Reactions to "Offended Muslim Sensibilities"

Bismi Allah

So there I was sitting and thinking that I really should have gone to bed earlier. But no, I had to make one more Internet stop before I headed off to bed. I visited a blog, which led me to three more blogs, and here I am. It's an epidemic I tell you. The words were swarming in my head after I turned off the computer. I had to come back and spit it out here. Hmm.. I was warned of this after my first blog entry...

Tayyib. The blogs that I was reading were about how entirely un-Islamic it is for Muslims to respond violently to the recent comments of the Pope. I couldn't agree more. Violence is just a waste of energy in my humble opinion. If it is not Islamically justified, it is not useful and it often becomes useless. But that's not what this blog entry is about. This one is intended for the Muslim readers. A mere glance at the issue from a slightly different angle.

Like I said, I agree that violent reactions are incorrect. They are far from the sunnah of our beloved Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him; but are our reactions to the violent reactions productive?

Let's say, for example, that someone defames my mother. *Gasp* This is intolerable. No one in their right mind dare insult my mother. You mess with my Mamma, you are messing with me! In retaliation to such insults, I write this person's name on a piece of paper and burn it on my driveway in public view demanding that the person apologizes. Shortly thereafter, my sister (who, in this story, lives in a high class neighbourhood) comes over and chastises me for lighting a fire on the driveway. In extreme frustration, she says, "For goodness sake, get over it! Those words don't mean anything. You look like a savage here like this. You have no class..." and then she strolls into the house leaving me outside to defend my cause. Now I'm insulted twice fold, and I'm hurt that my own sibling didn't support me in avenging the stupidity that came out of a stranger's mouth.

Okay, so that's a bad story. Thank you for your patience, now please allow me to attempt to draw out the point. Everyone's actions were wrong - the stranger, myself, and my sister. It is obvious where the stranger and I err, but maybe not where the sister errs. This sister represents you, the one who has a computer and is sitting there comfortably reading these words. You're the rich sibling. You're the one with class. You're the one who strolled into the house. You're the one who washed your hands off of me when you disagreed with me. Now I officially don't respect you much either. Way to go, o child of my mother, way to go.

At least I care enough to make some noise about the stranger's intolerable actions. Sure, I've wronged others along the way in my attempt to find a solution, and yes I have made the situation worse for myself, and I've tarnished my reputation; but hey, at least I can sleep at night knowing that I tried to do something to protect my mother's name. I tried! That's more than you can say, sister.

Somehow, I think my point is still blurred or buried. I fear my words can soon be misconstrued to mean something entirely unintended, so here it is almost in black and white. While the actions of our fellow brothers and sisters in Islam are not justifiable under the banner of Islam, it is understandable that they stem from a love of their deen. We, the rest of the ummah, have no place questioning this love. Only God knows the sincerity of everyone's actions. But really, these strong and sometimes violent reactions often cause harm in the community of those Muslims themselves. These people don't march out to other countries and wrong people of different communities. They stand on their own driveways, and they shout as loud as they can right from there.

As for us, the ones who watch them on the news shaking our heads saying, "SubhanAllah, what kind of uncivil, savagery behaviour are you representing on behalf of myself and all Muslims??"...well, let's step down from our thrones and give them credit for at least conveying to the world that when others insult our beloved deen, they insult the very essence of our being. And after acknowledging that, we can then attempt to counter their reactions with reactions of our own that are in line with Islamic adab (propriety) and manners. Insha'Allah.

Don't forget, we shake our heads at the television screen because we fall into the trap of accepting the media portrayal that our Muslims are behaving badly. Turn your head slightly to the right or left of the screen and you'll see the Muslims who are reacting appropriately.

The source of inspiration that led me to this perspective on our reactions to our sisters' and brothers' reactions is as follows. I was speaking to a good friend of mine one day on the phone, and she was telling me that a respected Shaykh in the community went to a masjid for the Jumu'ah prayer once and was shocked to hear the Imam say that our beloved Prophet, peace be upon him, was a normal, average kind of guy. Average? You're kidding me! Really... This Shaykh was very, very disturbed by what the khateeb had said. In fact, he was deeply saddened too because as he looked around the room he noticed that nobody in the gathering seemed to have noticed what the khateeb said. There was no reaction. Anyway, after the prayer, the Shaykh approached the Imam, who was the khateeb, to tell him that what he said was not appropriate because the Prophet, peace be upon him, was not average nor typical in any way. My friend elaborated on this point by saying that he, peace be upon him, was not average so-much-so, in fact, that his waste products were taahir, pure. The Imam brushed the Shaykh off and left to attend to other things.

Sometimes I think us Muslims, myself foremost, sitting comfortably in the West are in a state of narcosis. We are asleep. Were we proactive, our voices may be heard. Instead, I fear, they will remain on our blogs, disturbing my attempts at sleep.

If you take anything from my incoherent thoughts here, remember that Muslims have rights over each other. The instant that a person says the shahada, the declaration of faith that would make him/her Muslim, each and every one of us are obliged to fulfill rights towards this person (and vice versa). These rights include, but are not limited to, the need to honour each other, cover each other's faults, and use wisdom to teach each other. If we point out each other's faults without wisdom, we risk the world thinking that we are disconnected when in fact I believe that nothing can disconnect us - after all, we are people of the shahada. Muslims cannot ultimately be conquered because we serve our Lord, even to the extent of willing to die for His sake.

Please feel free to correct me where I err.

Ya Rabb, strengthen us for Your sake, ameen.

Update 2006-12-05

Watch this video with Shaykh Hamza Yusuf called "Broadening the Scope of the Pope."