being such an esteemed religious leader, i expected more than these covert quotations insinuating the evil and violent nature of islam and muslims. i've read
the speech in its entirety and couldn't even fathom a reason to keep the quotation. in no way was the speech about islam, about muslims or about the Prophet (saw). the only reason i could even think of talking about islam would to show the superiority of one religion over another. fine. understandable -- if the pope didnt believe catholicism to be superior to islam, he wouldn't be catholic. however, if one is going to denounce our religion, please do so on a philosophical, idealogical, scientific, etc, level. no reason to resort to such shallow propaganda.
however, being such esteemed religious leaders, i expected far more from our imams than these incendiary speeches calling for hatred and violence, threatening the vatican, killing innocents, or condoning attacks on churches. our Prophet (saw) was slandered (astagfirullah). it's not the first time it's been done, nor will it be the last. the first muslims endured infinitely worse conditions. they were slandered, beaten, outcast and hated. rocks were thrown at them, their families abandoned them and they went from being some of the most respected members of society to being spit upon in the streets. and no one endured more gruesome punish than our Rasool (saw). yet the only time there was a call for violence was after they were prevented from practicing their religion. even then, the rules for war were and are numerous, being sure to protect the innocent, making sure the *defense* was stopped when antagonism ended and more.
because of this, his character and his devotion to his religion, even the *enemies* of the Prophet (saw) respected him. when asked to comment on his character, they could say nothing but praise. and this is the man whose example we are commanded to follow.
let them talk, slander, call muslims obscene names, torture us and hate us. let them do what they will, do their worst because regardless, we'll constantly correct their misconceptions, prove them wrong with our own actions, and stand for justice and truth REGARDLESS of the perpetrators of atrocities. nothing they say can lessen the love for Allah (swt) and His messenger (saw) in my heart and nothing they say can force me to react in such a way that compromises my deen. inshaAllah.
far more eloquent and knowledgeable than myself,
zaid shakir recently gave a speech on the topic which i hope we all can benefit from. no, the entire speech isnt in arabic -- only the first two mins or so, since he opens with a dua (supplication).
salaam.
f
