LAST WORD

by Ka’b bin al-Ashraf (Al-Bidayah wa’l Nihayah by Ibn Kathir, Vol. 5, pp. 326-336) According to this teaching of the Prophet of Islam, if anyone abuses the Prophet, Muslims are directed not to react. They have one of these two options: either to simply ignore it or to respond on an equal basis, that is, issuing a statement in return for a statement as the Quran says: “The recompense of an ill-deed is an ill the like thereof (42:40).” According to this, reaction must be on an equal basis, that is, word in return for word, statement in return for statement, book in return for book. It appears to me that by not reacting in the manner that the Quran teaches us to (as explained above), these Muslim leaders violated the divine commandments. Millions of Muslims around the world began angrily protesting against Rushdie. Their agitation proved that Muslims seem so eager to ‘dispatch others to hell’ that they have quite forgotten that they should first think of how to make themselves fit ‘to enter Heaven.’ They should remember that not a single person in this world is guaranteed a reserved place in Paradise. It must also be understood that to use abusive language against the Prophet of Islam or to praise him are a matter of one’s own choice. Whatever the choice, it is in God’s domain to pass judgment on it. According to this Islamic injunction, if there is a person who commits blasphemy, then the responsibility of Muslims is to meet him and persuade him and to remove his misunderstanding by peaceful means