While Muslims Are Busy In Protests, Swami Lakshmi Shankaracharya, Pragya Mishra and Ravikant Bharti Counter Hate Campaign against the Prophet with Arguments
By S.
Arshad, New Age Islam
17 June
2022
A New
Batch of Ambassadors of Islam Has Emerged From Among Hindus in India
Main
Points:
1. Swami
Lakshmi Shankaracharya has been spreading the message of Islam through his
books and lectures.
2. Ravikant
Bharti, a young scholar has been refuting allegations against Islam and its
prophet on social media.
3. Youtuber
Pragya Mishra refuted Nupur Sharma's statements against the prophet pbuh in her
videos.
4. They
advocated positive approach towards religions.
----
The holy
Quran warns the Muslims in some verses that if they do not fulfil their
responsibilities towards Islam, God will raise better ambassadors of Islam from
other communities. This is what we have observed during the blasphemy issue in
India. While the Muslims are engaged in violent protests over blasphemy against
their prophet pbuh causing inconvenience to the people and most of the time
causing loss and damage to themselves, some Hindu scholars and researchers have
taken up the task of removing misconceptions about Islam and refuting unfounded
allegations against the holy prophet.Their refutations are based on arguments.
There are
at least three researchers and scholars from the Hindu community who have been
trying to remove misconceptions about Islam and refuting baseless allegations
made against the prophet of Islam pbuh. For this they have studied Islam and
the life and practices of the holy prophet pbuh.
Here a
young youtuber Pragya Mishra deserves special mention. She runs a youtube
channel Pragya Ka Panna (Pragya's Page) on which she raises current issues.
After Nupur Sharma made remarks on the marriage of prophet of Islam pbuh with
Hadhrat Ayesha r.a. and also on the Burraq ( the holy prophet's vehicle on the
night of Meraj), she made three videos with the purpose of refuting them and
making people aware of the truth.
One of the
episodes is on the issue of the prophet's marriage with Hadhrat Ayesha r.a.,
she says that there are differences of opinion among Islamic scholars on the
correct age of Hadhrat Ayesha r.a. at the time of marriage. She quotes some Ulema
who say it was 6 years and some who say it was 18 years. However, she quotes a
hadith of Bukhari Sharif which mentions Hadhrat Ayesha's marriage at the age of
six years and the Rukhsati at the age of 9 years. She says that Muslim scholars
tell us that the age of puberty in girls are different in different geological regions.
In cold countries, girls menstruate at a later age while the girls in hot
counties menstruate early. In Saudi Arabia which has a hot climate, girls
menstruate at around 9 or 10 years of age. She also says wih reference to
Islamic scholars that when a girl starts menstruating, she is considered fit
for marriage. So Hadhrat Ayesha's marriage with the prophet pbuh was
consummated at the age of 9 when she had attained puberty.
Ms Pragya
then goes on to give out the true social and political contexts of other
marriages of the prophet pbuh. She says that the prophet pubh married old
widows and divorced women to change the mind-set of his followers about women.
In Arab, women were treated like slaves. Women were bought and sold in markets
like commodities. If they became divorced or widowed they would be sold in the
market or pushed in the flesh trade.Due to this plight of women, people would
kill their daughter in infancy. The holy prophet pbuh married widows and
divorced women to set a precedent before his followers and encourage them to own
up helpless women of the society and provide them social security. She also
says that what Nupur Sharma said was not the right thing and we should not say
anything that hurts the religious sentiments of others. She suggestively said
that Shri Krishna is also said to have 16000 queens.
In another
video, she raises the issue of burraq, the holy prophet's vehicle on the night
of Meraj. She says that Nupur Sharma had ridiculed the Muslims' belief in the
Burraq but we have similar beliefs in Hindu and other religions. We believe
that God and rishis and prophets have divine powers and they work miracles.
Hindus believe in the horse of Ma Sherawali or divine powers of Lord Shiva. So
we should not joke about the belief of the Muslims in the swiftness of Burraq
on the night journey of the prophet pbuh.
In another
video, she deals wih the prohibition of image worship in Islam. She quotes from
the Islamic scriptures on the prohibition on making pictures and images. She
also says that this belief is not specific with Islam but is found in
Upanishads too where the Supreme Power or Parameshwar is said to be without
form. Therefore, no one should mock at the beliefs of others because all
believe in the same Supreme reality.
Another
scholar and researcher is a young youtuber who despite being a staunch Hindu
has studied Islam and the life of the prophet Mohammad pbuh. He says in his
video that Prophet Mohammad pbuh was one of the greatest religious personality.
He says that the prophet was a symbol of humility and sacrifice. This is the
reason the Muslims revere and love him so much. He says that Del Carnegie is
known for his ideas as he teaches how to influence and impress people. He says
that one should lend his ears to anyone who speaks to him and should not
discriminate between the rich and the common. But this principle was taught and
practiced by the prophet of Islam 1400 years ago. The prophet pbuh would listen
to everyone with attention irrespective of whether he was a poor or rich man.
He also pardoned those who gave him trouble and tortured him. On the day of
victory in Makkah he granted general amnesty to all.
Mr Ravikant
also mentiions one good trait of Muslims. He says that Muslims respect all the
prophets and give respect to all the human beings. The Muslims even address
their children with respect. Generally people mention Jesus Christ simply by
his name but the Muslims call him Isa alaihissalam. Therefore, he criticises
Nupur Sharma and Yati Narsinghanand for their blasphemous remarks. He says that
he read three books on the prophet's life in three days and wants to make a
series of episodes on his life so that ignorant people may understand Islam and
its prophet in the right perspective.
The third
Hindu scholar who has been spreading the message of the Quran and removing
misconceptions about Muslims and Islam is Swami Lakshmi Acharya. For about the
last ten years, he has been working to build bridges between the two
communities and gives lectures on Islam. He has formed an organisation called
Hindu Muslim Jan Ekta Manch. He has studied the Quran and the life of the
prophet pbuh extensively and quotes the Hindi translation of the verses in
course of his lecture in the same way as Zakir Naik does. He is a scholar of
Hinduism and,so knows the Upanishads, Gita, Ramayan and Mahabharat and other
Hindu scriptures.
But his
story is interesting as well as thought provoking. Initially, he hated Muslims
and considered Muslims terrorists and a violent community. He narrates an
incident. Once he read an article written by the famous RSS ideologue Balraj
Madhok published in Dainik Jagran. The title of his article was "Dange
kyun hote hain?" In that article he had quoted some verses of the Quran to
prove his point that Quran promoted terrorism or violence. Swami Lakshmi Shankaracharya
wanted to confirm from an authentic translation of the Quran whether the verses
quoted by Mr Madhok were correctly quoted. He went to a book store in Allahabad
and bought a copy of translation of the Quran by Maulana Fateh Mohammad
Jalandhary and Maulana, Abdul Barik. He found the verses to be the same. He
thought that Mr Madhok was right. This created a negative image of Islam in his
mind and he wrote a book titled "Islami atankwad ka itihas"(The
History of Islamic Terrorism). Balasaheb Deoras liked the book very much and
got it translated in Engish.
After its
publication, a businessman advised him to write a book on the threat to the
America from Islam as it would earn him fame and fortune. So he started to read
books on the life and practices of the prophet of Islam. But this proved to be
a life changing experience for him. When he read the biography of the prophet
Mohammad pbuh, all his misconception about Islam were removed and the
realisation that he had misunderstood the Quran dawned on him. He realised that
the life and the practices of the prophet pbuh did not promote violence or
acrimony against others but he lived his life only to establish the truth La
ilaha illallah (There is no god but God). He thought that he had made a
mistake. He had misunderstood the Quran because he had a negative approach to
the Quran. So he read the Quran again and found that the verses of the Quran
did not promote terrorism or violence but enjoined Muslims to fight terrorism
and injustice.
Therefore,
he wrote another book titled "Islam Atank ya Adarsh"(Islam: Terror or
ideal).The book was published in Hindi and English. He wrote another book
titled "Islam: Jeene ki kala"(Islam: The Art of Living).
Here he
makes one important point. He says that the reason behind his wrong understanding
of the verses of the Quran was either lack of correct explanation or wrong
translation or explanation. The true meaning of a verse can be understood when
the context and timing of the revelation of the verse is also explained.
He said
that once someone old him that the British Prime Minister Gladstone had held a
copy of the Quran in the Parliament and made some negative remarks about it.
Swami Lakshmi Shankaracharya says that Gladstone also must have been misguided
by a wrong translation.
He says
that if a non-Muslim will read the translation of the Quran without proper
explanation, he will think that the verses are against him. That's what had
happened to him. However, thanks to his search for the truth, he found the
truth and has been working to create harmony between the Hindus and Muslims. He
says "sallaho alaihi wasallam' every time he mentions the name pf the
prophet pbuh.
He also
says that a lot of hatred against the Muslims is observed in India. The reason
of the hatred lies in our history books. The history of Muslims from Mohammad
bin Qasim to Aurangzeb has been written in such a way that creates hatred of
Muslims. This history shoul not be written in this way. This history was
written by the British rulers under the Divide and Rule policy and this history
continues to be taught in schools. Secondly the misdeeds of some Muslim
brethren also contributed to the hatred.
He underlines tolerance and forgiveness in the character of the prophet pbuh. He says that after years of torture, humiliation and hardships at the hands of the Quraysh, when he entered Makkah with an army of ten thousand faithful’s, he announced general amnesty to all. The people of Makkah had shut themselves in for fear of retaliation but the prophet announced that all were free. This is what forms the true basis of Islam.
In short,
Hindus like Swami Lakshmi Shankaracharya, Pragya Mishra and Ravikant Bharti are
the flagbearers of new India who understand religion in its true spirit. Swami
Lakshmi Shankracharya says that one should know his religion and then know
about the religion of his neighbour but the tragedy is that we do not know our
own religion leave aside knowing the neighbour’s religion. He says that if the
misconceptions of the two communities are not removed, it will lead to a
disaster and therefore he has formed his organisation to spread the message of
Gita and the Quran which equally speak of fighting against injustice and
oppression and of peaceful co-existence.
-----
S.
Arshad is a columnist with NewAgeIslam.com.
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