Lessons from the Quran are lost in the heap of ignorance and obscurantism that is consuming many a Muslim land. Muslims - in theory - have traditions that value the power of the pen. Islam was revealed to save people from bloodshed and misuse of the sword. That is a paraphrasing of the cardinals line in one of the Acts of Edward Bulwer-Lytton 1839 play Richelieu Reading and writing belong to the genus of cross-disciplinary activities Islam insists upon repeatedly. Reading, writing and reasoning are all part and parcel of the way of life Islam is all about. In Chapter 55 we find Allah - Most Gracious! It is He Who has taught the Quran. He has created man. He has taught him eloquence [intelligence] (55:1-4). Islam never began with jihad (a holy war). The miracle of the Prophet Muhammad is that he knew when to retreat (via Hijra or emigration) to build values of solidarity, peaceful coexistence with all kinds of otherness (such as in Medina and hostile Arab tribes), create know-how, and voluntarism in faith and membership of community, along with moderation (wasatiyya). Quran is the word for reading. Those Muslims who, in cold blood, killed French journalists and cartoonists, supposedly to avenge the prophet miss the point about the prophets ways. That includes the injunctions that Verily, this Quran guides [human beings] to that which is most just (17:9), and If anyone took a life unless it be for murder and spreading injustice in the land, it would be as if he killed mankind entirely (5:32). Satire, criticism, and cartoons will never caricature the grand stature of the prophet nor diminish the sacredness of the Quran to Muslims and billions of tolerant human beings who share countries, ideologies or friendships with hundreds of millions of Muslims. It is not Muslims who have killed french cartoonists in Paris. Those who did it were not Muslims even they were not human being. Article published in Aljazeera by Larbi Sadiki a Tunisian writer specialist in Arab democratisation.!!!
Posted on: Fri, 16 Jan 2015 02:19:02 +0000