The Daily Times: Did the Holy Prophet (PBUH) not repeatedly forgive those who slandered him and attacked him?
It is however a mistake to imagine that the layman, the aam aadmi (ordinary man) is an insufferable fool. If you try to reason with him in his own language, he will understand. On the issue of blasphemy and in particular the Mumtaz Qadri issue, liberals need to ask poignant questions. Was there anything blasphemous in asking for change to a law made by a dictator? If there was indeed blasphemy committed, why did Mumtaz Qadri not attempt to resolve the matter by recourse to the law? Did the Holy Prophet (PBUH), in whose name the fellow acted, not repeatedly forgive those who slandered him and attacked him? Many of these questions were asked by the Supreme Court of Pakistan in its landmark judgment rejecting Mumtaz Qadri’s appeal. That judgment needs to be translated into Urdu and distributed throughout the country.
The liberals in Pakistan need to modify their discourse. The common man is convinced that the salvation of the country and its people lies in following the Islamic way of life. Instead of trying to convince them otherwise, perhaps the idea is to convince him that the Islamic way of life does not entail use of force. By declaring that there is no compulsion in religion so forcefully, Islam in its essence closes the door on any kind of moral and religious regulation by the state. This is the true Islamic ideology, which must become the weapon of choice for the Pakistani liberal. We need to revive the idea of Irja, an age-old Islamic doctrine that literally means ‘postponing’. Mustafa Akyol, one of the most brilliant Muslim voices at present, wrote in his article “A Medieval Antidote to ISIS” (New York Times, December 21, 2015) the following lines, which need to be repeated again and again:
“It was a theological principle put forward by some Muslim scholars during the very first century of Islam. At the time, the Muslim world was going through a major civil war, as proto-Sunnis and proto-Shiites fought for power, and a third group called Khawarij (dissenters) were excommunicating and slaughtering both sides. In the face of this bloody chaos, the proponents of irja said that the burning question of who is a true Muslim should be ‘postponed’ until the afterlife. Even a Muslim who abandoned all religious practice and committed many sins, they reasoned, could not be denounced as an ‘apostate’. Faith was a matter of the heart, something only God — not other human beings — could evaluate.”
The liberals in Pakistan need to modify their discourse. The common man is convinced that the salvation of the country and its people lies in following the Islamic way of life. Instead of trying to convince them otherwise, perhaps the idea is to convince him that the Islamic way of life does not entail use of force. By declaring that there is no compulsion in religion so forcefully, Islam in its essence closes the door on any kind of moral and religious regulation by the state. This is the true Islamic ideology, which must become the weapon of choice for the Pakistani liberal. We need to revive the idea of Irja, an age-old Islamic doctrine that literally means ‘postponing’. Mustafa Akyol, one of the most brilliant Muslim voices at present, wrote in his article “A Medieval Antidote to ISIS” (New York Times, December 21, 2015) the following lines, which need to be repeated again and again:
“It was a theological principle put forward by some Muslim scholars during the very first century of Islam. At the time, the Muslim world was going through a major civil war, as proto-Sunnis and proto-Shiites fought for power, and a third group called Khawarij (dissenters) were excommunicating and slaughtering both sides. In the face of this bloody chaos, the proponents of irja said that the burning question of who is a true Muslim should be ‘postponed’ until the afterlife. Even a Muslim who abandoned all religious practice and committed many sins, they reasoned, could not be denounced as an ‘apostate’. Faith was a matter of the heart, something only God — not other human beings — could evaluate.”
Categories: Ahmadis And Pakistan, Ahmadiyyat: True Islam, The Muslim Times