Few months passed now after the fuss and the wide wave of condemnation that had been (risen) amid/after a young man from Saudi Arabia posted three tweets in the day of “mawlid an-nabawi”… death threats , calls for public execution and even xenophobic comments erupted on several websites and forums.
The tweets which could be interpreted in many ways expressed according to many internet users blasphemous ideas that deserve harsh punishment. And in a short time what was supposed to be a simple tweet of a confused young man has become a national issue. In few days thousands of comments and tweets were posted in reaction to what hamza wrote and called for the government to arrest him which pushed Kashgari to flee the country. Unfortunately for him , Saudi authorities who has good relations with Malaysia and under large pressure from conservatives issued an international warranty to get him home and succeeded to get him deported from KL despite a court ruling that suspend the deportation.
Ultra conservative powers in Saudi Arabia found in the story an opportunity to wage a campaign of slander and defamation against the growing liberal elite and accuse them of pushing young people towards rebellion and blasphemy. The accusation went even to pretend that what Hamza said in public is exactly the same as what his “teachers” say in private. Then, the campaign against Hamza became a campaign against freedom of expression and calls for more restrictions on newspapers and websites.
The incredible amount of hate comments on the net witnesses of the rage and anger caused by the tweets, but the irony is that all this so much hate was came in the name of the love of the prophet , the prophet we pretend to be a prophet of love and mercy and tolerance . “the prophet of love and mercy” !!! shouldn’t this make us hold on for a moment to think again ? what would the prophet himself do to in this case ? what does the Quran tell us to do with people like hamza or even the “burn Quran day” guy from Florida ? what must we do with people who insult , verbally attack, or mock our religion or our prophet ?
It is so clear that people who engaged themselves in the campaign against Kashgari never asked themselves these questions, and obviously didn’t read or just ignored the following verses.
“And when you see those engaged in [offensive] discourse concerning our verses, then turn away from them until they enter into another conversation. And if Satan cause you to forget, then do not remain after reminder with the wrongdoing people” [6:68]
It seems that simply what Muslims must do when their religion is attacked is to turn away from the person/people who mock or insult their religion. Nothing more nothing less.
“And it has already come down to you in the Book that when you hear the verses of Allah [recited], they are denied [by them] and ridiculed; so do not sit with them until they enter into another conversation. Indeed, you would then be like them” [4:140]
So even when the verse of Allah are denied and ridiculed all what we have to do is do not sit with them, and as it is clear , we can sit and talk with them if they change the conversation… What I do understand from this verse is that I should never overreact to any attack and let others say whatever they want , I have just to ignore them when there is no way to a fruitful conversation. In many times the Qur’an ask us to “let them say what they want” “turn away from them” and described the believers as those who “… turn away from ill speech” [23:3] … “And when they hear ill speech, they turn away from it and say, “For us are our deeds, and for you are your deeds. Peace will be upon you; we seek not the ignorant” otherwise they have to engage in conversations with the best manner.
“Invite to the way of your Lord with wisdom and good instruction, and argue with them in a way that is best. Indeed, your Lord is most knowing of who has strayed from His way, and He is most knowing of who is [rightly] guided” [16:125]
“And do not argue with the People of the Scripture except in a way that is best, except for those who commit injustice among them, and say, “We believe in that which has been revealed to us and revealed to you. And our God and your God is one; and we are Muslims [in submission] to Him” [29:46]
“And not equal are the good deed and the bad. Repel [evil] by that [deed] which is better; and thereupon the one whom between you and him is enmity [will become] as though he was a devoted friend” [41:34]
It is strange that people who pretend to be more religious were the more noisy and the less calm in Kashgari’s case to the contrary of what the Qur’an instructs them, Somehow; the attitude of some of the conservatives does not differ so much from the attitude of the Pharisees in the time of Jesus Christ (priests who refused Jesus in the name of the law and in the name of Moses) . and what we Muslims have to understand is that the true faith make of a Muslim a calm person, someone who control his emotions and think … true faith is not about to believe blindly and get herd mentality ,
what we need is to restore the teachings of jests and Muhammad about love, tolerance and mercy. Instead of the values of hatred and intolerance coming from those who pretend to speech in the name of Moses, jests and Muhammad
regardless of what hamza wanted to say by his “infamous” or “misunderstood” tweets; what remains is a real challenge to Muslims to decide whether to choose the way of sensationalism and brainless reactions against any criticism or even provocation , or to choose to get calm and try to understand the other, or at least to just ignore the provocation as the Quran teaches us . because after all if there is an “infamous” thing in all the story of Hamza Kashgari is the way we reacted to it.
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