How should Muslims react to Instigative Emotional Accesses

Islam is the fastest growing religion of the world and many countries are fearing that in time Islam may overtake Christianity which at present dominates the religion chart. Many non Muslims, instead of acknowledging the main cause of true growth rate, attribute the larger family size the cause of the fast growth rate of Muslims. But the fact of the matter is that most non Muslims embracing Islam confess that they finally found the truth in Islam and they had had no regret leaving their faith of birth. As per one estimate, there are 2.1 billion Christians while Islam is just trailing closely with 1.3 billion Muslims around the globe.

These 'alarming' figures make many worry and thus there is a deliberate effort of propagating the concept of "Islamophobia" and funding mercenaries and dissidents in the garb of ISIS and other terrorist groups to destabilize the world peace and thus throw all blame of the unrest on Islam. In most European countries, where Islam is the second major religion, a wave of disinformation is being spread twisting verses of Qur'an or using them out of context to mislead people and show supremacy of Bible. I have written a post earlier on the subject "Disinformation about Islam" quoting many Christian sites which aim to spread disinformation and have given counter arguments to put the records straight.

However, those feeling threatened by spread of Islam have now started another campaign: Maligning the Prophet of Allah, Muhammad (peace be upon him) by publishing derogatory caricatures to instigate Muslims to retaliate and then label Islam as violent and terrorist. The Charlie Hebdo of Paris did exactly the same which disturbed peace due to retaliation of Muslims. Instead of condemning the newspaper for the instigative caricatures, millions around the world who had likely never picked up a copy of Charlie Hebdo embraced the slogan "Je suis Charlie" in solidarity

While much of the (Christian) world has rallied in solidarity with the publication, its irreverent cartoonists and their right to free speech, there were some saner rejections too. Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, a U.S. organization that "defends the rights of Catholics," issued a statement titled "Muslims are right to be angry." In it, Donohue criticized the publication's history of offending the world's religiously devout, including non-Muslims. In fact his statement ended with a quote from U.S. founding father James Madison: "Liberty may be endangered by the abuses of liberty, as well as by the abuses of power." In other words, we may be free to speak, but we have to appreciate the value of that right.

But not learning any lessons from the French episode of defaming the Prophet of Islam, only this year in June, Geert Wilders, a member of Netherlands parliamentarian decided to hold a competition on caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in November this year. This time it drew much criticism from around the world, specially Pakistan, and Geert Wilders was forced to cancel the competition, but has vowed to still go ahead with his sinister plan sometime in future. For he is of the opinion: “The contest is not meant to provoke, but to show that we do not haggle with our freedom.”

The very purpose of such instigative emotional accesses is very clear: To hurt Muslims by hitting at the revered personality of the last messenger of Allah, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) by taking the cover of freedom of speech and expression. And when Muslims retaliate, they should be labelled as terrorists and violators of world peace. But they fail to understand that despite all their negativities about Islam, people are still attracted to Islam and everyday more and more non Muslims come under the fold of Islam for they believe they have finally found the truth. Please read many such personal experiences shared in our blog under the heading of Embracing Islam.

Now how should Muslims react to this emotional instigation? We as Muslims must understand that Islam is religion of peace and that is how the Prophet of Allah it demonstrated by His daily routine of life, expecting Muslims to emulate His life, live peacefully and spread the message by their peaceful behaviour so that others are naturally attracted to Islam, Killing in response to insult, no matter how gross, must be unequivocally condemned.

Here I would like to quote a few instances from the practical life of the Prophet of Allah to show how he always exercised restraint even in the face of extreme provocation and maltreatment:

• Once while in the company of His companions, a person walked in and straightaway went to the Prophet of Allah and demanded return of money that the Prophet had taken as a loan from. Now well imagine, a person of the stature of a prophet, yet He was so hard pressed to obtain loan from others. While the Prophet asked for some time, the man got furious and took old of the collar of Prophet's shirt. This naturally infuriated the companions and they got up to take the man away. But the Prophet of Allah mentioned them to stay calm and said: Since I owe him, he has all the right to demand it back. 
• There was a disbeliever old women who whenever the Prophet walked past her house, she would throw garbage on her. But the Prophet never uttered a word or showed any reaction. And one day when the Prophet passed by her home and she did not get out, the Prophet knocked her house to inquire whether she was well or otherwise.
• When the Prophet of Allah visited Taif for conveying the message of Allah, the disbelievers of the city not only rejected Him outrightly and stoned him to an extent that his whole body was covered in blood. Seeing the plight of His prophet, Allah sent His angel Jibraeel (Gabriel) for help. Angel Gabriel asked the Prophet that if he allowed,  He (angel Gabriel) could bring devastation on the people who have so hurt the Prophet of Allah. But Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) told him not to do anything of the sort, for one day people of city would repent their action and come under the fold of Islam. And after capture of Makkah, the entire people living in the lands around including Taif embraced Islam.

What do these incidents show: Restraint even in the face of extreme provocation. And this is the lesson that we have to learn and exhibit in true letter and spirit. In fact the degradation of status of Prophet of Allah is acceptance of His high status which threatens the non Muslims and is one of the major causes of many of them embracing Islam for the entire life of the Prophet has been a role model for all future generations.

It is now our duty as Muslims to not only inculcate the habits and lifestyle of the Prophet in our personalities and exhibit the same practically in our daily life so that non Muslims take a carry-able impression and seek truth and become Muslims. 

In the wake of recent acts of violence, see how the Australian newspaper has captioned the news and how one of our recently converted Muslim friend responded in his message on the Facebook:

We should also try to dispel the wrong picture painted about Islam and Prophet of Allah and try to explain the true message of Islam that is embodied in the Holy Qur'an and infused in the life of the Holy Prophet, for He was a walking Qur'an for no action of His ever defied the message contained in Qur'an and commandments of Allah. The disinformation spread deliberately against Islam and Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) needs to be dispelled with by reasoning and logics and not by emotional outburst and violence which will take people away from Islam and paint it as violent and inhuman. The message of peace of Islam would get blurred by our illogical and emotional response to the machinations and Instigative Emotional Accesses by the non Muslims.

Now listen to the video below of the learned Islamic scholar Professor Ghamdi on the subject and understand how Muslims should react when someone tries to instigate them emotionally. (The video is in Urdu)

So Muslims, please cling to the peaceful Islam and do not get lured into Instigative Emotional Accesses by the non Muslims and DO NOT act irrationally by resorting to violence. Remember, reasoning and logic is much effective response than violence. Indulge into discussions with non Muslims to tell them What is Right and the plain Truth, rather then arguing with them to prove who is right.

Photo | References: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |

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