When the “Prophet of Mercy,” Muhammad (peace be upon him) was called names, he never retaliated with physical action. And when Allah asked him if he wished to exterminate those who insulted and harmed him and his followers, he declined hoping they or their children would become Muslims. Allah could have punished those who called his Prophet (pbuh) a liar and a black magician. Instead, He argued to prove them wrong. Even when they swore at Allah, He never condemned them to death. Instead, He ordered us to not swear at their gods so they would not swear at Him. If not Allah or His messenger, the only sources of Islam, then who has told us that we should go shouting, burning and throwing stones and grenades at embassies and diplomats? I feel angry, frustrated and ashamed at such savage scenes. It is un-Islamic, unjust, unwise, uncivilized and counterproductive. It is un-Islamic for the above reasons, plus the fact that diplomats are our guests of honor, protected by the word of Allah, His messenger and the whole Muslim Ummah, as Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) promised Najran Christians, and Caliph Omar explained to Jerusalem priests. Unjust because the victims were not responsible for the actions of a few fanatic Coptic Egyptians and an Israeli, who happened to be residing in the US. This is just like when US extremists held us all responsible for the Al-Qaeda crimes. American officials, from the president and his secretary of state down to US embassies, have already expressed their deepest regrets and did their best, within the law, to have the film taken off Google's YouTube, and to restrain the fanatic evangelist Terry Jones and return the Coptic movie producer to prison for the violation of his parole terms. Unwise, because it serves no purpose, except those of Islam's enemies. They include extremists who call themselves Muslims, and regard the rest of us as bad or non-Muslims. They use events like this to poison our hearts against the others, reignite conflicts, and lead us to a Taliban-like Hell. It is uncivilized to kill and destroy just to make an emotional or intellectual point. Love and respect cannot be enforced on people with deadly force. And certainly it is counterproductive. Instead of defending Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and his message, we are confirming the worst of the accusations. At the same time, we provide the best publicity for the film, as we did several years ago for Salman Rushdie's book, “Satanic Verses.” It was a lousy, boring book and this is a lousy, reprehensible film. If we had ignored them, few would have even heard of such disgusting products of human sickness and cruelty. What can we do then? Here are our options: 1. Ignore. 2. Boycott YouTube and sue Google and the filmmakers. 3. Produce movies and publish books that better represent Islam and its holy Prophet (pbuh). In addition, we should cooperate with the followers of other religions to demand a universal law against hate speech. There is already an anti-Semitic law. We could follow its model or extend it to include all religions. Ziad Aldrees, the Saudi representative to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris, announced on Twitter that the organization does have a law criminalizing insults to religions and religious symbols. He promised to raise the issue at the next executive board meeting. Hopefully this law will be activated, universalized, strengthened and used against the bloodthirsty merchants of hate and war - including our own!
– Dr. Khaled Batarfi is a Saudi writer based in Jeddah. He can be reached at: [email protected] Follow him on Twitter: @Kbatarfi
