Abdul Alim demonstrates that through love and compassion comes the real avenging of the Holy Prophet of Islam.
By Abdul Alim
Two gunmen who stormed the French magazine Charlie Hebdo tonight in Paris were heard saying that the Prophet’s honour has been avenged after they had shot and killed twelve employees.
I am completely at loss to try and find out what part of his life or teachings from the Qur’an did they use to justify and perpetrate such an inhuman and barbaric act.
The Qur’an, a revelation to Holy Prophet of Islam is full of verses which teach and promote compassion (see 200 verses from the Quran). It mentions unequivocally that killing even one person is killing the whole of humanity. The Qur’an prescribes no punishment for blasphemy and stands clearly on defense of freedom of speech, conscience and choice (see here).
The life of the Holy Prophet himself was an epitome of empathic understanding of those who differed with him and went well beyond mere tolerance. His personal example was of a man who prayed for his worst enemies who not only ridiculed him, but persecuted him and even tried to kill him. He stood for the best of all that we call secular humanism and more that sprung from his deep love and compassion for humanity.
We, the Ahmadiyya Muslims are deeply aggrieved at this loss of life and our prayers go to their loved ones who have died and to their families for patience and forbearance at this deep loss.
Let us be clear that the greatest victim of this atrocity is not those who have died but the very person whose honour was supposed to have been avenged, the Holy Prophet of Islam and the religion that was revealed to him as God’s final message to humanity, Islam. A greater tragedy is that the same person was the first target of ridicule by Charlie Hebdo when it published the satirical cartoons. The magazine crossed all limits of journalistic decency and violated all noble values that are at the basis for freedom of speech.
Absolute freedom does not exist. All freedoms come with responsibility. While under no circumstances retaliation for indecent, hate mongering speech can be used to justify to kill someone, those who do such vile acts should be approached with logic and actual compassionate examples of how the Prophet lived his life.
The current leader of Ahmadiyya Community in Islam has consistently showed the way to Muslims on how the Prophet’s honour can be truly avenged and that is by highlighting his true, noble and peace loving character and rebutting the vile abuse hurled at him by those who are ignorant or prejudiced, with clear logic and personal example.
The killings at Paris are not the first, and unfortunately perhaps not the last, given that ISIL has very powerful supporters among well developed and prosperous nations from both East and the West. Governments that are fomenting violence as a matter of foreign policy should not think that the genie that is being bred in the Middle East will not come back to haunt them. This genie can only be exterminated through forging real and deep understanding of religious differences and respect for their founders and not using it as a means to achieve political victory. Inculcating true empathy and not just mere tolerance is the only way forward, where all ambitions, economic, political or social must be disciplined through submission to God and love for humanity as His creation.
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This article was taken with permission from The Muslim Times.
I understand what he’s saying when he says ‘The greatest victim…” He’s not comparing the loss of “human” life to the loss of which the Profit has experienced as a profit. America’s was a great victim with 9/11. the country was clearly a victim but as big a loss as it was, its loss included countless victims of the 3000 people who lost their lives. We as a country became victims but that in no way minimized the victims who lost their lives. Did that make sense??
NO.
I understand that Muslims have their feelings hurt but not that the real victim is The Prophet.
Silke, I guess it didn’t make sense …. Maybe I’ll try it another way. I’m Catholic and I believe in the living God. He’s right here with me. When something happens to Christians, as you know they’re being slaughtered daily throughout the world, I recognize the pain these people are enduring. I have great compassion for those who are victims, yet at the same time, my recognizing God for who he is, I can also relate to His pain. Silke, I don’t know if you’re of any faith but I’m just trying to shed some light on how one can… Read more »
The highest power for Muslims is also God (Ahalla ) is it not? Not The Prophet? Well,I do not know much about Islam. And I am not in conflict with any Muslim. I am raised a Protestant and live close to Muslims as we have 5% of our population that are Muslims but they live mainly in the large cities. So our cities have larger percentage Muslims. UK, and Germany also have 5% and France 10% Muslim population. The situation in France is special and not typical for the rest of Europe. But our jihad warriors is a problem and… Read more »
“The greatest victim……was The Prophet”.
This is impossible for me to understand this thinking Abdul Alim.
How can a Prophet be that vulnerable and not able to take care of himself?
How can the Prophet suffer more than those killed,their family and loved ones?
I do not understand .
Islams house is on fire –
“Let us be clear that the greatest victim of this atrocity is not those who have died but the very person whose honour was supposed to have been avenged, the Holy Prophet of Islam “
I’m afraid not, and I’m also afraid that it is exactly this sort of distorted thinking that contributes to the spreading of this obnoxious mental virus to the pseudo righteous.
You are adding little of value to the conversation Dr. Alim