ASK MAULANA

ASK MAULANA Your Questions Answered Why should I respect Islam and its adherents? Suicide bombers, cruelty towards ‘sinners’, patronising towards women, conservative medieval social norms, sanctimonious people who look down upon others who drink and smoke… You are under no compulsion to respect Islam and its adherents. However, you must certainly analyze what you hold in contempt. The very word ‘Islam’ (from the Arabic silm) connotes peace. According to a teaching of the Prophet, “Peace is Islam.” (Al-Bukhari, the most authentic book after the Quran) This means that peace is one of the prerequisites of Islam. The Prophet once stated: “A Muslim is one from whose tongue and hands people are safe.” One of the attributes of God described in the Quran is ‘As-Salam’, which means peace and security. As per Sahih Muslim, the second most authentic book of Hadith, a teaching is recounted as follows. It is narrated on the authority of Abu Huraira that the Messenger of Allah observed: "He who killed himself with steel (weapon) would be the eternal denizen of the fire of Hell and he would have that weapon in his hand and would be thrusting that in his stomach for ever and ever, he who drank poison and killed himself would sip that in the fire of Hell where he is doomed for ever and ever; and he who killed himself by falling from (the top of) a mountain would constantly fall in the fire of Hell and would live there for ever and ever." (Sahih Muslim). In addition, the Quran makes a very clear statement: “Whoever killed a human being, except as a punishment for murder or for spreading corruption in the land, shall be regarded as having killed all mankind.” (5: 32) It is true that some Muslims are engaged in violence in the name of Islam, but these violent activities are quite against Islamic teachings. Islam in its very essence connotes peace and there is no association of a peaceful religion with terrorist movements at all. You have to judge Muslims in the light of Islamic teachings, and not vice versa. How can we eliminate all terrorists from the world? Can there be everlasting peace?