Nabeel Speaks

I seek refuge with God from the accursed devil.

In the name of God most gracious ,most merciful.

All praise be to God Lord of the worlds.Prayers and peace be upon beloved Prophet Muhammad and upon his family and companions.

There is tradition of the holy Prophet that says what means,"

The ink of the learned will be weighed against the blood of the martyrs on the Resurrection Day" and in another narration it says what means the ink will be found to weigh more than the blood of martyrs.so the least we can do is speak out against what is wrong and praise what is right.

In the last week or so i have heard so much about the atrocities and killings that are being perpetrated by so called muslims around the world because of some foolish ones who decided to defame and disrespect our beloved and holy beloved Prophet (may peace and blessings be upon him).

I am asking all muslims Did our Prophet (saws) retaliate the way you are now ?

{and when the foolish address them (with bad words) they reply back with mild words of gentleness.}(Al-Furqan 25:63)

　

The real problem facing the Muslim world today is how to stop violent protesters from becoming the face of the religion. In order to do that, we need more Muslims educated and speak against the misrepresentation of Islam.

Research shows that the people behind “Innocence of Muslims,” the film which disrespects Islam and the Prophet Muhammad (saws) and set off riots across the Middle East after it was uploaded to YouTube, are nothing more than a few disgruntled individuals. They produced a very a low cost, low quality film which aims to mock the beloved Prophet Muhammad (saws), and present Islam as a violent and irrational religion.

The producers of the film were able to achieve more than what they desired or expected. It was not the film itself that had an impact on those watching, but rather the violent response of Muslims protesting the film in Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Sudan and other countries. These violent protests gave power to the film. Without them, it is probably fair to guess that the film would not have gotten any attention or almost any views.

Now thousands of people are watching the trailer due to the protestors. Since one of the goals of the film is to show Muslims as violent irrational people.The violent protestors are inadvertantly supporting the negative image that the film propagates by committing these atrocities. Those who do not know much about Islam or Muslims are watching the protests on television; they see Muslims attacking embassies, and appearing angry and untrustworthy.

If we take a deeper look, I am convinced that the self-proclaimed Muslims attacking embassies and foreigners are the true enemies of Islam. It is they who are insulting the holy Prophet's (saws) legacy more than any film or production. The real challenge facing Muslims today is how stop such people from becoming the face of Islam.

The film is disgusting and disrespectful, but should these protestors kill diplomats,let alone ,destroy others property ? These diplomats are guests that should be respected. One cannot fix a wrong with another wrong.Attacking Americans or foreigners to punish a few individuals behind the film is a criminal act. Instead, a good Muslim would follow in the footsteps of Prophet Muhammad (saws). The Prophet (saws) used to tell his followers not to respond to insults with insults, but rather to do good to those who insult.

He (saws) said, “I have family that I do good to them, but they insult me, and I visit them and they don’t reciprocate. Therefore choose the better path. A person you have enmity with, be to him like a dear friend.” Perhaps the self righteous Muslims who are violently protesting should take more time to learn about Islam, rather than use it in a disgraceful way.

According to the Hadith (saying of the Prophet), the Prophet(saws) said, “he who believes in God and the Last Day must honor his guest” (Sahih Bukhari). When the prophet was asked by other Muslims to pray against their unbeliever enemies, he responded. “I was not sent to curse but to be merciful” (Sahih Muslim).

One of the stories I learned in the begining of my islamic education is about the Prophet’s neighbor who hated him. This person would leave dump his garbage outside the Prophet’s house every day without fail. One day, the neighbor was to sick to leave his garbage. The Prophet (saws) was so concerned for his neighbor that he went to visit him at his home in order to offer his assistance and at his coming ,that person accepted islam.

Now, as I watch the television stations and read abotu all of the riots and chaos. I ask myself why? Where did these people get their knowledge from? These self-righteous muslims and protestors are the ones insulting the Prophet (saws)and his legacy. While thousands of people are dying on a daily basis in Syria, these protestors seem more concerned with a crappy film than with innocent lives .Why aren’t they in streets protesting the massacres in Syria?

Muslims today face a challenge to protect Islam from radicals and ignorance. Preachers, leaders and Muslim communities must speak louder and louder against such violence. However, the ignorance is a result of an education failure.

Many of the Islamic nations are highly uneducated as well religiously uneducated.Many families force the highly intelligent children who have reached high grade levels to study medicine,computers and other such secular degrees leaving only those who did not reach such potential to then persue islamic religious studies.Many governments have been hunting and killing islamic scholars and locking them up as in syria and saudi arabia under the banner of " war against terror" just because they had a different ideology than the saudi government.This is the state of the religious education in many of these coutries that we now see the attrocities happeneing in.It is also a portent of the end times as the tradition go that in the end people will take ignorant people as their leaders (teachers). These protestors did not learn the propper Islam that teaches peace and love we  in america and other western countries are afforded now and days, but rather have gotten a corrupted version by corrupt and uneducated self proclaimed scholars which calls for violence.

Yet in the midst of this terrible moment, I found some inspiration. My encouragement came from Libya, the place where U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens was killed last week. People came out and spoke up against the thugs and killers in the name of Islam. Some Muslims decided to stand up to those trying to brand Islam as a violent, intolerant religion. Most importantly, they were willing to take responsibility. During the protest, people held signs denouncing the murder of the American ambassador. Other signs disowned the killers and apologized to the American people.

I believe the people in the photo represent the silent majority among Muslims. They represent a majority that needs to follow in the footsteps of the courageous ones who speak up and defend their faith. This is the kind of protest that honors Islam and the Prophet Muhammad (saws). Now, we need more Muslims to be like them in all countries and stand up, get out and speak up for peace and against the misrepresentation of Islam.