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Pity. It is a pity – with a new evil being inculcated
in our society at every blink of the eye. And yet, we claim to be proponents
of a faith bejeweled with doctrines of peace, love, harmony and virtuosity.
The irony is that such a slogan ought not to be the basis of the defenders
of the faith. And this, for the simple reason that no faith in the world
enjoins a spirit of disharmony and hatred. Perhaps, ‘religions’ like the Ku
Klux Klan ought to be condemned for the reason that they thoroughly
inculcate in the followers, a spirit of superiority so far-fetched so as to
enjoin the killing of the black races. But then, the Ku Klux Klan happens to
be a cult and not a faith. Unfortunately, it would be no joke today to refer
to certain individuals of the Muslim Ummah as belonging to a cult of their
own. An even more tragic scenario comes to view when one considers a
comparison between the so-called Knights of the Klan and certain men
belonging to the Muslim circles.
The Ku Klux Klan hails the superiority of the white
races. It feels no shame in declaring its Klansmen and Klanswomen as being
individuals who seek to restore the pride of the white races and in the
event, deal with any party that condemns its ideals.
Leaders from among the Muslims, on the other hand, feel
no shame in condemning any other Muslim think tanks on the basis of
opposition to its own claim-to-fame doctrines. The pity remains. Whereas the
Klan rallies on a platform of and for ‘whites’ the world around, the
venerated Muslim personalities act and react to crush the very Ummah that
they seek to relieve from the clutches of profanity – as seen by them.
The Ku Klux Klan blatantly spells out its goals and its
visions. It feels no shame in declaring its premier goal as the attainment
of political power for a White Christians’ America. Even though basing its
stance on racializm, it goes by arguing for its clannish characteristics in
a somewhat intellectual manner in order to make itself digestible to the
public eye.
Leaders from among the Muslims, however, seek to resort
to cheap and loathsome tactics. These ‘mysterious’ figures do not appear
from behind the veil – as if ‘playing God’ – and simply resort to the
issuing of orders in their ‘struggle to save Islam’. This is, however, an
‘exertion towards the mockery of Islam’, for even the shammest of
organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan realize better what ethics and
legitimization mean. It says on their official website:
We will either become a modern day Rome decayed with
filth, homosexuals, race mixing, idolatry, and humanism, that collapses from
within or it will purge itself of the sickness and will restore law and
order and Christian judgments across the land. After our nation shows God
that we will obey his laws and govern our nation according to his will our
people will be blessed once again with peace and prosperity.
The motive of this essay is not to praise the
functioning of or the bludgeoning etiquette defining the Klan. Rather, it
seeks to highlight the values and the common sense of reasoning that are
present in all kinds of people around the world, and yet, missing among
those who boast of demonstrating a true Muslim’s worth.
Our enigmatic leaders believe that in their hands rests
the fate of the entire Ummah. According to them, the way to a prosperous
community is to revolutionize society in a manner that no opponents to their
own brand of belief remain alive. The blood of the opponents, for them,
means life, food and vigour for Islam – the ‘true’ Islam that they
propagate. They do not pay heed to calls for those who enjoin the educating
of individuals (for it is the individuals who form the meaningful fragments
of the society – at large). But nay! They must strive to take control of the
entire community and then, to enforce their law on the ‘subjects’. Power is
the motive they are driven by and yet, they are ashamed of proclaiming it.
And if power not be a prospect on the cards, their filthy, dictatorial
attitudes must be fed the blood of the ones who seek to confront them in
healthy dialogue. Their concern is not a flourishing of the Ummah; rather,
it is the prosperity of their own versions of religion. Any attempt to
question their motives or to inquire into their cognition amounts to
blasphemy.
Every undesirable instance can be dealt with in more
than one way. These leaders choose the easy way out. They seek instantaneous
ecstasy arising from overhauling (or perhaps, over-living) the opposing man
of faith. Since these Machiavellis scream slogans of Islam, it is
interesting how they fail to even look into the Qur’ān itself. It says:
مَنْ قَتَلَ نَفْسًا بِغَيْرِ
نَفْسٍ أَوْ فَسَادٍ فِي الْأَرْضِ فَكَأَنَّمَا قَتَلَ النَّاسَ جَمِيعًا (٥:
٣٢)
If anyone slays a human being – unless it be in
[punishment] for murder or for spreading disorder on earth – it shall be as
though he had slain mankind. (5:32)
In Sūrah Nisā, a brief account of the treatment that
shall be meted out to such people is even more bloodcurdling:
وَمَنْ يَقْتُلْ مُؤْمِنًا
مُتَعَمِّدًا فَجَزَاؤُهُ جَهَنَّمُ خَالِدًا فِيهَا وَغَضِبَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ
وَلَعَنَهُ وَأَعَدَّ لَهُ عَذَابًا عَظِيمًا(٤:
٩٣)
But whoever deliberately slays another believer, his
requital shall be Hell, therein to abide; and God will condemn him and
reject him, and will prepare for him awesome suffering. (4:93)
However, men who resort to killing in order to suppress
critique, it seems, are obviously unaware of the verses mentioned above.
They do, on the other hand, seek to justify their actions by way of
ridiculing the message of the Qur’ān itself and if not Muslims, viz-a-viz
infiltrations in their respective scriptures and teachings. They argue for
the ‘just cause’.
And thus, take other men’s lives into their own hands. They implicitly
proclaim themselves above the law in their efforts aimed at ‘playing God’.
I am no exegete of the Qur’ān and neither do I claim
significant understanding of it. My medium or sources for delving into its
teachings are the various scholars of Islam. These are scholars who neither
had nor have any fanatic tendencies causing God’s message to appear as a
license for murder. By and large, a ‘just cause’, according to them, ‘refers
to the execution of a legal punishment, or to killing in a just – that is,
defensive – war, or to individual, legitimate self-defence’. It follows from
this that it is not the victims who spread anarchy and corruption on earth;
rather, it is the oppressors – the murderers. And in doing so, their ‘living
bodies but dead souls’ do not realize the lost battle. For in murdering the
opponent, they give the victim an upper hand in the eyes of Allah.
Nevertheless, this obviously remains beyond their concern since the only
game that they seek expertise in is that of ‘playing God’ Himself – they
decide who the non-believers are and they decide whom to strike a blow of
death to.
The love of God remains a superstitious phenomenon for
them. One cannot even plead the case of the love of men in their courts.
They do not realize the number of lives that are affected and shattered by
one murder. Even more so, in the case of religious scholars, for they
command the respect, the love and the veneration of plenty outside their own
homes. If only the grotesque minded evil-doers could realize another
solution to their problems:
فَمَا أُوتِيتُمْ مِنْ شَيْءٍ
فَمَتَاعُ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَمَا عِنْدَ اللَّهِ خَيْرٌ وَأَبْقَى
لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَلَى رَبِّهِمْ يَتَوَكَّلُونَ وَالَّذِينَ
يَجْتَنِبُونَ كَبَائِرَ الْإِثْمِ وَالْفَوَاحِشَ وَإِذَا مَا غَضِبُوا هُمْ
يَغْفِرُونَ(٤:
٣٦-٣٧)
And [remember that] whatever you are given [now] is
but for the [passing] enjoyment of life in this world – whereas that which
is with God is far better and more enduring. [It shall be given] to all who
adhere to faith and in their Sustainer place their trust; and who shun the
more heinous sins and abominations; and who whenever they are moved to
anger, readily forgive. (42:36-37)
وَلَمَنْ صَبَرَ وَغَفَرَ إِنَّ
ذَلِكَ لَمِنْ عَزْمِ الْأُمُورِ(٤٣:٤٢)
But withal, if one is patient in adversity and
forgives – this, behold, is indeed something to set one’s heart upon.
(42:43)
It would be no irreverence to call upon the believers
to embrace the spirit demonstrated by the Klan minus its follies of
haughtiness and arrogance. To be willing to listen – peacefully and without
bias – would be a good start. A sense of unity and forgiveness would
inevitably follow.
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