Peace: The Summum Bonum

Does not it astonish you how God protects me from the Quraysh’s abusing and cursing? They abuse Mudhammam (the condemned one) and curse Mudhammam, while I am Muhammad. (Sahih al-Bukhari, hadith no. 3533) The Prophet took no action against the person who called him by the derogatory name of Mudhammam, similarly there are verses in the Quran about gatherings where the Makkan people used to abuse the Prophet of Islam. For example: They say, ‘He is certainly mad.’ (Quran 68:51) They say, ‘You to whom the Reminder [the Quran] has been sent down, you are surely possessed.’ (Quran 15:6) The Prophet did not react to such comments and also refrained others also from reacting. Islam provides for complete freedom of expression. This is the spirit that Islam instils in its adherents – to not react in the face of misuse of freedom of expression but to handle it gently and with prudence. As per another tradition, the caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab was once walking on the street one night and accidently stepped over the leg of a homeless man. The man in the dark yelled out, “Are you blind?” Umar simply replied: “I am not blind, I am Umar ibn al-Khattab”, and walked away. It is important to understand that an insult (or blasphemy) is an imposed allegation; it is not claimed to be an insult by the doer of the action. A person who is accused of blasphemy simply voices his opinion, while it is Muslims who begin to address him as ‘blasphemer’. This is similar to referring someone with nicknames, which is discouraged in Islam: Do not call each other by [offensive] nicknames. (Quran 49:11) A person never says he is committing blasphemy (called shatm in Arabic). It is Muslims who impose the allegation of blasphemy on the person, and in doing so they go against the above teaching of the Quran. The correct way should be to attempt to address the mind of the other person by healthy discussion and providing him with books on Islam. The option to kill does not exist. Do non-Muslims have a ‘second-grade citizen’ status as per the Islamic Shariah? T here is no such distinction or class-system in Islam. People are aware of the cultural aspect of Islam but do not know about the real Islamic teachings of the Quran. The concept of dividing some people into an enemy-category and some into a friend-category is in itself wrong. According to Islam, everyone is either a friend or a potential friend. The Quran reads: