Sadly these days, due to the increase of terrorism and badly portraying the beautiful message of Islam, some people have a very poor impression of Islam and the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. They blame the religion and say that the Holy Prophet has incited the Muslims to this violence, even portraying the Holy Prophet in a cartoon with a bomb on his back! Recently again this came up in a discussion about the punishment of the hereafter and the person wrote:
“why does Allah take such sadistic delight in laying out this horrific detail (punishment in the hereafter)? Anyone normal would hope that these inhuman scenarios were just the invention of a deranged man (most people who read the Koran do think Mohammed was mad) but I`m sure you will stand with Islam in insisting these are the very words of Allah.”
Concerning the punishments described in this physical world, it is meant to create that fear so that you do not follow such a path. You are aware of the horrors of war, we keep hearing about them all around the world and of course we hear about some of the horrors of the two great wars. Still, unless you have actually experience them, it is hard to get the full picture of the effects it has on a person.
Recently a film came out about A.A. Milnes, the author of ‘Winnie the Pooh’. In that film it went through some of the great horrors he experienced in the 1st World War which never left him. But as I have said, the purpose is for the ‘unbelievers’ not to go to war or persecute the believers. As they say ‘prevention is better than cure’ and religion teaches us how to attain peace. If man chooses to stop that peace, then of course there are consequences. Muslims are told that they should not fight, unless they are attacked. You claim that the Holy Prophet (may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was mad, but all he did was seek peace.
The Holy Prophet Muhammad (may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) actively promoted peace, tolerance and compassion for all non-Muslim minorities living in Arabia. He did not simply demand religious tolerance of his followers; but he laid down the foundations to provide legal and constitutional protections for religious minorities.
When the Holy Prophet settled in Medina, he set about creating the first Islamic state. In Medina were not only Muslims, but there was three Jewish tribes and other Arabs who had not accepted Islam. The Holy Prophet was asked to govern all the citizens.
To achieve this he made a formal agreement, known as the Charter of Medina in 622 A.D.
We should also bear in mind that this Charter of Medina pre-dated the English Magna Carta by almost six centuries.
It was a formal agreement between Prophet Muhammad (may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and all of the significant tribes and families of Medina, including Muslims, Jews and non-Muslim Arabs.
• Remarkably 45% of the total population in Medina consisted of non-Muslim Arabs,
• 40% consisted of Jews,
• and only 15% consisted of Muslims.
The Charter consists of 47 clauses which set forth the formation of a sovereign nation-state with a common citizenship for all communities. The Charter protects fundamental human rights for all citizens, including equality, cooperation, freedom of conscience and freedom of religion. Clause 25 specifically states that Jews and non-Muslim Arabs are entitled to practice their own faith without any restrictions.
In short, this was the first document in history to establish religious freedom as a fundamental constitutional right.
The Holy Prophet Muhammad (may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) sent letters to various kings surrounding Arabia declaring his intention for peace and cooperation. One such letter was written to the monks of the St. Catherine Monastery of Mt. Sinai in 628 A.D. and known today as the “Charter of Privileges.”
The letter reads:
“This is a message from Muhammad, son of Abdullah, as a covenant to those who adopt Christianity, near and far, we are with them. Verily I, the servants, the helpers, and my followers defend them, because Christians are my citizens; and by Allah! I hold out against anything that displeases them. No compulsion is to be on them. Neither are their judges to be removed from their jobs nor their monks from their monasteries. No one is to destroy a house of their religion, to damage it, or to carry anything from it to the Muslims’ houses. Should anyone take any of these, he would spoil God’s covenant and disobey His Prophet. Verily, they are my allies and have my secure charter against all that they hate. No one is to force them to travel or to oblige them to fight. The Muslims are to fight for them. If a female Christian it married to a Muslim, it is not to take place without her approval. She is not to be prevented from visiting her church to pray. Their churches are to be respected. They are neither to be prevented from repairing them nor the sacredness of their covenants. No one of the nation of (Muslims) is to disobey the covenant till the Last Day (end of the world).”
Western Islamic scholar, Marmaduke Pickthall, comments on this letter as follows:
“The Charter which Muhammad (s.a.w) granted to the Christian monks of Sinai is a living document. If you read it, you will see that it breathes not only goodwill, but also actual love. He gave to the Jews of Medina, so long as they were faithful to him, precisely the same treatment as to any Muslims. He never was aggressive against any man or class of men . . . The story of his reception of Christian and Zoroastrian visitors is on record. There is not a trace of religious intolerance in any of this.”
It is a tragic irony that much of the Islamic world has lost sight of Islam’s true and essential teachings concerning religious freedom.
If we look into the meaning of the word Islam, then it means – Peace; therefore, ‘Islamic Terrorism’ means ‘Peaceful Terrorism?’ How can there be ‘peaceful terrorism’, they contradict each other, therefore it shows that religion of Islam has nothing to do terrorism, it is people who misuse the religion of Islam to promote terrorism.
What is the Islamic Concept of Tolerance?
“There should be no compulsion in religion. Surely, the right way has become distinct from error.” Chapter 2, Verse 257
Holy Qur’an clearly stresses the importance of religious freedom. There is no compulsion in the matters of religion. Faith is an individual concern and commitment, between you and the One God. It must therefore be something which you desire, not what is forced upon you.
If you force a faith upon someone, then it becomes hollow and without true conviction. Therefore Islam stresses on a person finding the truth through their own path. If a faith is true, then it will appeal to the heart.
This is why the verse states ‘Surely, the right way has become distinct from error’.
So Islam stresses that we must not force or compel another to believe.
Elsewhere, in Chapter 10, Verse 100 of the Qur’an, we read:
“And if your Lord had enforced His will, surely, all who are on the earth would have believed together. Will you, then, force men to become believers?”
This verse shows that religious freedom is part of Allah’s design.
Allah hasn’t forced anyone, so who are we to do so?
By forcing your faith upon someone, is really having no faith at all. This is not the idea behind Allah creating this physical world. As the verse states, it could have been easy for Allah to force His Will, but Allah gave us free will instead. Therefore He gave us choices.
We must choose the right path or be answerable for the consequences. Through all the Holy Books, Allah has explained to us the result of this choice. Either you submit to the One God and attain Paradise or you reject Him and attain Hell.
But that has to be our choice. So likewise, the path we take must be our choice.
In fact there is an entire chapter of the Qur’an, Sura Al-Kafirun (109), which clearly explains how with should conduct ourselves with non-believers
“In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, ever Merciful,
Say, O ye disbelievers, I worship not as you worship,
Nor do you worship as I worship
Nor do I worship those that you worship
Nor do you worship Him Whom I worship,
For you your religion and for me my religion.”
A very beautiful chapter, which explains clearly, that you are free to choose which ever path you desire, so you should neither force a Muslim to worship what you worship, likewise a Muslim should not force his beliefs upon you.
“For you your religion, for me my religion.”
A clear statement of religious tolerance in Islam.
One of the common objection raised is – wasn’t Islam spread by the sword? Where then is the tolerance?
As I have already explained Allah admonishes Muslims not to use force in matters of faith
‘there is no compulsion in the matters of religion’
Therefore the Holy Qur’an clearly forbids the use of force for the spread of the faith. But as Islam spread very quickly over many countries, so there is the general belief that Islam was spread by the sword. But this wasn’t the case, certainly not in early Islam, when most of the conquests were made.
Islam spread due to the beautiful teachings and the good example of the Muslims. We see in the early history of Islam, that whilst the Holy Prophet was in Mecca, there was no fighting. But they were being heavily persecuted.
Allah informs us in the Holy Qur’an that if you are not permitted to worship the One God, then move, travel the earth. It is vast. Go to another place to Worship the One God. So this is what happened. The Holy Prophet and his followers moved to Medina.
But sadly the persecution did not stop. The Quraish wanted to wipe out Islam, so permission was given to fight in self-defence, providing that it is only because they are preventing you from worshiping the one God. It is not about gaining land, or power, or oil etc. Permission is only given to allow you to worship Allah. As the Holy Qur’an states:
“Permission to take up arms is given to those against whom war is made,
because they have been wronged and Allah, indeed, has power to help them.
Those who have been driven out from their homes unjustly,
only because they said, ‘Our Lord is Allah.’
And if Allah had not repelled some people by means of others,
cloisters and churches and synagogues and mosques, wherein the name of Allah
is oft remembered, would surely have been destroyed.
And Allah will, surely, help him who helps Him.
Allah is, indeed, Powerful, Mighty. (Al Hajj 22:40-41)
And fight in the way of Allah against those who fight against you, but do not transgress. Surely, Allah loves not the transgressors. (Al Baqarah 2:191)
So it is clear from these verses that they had to be defensive wars. Whenever they fought anyone there were three choices – accept Islam, accept Islamic rule or fight
If they accepted Islamic rule then they came under the protection of the Muslims and paid the Jizah – a tax, which was less than the tax the Muslims paid – Zakaat. If the Muslims could not protect them, then they would return the tax. But many people saw the fairness, tolerance and justice under the Muslim rule, which was not there before, so they willingly accepted Islam.
The main proof of that is that they remained Muslims long after the power of the Muslims
And they are still Islamic countries to this day. It was due to the beauty of Islam, not force.
What does Islam teach about tolerance when someone blasphemes, i.e. Salman Rushdie, Sudanese Teddy bear called Muhammad, cartoons of the Holy Prophet?
In the incident where the ‘death penalty’ on Salman Rushdie. Imam Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa pronouncing that according to the Holy Qur’an, the punishment for ‘Blasphemy’ was death! There is no such punishment for blasphemy in the Holy Qur’an or in the Traditions of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, (may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).
Blasphemy against God is mentioned in the Holy Qur’an, Chapter 6, Verse 109:
“And abuse not those whom they call upon besides Allah, lest they, out of spite abuse Allah in their ignorance”
The Holy Prophet has said “do not abuse your parents” When the companions asked him, ‘who would abuse their parents?’ he replied, “if you abuse someone’s parents, then they may in return abuse your parents, therefore you are responsible for having your parents abused.”
Again the Holy Qur’an states “When you hear the Signs of God being denied and mocked at, sit not with those who indulge in such talk until they engage in some other talk.” (4:141)
Therefore no authorisation has been granted to any man to inflict any punishment for blasphemy against God. That person will be answerable to Allah for what he has said. So Muslims are guided to be tolerant and not mix with such people whose talk is bad. But if you go on protest marches, or book-burning and threats to kill, then this gives Islam a bad name and people will not see the beauty of Islam.
Despite all this, it would be unjust if one were to ignore the real issue. It is unfair to condemn Khomeini only rather than Salman Rushdie, who has produced a book whose extreme language is deliberately offensive to the many millions of Muslims throughout the world. Nor is that all. The book helped to undermine peace between Muslims and Christians and others.
As for the Sudanese Teddy Bear incident, this was again an incident where they did not understand tolerance in Islam. There was no insult being made, if fact in a recent survey, the name Muhammad is one of the most popular names in the world and was the choice of the children she taught, not her choice. So such extremes no not represent the beautiful teachings of Islam.
On the other hand, the cartoons of the Holy Prophet, was an attempt to pour scorn on the Holy Prophet, but we have to be tolerate and understand that there are people who will make fun of religious leaders. We need to approach the people concerned and explain why we find this sort of cartoon offensive. If you do that, then they can maybe realise why we are offended, but if you start making protests and marches, then it only raises the intolerance of some people. So we should always respond with dignity and raise people to our level and not go down to other people’s level.
What does Islam teach about tolerance if someone leaves their religion?
Some Muslims believe that if a person leaves Islam then according to their understanding of the Islamic teachings, any person who becomes an apostate in Islam, then the punishment is death! Once again there is no such punishment mentioned in the Holy Qur’an!
The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 4, Verse 138 relates:
“Those who believe, then disbelieve, then again believe, then disbelieve and then increase in disbelief, Allah will never forgive them nor will He guide them to the right way.”
From this verse it is clear that it is Allah, not man, who will punish a person for apostasy. If the punishment was really death, then how does a person believe again when he is dead? At the end of the day, maybe they may come back to Islam or their children may become Muslims, but if you kill someone for leaving Islam, then they have no chance of coming back.
The Holy Qur’an stresses that “there is no compulsion in Islam” (Ch2: 257) Which means that you cannot and must not force your opinions on anyone, or force them to be a Muslim. Instead we should be tolerate of everyone’s believe and just explain in the best possible way what we believe and why we believe it.
What message can we give to help develop more tolerance?
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is spreading the message of Ahmadiyyat, the true Islam, throughout the world. This is not just a verbal message, but also a practical message as we try to ‘practise what we preach’.
I believe that we should all adopt the message of our motto ‘Love for All, Hatred for None’ and help each other and be more tolerate of each other
The Holy Prophet said, “Make religion easy for others to follow; do not make it difficult.
Similarly, present religion in a pleasing manner; do not make it repulsive to others.”
The Promised Messiah has said, “Remember that Allah loves compassion and kindness and wants us to be kind to His subject and people. If He liked harshness and selfishness, He would have prescribed that but such a teaching is below His Grace. He is the Gracious, the Merciful. Therefore, you who have a bond with me, remember, that you should be gracious to everyone regardless of his religion, creed or race. Be kind to everyone as that is the teaching of the Holy Quran”
The Holy Qur’an was sent as a gift to mankind, and its teachings are filled with love, tolerance and respect. It is through such attributes that we can achieve peace, an objective that our present Khalifa, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad has repeatedly emphasised whenever he visits a Country or opens a Mosque etc.:
“The world needs peace, love and brotherhood. The world needs an end to wars. Instead of walls of hatred being erected we need peace to prevail and for this to occur people of all faiths must join together.”