Muhammad Will Remain Muhammad

It is entirely natural that the filthy, squalid film which was shot in America to insult our master Muhammad (peace be upon him) should encounter different reactions in the Islamic world, particularly in the large general absence of any rational religious authorities capable of presenting a united front with Muslims from Tangiers to Jakarta.

It is odd that the West, which claims to be a civilization founded on mutual dialogue, from time to time falls into the snare of opposing the Islamic world by remaining silent about these criminal works which violate the honor of every Muslim on earth, living or dead. The West dashes off these idiotic and naïve justifications for every such work which violates Islam’s holy objects, until it absolutely confirms this position by having its leaders come out to us and say: These works fall under freedom of opinion and expression!

Since when has “freedom of opinion and expression” allowed the denigration of others? Trivializing their most sacrosanct and holy values? We as Muslims have no problem with the West; Islam requires that we recognize others, including their ideas, religion and civilization. Islam draws on all the civilizations and religions that preceded it, interacts with them, benefits from them and adds to them, without trying to annul or antagonize them. Our creed obligates us to acknowledge the other revealed religions, and he is a sinner before God who violates another’s religion or prophet, or tries to force them to change their beliefs. “There shall be no compulsion in the acceptance of religion.” [Q 2:256] The problem from the other side is that fundamentally it does not acknowledge Islam as a creed and civilization, perceives it as an annulment of itself and therefore has no option but to clash with it. Throughout history, this belief has caused many clashes between the West, newly entered into Christianity, and the Muslim East.

In fairness to history, the herald of clashes between religions and civilizations came from the newly-converted West, as we say. There is no fundamental clash between Islam and Christianity; Eastern Christians are not a separate part of our nation, but an integral pillar of our structure. History has witnessed the most remarkable cooperation between Muslims and Christians, the keepers of the message of Christ (peace upon him) in the East. History has recorded some discord along this enlightened path during the decline in the spread of the Christian and Muslim faiths, encouraged by immediate neighbors who did not wish either side well.

Returning to the offensive film, we are sure that this work is more offensive to Westerners than Muslims, as Muhammad (peace be upon him) will remain in human minds, and in the reckonings of heaven and earth, as the greatest of God’s creations, the greatest reformer in history, and the greatest revolutionary, even in the West’s own conception. Thousands of Western thinkers have borne written witness to this; these provocations are nothing more than trivialities whose scant value holds no threat. However, they indicate the extent of Jewish penetration into America and the West, their control over the minutiae of politics, ideas and the media and their use of the more anonymous prophets as fuel for the ongoing conflict between us and them.

Unfortunately, most politicians and thinkers in Europe and America are aware of this fact, but because of many considerations — Jewish control over minutiae of events there, and the power of their pressure — they try to disregard it. They accept that their countries and peoples are being driven to a battle in which they have no part.

The position required of us this time with regards to these provocations, the rational position, is inconsistent with sentiments which will soon fade; we must present a cold, hard, studied position, while assessing the role of Islamic foundations working in Europe and America to convey the true Islam to many different people there.

We must not feel broken in the face of these insults to our great Prophet, our master and master of all creation (peace be upon him). Since the dawn of his call to Islam, since he first heard harsh words directed at him, he resisted insults from all sides who did not want blessing for creation and humanity, from unbelievers in the Quraysh to roving and heathen tribes in modern centuries whose arrogance is imitated by countries all over the world, to the Jews who continue to manage and steer such campaigns to this day against Muhammad and his call.

Muhammad will eternally remain Muhammad; he is God’s Prophet and the greatest and most honored of all His creations, and he will remain distinct in human history. It is we who are disgraced by these campaigns, because we are no longer able to carry his message and no longer as faithful, and we practice apostasy every day — every hour, in fact.