YESTERDAY it was the cartoons. Today we are busy with this chap in Afghanistan who decided to revert from Islam and become a Christian. I am always amazed at how busy we become with the peripherals even as we lose massive amounts of Muslim real estate in Palestine, Afghanistan and lastly Iraq.
To those who are pulling up their sleeves in anger, all in the name of Islam and the Quran, here is what the Quran, the book of Islam, has to say on the freedom of faith: "There is no compulsion in religion, truth stands out clear from error". (2-256)
Elsewhere addressing the Prophet, Allah says: "If it had been thy Lord’s will, all who are on earth would have believed. Wilt thou then compel humankind to become believers!" (10-99)
"If they turn away, We have not sent thee as a guard over them, Thy duty is only to convey [the Message]". (42-48)
There is a difference between a Murtad who after entering and then leaving the Islamic faith, joins the adversary to instigate or conduct war against the Muslim community having taken along secrets and spying on the community and a person who simply changes his religion but remains at peace with the Muslim community. The Murtad is what can be defined as a traitor who in many countries of the world, including Muslim countries, is punished in many cases by death regardless of religious faith.
Apostates was also a term given to those who, during the life of the prophet, bacame Muslims with an intention of re-verting back to their pagan/christian/jewish religion soon afterwards, creatin an illusion of 'been there done that and found nothing useful/divine' , in the minds of other's in the community or new muslims.
Such a mischief had to be stemmed and seriously dealt with. "Death to apostates" was a warning to "Study...Think...Rationalise...and finally Declare" that you have become a Muslims and accepted Islam as a pristine religion of God (Allah).
Having done that and taken your won sweet time to 'be convinced', then you are not allowed to get back on your vows. A very important and useful command to deal with mischief mongers there.
Now are the times when we are shamelessly willing to strike at one another on the flimsiest of pretexts, as happened in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq.
All the might and wealth of so called Islamic bloc of OPEC and OIC countries, is unable to help Hamas out of it's serious debt, when American's and Israeli's are against the palestinian's democratic right to choose whom they consider as best suited and most dedicated towards achieving freedom from occupiers.
Anyways..Muslim's puppet and impotent leadership aside, while we, as a community must respond, intellectually, to those who ridicule Islam in word, we Muslims must also remember that Islam is a religion, which has confidence in itself. Islam does not need to coerce people into Islam or retain its adherents through threats or the use of force. Islam’s view is, if you convert to Islam, it’s your gain, if you revert from Islam, it’s your loss. Islam has been around for 14 centuries, and without coercion, is the fastest growing religion today. Such is the self-confidence of Islam.
Rather than seek to punish those who revert from Islam, we must ask ourselves, what is it that could make adherents of Islam want to desert the faith? Are we as Muslims, by our behaviour, giving Islam a bad name? The answer to the second question is a definite Yes making Muslims and non-Muslims, especially those whose knowledge of Islam is scant, turn away from the faith. Let us not forget that most people judge religions on the basis of the behaviour of its followers. We cannot expect everyone to be a real intellectual — capable of seeing the big picture and distinguishing the message (Islam) from the medium (the Muslims) — who seeks the truth about the religion without any prejudice and bias.
-Abdullah Al Rahim-
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