.
***
Most Gracious, Most Merciful,
Praise be to Allah,
the Cherisher and Sustainer of the Worlds,
and Peace and Prayer be upon the Final Prophet and Messenger. Abdullah Yusuf Ali, The Holy Quran
***
This article will be published in our Kelas Peradaban Nabawi's monthly article where I am in charge of the Publications unit. I will not be held responsible for any misinterpretation of my article and should anyone copy paste this without my permission and out of context, I won't be able to do anything about it but I know someOne Who will definitely take your action into account. See you in The Hereafter.
***
This is my first time writing about this and I am very certain that most of us are familiar with this issue, especially when you are always, if not most of the time, updated with the news feed on Facebook.
Generally I will be writing on the misconception on Islam but I will be more focused on the issue regarding our beloved Prophet s.a.w.
Recently I have heard and read so many comments on the recently viral Youtube movie entitled The Real Life of Muhammad, or The Innocence of Muslims. So I watched the so-called enraging video but I was only able to watch it up to the first few minutes because the movie was, to my opinion, so absurd.
My feelings after I watched that, you might have a slight objection to this, but I confess I do not feel anger or fury watching the movie. Not even the slightest.
In fact, what I do feel is pity, because it was so obvious how misguided the movie producer of our Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. I might have been a bit distracted with how amateur the actors/actresses and how ugly the props was but anyhow, the message is crystal clear ; the producer was ignorant of Islam, and obviously he did not know a thing, not the slightest bit, about Islam, particularly about our Prophet.
There is a saying that goes along this line, that people are always afraid of what they don't know.
It would be a different thing if that person is so knowledgeable about the Deen and still try to tamper with the purity of the Deen than a person who is ignorant and become an anti-Islam because they were purely influenced by the manipulative mass media.
I do not mean to say that I am not sensitive to the mockery and ridicule that the disbelievers try to do towards our Deen. In my opinion, being sensitive does not mean that you have to do a street demonstration or be hostile towards the non-Muslims. To be fair, the non-Muslims too should not base Islam on a one person's act but try to learn about Islam before they accuse Islam of terrorism or a religion of deterioration.
No matter what they do, be it caricatures, videos, or publishing insulting articles about our Prophet, we must always put our rationality before our emotions because to blindly declare a war on the non-Muslims would a very unwise choice and our Prophet wouldn't have wanted that.
I think if our Prophet is still here with us today, he would have asked us to increase our effort in educating the world about Islam and spread the message first. And only after we are rejected, then we should let them keep to their opinion and only launch assault ONLY if they start to terrorize us, no matter in what way.
And here we are, just sitting there not doing anything about spreading the message of Islam, but when misconceptions on Islam arises, we angrily rise up from our chairs and start doing protests and act violently, be it in verbal or physical. And we say the non-Muslims are completely at fault?
I do not have anything against the people involved with the street demonstrations regarding this issue but from my point of view, I do not see the impact that it will cause. I would say that boycotting the Youtube would prove to be more efficient than doing a street demo because when you are demonstrating, yelling on the streets, more and more misconception will arise and one conclusion will be definite, that is, Muslims are easily agitated. Doesn't Islam itself means 'peace'?
So, yes, think before you say something, no matter how overwhelmed you are by the video or by other ridicule made by the ignorant. Think of the Deen, before you indulge on expressing your emotion.
So what we can do is that perhaps, first things first, we may introduce to them our Prophet so that they may love our Prophet the way we do.
And perhaps the crucial question here is to try asking yourself first, how well did you yourself know Muhammad s.a.w and did you really love him in the first place, or is it that you're just joining the ride when everyone's excited about getting angry for him?
Remember, it is our job to make it right, and that job is to educate, not to aggravate.
***
TRH's note:
I am not forcing my opinions on you. You may object or accept. After all, what I said are merely raw opinions, and they are not facts.
Sensitivity towards the Deen is a must, but deal with it bil hikmah (with wisdom), not bil 'amarah' (with anger).
Salam alaik and peace out.
"Sometimes we can't just say "Allah has a better plan for us."
We have to believe He does."
i believe that this is something that we have to look at with hikmah. and i totally agree with you.
ReplyDeleteif we look at the times of the prophet muhammad SAW, he, too was mocked by his people. and he was a noble man from a noble family. not just some street boy.
even when he was mocked, he did not take rash and violent actions as those will not do anything but provoke more violence.
even when islam was established, the prophet SAW was still mocked by the disbelievers and yet his companions (who were warriors at that time) did not wage war on them on the basis of mockery.
mockeries and insults on the prophet will continue to exist as long as the world is still in one piece.
we should take advantage of this to help convey islam to more people.
and at the same time, we should reflect in this movie as it showed that muslims have failed to portray the true islam to the rest of the world.
wallahu'alam..
agree... just pray that they will finally be given hidayath and accept Islam or at least see the beauty of it... ameenn
ReplyDeleteagreed :-)
ReplyDelete