Islamophobia – a thousand years of deadly lies
What we are witnessing in today’s socio-political climate is not the first period of intense propagation of Islamophobia in the West. There have been a few other periods which stand out in history and each is intimately linked with empire.
In the 11th century, Pope Urban II spread baseless fear of Islām to a European population who would have had almost no interaction with Muslims. He claimed that “Christianity was in dire peril, threatened by invasion and appalling oppression”.[1] Ostensibly, his call to arms was to liberate Jerusalem from the Muslim infidels, but coming as it did soon after the beginning of the Spanish Reconquista, the capture of Sicily and expansion into Scandinavia from Sweden to Finland, forcing conversion to Christianity as they went, it’s safe to assume it was a smear campaign designed to recruit and motivate troops for an eastward expansion of the Christian Empire. When the streets of Jerusalem and every conquered city on the way ran thick with innocent Muslim blood it was the Islamophobic propaganda that allowed the Christian soldiers to be certain their killing was just and righteous; they had been convinced the Muslims were the aggressors and they therefore believed they were acting in self-defense.
700 years later and the Christian empire’s expansion had, by military conquest, captured almost the entire world. Not least of all by the British who had assumed themselves rightful rulers of India and considered the people therein to be their subjects. In 1857 those subjects “mutinied”. When news of this ingrate behaviour reached England, newspapers published embellished stories of barbarism by the Indians including mass rape and mutilation of British women and girls, claims later found to be baseless.
The reality was that just as many Hindus objected to British rule as did Muslims and the grievances were far broader than publicly admitted. Instead, the telling of the story was restricted to soldiers objecting to the use of pig tallow on gunpowder cartridges designed to be bitten; a nice, simple explanation that persists in the public consciousness to this day. It was said to be an honest mistake by the manufacturers and therefore it is an explanation which maintains the essential illusion of innocence of the imperialists, deflecting blame from years of British foreign policy and placing it back squarely onto the “extremism” instilled in the Indians by their religion. The Guardian of 30th June 1857, speaking about the “insurgency”, states:
“Our readers are familiar enough with the original source of the mischief – a report, whether true or false, that the cartridges served out to the troops had each been smeared in hog’s fat.” “Similar disturbances have before been aroused by causes still more trifling among these excitable and suspicious Orientals.”[2]
The more insignificant the trigger seems to non-Muslims the more the accusation of “unreasonable fanaticism” will ring true. With the mutiny being blamed on orthodox Muslim agitators and not foreign policy, the British public called for merciless retribution to right the wrong done to them. An estimated 100,000 Indians were massacred with many tied to the front of cannons that were then fired.[3] This awe-inspiring deterrent was perhaps what the Guardian journalist had in mind when he called for a response “Impressive enough to produce the requisite sense of awe and horror which should belong to a soldier’s idea of mutiny and its consequences.”
But then, interestingly, back in the UK in 1889, only 32 years later, the first mosque was built; the Shah Jahan Mosque in Woking, named after a Muslim Emperor of India. Another hundred years on and there are three times more Muslims than Hindus in the UK. In fact, Muslims were so particularly welcome in the UK that in 1961 the British government, four years into a Tory term, commissioned films to be distributed by the Foreign Office to encourage Muslims to emigrate here.
Incredibly the films started by suggesting that emigration to the UK was a religious duty in order to give da’wah or, at the very least, the British establishment understood the concept of da’wah being an acceptable reason for Muslims to leave Dar al-Islām and they were not afraid of a little Islamic proselytizing:
“Allāhu akbar, Allāhu akbar. This religion is sweet, that came to Prophet Muḥammed and filled the world with goodness and light. Allāhu akbar, Allāhu akbar. This religion is right. The Prophet emigrated in order to spread the message of the religion and its teachings, thus leading the way for Muslims to emigrate and travel”.
Interviewed British dignitaries described the equality and freedom Muslims were offered in the UK while the film showed that they were able to maintain everything essential to the Muslim way of life; they could pray, have mosques, madrasas, halāl meat. Numerous mentions were made of local ladies marrying Muslims and converting to Islām, including an interview with a revert who was fluent in Arabic and ran a madrasa.
WATCH: “Moslems in Britain – Cardiff 1961”
It seems that when there is no effort made to spread anti-Islām propaganda the reality becomes clear; Muslims and Christians get along fine. It should come as no surprise as we have so much in common; our understanding of the nature of the creator, His creation and the requirements made on humans are all very similar, whereas, the eastern religions of Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism are much more alien to the Western mind.
So what about this current period, what has Islām to do with the current upsurge in Islamophobia? Just as before, the answer is almost nothing.
After WW2 the European powers relinquished colonial control of the Arab lands to be replaced by US and some Soviet dominance. It was a more subtle colonialism where a threat to a friendly country was seen as a threat to US interests, along the lines of a mafia protection racket. As long as the Arab leaders dealt favourably with the Western powers everyone would get along fine, and the Arabian Peninsula leaders have done just that ever since. The threat to the status quo came not from the orthodox Muslims of the Arabian Peninsula but from the Arab nationalist and secularist leaders of the North African and Levant Arab states who played the Soviets and Americans off against each other.
On the border between the Soviet empire and nations with US influence sat Afghanistan. In the late 70s it became the battleground in a proxy war. Even before the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan the US began a program to fund, arm and train a new generation of Mujāhidīn, a term not seen since the British were beaten back from Afghanistan a hundred years before. Crucially the US encouraged their resistance to Russian occupation on religious rather than nationalist grounds. Perhaps they did this because the orthodox Muslims of Arabia were western allies throughout the first and second world wars and had been far less trouble for the inexperienced US imperialists than the Arab nationalists in the period since.
In 1979 United States National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski was filmed addressing a crowd of Mujāhidīn, looking like the Al Baghdadi of his day with index finger raised, telling them their war was a holy war, to fight for their mosques and that god was on their side.[4]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEw4Kt0sd0g
As well as encouraging thousands of foreign fighters to join this “holy war”,[5] incredibly the CIA provided American-made jihad-inspiring school books for locals with titles such as “The Alphabet for Jihād Literacy”.[6] In 2005 Tony Blair’s Foreign Secretary Robin Cook summed up the result:
“Bin Laden was, though, a product of a monumental miscalculation by western security agencies. Throughout the 80s he was armed by the CIA and funded by the Saudis to wage jihad against the Russian occupation of Afghanistan. Al-Qaida, literally “the database”, was originally the computer file of the thousands of mujahedeen who were recruited and trained with help from the CIA to defeat the Russians. Inexplicably, and with disastrous consequences, it never appears to have occurred to Washington that once Russia was out of the way, Bin Laden’s organisation would turn its attention to the west.”[7]
It is interesting to note that Robin Cook clearly implies the West’s involvement in the Arab world was comparable to the Soviet’s in Afghanistan. For what other reason would he say it is “inexplicable” that Washington did not predict a follow-on anti-Western resistance effort by Al-Qaida? Did they think the Arab fighters would not turn around after defeating the Soviets and notice that the Western powers had similar control over the Arab world? But the US likely did not expect the Mujāhidīn would actually win the war but perhaps thought they would at least halt the Soviets advance south and keep them busy. In geopolitics the limited options for a nation engulfed in a continuing war might be preferred for maintaining the status quo, while in peacetime, socio-economic development can be more unpredictable.
Contrary to popular myth it wouldn’t have needed a jaundiced thinker like the often blamed Sayyid Qutb (rahimahullāh) to highlight non-Muslim control of the Arab lands and feel an injustice was being done. If Robin Cook could see it why wouldn’t Al-Qaida? Conveniently though, Sayyid Qutb’s writings include a puritanical angle and this has formed the basis for the Islamophobic propaganda that Al-Qaida, and by association “The Muslims”, were only attacking the folks of the West because “they hate our freedoms”; as though political, economic and military subservience to a foreign power would be less of a concern than people thousands of miles away wearing miniskirts and freely mixing. Once again, the propagandist creates a story of innocent imperialists wronged by a simple to understand unreasonable religious fanaticism.
The CIA training and arming of Al-Qaida is frequently brought up by conspiracy theorists who point out that Al-Qaida has handed the US a perfect pretext to militarily overrun the parts of the Arab world it did not already control. However, before 9/11, Zbigniew Brzezinski seemed unconcerned to admit his critical role in the initiation of Al-Qaida, making it seem more likely to have been an unintended consequence which they have since taken advantage of. The following is transcript from an interview he gave in January 1998:
Question: And neither do you regret having supported the Islamic fundamentalism, having given arms and advice to future terrorists?
Brzezinski: What is most important to the history of the world? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some stirred-up Moslems or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the cold war?
Question: Some stirred-up Moslems? But it has been said and repeated Islamic fundamentalism represents a world menace today.
Brzezinski: Nonsense! It is said that the West had a global policy in regard to Islam. That is stupid. There isn’t a global Islam. Look at Islam in a rational manner and without demagoguery or emotion. It is the leading religion of the world with 1.5 billion followers. But what is there in common among Saudi Arabian fundamentalism, moderate Morocco, Pakistan militarism, Egyptian pro-Western or Central Asian secularism? Nothing more than what unites the Christian countries.[8]
Since 9/11 he strenuously denies he was influential, blaming the rise of Al-Qaida and the Taliban entirely on the Soviet invasion.
To him, Islām generally looked like a waning force; the Ottoman Empire had crumbled from within, the Arab rulers quietly acquiesced to European, then US or Soviet dominance or succumbed to infighting. The fact was Brzezinski knew that Islām was not inspiring in the Muslims any significant anti-Western fervour.
A month later, two of those “stirred up Moslems”; Osama Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri announced a “global fatwa” requiring every Muslim to undertake violent jihād against “the Jews and the Crusaders”.[9] This proved Brzezinski wrong in the sense that the Muslims he had stirred up were clearly some kind of potential threat, but also that he was right; the Muslim world was not even slightly united by or agreeing to their call for an anti-Western jihād and it was universally dismissed. If only everyone would remember that the sum total of “problem” Muslims were the ones the US themselves had trained and armed.
Lately, the call to jihad has been repeated in a more bastardised form by ISIS which, again, would not have got very far without the military aid of the USA and Britain.[10] Western politicians and media repeatedly claim Saudi Arabia is fueling ISIS by promoting Islamic orthodoxy, which the West ignorantly insists on calling Wahhabism. But ISIS are not mobilised by Wahhabi Humvees and Wahhabi tanks that they conveniently found in the Iraqi desert with the keys in their Wahhabi ignitions.[11] The leadership of ISIS are far from a background of Islamic orthodoxy being mainly Saddam loyalists and Baath party members,[12] and they are far from implementing a “literal interpretation of the Qurān” or the Sunnah of the Prophet (sall Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) as is too often claimed. On the contrary Saudi scholars have declared ISIS as Khawārij, “the dogs of the hellfire”, and the Islām they practice is very far from the Salafiyya of Saudi Arabia.
It is wanton ignorance to blame the influence of a reformer from the time of the French Revolution while failing to note that anti-Western militarism did not exist in the modern Arab world and does not maintain momentum there unless the West arms it, funds it and provides it a reason for being. But it is to be expected when a religion is falsely accused of causing harm that it will be assumed the more of that religion a people have the more of a problem those people will be. It is a natural consequence of that same old deadly lie; once again being used to mask imperialism and as a justification for controlling people with extreme violence. The ignorant Westerners sleep peacefully in their beds utterly convinced that it is necessary self-defense when those “fanatical Muslims” are killed by drone strikes in theirs.
There are two main points that we should take from this history. The first is that were the Islamophobia propagation to cease the worst of Islamophobia would quickly disappear from the minds of non-Muslims. Some people will always be suspicious of differences but the invented justification for baseless hatred of Muslims would soon be forgotten. The second is the solution to our international problems which is repeatedly advised by Muslims is in fact true: If the West stopped bombing, invading and pillaging Muslim nations, no Muslims will feel any need to attack the West because of our freedoms. In fact as Zbigniew Brzezinski admitted, barely any Muslims were even up in arms about the last few centuries of colonialism and pillaging, until the Americans gave a few of them arms and stirred them up.
For now, until we defeat the Islamophobic narrative, we are trapped facing violence with no way out; eerily similar to those Muslims in besieged medieval cities, trapped by crusaders who appeared one day from the West, violently defending Christianity against a non-existent Muslim aggression. While the reason for those rare anti-western attacks is claimed and believed to be our religious fanaticism Western people will continue to believe that they need to attack us, ideologically and militarily, until we have given up some or all of our religion. A deadly impasse and why we must do everything in our power to defeat Islamophobia.
[donationbanner]
Source: www.islam21c.com
Notes:
[1] Asbridge Thomas, 2010. The Crusades, the War for the Holy Land, London: Simon & Schuster, pp. 33
[2] http://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/from-the-archive-blog/2011/may/10/guardian190-india-mutiny
[3] http://www.executedtoday.com/2011/06/13/1857-blown-from-cannons-sepoy-rebellion/
[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEw4Kt0sd0g
[5] http://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/jan/17/yemen.islam
[6] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2014/12/08/the-taliban-indoctrinates-kids-with-jihadist-textbooks-paid-for-by-the-u-s/
[7] http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/jul/08/july7.development
[8] http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/BRZ110A.html
[9] http://fas.org/irp/world/para/docs/980223-fatwa.htm
[10] http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/03/us-isis-syria-iraq
[11] http://www.mintpressnews.com/isis-captured-1b-in-american-humvees-in-iraq-uses-them-in-suicide-bombing/206167/
[12] https://theintercept.com/2015/06/03/isis-forces-exbaathist-saddam-loyalists/
You can’t have a good knowledge of Sikhism if you think its “understanding of the nature of the creator” etc. means it has less in common with true Christianity (though I’m not a Christian) than does Islam.
If the nature of something includes the subsequent behaviour of that faith, then Sikh behaviour puts Islam to shame. It is by and large exemplary compared to Islam, very similar in its practice as the best, humane modern Christianity. I know that some Muslims try to find common cause with Jews and Christians as their religion is based on the original Old Testament Abrahamic faith, but dream on.
Islam is a threat to any other religion where it can gain a foothold, just as Christianity was in the colonial period. Why do you think so many people fear it?
That’s why the neologism “Islamophobia” has been invented; to deny that these fears are justified, just neurotic anxieties.
‘….leave dar al islam ..and proselytizing..’
In most cases, where the countries were colonised, the Islamic rule was removed before the Brits left.
apologies for being off the subject. satan is clever and hasitness is from him
Allah forgive us all and i say to satan do your worst
Allah Akbar
Bism Allah ar-Rahman ar-Raheem
Sallam alaikom,
May I ask the author, if he is br. Ahmed Thomson, the author of the book’ the Dajjal’?
As to a contribution if I may, please if you have no time to read the following, please read just the 2 highlighted sections, just to get the summary of what is trying to be put across!
I will be posting this else where, just to in-sha-Allah plant a seed and to make sure it does sprout here but most importantly that perhaps I can reap the harvest in the Akhirah, in-sha-Allah.
Further more, as was alluded in the article something about an ‘open and civil’ debate, I under stand that we do have Media Monitoring organisations, but excuse my ignorance and my cynical criticism, but it seems we as a community are not doing enough in that sense! As we know knowledge is power, and absolute power corrupts…etc, and we are living in an age of info-wars…etc, and unfortunately, we as a community, for reasons, one way or the other unfortunately do not have a great influence on the media and the propagation of the ‘Truth’.etc.
What I would like to add to the conversation, if I may, is that does any one think that if we monitored the Media and actually took the struggle for the ‘Truth’ by influencing public opinion and opening the eyes of the non-Muslims, by dedicating more time to the monitoring process?!
According to the www there is a saying attributed to brother al-shaheed Malcolm X ‘if you want something, you have to make a loud noise’
Honesty is a virtue and a common human value yet people are comfortable with conforming with the lies or as we know are being fooled into that comfort zone and do not want to or are hidden from hearing the real ‘Truth’ i.e. the story that is not being told fully and subsquently do not wish to /can not escape the matrix and wake up ………and we as believers who wish to obtain the love and acceptance of the Almighty, first have to have love for His creation , i.e. our fellow brothers and sisters in humanity, i.e. to wish for them what we wish for our selves, i.e. everything good that will ultimately lead us all to the pleasure of God and in-sha-Allah His Paradise!
As to loud noise, can’t we as a community, through established organisation/s, under the supervision of scholars, do a more in depth monitoring campaign, which could cause that big bang explosion of getting the public to actually seeing the beauty of the ways of the prophets (peace be upon them all), i.e. Islam and plant seeds, so they start talking about the Higher /important things in life instead of or initially along with the trivial things that is being fed through the air waves and literature and the likes…etc.
As to the watering of the seeds of beating the drums all I could suggest is a more concentrated joint effort through networks of volunteers on making complaints to the outlets of the mis-information that is being spread and also efforts on all platforms of media, like editing wiki teams, forum teams, phone in teams…etc, and training to be offered on such things, under the duats (propagators) and scholars supervision and guidance.
As to the venom of those who are on any given show or forum and likes, we just need to stand up and even though the ‘Truth’ needs no attorney and it just needs to be set free and it defends its self, we still obviuosly need to do our bit.
On to another suggestion if I may, could it be a good idea if scholars could dedicate any extra time to specific time slots, with most hours covered by the scholars doing shift work, obviously in their time that they can offer, to have a well marketed eye catching national telephone number/s aimed at those who wish to ask about Islam…etc? Obviously, there will be a lot of ignorance/venom that could come with it too, but I am sure there are ways to monitor that too. Allah Akbar, in the end it is all for Him.
If there are not any organisations or scholars that do not under take such things, can anyone advise if or not the lay men, like us were to under take the above mentioned endeavours or the like, would it be wrong/sinful?
I am sure there are many articles written about what is political correctness in the current age we live in…etc, but I’m sure I am not the only one, but it seems that as Muslims most of us (me included) do not know what is not allowed and what is! So if by any chance someone who is involved with such things, could there be any way how that a ‘mass awareness’ initially amongst our communities be explored and inform us of the do’s and do nots through all forms of getting the message across…etc. Even if there is any one who does wish to do a mini-Media Monitoring campaign of their own in order to help the cause. With that said, if I am correct in saying that one of the greatest forms of struggle/Jihad, after (or before or equal to) the struggle against oneself, is to talk the truth, even if it is bitter and against even satan himself and with that said ‘if Allah is with us, who can be against us’!
‘A lie can travel half way around the world while the ‘Truth’ is still putting its shoes on’-a quotation attributed to Charles Spurgeon. Are we the final bearers of ‘Truth’ going to mix practise with our prayers and after putting our shoes back on after coming out of the Mosques, start to take steps to wearing the garments of piety by spreading the blessings of al-Haqq/Truth! And sorry for going off subject, but as to the garment statement, auz billah min the word ‘I’, I do not really abide to or believe for myself in wearing Islamic attire in a non-Muslim land, even to just implement the lessons we can gain from the story of the youth of the cave narrative, and of which I am pretty sure is backed up my a few Hadiths of the Beloved p.b.u.h, of wearing ( I think I can recall) and learning the language of the land the one is in! Yes true we are on Haqq, but just as another angle on the aforementioned point as Muslims we are supposed to be empathetic, and some people in society see us as the aliens who are on mis-guidance, even though God is the owner of the Earth…etc, with allusion to the article above regarding race issues and assimilation issues, definitely not on psychological ways of when it comes to immoral issues but at least a bit socially, just to integrate, by the means of fusing societies’ hearts together. With that said, that is in no way an attack or criticism on the brothers who do wear Islamic attire, as every body has their own ways of how they wish to conduct themselves in life and everyone does what they can/should handle. And to tell the truth I envy the brothers in one way for the courage and the reward they in-sha-Allah will gain by reviving a Sunnah in these times we live. I pray I could summon up the courage to wear Islamically. In the end, it is our sisters, whom as we know are the honoured ones, who have to mainly brunt any backlash if there happened/s to be any. And with that said, we all know the status of women in Europe and other parts still up to this day, with only some of their rights being given a little time back. Just to mention one more thing about our shining pearls, I am not quite sure if this is true, but supposedly our brethren in faith, i.e. the followers of Musa p.b.u.h, i.e the Jews or a sect of them apparently thank God for not being born a woman, and I recently came across a statement by a Muslim male saying that he would’ve wished that he (i.e. the Muslim) would have been born a woman, due to her high status and honour she has in this beautiful way of life (Deen), with the thoughts coming to my head of the first believer, the first martyr and first scholar in Islam all being women! Allah Akbar.
On another note all together, but at the same time to do with it, two quotes, first, Nelson Mandela is quoted as saying ‘We know too well that our freedom is incomplete with out the freedom of the Palestinians’ and second the summary of a quote attributed to Malcom X, stating that peace freedom being inseparable and no one being able to be in peace with out freedom. With that mentioned, as next year November is the centenary of one of the drafted Balfour Declaration, if it has not been considered already, and may Allah forgive me for my hastiness and apologies to the Muslim community also if it has been thought of already and I understand that we as a global community or even as individuals, when needing to do something, , that it should be done in concealment as to not allow satan to pin point or foil our attempts for trying to transform and bring on change for the good bi izn Allah. To cut the story short, may I hint or suggest towards a loud global mass exodus to the farthest mosque Bait al-Quds / Jerusalem by air, sea and land, to coincide with or prior to the occasion, which could possibly awaken the world to the Palestinian plight and history of all that has gone on and how it will be liberated one day in-sha-Allah in the near future. All success in the end is with the controller of all affairs Allah.
Please, if you do wish to, do read up on the Hadiths regarding the forgotten land, but just to mention a summary of just a few of them, the Beloved’s order not to travel to any masjid apart from the 3 Holy ones and masjid al-Aqsa obviously being one of them. And the rewards of praying there and also the forgiveness of past and future sins if one sets off from there, with the intention of either Hajj or Umrah. Lastly, the advice of the Beloved (p.b.u.h) to go and visit it and if one can not to send oil for its lamps. Not giving a tafseer of the oil or the lamps, please do make discussion with family, friends and online…etc, on the idea of such issues that were written above, as to be some form of oil, i.e. to lighten a beacon for current and future generations, so as to pave the way for the anointed one the prince of peace, Esa son of Mary (peace be upon them). If anybody who happens to be reading this and who may or may not be too firm on the rope of Allah or can not bear the burning coal in the hand, I tell myself first, but let’s be steadfast and hold firm and remember how al-Andulus was lost when its youth diverted their time and discussions away from the beneficial.
Our role models, i.e. the prophets never preached hate, so I pray we as an Ummah keep up our good works and continue on with their message by spreading peace and loving our fellow children of Adam (p.b.u.h).
Back to idea of an ‘open and civil debate/discussion’, obviously as Muslims it is not our jobs to convert but just to convey and in the end it is Allah who is the Guider, and through Him we ourselves are either led astray or guided and just the instruments i.e. His wukala either in anything we as Muslims have been given in Wealth and time or if any knowledge…etc. So if by doing a campaign of mass monitoring, many people do accept the Truth and its gains even just more sympathizers, whom with in them seeds would have been planted, but yet to be nurtured and cared for, we would have made an even more gigantic leap for Islam and Mankind. Can we be the generation that sets up Allah’s kingdom on Earth for its benefit. Its not very clear from this article perhaps, but I am an ardent eschatologist lover, so on that topic, I would like to say that I do believe by committing and dedicating to these two causes, along with others evidently also, as Islam is life and life is Islam and its whole purpose is to serve mankind and make the world a better place not just for the human race but for all of Allah’s creatures.
In follow up the above and also not to come across as not being in the now or the present, but living in the future, as when I sometimes contemplate what’s to come in the two futures…etc, but just to imply the fleeting one here, I envision the one, THE ULTIMATE JUDGE (in this world and the next) will send back to us to take the part of a just judge, judging and setting up the court and ruling the world according to Islam, i.e. the true Messiah, the son of Mary p.b.u.t.b. With that said, that’s why I am convinced that to get the monitoring and the awareness project up and kicking, so that it will aid Jesus/Esa alaih asallam to implement God’s law. I’d like to add one more thing if I may, Allah knows best with what has and what I am about to say, but I believe and I hope I am not considered a heretic of any kind for believing all this stuff mentioned here or else where, Jesus himself will be the one who will initially be on trail, as the Bible alluded to. He may even say when prompted to answer any accusations that ‘’they can not handle the truth’’, but in a calm demeanour on that day of al-zeena!
To end with a quote taken from the net ‘the truth hurts but it doesn’t kill, as for lies they please but they do not heal’. With that just said, may I allude to one of our Beloved’s (p.b.u.h) sayings that of which says that ‘God made for every disease a cure’. O’ Allah, may you provide us with guidance from your book and the Sunnah of your Beloved and may we take it as a cure for what is in our breasts, so that we are healed and then through that be able to heal and make a change! So I pray that what was suggested be a part of the cure and dream of healing the world!!
Let’s do today’s work instead of waiting for tomorrow that may or may not come for us and at least that future generations will look back upon our generation and its efforts and not insult us, but praise and thank us. And main thing, so that we are able to give witness on the final day of judgement and it be accepted from us.
In the Name of the Allah the most merciful the most Compassionate
‘’By the token of time, verily Mankind is in loss. Except those who believe and do righteous good deeds and endure and enjoin unto to the Haqq/Truth and endure and enjoin unto patience’’….
Allah Almighty always speaks Truth
.
May Allah purify my intentions and the Ummah’s too and make it solely for Him.
If there has been any good that was said it is from Allah, and if any bad it is from me and the devil with in me.
Ma al-tawfiq ila billah. Fe aman Allah.
Peace, blessings and mercy unto you, me and all that follow the guidance of their Lord.
Salaam alaikum brother
I’m not Ahmed Thomson
JazakAllah khair for sharing your ideas to help us succeed inshaAllah. Success is only with Allah so rather than waiting for signs that we are all getting organised and are winning (it seems there will not be much of that in these particular times) we should just keep on struggling for the sake of Allah doing what we can, individually if needed. Only those with pure intention and eman will continue for long, those looking for worldly signs of success will likely drop out. With that in mind pick the idea that you feel most inclined to (you don’t need to try to do them all) and run with it as far and fast as you can while your time lasts. May Allah make that a path to your success.
sallam alaikom brother Abdullah,
Forgive me first mostly for not reading your name correctly!
Please forgive me if the following comes across as any form of argumentation or such, with that said, thank you for your advice for advising me to be steadfast and hold onto one idea and follow through with it, that is probably where I am personally going wrong.
With the above just said, my intention was trying to just share ideas, as this platform is for one way or the other for doing so, and any one can take anybody’s idea and implement it if they wish, if it seems that it could be of any benefit! Alluding back to doing everything at once, and may Allah purify my intentions and may it just be a reminder for anyone who happens to read this, yourself and myself included, but ‘Be optimistic and we will find good’, despite how gloomy things seem or feel like they are about to get like, because myself personally, like most of us probably feel like, we will be the people of the ditch the second, but with that said, why don’t we dream big and believe that it might not necessarily have to be that way, even though as yourself alluded to about success and those that continue and those that will drop, Allah knows best but as always in history and which will probably become more evident in the days, months, years to come, but we will soon be split into 2 parties and those who will be victorious will become apparent in the land over those who are not. I pray we all are of the former. Ameen
May Allah purify my intentions yet again, but my aim was to try and hint towards a more unified effort and perhaps I have misunderstood and perhaps you me.Albeit, Allah does know everybody’s intentions and it is not us to judge…etc.
p.s may I state please, not to prove myself or anything, as like just mentioned its Allah who judges…etc, but the reason why I posted my article was due to the fact that I probably may be wanted to inflate my ego, but like mentioned above, the reason was just to share an idea/s, even though it might or might not have had anything thing to do with the original article (sorry) that it was supposed to be in response to. Please do remember, no body knows what makes people do the things they do!
please forgive me yet again and lets pray together we all have a blessed Ramadan and we benefit from its training, so we can carry on even if we individually do or not.
May the peace and blessings of Allah be on us all and may He fulfil all our efforts with the Holy spirit.
your brother in Islam and Humanity,
a fellow slave of Allah i.e. Abd-Allah, i.e you are me and I am you and we are all the same i.e one body
peace
The same way Jerusalem, Spain and Sicily became muslim territories to begin with: invasion.
Urban II and other Europeans did not have a “baseless fear of Islām”. European populations had almost no interaction with Muslims until muslims invaded them. Once they’d got the idea, they weren’t very enthusiastic about it.
Should be reply to Professor Ahsan below.
A phobia is an irrational fear. I confess to being afraid of the influence of Islam in the UK, but I believe that my fears are entirely rational. I am afraid of the influence of Islam for the following reasons:
1) A proportion of the followers of Islam are, based on their interpretations of the Koran and Hadiths, and supported by a proportion of Islamic scholars around the world are actively seeking to plan, encourage and commit acts of terror.
2) Islamic teachings do not treat Mean and women equally. In Islamic law their word counts less than that of a man. In inheritance they inherit less than men. A significant proportions of Muslims believe that women should not leave their home unless necessary, should be accompanied by a man if doing so, and be fully covered outdoors. A proportion of Muslims believe that a man can beat his wife (some say lightly) in circumstances of last resort.
3) The fundamental belief that the Koran is the precise word of God leads to a certainty of belief. At the same time, and paradoxically, there are countless examples of different scholars interpreting words, phrases, paragraphs from the Koran and Hadiths differently. This means that there is often an intolerance of Muslims by Muslims. In the extrem this can lead to a Sunni suicide bomber attacking a Shia gathering. On a more everyday scale it can lead to one Muslim sect boycotting the shops etc of another Muslim sect.
4) A high proportions n of the UK’s Muslims oppose integration with the wider UK community. For example, 40% of UK Mosques are Deobandi led. Deobandiism expressly discourages integration. Aprroximately 50% of these Deobandi mosques do not allow women to enter. On the websites of local mosques I have read advice from such Imams telling Muslims not to go to funerals of non Muslims, not to listen to music, not to watch football, that it is forbidden to socialise with girls etc etc
5) The unquestioning approach to Islamic teachings can limit freedom of thought and belief. A clear example is the attitude to apostasy and blasphemy. Although I have had some good discussions on this site the majority of responses have been poor and irrational.
In summary I believe that it is entirely rational for a secular liberal to be fearful. I have listed some of the common Islamic beliefs and practices that concern me and lead me to this fear. By labelling any questioning of Islam as a phobia you stifle legitimate debate and honest discussion. If we are to promote a better understanding it is important that we can speak honestly and openly, question and especially criticise.
You say “I have listed some of the common Islamic beliefs and practices that concern me and lead me to this fear.”
I would say you, and most people in the west, were probably unaware of Islam at all before the hype started. If our different ways of doing things were such a real threat to you how come you didn’t realise until so recently?
You list not listening to music being a concern. You say you are a liberal but you sound like you think people shouldn’t be allowed to not listen to music. I humbly ask you to give some serious consideration to how it is you have come to be afraid of that.
You say you are “afraid of the influence of Islam in the UK”. We are 5% of the population, we have no political clout, we are massively scrutinised on a daily basis by everyone, even our kids are being criminalising for normal Islamic beliefs by the Prevent agenda. Everything about Islam is under threat of sanction. But you are fearful because of how influential we are? That’s not very rational in my opinion. Seems like someone has been filling your head with propaganda.
You seem to have taken your understanding of those points of Islam from a “truth about Islam exposed” websites.
If you are really concerned i suggest you visit a mosque and ask if there is someone you can sit down with for half an hour to discuss things. Seriously you should do that if you are afraid of us.
Thanks for your reply Abdullah. Firstly, it is wrong of you to make assumptions about me. It is not possible for you to know about my knowledge of Islam. The blanket statements ‘most people in the west’ and ‘before the hype’ do you no favours. I can assure you that I have a sound knowledge of Islam, but in any case that is irrelevant. The attempt to discuss me and my knowledge rather than the substantive points that I make is an example of irrational thinking. To be honest I see that kind of flabby thinking on here too often. I am not seeking to make personal points. I have no idea who you, are or what you do, but frankly I am not interested. Instead I want to discuss the issues that I raise. I believe that the points that I make are factual and as such fully justify my fear of Islam in the UK.
You only discuss one part of one of the five points that I raise. Again, you make an unfounded assumption about my beliefs. Saying that I ‘sound like people should not be allowed to not listen to music.’ Let me be clear. Of course, as a liberal, I fully believe it is anyone’s right to CHOOSE to listen, or not to listen, to music. However, I believe it is incredibly sad that people should be denied the pleasure of listening to Beethoven, Rachmaninov, Elgar, the Beatles, etc etc. Music brings great pleasure and joy to billions of people around the world. The thought that listening to such greats can be thought of is a sin is depressing to me. As such when I see mosques, Islamic Scholars describing it as a sin I feel repulsed. The thought that thousands of UK children would be deprived of this joyful experience is one of the many valid reasons that I dislike the influence of Islam in the UK.
You then state that ‘everything about Islam is under sanction and because of this it is not logical for me to be fearful. This is why I try to discuss specifics rather than generalities. I have listed the reasons that I fear the influence of Islam. You have not countered any of them, bar the issue of music. In terms of the numbers of Muslims, 5% of the population is 3 million plus. It only takes a very small proportion of these to be planning, encouraging, and implementing acts of terror to destroy the lives of many. This is one of the reasons I listed above. Secondly my concern, is not a selfish one. I am concerned for the many young Muslims in this country. They make up more than 5% of the young population of the U.K. and as citizens of the U.K. I feel that their life chances are being limited for the reasons I have given.
Your “understanding” of Islam is so consistent with those websites claiming to be “exposing the truth of islam” and so consistently contrary to the way Muslims understand Islam, i feel safe to make my assumption.
You say “I can assure you that I have a sound knowledge of Islam, but in any case that is irrelevant.” How is that irrelevant? That’s critical!
How have you tested that what you understand of the points you mentioned is in fact the correct understanding? As I said before I suggest you go to a mosque and ask if there is someone you can sit down with to discuss things. Doesn’t that sound like the most sensible thing to do? Google your nearest one and give them a ring.
Abdullah, you’ll probably glad to hear I’m going to stop posting on the site. As I’ve said before it is difficult to get a serious and credible discussion. I want you to look at the words that I have typed not what you assume about me. I say my knowledge is irrelevant because I want people to respond to what I have written not to me as an individual. If what I have written is incorrect it should be easy enough for you to explain to me why. As it stands I do not think any of the points I listed in my original response are anything other than factual. In terms of going to my local mosque, half of them don’t allow women to attend so it would be pointless me debating equality there. Of the other local ones they have messages similar to that which I have outlined above – eg music is a sin, don’t attend funerals of non-Muslims, football is anti Islam, dolls should not have faces, do not associate with non-Muslims etc, so again it would be pointless. Lastly, I’m sad to say, that by debating in this way I am afraid of attracting the attention of some of the less tolerant members of the Muslim community.
Carl, It’s because we have heard it all before in many different shapes and styles and ways and it’s always the same kind of argument.
You don’t understand or even comprehend the real issues.
Islam is Islam it’s the truth, it’s the True way to worship Allah as he laid out in Quran. We won’t apologies for it or can’t make you understand why every Muslim knows and feels that.
You could comment and debate on each and every aspect of what you don’t understand or agree with it won’t change the hearts of the believers by one atom.
Your points about going into a mosque are also useless as women are totally allowed to visit the mosque and many sayings of the Prophet allow this. It’s a different matter if they don’t attend themselves. Also how many mosques have you been to to check this.
Abu, I have said that I am no longer going to post and I will,stick to that. I will not post on any new articles. There is little point as the ability/willingness of anyone from the site to debate and discuss is sadly lacking. You believe Islam is Islam and it is the truth. Fair enough. One of the points I am trying to make is that that attitude, against the backdrop of a religion that is interpreted differently by equally sincere scholars inevitably leads to conflict. I ask you to consider this, but, to be frank, don’t expect that you will.
I do object though to your comments about mosques. In a way it illustrates the point I make. You are convinced that the protest totally allows women in mosques. Meanwhile, equally sincere scholars do not. No doubt in some Muslim countries you would be persecuted for your belief, by well meaning Muslims. I have first hand information of my local, mainly Deobandi mosques. If you want to see more evidence try here: http://www.muslimsinbritain.org/resources/masjid_report.pdf
According to this report 50% of over 500 Deobandi mosques do not allow women. Instead of labelling me a troll, maybe you should take your belief up with the nearest of these 250 mosques. No doubt they will make you feel welcome.
Show me the statement from the mosque that says women are not allowed?
You have given me a study conducted by non Muslims who generally negative due to such anti Islamic media.
Your point is a non starter as all mosques allow women.
I know this. It’s the women who choose not to attend as they are too busy with modern lives to attend daily.
Lol these TROLLS hector, carl etc do talk a lot of rubbish on articles like this!!!
Excellent article/ analysis. A must read.
” Pope Urban II spread baseless fear of Islām to a European population who would have had almost no interaction with Muslims. He claimed that “Christianity was in dire peril, threatened by invasion and appalling oppression”.[1] Ostensibly, his call to arms was to liberate Jerusalem from the Muslim infidels, but coming as it did soon after the beginning of the Spanish Reconquista, the capture of Sicily…”
You show an interesting interpretation of history or an interesting understanding of the English language here. How, exactly, did Jerusalem, Spain and Sicily become muslim territories to begin with?
By the same standards how did the whole America come to be populated by the Westerns?
You are right to suggest that it was accomplished by force. Force that was to some extent accompanied by a religious zeal. So too was the Islamic spread,in Spain, Sicily etc. So too were the crusades. It is a basis of any debate that two wrongs don’t make a right. I am ashamed by much of the activities that were conducted by the British Empre. Because I have thought about the issue I judge it in its own terms. I don’t try to justify it by saying other civilisations have done the same or have done worse. I would encourage, and expect, you, as a professor, to try to do the same.
In that case ignore “who started it” and see the point i was making which is that the Lavant was peaceful at the time and the crusaders came riding out of the West with heads full of invented stories about Muslims doing all sorts to Christians. Convinced that the Muslims were intent on taking over the world while in fact it was the western Christians who were doing the taking over at that time. Sound familiar?
The facts are clear from the story of the fall of Antioch. A Christian who was inside let the Crusaders in. The point being that Muslims and Christians were living peacefully side by side. Jews also. The Muslims were not and are not now intent on persecuting anyone.
When the Jews were kicked out of Europe by the Catholics it was Muslim controlled lands that took them in. They were not made slaves rather some rose to very prominent positions in governments.
The facts go opposed to Hectors preferred reading of history which is why he always comes across a bit prickly.
If muslims weren’t “intent on taking over the world”, they certainly looked intent on taking over the Byzantine empire, Spain, bits of Italy and anything else that happened to be lying around and looked obtainable. Why else did they regularly invade them?
What makes you think “that the Lavant was peaceful at the time”? Apart from warfare between the Byzantines and muslims, there were various caliphates, usually at war with one another, regular wars between the Abbasid caliphate and Persia, civil wars and rebellions by governors and subrulers.
Just which “facts are clear from the story of the fall of Antioch”? A Christian who was inside let the Crusaders in. The point being that the christians weren’t as enthusiastic about being ruled by muslims as you seem to think they should have been. Muslims tended not to persecute some christians more than others, mainly because they neither knew nor cared about the differences between them and only wanted the protection money. They were pretty enthusiastic about persecuting the “wrong” kinds of muslims, though. Were muslims at that time less murderous and intolerant than christians, especially roman catholic christians? By-and-large less. That doesn’t mean they came anywhere close to meeting contemporary standards of toleration.
Whoops-a-daisy!
Last three sentences should read:
Were muslims at that time less murderous and intolerant than christians, especially roman catholic christians? By-and-large, yes. That doesn’t mean they came anywhere close to meeting contemporary standards of toleration.
Lol force force!!!
This is the issue all of us have with you trolls.
When it comes to white Europeans you chose the word force!
It as the blatant ethnic cleansing and murder of a whole race. The internet is full of actual accounts of how America was taken by the white Europeans.
You will find its wrse than anything you could imagine.
Why are you trolls Carl, Hector so blind when it comes to the attrocities and war crimes your own people committed?
Is it the fact that the truth hurts too much or that fact that you have some affiliation to them in your own heads?
Look at what the white european crusaders did they are your ancestors and so the same as you and your thinking is similar as you keep trying to underhandedly ask Muslims to answer for centuries old issues. The attrocities of the crusaders were just one after the other. If I were to list them you’d pack up shop and leave as the list would be endless.
What did the Muslim general Salah ud Din do as written in your own history books? He forgave the general population and allowed everyone to live work or leave if they wished peacefully.
None of you trolls ever mention that side or your own people’s and mass attrocities that started centuries ago and are still continuing to this very day.
What are you trying to claim, Abu Mustapha: that mediaeval muslims weren’t quite as intolerant and murderous as mediaeval christians or that islam is “the True way”? Even if the first claim is true as a generalisation it certainly doesn’t mean the second is true.
I’m saying you are still in that medievil mentallity and so are most of your governments they just cover it up with clever advertising and modern words!
Open your mind and see the reality.
I’m glad to learn you’ve abandoned the mediaeval belief that islam is “the True way”, Abu Mustafa.
It is and there is still time for you to embrace it. Once you die it will be too late.
Also you never actually answer the question only ever avoiding it so even you know yourself Islam is the only true religion.
Which question do you imagine I avoid answering, Abu Mustafa?
The same way Jerusalem, Spain and Sicily became muslim territories to begin with: invasion.
Urban II and other Europeans did not have a “baseless fear of Islām”. European populations had almost no interaction with Muslims until muslims invaded them. Once they’d got the idea, they weren’t very enthusiastic about it.
How nice to see your comment on (NEARLY) all articles in this webpage, Hector! After coming across again and again your writings, I am convinced almost 100% that you came to this world to come up with SOMETHING about https://www.islam21c.com!!! Moreover, most of your words are lacking LOGIC, REASON and TRUTH. At least, for your OWN sake, do some research before open your mouth!
You claim most of my words “are lacking LOGIC, REASON and TRUTH”, Erkilic.
Unfortunately, you haven’t given any actual instances of this.
Erlick, That’s the best sum up of hector I’ve read.
I’ve noticed a sharp decline in his posts since the basic maths test was introduced before posting a comment!
It must be working.