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Defaming Religion is Disbelieving in it
By Dr. Jaafar Shaikh Idris
Since the publishing
of Salman Rushdi's "Satanic Verses," some modernist writers and artists in the
Muslim world have tried publishing works that had mocking and insulting Islam as
their main theme. All of such works were fiction, none of which was based on
facts or objective criticism. And when Muslims of all walks of life objected to
this type of treatment their religion was subjected to, they were labeled by
these artists as being anti-progress, hate mongers and ignorant!
This article explains that religions and definitely Islam-are composed of a
specific set of values, which must be respected and adopted by the followers. If
they do not, then they have no right to claim to be part of that religion. One
cannot claim to believe in certain principles while one is constantly engaged in
mocking, belittling and trying hard to modify or destroy them. Such a person is
best described as a disbeliever in these principles.
Among Muslims dwell some people who want to live with one foot in the boundary
of Islam, while leaving the other foot outside. Their lives show this
contradiction clearly but they ignore anyone who may protest their
discrepancies. Their behavior parallels that of the Orientalists: they criticize
Islam and Muslims, they do not abide by Islam, and they seize every opportunity
to belittle those, who do submit to Allah's Guidance. We see some writers and
artists exercising their "rights" to criticize the principles and beliefs and
promote abandoning them. They seem to believe that you cannot be innovative
writers or actors unless you exercise total liberty of all values and norms.
But, the difference between these imitation Muslims, and their non-believer role
models in the West, is that the latter, when they are told that they do not
believe in Christianity or Judaism, admit it and consider it a matter of fact.
But the former, will shiver, scream and call for help if it is said about what
they, or any of their associates, created a piece that it is contradictory to,
or rescinding, Islam. They want to live with the liberty of non-believers but
shiver when they are accused of such.
They want to be non-believers and at the same time live in peace and have a good
reputation in the community to which they deny its best assets from beliefs and
principles. They want, like any hypocrite, to take advantage of Islam as a
shield in order to destroy it. But Allah, subhanahu wa Ta'ala, will never allow
this to happen.
When they face this danger, personally and professionally, they transform
themselves into preachers, reminding those who called them non-believers about
what Allah says, "Invite to the way of your Lord with wisdom
and good preaching. And reason with them in the better way." [Al Qur'an
16:125]. It is about the only verse they memorize from Allah's book. They only
memorize it to protect themselves with it after altering its meaning and using
it out of context!
Yes we are ordered to invite with wisdom and good preaching but we are ordered
to invite to Allah's way. It is an order that is clear in its marks, with vivid
borders. We understand that the way to invite is in the better way. But we do
not understand that inviting with wisdom and good preaching means to make the
facts of this religion vague, to destroy its features or to alleviate the
boundaries that distinguish it from others until it becomes something,
malleable, with unknown beginnings and endings. Something, which has nothing to
distinguish it from others, thus making it difficult to conclude whether a
person is embracing or rejecting it. The religion that is descended from Allah
cannot be like this.
Islam is a religion that was revealed from Allah and is based on several facts.
Whoever believes in them is a Muslim. Whoever denies them, through belittlement
is a non-believer. To be able to judge someone as being a non-believer is a must
in the identity of any religion. A religion that has no non-believers is not a
religion because it has no identity. If a religion has no identity and no
features, then how do we make da'wah with wisdom and good preaching?
The verse that those imitators use annuls their allegations and shows their
alterations because it begins with, "Invite to the way of your Lord." The way of
Allah is the group of facts and morals that are shown in His Book and in the
Sunnah of His Messenger, sallallahu alayhe wa sallam. It is an invitation to the
unity of Allah and not to join others with Him. An invitation to love and
respect Him as only He deserves. An invitation to believe in His Messenger and
to cherish and honor him. An invitation to believe that what Allah has decided
is the truth beyond any doubt, and what Allah has ordered is just with no
injustice in it. "The word of your Lord has been fulfilled in
truth and in justice." [Al Qur'an 6:115]
Any saying or actions that contradict this are considered kufr (disbelief).
Anyone saying these contradictions or knowingly following them is a non-believer
and has left the Islamic faith, whether he is a writer, actor or artist and
whether he said the Shahadah or not. The imitators want to hide with their kufr
behind their literature and arts. Sometimes they allege that we misunderstood
what was said and did not consider it as a piece of literature. That is what
people who defended Salman Rushdi, said about his book, "Satanic Verses"!
Other people allege that artists should not be judged with the same guidelines
as everyone else. That means they have the right, unlike politicians for
example, to show kufr and to call to profanity as long as they put them in the
form of literature or in an artistic form and as long as the words are not
uttered directly by them but by the characters in their story or play.
Congratulations, then, on their severe abomination; because all they have to do,
in order to escape being accounted for, is to let one of the characters they
create to do all the name calling and indecencies in one of their stories or
plays!
What does all this mean? Does it mean that the works of art are just pictures
with no content? We can only judge them by looks and not by content? Is that
right? Is that what the reviewers do when they review works of art? Is that the
only thing that the market for these works want? Does this mean that if a highly
talented writer writes a story, the contents of which say that we should
surrender to Israel, then neither the Palestinians, nor anyone else can object
on what is in it because it is a work of art? Or is it that the only contents we
cannot object to are the ones that make fun of Allah's religion and belittle
Allah's Prophets?
And if some people put the beauty of arts over righteousness and over
principles, that is not how a Muslim, who has been guided by Allah's Book, sees
it. A true Muslim raises the rank of truthfulness and righteousness and attacks
lying and profanity in any form. That is why he judges a poem by its contents
and not its looks.
Allah says, "And the poets, those who err follow them. Have
you not seen how they stray in every valley? And that they say what they do not
practice? Except those who believe, do righteous deeds, remember Allah much and
defend themselves only after they are unjustly attacked." [Al Qur'an 26:
224-227]
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