Opinion of Dr Maher Hathout, Senior Advisor and one of the founders of the Muslim Public Affairs Council.
Dr. Hathout's activism and scholarship began as a young man in Egypt, yielding a level of experiences, wisdom and truly unique perspective that has benefited and captured the American public for years.
Since 1971 Dr. Hathout has developed his reputation as an international figure who is a highly regarded voice of Islam with a wide girth of knowledge spanning everything from Islamic jurisprudence, history and Qur'anic studies to a range of national and international issues of importance to Muslims and non-Muslims alike, in addition to maintaining a full time Medical Practice in Duarte, CA where he practiced Cardiology and Internal Medicine
Below are excerpts from a live dialogue session on Islam-Online:
http://www.islamonline.net/livedialogue/english/Guestcv.asp?hGuestID=TNFyAgDate Thursday,Mar 2 ,2006
Name wafa -
Question
Assalamu 'alaikum, Dr. Hathout. How does a true believer respond to insults?
Answer
Wa'alykum assalamu rahmatullah.
We find the answer clearly stated in the Qur'an when Allah SWT talks about those who would control their anger and even goes further to recommend forgiveness. The verse goes as follows: "Those who spend (freely), w hether in prosperity, or in adversity; who restrain anger, and forgive (all) people; for Allah loves those who do good." (Ali-'Imran: 134)
The Qur'an also teaches us: " Hold to forgiveness; command what is right; but turn away from the ignorant." (Al-'Araf: 199)
Therefore, a Muslim is not supposed to respond to an insult by another insult, especially in the area of religion because what others may insult is dearer and more important to us than anything else.
Name Abdul - United States
Question Assalamu Alaikum Dr. Maher Hathout,
What do you think is the intention behind those who desecrated the Quran in Guantanamo Bay and those who published Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) caricature in Danish Newspaper?
Answer
I think the intention is to provoke us in a way that makes us behave the way they want us to behave. So at the end of the day, and in the eyes of the world, Islam and Muslims are depicted in a negative image. We should never enable our enemy to make us hurt ourselves. We have to remember that the Qur'an and the towering figure of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) are two strong and two big to be affected by these a cts of stupid impoliteness.
Name Abdul - United States
Question
Recently a minister in India offered a reward of $11.5 million to anyone who would kill any of the cartoonists who drew the images of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). He also said that the people of Meerut, a city in India will pay the money, Muslim women in Uttar Pradesh, a state in India have decided to give away their jewelry to weigh in gold any one who beheads the cartoonist and the minister himself will give his weight in gold.
In your opinion, what kind of role should the Muslim scholars, organizations and media outlets play to strike a difference in the attitude of masses so that they don't get misled by someone's speech or statements?
Answer
I think it is a responsibility of the 'ulema (scholars), the thinkers and intellectuals of the ummah to make the Islamic teachings very clear to the masses. Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) was persecuted and insulted during his life and he did not react in such a gang style way.
Moreover, the person who kills for money is a bloody murderer, not devout to Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) or to his teachings.
Name Abdul - United States
Question
How would you define an intellectual, professional and peaceful approach that Muslims need to undertake when countering insults and that way it completely stops or at least minimizes similar incidents from re-occurring?
Answer
I think if we focus on the positive attitude without falling into blinding anger, we will then be able to offer the truth in a dignified, convincing way. For example, our response to the insults directed to Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) should have been a widespread education about how Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) benefited humanity at large and how his mission made life better and offered to human civilization factors that were non-existent before.
To give few examples: how the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) stressed the importance of public education, while education before him was a privilege to certain people or class. Others examples are the scientific exploration and research which was considered heresy before; the equalit y between genders; and the fact that a ruler is elected as a servant to the masses – these are just but few of so many principles of progress that Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) offered. This will be more appropriate than burning embassies or a stepping on a flag.
Name afaaq - Pakistan
Profession student
Question
As-salaam-u-Alikum
Q. In Islam,The Muslims are not allowed to say anything negative about the religion of disbelievers otherwise they will abuse and curse our religion.But In The case of Anti-Prophetic Cartoons we had not hurt the disbelievers but they i nsulted our Holy Prophet (SAW).Now What we should do?
Answer
We are not allowed to return the insult by another insult; an evil will not correct another evil. The Qur'an states that "good and evil will never be equal, so repel what is evil by what is good until your enemy turns around to be your close friend." (Fussilat: 34)
I understand that we feel the hurt when someone talks ill about our beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), but this hurt should never dictate the way we deal and the way we react; otherwise, we will be equal and we have to maintain the high moral ground because this is the mandate of Islam on us.
Name Raed Faleh - Belgium
Question
I understand that the lack of dialogue between the east and the west was a main factor in escalating the latest Danish problem, but to be frank, the inter-faith dialogues that took place during the past years, achieved very little in bringing harmony and raising awareness about Islam. The marginalization of Arab and Muslim countries was quite obvious, and the topics discussed are usually superficial and not tackling the real problems happening on the ground. Do you think ther e is an imminent need for dialogue taking serious actions on hate crimes, religious hatred, civil liberties, respecting faiths and religious figures?
Answer
I think dialogues on the issues you mentioned is an essential step. The results will be better if people who are conducting the dialogue have the experience and the confidence in their own religion and the respect to others. This will make the dialogue more fruitful; otherwise, it will be just ceremonial and it will not result in what we are hoping for.
Name M. Kaloosa - Austria
Question
Could you give us some examples of how Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) used to respond to insults, I mean in terms of religious freedom, personal life, political international affairs, etc?
Answer
The examples that Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) offered to us are so many. I can mention two wonderful ones
1. When God sent Gabriel to him to giving him the choice of destroying those who insulted him by th e mountains collapsing upon them, the response of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was, "no, I ask Allah to guide them because they lack knowledge."
2. On writing the treaty of Hudaybiya, when the Quraish representatives refused to write the phrase, 'In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful' and wanted to modify it to a more neutral language - which was in "Thy Name, my Lord" – the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) conceded to their request. And when he was dictating the terms of the treaty saying, 'this is the agreement between Muhammad, the messenger of God, and Quraish' again Quraish representatives objected to this part saying, "if we acknowledge you as the messenger of God, then what will dispute be about?" And Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) did not want to take a rigid position for the sake of peace and he said, "Ok, we can write, Muhammad, son of Abdullah instead." This glaring example shows an amount of tole rance and accommodation that we need to learn from.
Name Imadi, Addo -
Question
It is true the insults to Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) were quite deplorable, but the way many Muslims all over the world reacted was truly objectionable as well. I would like to ask about the reason that makes both parties to take the extremes.
Answer
I agree with your statement that they have been extreme elements on both sides that made a bad situation worst.
As for Muslims, they now live through very difficult times that unfortunately make them more vulnerable to an emotional reaction. I call on my brothers and sisters in Islam, everywhere, to be self-confident and have the confidence in our religion so that we don't feel that it is threatened by every hateful or impolite provocation. Only then can we react in a way that turns the challenge into an opportunity, and we can even gain more hearts and minds for Islam.
As for why the other parties take extreme situations, it is actually attributed to many reasons, some of them are the results of ignorance, or the brainwash by wicked propaganda or by historical factors, and with all honesty, some of them are genuinely afraid of Muslims because of the ugly images attributed to some Muslim extremists. These extremists are feeding to the environment of fear and hysteria that the enemies of Islam are propagating.
More on the site.
Peace.
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