The Root Cause of Riots

dead as should be accorded only to the Lord, their God. They take pride in saying that Islam teaches one complete equality, but they continue to discriminate between man and man. They are the first to pronounce in public that Islam exhorts one to do good and shun bad in all circumstances, but in private they disregard this. If their attention is drawn to this contradiction in their words, in deeds, they will turn hostile to anyone daring to criticize them. They take immense pride in describing the sublime character of the Prophet, for instance, his resistance to provocation; yet they themselves become annoyed about quite trivial matters and even justify their negative attitude by asking why they should not react in the face of provocation. Islamic Activism (continued from previous issue) Unlimited Scopes of Patience When the Prophet Muhammad, may peace be upon him, began his mission of tawhid (unity of God) in ancient Makkah, there existed as usual a status quo. The Quraysh had assumed the leadership of the town, and according to their beliefs, they had established an idolatrous system. Now the question arose as to how the Prophet Muhammad should begin his work. It appeared that the status quo under the hegemony of the Quraysh would have to be abolished and only then would the path be cleared for the Prophet’s mission. At that juncture, certain basic guidance was revealed to the Prophet. God declared in the Quran: