Muslims In Europe Should Reshape Their Approach Towards The People Of The Book
New Age Islam Special
Correspondent
30 October
2020
Tomasz Borysiuk | During a far-right demonstration in Warsaw,
on 11 November 2017.
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The killing
of a French Christian history teacher by a Chechen Muslim youth for showing
blasphemous cartoons to his class has re-ignited the debate over growing
militant Islamism and Islamophobia and has provided the French government with
the justification to impose curbs and crack down on immigrant Muslims and their
religious organisations.
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Also Read:
Blasphemy, Islam and Free Speech
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To make
matters worse, Al Qaida supporters gave a call to Muslims to attack French
interests and the next day attacks in Nice and on the French Consulate in Saudi
Arabia were carried out in which three persons were killed. This will only
aggravate the situation and the immigrant Muslims in France will face greater
discrimination and harassment by the Islamophobic section of French society,
the government and the media.
The
statement of Malaysia's senior leader Mahathir Mohammad that 'Muslims have the
right to kill millions of French people' blurs the line between terrorist
idelogy and the mainstream Islamic thought.
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Also Read:
The False Binary of the Secular versus Islamic Needs to Be
Broken
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Therefore,
the incident has only provided the ISIS and Al Qaida with a golden opportunity
to win sympathy and support of the common Muslims.
The Muslim
diaspora in Europe consists mainly of immigrants from Pakistan, Chechnya,
Middle East and African countries. There is a large population of Muslims who
had to leave their countries in the wake of strife and civil wars. The European
countries provided them with shelter and social and economic security.
The
educated well-to do Muslims settled in the European countries because of
greater personal and religious freedom and also because of better job
opportunities.
But at the
same time, extremist Muslim organisations and preachers associated with these
ideologies settled in European countries with the objective of 'doing dawah
work'. But the problem with these organisations was that their ideology was
based on an extremist and supremacist interpretation of the Quran and hadith.
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One of the
organisations that played a greater part in the spread of extremist ideology
among the Muslims of Europe was the Muslim Brotherhood. It formed the Muslim
American Society which aimed to bring reformation in the American society
through the propagation of Islam and ultimately turn the US into an Islamic
caliphate.
That's why
the French President had mentioned MB in his address and had expressed his
resolve to liberate Islam from the 'foreign influences'.
After the
rise of Al Qaida during the first decade of 21st century, this extremist
ideolgy grew in Europe because the source of Al Qaida's ideology and of the
Islamists was the same. Muhammad Qutub was the mentor of Osama bin Laden and is
seen as a great scholar and exponent of Islam in the Muslim world. There are
other similar exegetes and scholars of Islam who promoted an intolerant,
supremacist and exclusivist interpretation of Islam in Europe.
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Also Read:
Embrace What Is Different:
Quran and Hadith Stress on Building an Inclusive Society
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The main
problem with this ideolgy was that it promoted a ghetto mentality among the
Muslims and projected the non-Muslims and the governments of their adopted
countries as enemies and instilled in the Muslim psyche a sense of perennial
victimhood.
The fact is
that Islam does not preach Muslims to live in a ghetto or in isolation considering
all the others as untouchables. It has raised Muslims as the best community for
the welfare of the whole world, not for the Muslims alone A Muslim will always
remain in the mainstream of the society and work for the welfare of the larger
society and spread the message of Islam with love, perseverance, endurance,
patience and sacrifice. He will not consider the non-Muslims his enemies or
enemies of Islam. If people react to his Dawah work violently, he will not
confront them.
On the
contrary, Muslims of the Europe have developed a mind-set that runs contrary to
the principles of the Quran. They have formed a parallel society, isolated from
the mainstream society. They insist that they don't have to follow the law of the
land because they have their own Sharia Law.
Muslims
have abandoned the Dawah work because of this ideology of hate. They think that
all the People of the Book are Kafirs (infidels) and so they should either be
killed or subjugated by force. This way of thinking has created most of the problems
they face today.
During the
life of the prophet pbuh, he faced opposition and persecution from a section of
Polytheists and Jews of Makkah but he did not consider all the polytheists and
all the Jews the enemies of Islam. He still lived among them and preached the
Deen. One of the Prophet's office secretaries was a Jew. Another Jew fought along
with the Muslims in the Battle of Uhud and got martyrdom. The Prophet praised
him and said that he was the best Jew. The Prophet pbuh maintained good relations
with those Jews who honoured peace treaties with Muslims. The Quran also says
that not all People of the Book are bad.
"A section of the
People of the Book are on the right path"(Al-e-Imran:113)
The Quran
also enjoins on Muslims to engage in interfaith dialogue and resolve their
issues with dialogue and convey the message of Islam in peaceful manner. Here
are the verses.
"Adopt
forgiveness, and enjoin virtue and turn away from the ignorant."(Al
Araf:199)
"Invite all to
the way of your Lord with wisdom and kind advice and only debate with them in
the best manner."(Al Nahl:125)
"And when they
hear idle talk they turn aside from it and say, 'we shall have our deeds and
you shall your deeds, peace be on you and we do not desire the
ignorant."(Al Qasas: 55)
All these
verses make it clear that Islam preaches Dawah work with love, forgiveness and
patience. When people turn violent and aggressive, the preacher turns away from
them. He does not seek confrontation.
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On the
contrary, the Muslim organisations and preachers in Europe have an aggressive
and violent approach to the 'non-Muslims' of Europe though in fact they are
mostly People of the Book. Quran asks Muslims to engage in dialogue and
interfaith debate with them to resolve all political and communal issues.
An
aggressive and supremacist approach of Muslims to the People of the Book of
Europe is at the root of the problem. The terrorist organisations active in the
Europe have made the situation complicated. Because of this a lot of
misconceptions and misunderstanding have spread about Muslims and Islam in
Europe. Instead of working to project the right image of Islam and Muslims
among the Europeans, our preachers and religious organisations have resorted to
the path of isolation, ghettoisation and violence and overtly or covertly
support the militant organisations.
Most of the
preachers and imams of mosques and Islamic centres in Europe have Arabic or
Egyptian names. Very few of them are natives. Most of the mosques in Sweden,
the US and other European countries have been built with financial help from
Saudi Arabia. These preachers have over the years promoted their own ectremist
ideolgy and sectarian beliefs among the Muslims of Europe and the results are
now showing.
Muslims of
the Europe should reshape their approach towards the People of the Book and
follow the guidelines of the Quran and emulate the Prophet pbuh while dealing
with the issues of Muslims in the European countries.
An Islamic
scholar Sheikh Ali al Yousuf, a member of International Union of Muslim
scholars has realised the need to adopt peaceful means to resolve all the
issues of European Muslims and projecting the right image of Islam there.
Speaking to Channel 9 of Turkey he said:
"I
think first of all, Muslims in France and in the West must be wise, and they
must evaluate the outcome of matters, and the interest of Muslims in those
lands. They should not react in ways that might cause a great amount of harm to
Muslims in their countries. They have to make the use of all legal
possibilities that they have in the West.."
To another
question he further said:
"They
have to integrate into French society more and more, so that the French society
comprehends the nature of Islam and the Muslims. I am entirely convinced that
if the French become familiar with Islam they will not be hostile towards it.
Even that historian, Samuel, who spoke about Prophet Muhammad, if he had only
known about the good qualities and moral values of Prophet Muhammad, he would
not have done what he did. Therefore, Muslims must introduce the French and
(other) westerners to our religion. Then no one will attack Islam and the
Muslims. I must say that there is neglect in this respect. Presenting Islam in
its right form is neglected."
This is the
right approach that Muslims of Europe should adopt if they are really serious
about the welfare of the immigrant Muslim community of Europe and about saving
the image of Islam as a religion of peace.
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-pluralism/muslims-europe-reshape-their-approach/d/123314
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