TOWARDS GLOBAL PEACE

It clearly shows that ‘abuse of the Prophet’ is not a subject of condemnation or seeking punishment; rather, it is a subject of removing their misunderstanding through sound arguments in order to address their mind. In other words, peaceful persuasion should be used to help the person understand the truth of the matter rather than trying to punish him. There is ample evidence that tells us what to do in such cases. For example, once, when the Prophet was in Makkah, a person came to him and told him face to face, “O Muhammad, you are a condemned person”. The Prophet smiled. This smile was a moral response and was bound to hit his conscience. So, he fell into introspection and took no time in accepting him as a Prophet and became one of his followers. It is interesting to note the response of the Prophet and his Companions on such occasions. When such issues arose, they never indulged in aggressive activities against people of other faiths. Instead, they prayed for them and tried to remove their misconceptions by engaging in discussion with them, adopting a peaceful method. In ancient times, people generally gave expression to their thoughts in poetry. The opponents of the Prophet used to recite abusive couplets directed against him. In order to counter such couplets or poems, the Prophet would ask his Companion Hassan ibn Thabit, whom Encyclopaedia Britannica calls ‘poetic defender’, to counter literary attacks on him in the form of couplets. Hassan was Islam’s first religious poet. We find many such incidents in the life of the Prophet. The Prophet peacefully countered their arguments with arguments. He attempted to satisfy the other party at an intellectual level. With these examples of the Prophet and his Companions, can resorting to violence be justified? Muslims, therefore, must deal with such cases by reasoned arguments rather than seek to mete out punishment. All Islamic teachings are based on reason and argument. As per this Islamic injunction, if a person commits ‘blasphemy’, the responsibility of Muslims is to meet the concerned person and try to remove his misunderstanding by peaceful means. If they fail to understand, then according to the teachings of the Prophet, Muslims are left only with one option, that is, to pray for them in all sincerity. This article appeared in June 10, 2022 edition of SPEAKING TREE of Times of India (https://www.speakingtree.in/article/end-misunderstandingsthrough-sound-arguments). o