A great Muslim scholar named Ibn Ata Allah Al-Iskandari once said:
"What has he found who has lost God?"
Well, some must have found something like ISIS.
The Muslim world today has been hurt and crushed by the brutality of ISIS. The Muslim world is also fed up with the ignorance of Islamophobic people every time ISIS unleash their savagery. In fact, when it comes to Islam, the minds of ISIS and Islamophobic groups function exactly the same way: They read and interpret Quranic texts with no slight knowledge of the religion. I am not trying to defend Islam, because this religion doesn’t need me or anyone to defend it, It is and will always remain sacred no matter what. It's all in the Quran and the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.S), but if one reads it with the intentions to find justifications for whatever base claim or desire he or she has, then your reading will do nothing but unleash a hidden pile of hate and ignorance.
The prophet taught Islam and Islamic law to the Ummah- back then (The Muslim Nation) in different ways. Islamic law is never about finding bits and pieces in the Quran and say for example: "Ohh well, enslavement exists in the Quran so it's part of the religion". No, it does not work like that, it never has and never will. In Islam, there is the Tafsseer of the Quran (interpretation and explanation of the Quran) that is allowed by licensed scholars only, not just by any practicing Muslim or anyone claims to be one); there is Ijtihad (diligence) which is an obligatory innovation in Islam, in which a licensed scholar exhaust himself to find the right answer that meets the core principles of Islam, and there is the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammed. In Islamic tradition, a verse in the Quran functions as part of the argument, and it's not conclusive unless it's entirely engaged, and dealt with by the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad. In other words, we take the Quran and the Sunnah together to understand how Prophet Muhammad taught and embodied Islam, and where he wants people who practice Islam to go with their faith.
For the ISIS, Islam is a pretext, an excuse to justify their absolute atrocities. For the Prophet Muhammad sincere Muslims, Islam is a context, a path based on a series of deeds and actions to become closer to God by being a better person with oneself and others. What ISIS did, does and will always do is misusing the Islamic tradition by finding loopholes for whatever personal objective they have and relate it to Islam, because for them Islam is not about becoming a better person but about licensing wars, ravage, enslavement, death, and oppression and in that sense, it is as far away from God and the prophet Muhammad as one can possibly be.
ISIS cannot even be called “Muslim extremists”; they are entirely outside the Islamic law and tradition. In fact, for a hyper-violent group like this one, the only real claim to being Islamic is that they claim to be Islamic and the only Muslims who think ISIS represents Islam, or even Muslims, are ISIS themselves. This diabolical cult has blown up copies of the Quran, murdered, burned, raped, enslaved, ethnically cleansed, extorted and behead thousands of people around the world, be Muslim or non-Muslim. ISIS is attacking anyone who oppose their satanic views. So, it doesn't make any sense to turn the “ISIS” threats and brutality into a fight about Islam. In fact, It has always been obvious that this analysis is nothing but a lazy and tedious Islamophobic answer to explain the atrocity of ISIS.
Despite the fact that Muslims are speaking out loudly and constantly sayings that ISIS has nothing to do with Islam, international media remains a nest of hate when it comes to Islam, providing false and intriguing arguments and statements about the religion. What are the reasons behind the ISIS surge? What is the appeal that ISIS has that lured an estimated 4,000 Westerners* to travel to Syria and Iraq, with over 550 women and girls* within this figure? Instead of searching for real answers to such questions, the media’s role focuses on circulating false analysis of Islam, promoting a toxic environment of hate and ignorance about the religion. The real questions are being asked constantly and yet very little work has been done to not only answer these questions but to build sustainable preventative measures.
Partnerships between the media, all governments, private sectors and civil society organizations is extremely important to face this phenomenon. There is no difference between the Islamophobic people who relate Islam to ISIS and ISIS itself, for both groups start the act of hate they want to conduct first, then look for whatever argument to convince themselves that this is the correct way to interpret Islamic texts.
If you want to learn the truth of Islam, start long road trips and tech-free journeys outside your digital cage on which you have no wireless signal, but rather an open heart and mind.
No comments:
Post a Comment