The Book of Life

The Prophet’s silence was not out of fear but out of purpose. The law of life is that to achieve one goal, you must give up another. The Prophet’s mission was to deliver God’s message, and so he avoided disputes and clashes. He chose to ignore all these disturbances and focused entirely on spreading the message of Islam. Eventually, God changed the circumstances. The noise of the opponents came to an end themselves. In the Prophet’s time, noise was created inside the mosque itself, yet neither he nor his companions ever retaliated. Today, however, if a noisy procession passes by a mosque on the street, Muslims are quick to come out and fight. If Islam is what the Prophet practised, then what Muslims are doing today is not Islam. And if Islam is what Muslims are doing today, then what the Prophet practiced was not Islam. Muslims must now decide which of the two they wish to follow. REALISM WINS T he cover of Time magazine (February 13, 1989) carried the bold headline: “Comrades Again.” It was well known that although China and Russia were both communist countries, they had been at odds for at least 30 years. Now, the two nations were moving closer. The cover story of that issue focused on this change. Inside, the headline read: