We are not enemies
By Abid Ullah Jan
Abid Jan is a community development professional who has developed expertise in diversity, race relations developing strategies building strong and vibrant communities. He is working with United Way as director of strong neighbourhoods and children and youth strategies.
The killing of Muslims at the Quebec mosque is an escalation of attacks on Muslims to a dangerous level. The previous arson and vandalism attacks now seem like pinpricks by comparison.
The root cause of this is the total lack of understanding the fundamental message of Islam and the myth that myth that Islam motivates violence and terrorism.
In fact, even if 99% of Muslims descend to terrorism, their brutality will not be “Islamic” nor their motivation seek its roots from the Qur’an and Hadiths.
The reason is simple: The fundamental teachings of Islam consider life in all forms as sacred.
Yet Islam does not stop at this – the sanctity of human life in particular, is accorded a special place.
The right to live is the primary right of a human being. The Qur’an is the single religious text that equates the killing of merely one – human – soul to the killing of all of humanity. Furthermore, saving merely one life equals to saving the whole of humanity.
In order to aid Muslims, to avoid inflicting any crime upon humanity, the Qur’an further adds several prohibitive and protective measures, including:
- The commandment to not let hatred of a people incite Muslims into aggression (Quran ch. 5 Ver. 2).
- The commandment that made it obligatory to do justice. According to the Qur’an: “And do not let ill will towards any folk incite you so that you swerve from dealing justly. Be just; that is nearest to heedfulness.” (Quran ch. 5 Ver. 8).
- Prohibiting Muslims even from compelling others to see their point of view. The Quran says: “Let there be no compulsion in religion.” (Quran ch. 2 Ver. 256).
- And the Quean is the only text that equate the killing of one human being to the killing of all of humanity, and saving one human being to saving the whole of humanity.
The question remains: Are we under threat from the so-called radical Islam – despite finding no evidence of Islam’s core teachings inciting injustice and indiscriminate violence – Or is it the radical ignorance – within and outside Islam – that preventsus from seeing the obvious?
The Quran provides guidance for a specific way of life to ensure its followers are not only devoting their lives to the intrinsic goals of self-growth and making their communities and the world a better place but also benefiting from the deeper impact of their good deeds in the form of having peace of mind and contentment of the heart.
First the Quran systematically and repeatedly emphasise the message that the life of this world is but amusement, diversion and competition in increase of wealth and properties. By repeating exactly the same message at least ten times, the Quran closes the doors to even entraining the idea of pursuing extrinsic goals or harming others for worldly gains.
If Muslims ignore this specific message, that is our problem – not a problem with the teachings of Islam – and we reap the consequences of spending our lives on a hedonic treadmill; the number one enemy of happiness and peace.
After closing the doors to indulging in extrinsic goals, the Quran strongly commands and adds incentives for setting up intrinsic goals.
The explicit command to do good deeds is repeated no less than 18 times in the Quran. And to help and support poor and orphans at least 20 times each. Together these commands make doing good deed and serving humanity as the purpose of a believer.
To help remind this basic purpose of life, from the first mandatory prayer before the dawn breaks to the fifth prayer at night, Muslims have to recite the first chapter of the Quran at least 34 times.
And each time they ask for guidance on the straight path.
The importance of staying on the straight path can be assessed from the number of times it is repeated in the Quran: A staggering 43 times in total.
The question is what does the straight path mean? Could this straight path lead Muslims to extremism?
Straight path is the way between the two extremes: the extreme that makes practicing Islam difficult and the extreme that strays away and trivialize religion.
Muslims are commanded to practice Istiqamah, which is perseverance in moderation when they adopt the middle course (Quran Ch. 11, Ver. 112):
The Prophet PBUH is reported to have said: “In all matters, the middle-most is the best choice.”
Muslims find guidance in Islamic teachings to be moderate in specific cognitive, social, and behavioural issues.
There are specific commands for avoiding extremism in personal, moral, legal, religious, economic international relations and indeed for applying moderation as broad as a philosophy of life.
For Muslims, the Quran reveals the way of the center, the way of balance. Islam doesn’t lead to extremism of any kind. Period. Islam is a middle path in its creedal system.
In terms ov its views on human nature, Islam sees man as neither godlike and flawless, nor devilish and doomed.
Rather, Islam preaches that human beings are born pure but with free will to choose good or evil.
Thus humans are liable to make mistakes due to weakness, inconsistency and a high propensity to be influenced by external forces – Muslims are no exception. Despicable crimes committed by some individuals don’t make all Muslims criminals or their religious faith responsible for their heinous acts by default.
In total contrast to the perception that Islam promotes extremism, the fact remains that the core message of Islam commands moderation: moderation in all aspects of life; moderation right across the entire spectrum of Islamic teachings; and moderation from belief, to worship, to social relations, relations among nations, time, place, human thought, and the exercise virtually of all of the basic rights and liberties of individuals.