Lecture
(Duration – 1 hour 30 minutes)
Brother Muzaffar: Insha Allah, the program is going to begin now with the Qirat from the Holy Qur’an, a few verses will be read by Brother Fahim.
Brother Fahim: Qirat…
Here is the meaning of the verses just recited.
“In the name of Allah, the most Beneficent, the most Merciful.”
“Because of that we ordained for the Children of Israel that if anyone killed a person not in retaliation or murder or to spread mischief in the land, it would be as if he killed all mankind.
And if anyone saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of all mankind.
And indeed there came to them our messengers with clear proofs, evidences and signs even then after that many of them continued to exceed the limits set by Allah.”
Brother Muzaffar: Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Aalameen was salaatu was salaam ala rasoolillah wa ala aalihi wa ashaabihi wa ajma’een, amma baad. A’uzu billahi minash shaytan nir-rajeem, Bismillah hirrahman nirraheem.
Rabbish rahli Şadri Wa Yassir Li 'Amri Wa Ahlul `Uqdatan Min Lisani Yafqahu Qawli
Respected chief guest, august audience, I welcome all of you with the Islamic Greeting Assalamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barkatahu.
My peace, mercy and blessings of Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala) be on all of us. It gives me immense pleasure in welcoming all of you on behalf of Islamic Information Center for the unique communal harmony meet. It has been a long felt need by the people of Chennai to have a meet of this kind, cutting across religions and differences.
I’m sure Insha Allah, by the will of Almighty that this meet could enable to understand similarities between us which would promote communal harmony.
I welcome with gratitude, the chief speaker of the day Dr. Zakir Naik, the Chief Guest of the programme, all the ladies and gentlemen present here, all the organizers and volunteers who have been the backbone of the meet. May almighty open the way for us to walk on the straight path and may he guide us to gain benefit out of this meet. Aameen
Wa Aakhiru Da’wana anilhamdu lillahi Rabbill Aalameen.
Mr. Krishnachand Choradiya: Respected dignitaries on the dais, off the dais, my dear brother and sisters. It gives me immense pleasure to be amidst you in this august gathering in this sweet evening. I feel this as a golden opportunity to express my views on terrorism in the present day world scenario. Evolution is nature’s way of showing concern for the survival of all living beings. If we observe carefully, we can see that the nature loves everything it has created. It has given color and shape to even the smallest of its creatures. We cannot but we have potentialities of being creative. When we are born from so great Creator. If we are not happy now, we will never be, we can no longer lose in life, once we have gained the ability to see the greatness in God. In war, we do not eat whom we kill, lest it should be considered barbarous.
My dear brothers, to love the Creator, we must first love
His creation. Man in his glamour and glory forgets the glamour and glory of god. One thing unique about wisdom, it cannot be inherited but must be acquired. Man’s success should not be judged by the wealth of his position, what he has but to the extent, whether he is at peace with himself. The success of our achievement depends on the intensity of our desire. Wisdom lies in its choice. As far as the soul within us, in everybody we have soul, the energy which understands, and speaks and whichever our wise and virtue are understood it is the soul.
So as far the soul is concerned, it understands only the language of feeling, each unfortunate event in life should be considered as a lesson for the development of our minds. Our attitudes govern our destiny. Therefore the happiness that we enjoy in childhood was due to our state of mind not due to any external factor. We must realize that we have become victims of our own values. In everybody among us, one of the chief vices which could it destroy the intellect is the vice of anger. Therefore a person desirous of remaining a true human being must conquer anger in possible ways.
Anger is an acid that does more harm to the vessel, in which it is stored than to the person on whom it is poured. The whole nervous system in our body is shattered by an outburst of anger and various poisons are thrown into the blood when one is angry. That’s why it is absolutely necessary for a person to conquer anger.
From anger, delusion arises and from delusion bewilderment of memory. When memory is bewildered, intelligence is lost, and when intelligence is lost, one falls down again into the material fold, material pool. Hence anger has to be controlled; the best tool to conquer anger is forgiveness. It is said, that by remembering an injury or insult done to us, and not by forgiving the wrongdoers, we keep our wounds evergreen. Hence, the best remedy in the interest of our own spiritual, mental and physical health is to forgive the wrong doers. There are only two things which concern us, mind and matter. Our conscience is the best Guru, only our feelings can bring about self realization. We should be guided by our feelings not by our thoughts. The richness of life comes with feelings that which cannot be seen, it can be felt. The greatest pilgrimage is the journey of ours is inward, by looking inward we can travel to any part of the universe.
The inward journey begins from the time we start to observe, our mind, body and behavior. Love is the common language of all our creatures. Only our ignorance prevents us from the experience…. experience in the love, it is love which prevents the atmosphere, world and universe. We cannot express love without a feeling of oneness; we should try to convert our adversities into opportunities.
We have the intelligence to make weapons but, not the wisdom to refrain from using them. Some nations for which people have fought and died, no longer exist. Only those who identify with you are close, all others are strangers even though they may be related. The younger generation are merely repeating our mistakes Ceremonies blessings can never be effective as we are responsible for our own deeds, acts and behavior. Our motives determine our destiny. Our selfish motives eventually lead us to misery and destruction, whereas our unselfish motives eventually lead us to bliss and immortality. Brothers, the present age is extremely difficult to live in, the teaching of self restraint can be effective, first self control and then discipline. The walls of casteism and communalism divide the people, to make such walls transparent we should realize and made the slogan. Man is first a man then he is Hindu or a Muslim. In short we should realize that we are all one, problems are multiplying, they pop-up in even new form, the problems could not be solved as long as the prevalent trends of our age do not change their course. Therefore, the trend would change by observing only each individual self-restraint.
It should be truly a historical day for mankind when religion and science complement each other that would be the day when devotion to self restraint would have served its purpose and it would be possible to train man to lead a proper life
(Tamil) Waipene Kudata inne Islamic International Centra Walikka Paniwud Nanrikuri Inawade Ure Mudtakuli Nanri Vanakkam.
Dr. M.S. Ambresen: In the name of Allah, the Kindest and the Most Merciful one.
The Dignitaries seated in the dais, the dignitaries seated in the audience, ladies and gentleman at the outset I should thank Madam Fatima Muzaffar, Janab Muzaffar Ahmad, my brother Janab Hakim, for giving me this opportunity to address the alight audience. I am feel very humble in front of great scholars like Richard Hanks, Choradiya erudite scholar Dr. Zakir Naik, from whom you are going to listen about the Terrorism and Jihad.
Terrorism is an aberration in the human behavior. Terrorist whether it is Hindu Fundamentalist or it is Christian terrorist or it is Muslim Terrorist, they have a abnormal brain. They have delusion and illusion and the way in which the terrorism has to tackle this, these people have to be counsel by the fellow human beings. And the administrators have to find out what exactly is the root of, root cause of the terrorism and see that the root cause is completely eliminated. The Terrorist are in the pond but what exactly the cause is the one which is to be found out and there also fellow human beings.
The ‘JIHAD’, What is ‘JIHAD’, is a struggle, you struggle to earn more and give charity. You struggle more and more to help the fellow human beings, to feed the poor, to look after the downtrodden, to heal the sick and the suffering. The struggle is not to take away life; the struggle is to, to help life to thrive at in a happy mood.
I’m a practicing physician and a consultant Nephrologist for over four decades. Forty years in this profession, fighting illness with hope and optimism, as only reinforce one important factor of life, that life is very precious. Every life is a precious gift to respect it and treated with care. Today life exists even after death. A dead man can save eleven lives with his two kidneys, two eyes, two lungs, one heart, one liver, one pancreas, provided the organs are harvested in time. Of course, the soul is indestructible that there is always a chance, that when a person die, he goes home. He doesn’t die, he lives, he goes and lives in his home.
Living is possible only if he learn to live in harmony, learning to care for our fellow human being, expressing our respect and kindness. It is in each human being that the un… unmanifest God manifest himself. The Godliness of man is manifested in its unselfish ability to give.
Give food to the hungry, give books to the poor for education, give medicine for the sick, give love to the needy and neglected young or old one, give a smile of hope to the depressed and deprived. Love is a law of life, where there is love there is a touch of divine, where there is hatred there is a devil in that particular individual, he has to be counseled. And isn’t that religion is all about to good and to good. The secret of religion lies not in theories but in practice. The basic aim of religion is to bring peace to man. Mahatma Gandhi regarded non–violence as his religion. Today it is very-very important that we follow the principles of the father of the nation. Everyone must be happy here and now. The book from which to learn religion is our own mind and heart. We have to remember, it is feeling that is life, strength and vitality. You must have muscles of iron, nerves of steel. Feel like Christ and you’ll be Christ, feel like Buddha and you’ll be Buddha. Religion in the manifestation of the natural strength that is in man. Man’s strength or his tolerance, love, unselfishness, generosity, truthfulness and combined with faith. Differences create gaps and we need to re-plough not hatred out of diversity, and to do so we need to release the long forgotten value of a tolerance to recapitulate Mahatma Gandhi quote.
“If you take one eye for eye, the whole world will become blind”. Also he said, “if only Christians are true Christians and follow the principles of Christianity, there will not be one Hindu in India.”
So the basic principles of human life is more important than the religion and other unimportant matters. So let us teach ourselves to sow, sow love where there is hatred, to pardon where there is injury, our brothers said forgive, I think there is the great ideals of humanism is forgiveness. To spread faith where there is doubt, give hope where is despair, and to love to be loved so that our country wakes into that heaven of freedom, where the world has not been broken into fragments by narrow dimensions walls fulfilling Tagores dream.
I would to end by saying that, if man is not able to respect the manifested god in human being, what is use of thinking about the unmanifested God. I think we have to respect go… man, we have to see that we give love, we are pure, we’re truthful we have the charitable attitude and we save people rather than taking lives. With this I end, I thank you very much for your patient listening, thank you.
Dr. Richard D. Haynes: Salaam Alaikum.
Freedom of religion is a central value in the U.S. there is a common belief that Americans don’t care about religion. I’m here to tell you that is wrong. Americans care passionately about religion. For us, however, religion is perhaps more of a private than a public matter. For us it matters very much, that one chooses one’s own religion, because in the end one chooses one’s own faith and one’s own salvation. I can look at my own family for instance, and I’m not making this up, but within my own family, we have Methodist Christian, we have a Buddhist, we have a Jew, we have an Eastern Orthodox Catholic, we have a Shia Muslim, and we finally have a Roman catholic and that’s just my family.
And I submit that most American families will have in them, a variety of individuals, with a variety of views, nearly all of whom carry very passionately about their religion. Now I love India, I’ve been coming to India for more than 30 years. I would guess that the most of you were not born, when I first came to India. So I’m the old, the old experience teacher here, and I tell you that India is changing very-very rapidly, and it’s an exciting time to be here in India. India is along with the US, I think the two most pluralist societies, they are in the world. I run into Indians constantly, to say, well, I’m here but I’m actually from Calcutta, and I’m there, but my family is actually from Kerala, again and again and again. An Indian is not a person who is rooted in a single place he comes from a family, a family they can look back to other parts of India, to other ways of seeing things, and so you too like an American have made choices to determine who you are and why you are here, that to me is very exciting. I find that as I visit India again and again all the way from Ladakh, Srinagar to Chennai, that it is not a divide between those who care about religion and those who don’t care about religion, it’s a divide between those who believe that people should be allowed to practice their religion and those who do not.
United States is known for Coca Cola, Pepsi, MTV. A whole lot of other things which you may enjoy but which do not seen particularly important. But I would suggest that the United States gives to the world our tolerance and freedom and respect for tolerance and freedom. United States wants a world where there is a balance of power between those who would be for this version of freedom and those who would be for that version of freedom. The United States does not want a world where the United States controls any approach to freedom. Instead we want you and you and you to work with us to find a balance that will lead us all to freedom. Therefore the United States wishes to create the conditions that will allow you and all the people in the world to choose along with you, their own ways toward political and economic liberty. United States supports this not out of the political purpose not out of the desire to appear good, but because it is good. Now the United States believes in peace, however the United States also believes that is necessary to defend peace. Especially, we wish to achieve our goals of freedom and tolerance by defending peace against those who advocate global terror. We will use every tool at our disposal, to prevent and contain and respond to terrorist attacks.
However, when I say every tool, I do not mean bombs, planes, guns, knives; I mean things like good education. I mean things like clean water, sanitation, health; I mean things like plain old auditing of financial accounts. I mean things like co-operating with your authorities with also the other countries in the world to contain criminal elements. I mean things such as stopping the flow of Narcotics which fuels a lot of terrorism. I mean things such as stopping the flow of people against their will across borders to be used by others. These really are, I think basic to our campaign against terror. It is unfortunate that too often they resort to force captures the central attention, when actually you and I are engaged together with all these kinds of ways of combating terror. There is a common misperception that the U.S. somehow is against Islam. I’m here to tell you that is absolutely, definitely, completely wrong. The U.S. is a nation of emigrants, and our people include Muslims from around the world, whether it be Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Africa or of course India.
Therefore the US war on terrorism is not a clash of civilizations, it is not the US versus Islam, it is really a clash between civilization which is everyone in this room and those who would seek to destroy it. To defend against the common dangers and build on our common hopes, the United States has and will intend to continue working with the U.N. and other international organizations as well as bilaterally with countries like India to combat terrorism. We know that any single vision of the world, even if it’s the U.S. vision is not enough, we need your visions as well.
Therefore, because we think that democracy is an absolute good because we think that tolerance and freedom are basic to democracy. These values will remain central to us just as they are central to you in India. You are after all the world’s largest democracy; you are along with the U.S., one of the two world’s most diverse democracies. You share with us a constitution which protects the freedom of religion for everyone in India. It’s a long hard struggle, I do not pretend that the U.S. believes that it is perfect, I do not pretend the everyone in U.S. believe as much as I passionately believe in tolerance, but I do promise you that these are the ideals of the U.S. That tolerance and freedom of religion are central to our view of ourselves as a people just as I think they are central to those of India. As the two largest democracies, India and the U.S. must continue to support freedom. Freedom will not live without your support.
Therefore you must join with us and continue the struggle for freedom and the freedom to practice religion. In many ways the character of the future that these children here will inherit, that my children will inherit, depends on the success of our action and our co-operation in this difficult time. However, the shared values of freedom and tolerance give us a common bond; we have something very precious that we share. They also give us a shared responsibility to work together for a better future, yours and ours, thank you.
Brother Abdul Hakim: Assalamu Alaikum, it’s a privilege to introduce Dr. Zakir Naik.
Dr. Zakir Abdul Karim Naik is the president of the Islamic Research Foundation, IRF, an internationally renowned orator on Islam and Comparative religion. He is the main driving spirit behind the IRF striving and acclaim for proper presentation, understanding and clarification of Islam, as well as removing misconceptions about Islam. Though a Medical Doctor by professional training, he has turned around to spread the truth of Islam to millions worldwide.
At only 36 years, Dr Zakir explains the teachings of Islam and convincely clears misconceptions about Islam based on Qur’an and authentic Hadith with reason, logic and science. He quotes extensively and verbatim from the Holy Qur’an and other religious scriptures.
Dr. Zakir is more famous for critical analysis and spontaneous and convincing answers to challenging questions posed by the audiences and skeptics after his public talk in Open Question and Answer sessions. He has delivered more than 600 Public Talks in the last six years in several countries, in addition to many public talks in India. Many of his talks are available on Video and Audio cassettes.
Dr. Zakir appears regularly on many international TV and satellite TV channels in more than 100 countries of the world. He is regularly invited for TV and radio interviews. He has authored books on Islam and Comparative religion. Thank You.
Dr. Zakir Naik: Alhumdulillah, was salaatu was salaam ala rasoolillah wa ala aalihi wa ashaabihi wa ajma’een, amma baad. A’uzu billahi minash shaytan nir-rajeem, Bismillah hirrahman nirraheem.
Wa Qul Ja'al-Haqq Wa Zahaqal-Baatil 'Innal-Baatila Kaana Zahuqa.
Rabbish rahli Şadri Wa Yassir Li 'Amri Wa Ahlul `Uqdatan Min Lisani Yafqahu Qawli
The Respected chief guests, Dr. Richard Hynes, Dr. Amar Sena, Mr. Krishnachand Chauradiya, the other dignitaries my respected elders and my dear brothers and sisters, I welcome all of you with the Islamic Greetings, Assalamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullahi Wabarkatahu. May peace, mercy and blessings of Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala), of Almighty God, be on all of you.
The topic of this talk is ‘Terrorism & Jihad: An Islamic Perspective’
And many of you may be aware, that, more than 20% of the world population, they are Muslims. More than one fifth of the world population consists of Muslims. But unfortunately, Islam is also a religion which has the maximum number of misconceptions. The people that have the maximum misconception about any religion, as a whole is the religion of Islam, which also happen to be today the fastest growing religion of the world. And these misconceptions are increasing, especially after the 11th of September 2001. And today, number one, top of the list, amongst the misconception is terrorism and Jihad in Islam.
Whenever a person, hears about a Muslim, immediately he starts thinking of a fundamentalist or a terrorist. What is the meaning of the word fundamentalist?
A Fundamentalist is a person who strictly address to the fundamentals of a particular subject. For example, if a doctor has to be a good doctor, he should know, follow and practice the fundamentals of medicine. Unless he is a fundamentalist in the field of medicine, he cannot be a good doctor. For a Scientist to be a good Scientist, he should know, follow and practice the fundamentals of Science. Unless he is a fundamentalist in the field of science, he cannot be a good scientist. For a Mathematician to be a good mathematician, he should know, follow and practice the fundamentals of Maths. Unless he is a fundamentalist in the field of Maths, he cannot be a good Mathematician.
You cannot paint all fundamentalists with the same brush that all are good or all are bad, depending upon the field in which a person is a fundamentalist; you can label him accordingly whether he is a good human being or a bad human being.
For example, if there is a person who is a fundamentalist robber, a fundamentalist thief, whose profession is to rob, whose profession is to steal, he is a nuisance to society; he is not a good human being. On the other hand, if you have a fundamentalist doctor whose profession is to save human lives, then he is a boon for society, he is a good human being. You can’t paint all fundamentalists with the same brush that all are good or all are bad, depending upon the field in which he is a fundamentalist; you have to label him accordingly.
I am proud to be a Muslim fundamentalist. Because I know, I follow and I strive to practice the fundamentalists of Islam. And I know that there is not a single fundamental of Islam which is against humanity as a whole. And I challenge any human being in the world to point out a single fundamental of Islam from the authentic sources of Islam which is against humanity as a whole. There may be certain people who may find that certain teachings of Islam, certain teaching of Qur’an, they are against humanity. But the moment you give the logical reason for it, the statistical record of the world, there will not be a single human being, who can point a single fundamental of Islam which is against humanity as a whole. That’s the reason I say I’m proud to be a fundamentalist Muslim.
And I say in the same breath, that for a Hindu to be a good Hindu, he should be a fundamentalist in the field of Hinduism. Unless he is a fundamentalist Hindu, he cannot be a good Hindu.
For a Christian to be a good Christian, he should be a fundamentalist in the field of Christianity. Unless he is fundamentalist Christian he cannot be a good Christian.
If you read the Webster’s Dictionary, it tells us that the word, ‘fundamentalism’ was first coined, was first used to describe a group of American Christians who were called as Protestant Christian in the earlier part of twentieth century, when they objected to the Church. Previously, the Christian Church, they believed, the message of the Bible was from Almighty God. These Protestant Christians, they protested and they said that not only is the message of the Bible from God, but every word, every letter of the Bible is from God.
If any human being can prove that Bible is the word of God then this movement of fundamentalism is a good movement. On the other hand, if someone proves that Bible is not the word of God, then this movement is not a good movement.
If you read the Oxford Dictionary, the Oxford Dictionary says that fundamentalist is a person who strictly adheres to the ancient doctrine of any religion. But if you refer to the new edition, the revised edition of Oxford Dictionary, there is a slight change in the definition. It says that fundamentalist is a person who strictly adhere to any ancient doctrine of any religion especially Islam. The word ‘especially Islam’ has been added in the revised edition of Oxford Dictionary.
The moment you hear the world fundamentalist you start thinking of a Muslim that he is a terrorist. As far as a terrorist is concerned, I tell the Muslims that every Muslim should be a terrorist. People may wonder, what is Dr. Zakir Naik talking in a communal harmony meet that every Muslim should be a terrorist.
What is the meaning of the word terrorist? Terrorist by definition means, a person who terrorizes. When a robber sees a policeman, he is terrified. So for the robber, the policeman is a terrorist. So in this context every Muslim should be terrorist to the robber, whenever a robber sees a Muslim he should be terrified. Whenever a rapist sees a Muslim, he should be terrified. Every Muslim should be a terrorist to each and every anti-social element.
I’m aware that terrorist, more commonly is used for a person who terrorizes an innocent person. In this context, no Muslim should even terrorize a single innocent human being. The Muslims should selectively terrorize the anti social element.”
And many a times two different labels are given for the same activity of the same individual. For example, more than sixty years back, when we were ruled by the Britishers, when they were controlling India, there were certain Indians who were fighting for their freedom. These group of Indian, by the British Government, they were labeled as Terrorist. But those same people, by the common Indians, we call them as Patriots, as Freedom fighters. Same individual, same activity, two different label. One group is calling them a terrorist; the other group is calling them freedom fighters, patriots. Same individual, same activity, two different labels. Therefore before you give a label, you have to try and find out, what is the reason that the person is giving the label. If you agree with the British government, that Britain had a right to rule over India, you would call all these people as terrorist. But if you agree with the view of the common Indians that the Britishers came to India to do business, they had no right to rule over us then you would call these people as freedom fighters. Same people, same activity, two different labels.
And I’d like to give you one more example, of Nelson Mandela who was the ex-President of the New Free South Africa. And we know by the previous government, the white Apartheid government, they called Nelson Mandela earlier as a terrorist, and they imprisoned him in Robin Island for more than twenty-five years. But the same person, by the indigenous South Africans, they called him as a hero. Same person, same activity, two different label. If you agree, with the previous white Apartheid government of South Africa, that the color of the skin makes you superior, if your skins color is white it makes you superior then we all have to agree that one of the greatest terrorist on earth was Nelson Mandela. But if you agree with the view of the South Africans, the original inhabitants of South Africa, that the color of the skin does not make you superior, or same as is mentioned in the Qur’an in
Surah Hujurat, Chapter 49, Verse No. 13, it says,
“Ya 'Ayyuhan Naasu 'Inna Khalaqnaakum Min Dhakarin Wa 'Unsa Wa Ja’alnaakum Shu`uban Wa Qabaa'ila Lita`arafu 'Inna 'Akramakum `Indallaahi 'Atqaakum 'Innallaaha `Alimun Khabir”
“O human kind! We have created you from a single pair of male and female, and have divided you into nations and tribes so that you shall recognize each other, not that you shall despise each other and the most honored in the sight of Almighty God is the person who has Taqwa.”
The criteria for judgment in the sight of Almighty God, is not color of the skin, its not sex, it’s not wealth, but it is Taqwa, it is righteousness, it is piety, it is God’s consciousness.
So if you agree with the view of the Qur’an and as our beloved Prophet Muhammad (Sallallahu alaihe wa sallam) said, he said in the farewell pilgrimage, in the Hajjatul wida. He said that “No Arab is superior to a Non-Arab, neither is the Non-Arab is superior to an Arab, No white man is superior to a black, neither is the black man is superior to a white except by virtue.”
So if you agree with the view of the Qur’an and the sayings of beloved Prophet Muhammad (Sallallahu alaihe wa sallam) you would not call Nelson Mandela as a terrorist but you would call a person who is fighting for his rights.
Therefore before any person gives any label to any individual for any of his acts, we have to first analyze for what reason is he doing the act.
The number two, on top of the list, of misconception in Islam is Jihad. And there is a great misconception regarding the meaning of the word ‘JIHAD’, not only amongst the Non-Muslims but even amongst the Muslims.
Most of the people, irrespective whether their Muslims, or Non-Muslims, they feel that any war, fought by any Muslim, for any reason whatsoever, irrespective whether it be for personal reasons, for political gain, for regions, for language, for any reason, if any Muslim fights a war it is called as ‘Jihad’. It is a great misconception not only amongst the Non-Muslims but even amongst the Muslims that any Muslim fights a war, it is termed as ‘Jihad’. ‘Jihad’ comes from the Arabic word ‘Jahada’ which means to strive, which means to struggle, which means to exert effort. And in the Islamic context, Jihad, means to strive against one’s own evil inclination. ‘Jihad’ in Islamic terminology also means to strive to improve the society. It even includes to strive in the battle field for self defense and It even includes to strive to fight against tyranny and oppression, ‘Jihad’ comes from the root word ‘Jahada’ which means to strive which means to struggle. For example, if a student, strives to pass in an examination, in Arabic we say, he is doing Jihad, he is striving, he is struggling to pass in the examination.
If an employee strives, struggles to satisfy his employer irrespective whether the work, he is doing is good or bad, it is called as ‘Jihad’. Irrespective, whether the employee, whether he is doing good work or bad work, if he striving to satisfy his employer, it is called as ‘Jihad’. Jihad merely means to strive. If a politician strives to acquire vote, irrespective whether he is good or bad, it is referred to in Arabic as Jihad.
And there is another misconception, as far as the word ‘Jihad’ is concerned, most of the people think Muslims, Non Muslim alike that Jihad, can only be done by Muslim. Infact there are verses in the Qur’an in which Almighty God says that even the Non–Muslims, they did Jihad. The Qur’an says in
Surah Luqman, Chapter No. 31 and Verse No. 14,
“That we have enjoined upon the human beings to be kind to their parents, in trivial upon trivial did their mother bore them and years twain was their weaning.”
The next verse Surah Luqman Chapter No. 31 Verse No. 15 says.
“But if they strive, but if your parents strive to force you to worship someone else besides Me, besides Almighty God, of which you have no knowledge then do not obey them.”
Here the Qur’an says, that if your parents strive, they struggle, they do Jihad to make you worship somebody else besides, Almighty God, do not obey them. Here the Qur’an says that the Non-Muslims do Jihad. The same message is repeated in
Surah Ankabut, Chapter No. 29 Verse No. 8.
“That we have enjoined in the human beings to be kind to their parents, but if they strive, if they do Jihad, and force you to worship anyone besides Me, besides almighty God, of which you have no knowledge then do not obey them but live with them in compassion and love.”
So here we come to know from the Qur’an that even the Non-Muslim do ‘Jihad’. Further its mentioned in the Qur’an in
Surah Nisa, Chapter No. 4, Verse No. 76,
“That the believers, they fight in the way of Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala) and the unbelievers they fight in the way of the Satan. So strive against the brothers of the Satan”
Here again it speaks that the evil people even they do Jihad.
So Jihad is an Arabic word, which merely means to strive, to struggle. In context, the believers, they strive in the way of Allah it is called as Jihad Fi Sabilillah, and the evil people, they strive in the way of the Satan, it is called as Jihad Fi Sabishaitan. So Jihad is of two types, good Jihad, and bad Jihad also, striving for the good cause, striving for an evil cause. But in Islamic context, if it is not specified, it is taken for granted, that the Jihad, is for a good cause it is Jihad Fi Sabilillah, it is Jihad in the way of Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala). Unless specified, its taken for granted, that whenever Jihad is mentioned, it means Jihad Fi Sabilillah, Jihad in the way of Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala).
There is another misconception, that most of the people whether Muslim or Non-Muslims, they think that Jihad means Holy War. Infact, if you read the Qur’an, nowhere is the word ‘Holy War’ used anywhere in the Qur’an. Nowhere will you find ‘holy war’ mentioned in any of the authentic Ahadith of the Prophet, saying of the Prophet Muhammad (Sallallahu alaihe wa sallam). The Arabic Translation for the English word ‘Holy War’ is ‘Harbum Muqaddasah’ which means a Holy War. This word is nowhere mentioned in the Qur’an, nowhere it is mentioned in any of the authentic Hadith of the Prophet.
This word ‘Holy War’ was initially coined by the Orientalist, where they started writing books on Islam, and unfortunately, many of the Muslims Scholars even they translate Jihad as ‘Holy War’. It’s unfortunate, if someone makes a mistake regarding the religion of Islam, unfortunately many of the Muslims scholars; even they use this English translation thinking that the most appropriate translation for the Arabic word Jihad is holy war, which is totally wrong.
The word which is used in the Qur’an, it is fighting, it is ‘Qital’. It means to kill, and again fighting is of two types, killing can be of two types, for good purpose and bad purpose.
As Allah says in the Qur’an in Surah Nisa Chapter No. 4 Verse No. 76,
“That the believers, they fight in the way of Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala), they fight in the way of Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala), and the unbelievers they fight in the way of Satan. So the believers let them fight against the brothers of the Satan.”
That means the evil people; they fight in the way of the devil, and the good people they fight in the way of Almighty God. So Jihad does not mean ‘holy war’. And ‘Qital’ merely means ‘to fight’ Qital Fi Sabililllah means fighting in the way of Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala) and Qital Fi Sabishaitan means fighting in the way of the Satan.
This word Jihad occurs in the Glorious Qur’an several times, on several occasions, it’s even used by our beloved Prophet Muhammad (Sallallahu alaihe wa sallam), Muhammad (may peace be upon him) in several of the authentic hadith.
If you read the Qur’an, it says in the Quran in
Surah Hajj, Chapter No. 22, Verse no. 78, it says,
“That strive in the way of Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala) as you are ought to strive with sincerity and discipline”
Strive in the way of Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala) as you ought to strive.
Further it’s mentioned in the Glorious Qur’an in
Surah Taubah, Chapter No. 9 Verse No. 20, that
“As far those believers who suffer exile and who strive with might and main in the way of Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala) with their body, and wealth and possession, these are the people who shall attain the highest rank in the hereafter, they shall attain the salvation.”
That means it says that all those people, the believers who suffer exile, and if they struggle, if they do Jihad, if they strive, in the way of Almighty God doing good things with all their possession, with the body, with the wealth, with the time, these are the people who shall achieve the highest rank in the hereafter and they shall go to heaven.
It’s mentioned in the Hadith of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (Sallallahu alaihe wa sallam) in
Sahih Bukhari, Volume No. 4, Hadith No. 46, our beloved Prophet Muhammad (Sallallahu alaihe wa sallam) said that,
“A Mujahid”, a person who strives in Allah’s way, and Allah alone knows who really strives in his way with the true intentions is like a person who continuously fasts and prays and if a person who is a Mujahid, who strives in Allah’s way if he is killed, he shall go to paradise and if he returns back, he shall come back with a great reward as well as booty of the war.”
The word Jihad is referred to in the Qur’an in several places. Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala) says in the Qur’an in
Surah Ankabut, Chapter No. 29, Verse no. 6,
It says that,
“Strive in the way of Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala) as you ought to strive but Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala) is free of all wants.”
It says that if you strive in the way of Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala) you are doing for your own selves, for Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala), the Creator is free of all wants. It indicates that if you are struggling in the way of Almighty God, it is for your own benefit, it is not for the benefit of Almighty God, because Almighty God is not dependent on any of his creations, is independent, He does not require anyone’s help, if you are struggling in his way it is for your own benefit.
And Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala) says in
Surah Taubah, Chapter No. 9, Verse No. 24,
“In Kaana Aabaa-o Kum” …. Say whether it be for your fathers.
“Wa Abna-o Kum”.… or your sons ….
“Wa Ikhwan-o Kum”.… or your brothers ….
“Wa Azwajukum” .… or your spouses, your wives, your husbands .…
“Wa Ashiratukum”…. or your relatives ….
“Waamwalun iqtaraftumooha watijaratun takhshawna kasadaha wamasakinu tardawnaha”.… the wealth ye have amassed, the business in which you deal, the houses in which you live.
Allah is saying, what are your considerations? Are they your fathers? your sons? your brothers? your spouses? your relatives? the wealth the you have amassed? the business in which you deal? the houses in which you live? what are you considerations? and Allah continues,
“Ahabba ilaykum mina Allahi warasoolihi wajihadin fee sabeelihi”
“If you love all these eight things, more than Allah, his Messenger and doing Jihad in the way of Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala)….”
…again the word ‘Jihad’ is used indicating that if you love all these eight things more than almighty God, more than the Messenger of Almighty God, or striving o r struggling in the way of Almighty God then “Fata rabbasu” – Wait ….
“hatta ya’tiya Allahu bi-amrihi waAllahu la yahdee alqawma alfasiqeena”.… Wait until Allah brings his decision unto you, wait until Allah brings his destruction unto you ….
“waAllahu la yahdee alqawma alfasiqeen”.… and Allah guides not the Fasiq people.
Allah says that if you love all these eight things, more than Allah, Almighty God, more than his messenger and striving in the way of Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala), then wait until Allah brings His decision unto you, and Allah guides not the Fasiq people, the rebellious people.
And you find several Ahadith, of the beloved Prophet Muhammad (Sallallahu alaihe wa sallam) which speaks about Jihad.
It’s mentioned in
Sahih Bukhari, Volume No. 4, Hadith no. 2784 it mentions
“Hazrat Aaisha (May Allah be pleased with her), the wife of the Prophet, she asked the Prophet Muhammad (Sallallahu alaihe wa sallam) that shouldn’t we go for Jihad? And the Prophet said the best Jihad for you is the perfect Hajj”
On another occasion, it’s mentioned in
Sahih Bukhari, Hadith No. 5972, that
“A person approached the Prophet and said that “should I go for Jihad?” And here the Jihad, struggling, refers to fighting against the evil people, So a person asks that should I go for Jihad to fight against the evil people? So the Prophet asks him that “do you have parents?” The man says “”yes!” So the Prophet says, “the best Jihad for you is to serve your parents.”
On the other occasion, which is mentioned in
Sunan Nasai, Hadith No. 4209, that
“A person asked the Prophet that which is the best of Jihad? And the prophet said the best Jihad is to speak a word of truth against the tyrant ruler.”
Here you find that depending upon the situation, the best type of Jihad, the best type of struggling keeps on differing. Sometimes the Prophet said, the best Jihad is performing perfect Hajj i.e. the perfect pilgrimage. On another occasion the prophet said the best Jihad is to serve your parents. On another occasion the prophet said the best Jihad, the best struggling; the best striving is to speak a word of truth against the tyrant ruler.
And the beloved Prophet Muhammad (Sallallahu alaihe wa sallam) said, it’s mentioned in Sahih Ibn Hibban, (Hadith No. 4686), that the Prophet said
“A Mujahid, person who strives, a Mujahid is a person who strives against his own self, for the cause of Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala) and a Muhajir, a person who migrates, is a person who migrates from evil to good.”
Here you find that Jihad is used in various different contexts and depending upon the situation, the best type of Jihad keeps on changing.
So to understand the concept of Jihad, you have to go to the authentic sources, that is the Glorious Qur’an and the Authentic Hadith of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
And here we find in the Qur’an, Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala) says in
Surah Baqarah, Chapter No. 2, Verse No. 208, says that,
“Ya ayyuha allazeena amanoo oodkhuloo fis Silmi kaffaa”
“O you who believe! Enter into Islam whole heartedly, and do not follow the ‘Khutuwatish shaitaan’ the footsteps of the devil.”
Here Allah is specially telling that ‘O you who believe, O’ believers, do not follow the footsteps of the devil.”
On many occasion the Qur’an says that do not follow the Satan, but here Allah says do not follow the footsteps of the Satan, is there any difference between following the Satan and the following the footsteps of the Satan? Why does Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala) changed the words? The reason is that anyone who has little Eemaan, who has little faith….
If, for example, if a young lady comes and tell him, that lets spend the night together, because the person has faith, he will say No! Not at all, It is totally prohibited, it’s a sin and he will not do it. But to the same person who has little faith, if a phone call of a young lady comes, he may say there is no harm in speaking to a young lady, so he speaks for a couple of times on the phone. Later on the lady may call that lets have tea together outside and after a few days, he goes to have tea. Then he may go to a joint like McDonalds, and they go to McDonalds. After a few days, they may go to a restaurant to have dinner, and after a few days they may spend the night together in a hotel.
This is Khutuwatish Shaitaan, the footsteps of the devil that’s the difference between the devil and the footsteps of the devil. If the devil himself comes in front of a person who has faith, he will immediately recognize the devil and will abstain from him. But if the footsteps of the devil come, this is an attraction. Only speaking to a young lady what’s the problem? Only having tea what’s the problem? No problem. Only having a burger in McDonalds, No problem, only having dinner, No problem, only sleeping one night, No problem.
So Allah says in the Qur’an, he gives us guidance,
“O ye who believe, enter into Islam wholeheartedly”
“Ya aaiyuhal lazeena aamanu…udkhulu fis silmi kaaf’ fa” ….
And do not follow the Khutwatish Shaitan, the footsteps of the devil, for he is to you an avowed enemy.
And one of the best ways, the best type of Jihad, the best type of struggling, is to convey the message of truth to those who are not aware of it. One of the best type of Jihad is Da’wah, conveying the message of truth of Islam, conveying the message of truth to those who are not aware of it.
And Allah says in the Qur’an in Surah Ale Imran, Chapter No. 3, Verse No. 110,
“Kuntum Khaira ummatin ukhrajatal lin naas” ….
“O ye Muslims, ye are the best of people evolved for mankind.”
Allah is giving us an honor and is calling the best of people and there is no honor without responsibility. Allah continues and gives us the responsibility.
“Ta’miroona bil ma’roof wa tanhau na anil munkar” …. “because you enjoin what is good and you forbid what is wrong and you believe in Allah.”
The reason Allah, Almighty God is calling us the best of people, because we are suppose to enjoin people towards the good and forbid them from doing the wrong. If you do not enjoin what is good, and if a person does not forbid from doing wrong, he is not fit to be called as Muslim. He is not fit to be called as Khairah Ummah, as the best of people. So the reason, we are given this honor is because we are suppose to enjoin people to the Haqq and forbid them from wrong.
And I started my talk by quoting a verse from the Glorious Qur’an from Surah Isra, Chapter No. 17, Verse No. 81, which says,
“Wa Qul Jā'a Al-Ĥaqqu Wa Zahaqa Al-Bāţilu 'Inna Al-Bāţila Kāna Zahūqāan”
“When the truth is hurled against falsehood, falsehood perishes, for falsehood is by its nature bound to perish.”
It’s the duty of every person who has the truth, that he should convey that truth to those people who are not aware of it. That’s the reason, one of the criteria for any human being, to attain salvation; the criteria are mentioned in the Qur’an in
Surah Al Asr, Chapter No. 103 Verse No. 1-3 which says,
“Wal Asr Inna al-insana lafee khusr Illa allazeena amanoo wa amiloo assalihati watawasaw bilhaqqi watawasaw bis sabr”
That, “By the token of time, man is verily in a state of loss, except, those who have faith, those who have righteous deed, those who exhort people to truth and those who exhort people to patience and perseverance.”
Only faith will not take you to heaven, besides faith you should also have righteous deed, you should exhort people to truth, and exhort people to patience and perseverance. If any one of these criteria is missing, under normal circumstances, according to the verse of the Qur’an, you shall not enter ‘Jannah’ you shall not enter heaven.
And today we find that the international media, whether it be the television satellite channels, whether it be the newspapers, whether it be magazines, you find that Islam is in the firing line. Even on the internet, there is virulent propaganda about Islam.
And, I personally, do agree with the statement of Dr. Richard Haynes the counselor General of U.S.A to Chennai when he said that the American nation is not against Islam. And I do agree I’ve been to America several times, the American people as a whole, the American people as a whole, I do agree with him, the American people as a whole, they aren’t against Islam. And the same thing I tell my Indian brothers, that the Indian Hindus as a whole, they aren’t against Islam, they aren’t. We have got several Hindu friends, No problem, it is only a small group of Indians, for their personal gains they may try to malign Islam. It may be a small group of Westerners, for their personal gain they may try to malign Islam for their personal reasons. Some people because they want to come in power, it’s a easy vote bank, to create a tension between two communities. Some people, to divert the mistakes made by the head of state, he diverts the attention, by creating another scenario, making Islam in the firing line. So, I do agree, that as a whole, the American nation is not against Islam, as a whole the Non-Muslims of India aren’t against Islam, it is only a selected few and these people they are controlling the media.
According to Time Magazine, an article came on the 16th of April 1979, it said that more than 60,000 books were written against Islam in a span hundred and fifty years. More than 60,000 books written against Islam in a span of hundred and fifty years, and if you calculate according to this article of Time Magazine, more than one book is written against Islam everyday, everyday. And the media, I blame the media, and I blame the politicians, the problem that we have today in the world, according to me the root cause is the media and the politicians. I’m sorry if I hurt anyone’s feeling, I’m not targeting any particular people, but just this is my opinion. That the media if you analyze, I know there are many journalist out here, So…there are many journalists who are truthful and they really give a good view, it is, when I say majority, it means 50%. It doesn’t mean all, it means more than 50%. And if we analyze that today selectively, the Muslims are being targeted on the media.
For example, if a Muslim Woman wears a Hijaab, she is targeted, on the same hand we find Nuns, when they wear a similar type of dress, covering the complete body except the face and hands up to the wrist, the people they respect them, Why? Why there is a difference? If a Muslim keeps a beard, it’s an indication of a terrorist. The Sikhs, they keep the beard, there is no problem, they wear the turban, there is no problem. And when I went to Canada for the first time in the 1990s there was an article, that the Sikh, he fought for his right, that he was a Canadian, he fought for his right that he will not remove his turban in the Canadian Army and he won the case. Last month an article that came, that a Sikh, he objected in the court of law, of Britain, that he will not take out his turban in the college, and, and they won the case.
Here we find that a person who keeps a beard, people feel that, you know, I don’t know what harm can a beard do. And that happened even in Madras, I came alone with some of my colleagues and we came to the hotel yesterday and my colluges, you know, even they have a beard and they wear a cap so there were some police who following and started questioning just because of the beard and the cap! What harm can a beard do? It can’t even harm a fly. What harm can a cap do? Fine if somebody is carrying a gun and you are question him, it’s fine. If somebody is carrying certain things which you find suspicious it’s fine. Imagine a beard it can’t even harm a fly!
And you analyze, all the saintly people of most of the religions, they had beard. Jesus Christ (peace be upon him), supposed to be the Messenger of Islam, and even considered as, by the Christian in inverted commas as ‘God’ he had a beard. All the Sants and Sadhus they have a beard. All the religious personalities, almost all, if not all, if you analyze in their religion, if you see on the higher level they have beard, so what’s the problem in a beard? There is no problem at all. So this is the hype of the media, it is the hype of the media, it is selectively targeting. So because of this you find the scenario today, that there is a misconception about Islam, and I blame the Muslims also, that we aren’t actually conveying the message of truth to them, we aren’t doing our job.
And we find that certain verses of the Qur’an are quoted out of context, and one of the most famous verse of the Qur’an, in which the critics they try and say that, O! Qur’an says that wherever you find a Non-Muslim you kill him. And one of the famous critics of India, as you know Arun Shourie, he wrote a book called “The World of Fatawa” and he writes in his book and he quotes the Qur’an in Surah Tawbah, Chapter No. 9, Verse No. 5, he says, the Qur’an says “wherever you find a ‘Kaafir’ into brackets ‘Hindu’, into brackets ‘Hindu’, wherever you find a Kaafir into bracket (Hindu), you kill him, you wait for him in every stratagem of war.
So imagine if a common Hindu, a innocent Hindu read this, Ooh !! Qur’an says that wherever you find a Hindu kill him, then immediately there will be a reaction. He will start going against Islam. So the problem is that selected few people for their own ulterior motives, because of their writing, and he wrote the book, “The World of Fatawa” and he quotes the same verse which is even quoted by Orientalists, Surah Taubah Chapter No. 9 Verse No. 5 giving reference. After verse No. 5 he jumps to verse No. 7 directly. Any intelligent person will know, why? Because verse No. 6 has the key, the reply to his allegation.
In context if you read Surah Tawbah, Chapter Chapter No. 9, the first few verses speaks about a peace treaty between the Muslims and the Mushriks of Makkah. This peace treaty was unilaterally broken by the Mushriks of Makkah. So by the time Almighty God reaches Verse No. 5, he says that in the battlefield, that wherever you find your enemy, ‘Kaafir’ means a unbeliever, enemy, wherever you find the enemy, you kill him. In the battlefield, if anyone quotes out of the context, it would sound absurd.
Imagine, a few decades earlier, there, there was a war between USA and Vietnam. And if the Army General of USA, or the President of the USA tells the American soldiers in the battlefield, that my soldiers, don’t get scared, wherever you find the Vietnamese, kill him. It is to boost up the morale, but today if someone quotes that the President of America said that wherever you find the Vietnamese, kill him, you will make him sound like a butcher, it’s out of context. And but natural, any Army General, to boost up the morale, he will give morale support to his soldiers.
So similarly, when Almighty God says in the Qur’an to the believers, that when the enemies come to kill you, don’t get scared you kill them, as what’s harm in it. And the next verse, verse No. 6 says that,
“If the unbelievers, if they seek asylum, it does not say let them go, it says if they seek asylum, if they seek peace, escort them to a place of security, so that they may hear the word of Allah.”
The Qur’an does not say if the enemy wants peace let them go, the Qur’an says escort them to a place of security, today the most generous Army General the maximum he’ll tell his soldiers that if the enemy wants peace, let them go. Which army general will say that escort them to a place of security, but this is what Qur’an says. If you read in context, you come to know the real message of the Qur’an.
And you pick up any religious scripture, I’m a student of comparative religion, I’ve read the Ramayana, Mahabharata, Bible, Old Testament, New Testament, Sikh scriptures, Jain Scriptures, I’ve read it. And you find that in certain occasion or the other almost all the scriptures, some way or the other they have mentioned fighting, they have mentioned killing. I can give quotation, if you read the Bible, in the Book of Exodus of the Old Testament, Chapter No. 22 Verse No. 18 to 20, it says, ‘Kill’.
Exodus Chapter No. 32 says, ‘Kill’.
Numbers, says, ‘Kill’.
New Testament, if you read Luke, in the Gospel of Luke, it says ‘Kill’.
And if you remember the story of the Jesus Christ (peace be upon him) when he goes to the Garden of Gethsemane he tells to one of his apostles to take a sword and stand there and that Apostle, he uses the sword to chop off the ear.
So you find that fighting has been prescribed in almost all the scriptures. You read the Hindu Scriptures, Mahabharata is a scripture it is what? Bhagwad Gita Chapter No. 2, and you know, that when Arjun, when he feels sad, that when he has to fight his relatives. Arjun says, how can I kill my relatives, there are thousands of people ahead, in front of me, how can I kill them? So lord Arjun, Arjun, he is given guidance by lord Krishna. And lord Krishna tells him, that as far as for the truth when you are on the truth, you don’t have to see who is in front of you, whether it’s your relatives or who it is. And that is correct; truth prevails much more higher than the blood relations.
Same thing the Qur’an says in
Surah Nisa, Chapter No. 4, Verse No. 135,
“Yaa aiyuhal lazeena aamanu”
O you who believe! Stand out firmly for justice, as truth to Almighty God, even if it be against yourself, against your parents, against the rich or against the poor, Allah protects all.
So if you study all the Scriptures, all the scriptures some way or the other, Sometime or the other they have mentioned about fighting. That doesn’t mean you pick up the verse of Exodus, you pick up the verse of Bhagwad Gita and say that you know Bhagwat Gita says, that you have to kill your relatives, it’s out of context. So here we have to analyze that to get a communal harmony, the best thing we have to do, is we have to go back to our scriptures. If you go back to our scriptures, you will come to know, what is mentioned in the scripture, which is the authentic source of every religion.
And we find that the Qur’an says in
Surah Maidah Chapter No. 5 Verse 32, it says that,
“If anyone kills any human being, whether it be Muslim or Non-Muslim, unless it be for murder or for creating mischief in the land, it is as though he has killed the whole of humanity.”
The Qur’an says, “If any human being whether Muslim or a Non-Muslim, kills any other human being, whether Muslim or Non-Muslim, unless it be for murder or for creating mischief in the land, it is as though he has killed the whole of humanity”, and the verse continues…
“And if anyone saves any human being it is as though he has saved the whole nation.”
And as far as ‘Qital’ fighting in the way of Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala), ‘Qital Fisabeelillah’ is concerned there are certain guidelines laid down, in the Qur’an and in the sayings of beloved Prophet Muhammad (Sallallahu alaihe wa sallam) that even as a last resort if we have to fight, if ever you have to fight the evil people there are certain guidelines laid down.
And Allah says in the Qur’an in
Surah Baqarah, Chapter No. 2, Verse No. 190, that,
“Fight against those who fight you, but do not commit excesses, do not transgress the limits, for Allah does not like those who transgress limits.”
Allah says in Surah Baqarah, Chapter No. 2, Verse No. 194, that
“Fight those who fight you until there is no more turmoil and oppression”
And there are several guidelines laid down in the Qur’an and the Hadith, regarding if you have to fight as a last resort in the way Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala), when you fight, you should not harm the women, you should not harm the children, you should not harm the elderly people who are at their home, you should not break monasteries, you should not harm the religious people, you should not burn down trees, you should not uproot the trees, you should not burn the crops, you should not kill the animals, there is a big list of do’s and don’ts.
And according to a book written by Ramakrishna Rao, he writes on the life history of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), he says that in all the fighting that took place, at the time of the Prophet, all these years, twenty two years, he gives the calculation from his own source that 1018 people were killed. How many 1018? Do you know the statistics of first World War, how many were killed? How many were killed? How many? 20 million people, 10 million soldiers and 10 million civilians. Second World War, 30 million people were killed and another 34 million they injured, compare. We find that if you go back to the source, you come to know the real reason and the real philosophy behind the statement of the verse of the Qur’an.
And one of the most common allegations today that we have, or again top of the list, the common misconception, is Islam was spread by the sword.
Islam comes from the root word ‘Salaam’ which means peace, it comes from the word ‘Silm’ which means peace, which means to submit your will to Almighty God, and if anyone who submits his will to Almighty God to acquire peace, he is called as a Muslim.
Imagine, if you translate the statement, Islam was spread by the sword, it means peace was spread by the sword. And Islam, as a general norm, it is against violence. But, as a last resort, force can be used. And in every country of the world, every country of the world has a police. And this police too, if suppose the civilian or the citizens or anyone else, if they do not follow the law of that country this police it uses force to let peace prevail in that country. So when every country has a police, and when they can use force they can keep guns.
And if Islam is against violence, it mainly promotes peace, as a last resort, because some people do not want peace, and they want to disrupt the peace, to control these people as a last resort, Islam gives permission for the use of force and violence as a last resort.
The reply to this misconception that Islam was spread by the sword, is given very well by the famous historian, by the name of De Lacy O ‘Leary, he writes in his book “Islam at the Crossroad” on Page No. 8, and he says, that,
“History makes it clear, that the legend of fanatical Muslims sweeping across the world, forcing Islam at the point of the sword, over conquered races is the most fantastic absurd myth that historians have ever repeated”
De lacy O ‘Leary writes in his book “Islam at the Crossroad”, that,
“History makes it clear that the legend of fanatical Muslims sweeping across the world, forcing Islam at the point of the sword, over conquered races, is the most fantastic absurd myth that historian have ever repeated.”
And we know that we Muslims we ruled Spain for about 800 years, we did not force anyone to accept Islam at the point of the sword. Later on the Crusaders came, and they wiped out the Muslims, there was not a single Muslim who could openly give the Adhaan.
The Muslims, we were the lord of the Arab land for the past 1400 years. For a few years the Britishers came, for a few years the French, came but as a whole, the Arab Muslims were the lord of the Arab land for the past 1400 years. Yet today, Yet today, there are more than 14 million Arabs who are Coptic Christians, Coptic Christians, means Christians since generations. These 14 million Coptic Christian Arabs, they are bearing witness, they are giving ‘Shahadah’ that Islam was not spread by the sword.
The Muslims ruled India for about a thousand years. If they wanted, they could have forced every Indian to accept Islam at the point of the sword. Today after thousand years we find in India that more than 80% of the Indians, they are Non-Muslims. These 80% Non Muslims Indians, they are bearing witness, they are giving Shahadah, that Islam was not spread by the sword.
Which Muslim army went to Malaysia? Malaysia happens to be a country which has more than 50% Muslims.
Which Muslim army went to Indonesia? Which is a country which has the maximum number of Muslims in the world.
Which Muslim army went to the East Coast of Africa? Which Muslim army? Which sword?
Thomas Carlyle gives the reply, he again is a famous historian, from Europe, and he says,
“Which sword? First you have to get your sword. Every new idea originate in the mind of one, in one man’s head, it originates, one man against the full world, one against everyone else, it will do little good that he picks up a sword and propagates it, first you have to get your sword”
He is referring to the sword of intellect, as Allah says in the Qur’an in
Surah Nahl, Chapter No. 16, Verse No. 125,
“Ud`u 'ila sabili rabbika bil-hikmah wal maw`izatil hasanah wa jaadilhum bilati hiya 'ahsan”
“Invite all to the way of thy Lord, with wisdom and beautiful preaching and argue with them and reason with them in the ways that are best and most gracious.”
We have statistics today, there is an article that came in ‘The Plain Truth’ magazine, which was a reproduction of the Reader’s Digest Almanac Year Book, 1986, it gave the Statistics of the increase in the major world religions, in the span of 50 years, between 1934 to 1984, and it said, that number one religion to grow maximum was Islam, 235%. In a span of fifty years, Islam grew by 235%, Christianity only 47%. I’m asking a question, which war took place between 1934 and 1984, which forced the Non Muslims to accept Islam? Which war?
Today the fastest growing religion in America is Islam, the fastest growing religion in U.K. is Islam, I’m asking a question, that I want to know that which Muslim is forcing the Americans to accept Islam? I’m asking the question that which Muslim is forcing the Europeans to accept Islam? There is a freedom of speech in America; there is freedom of speech in Europe. If Islam subjugates women that then why should a Non–Muslim women accept Islam? How come those people who are accepting Islam, 2/3rd of them are women? Because Islam has the solution to the problems of the humankind.
According to statistics of ‘CARE’, it’s a council of America, in Washington, it said that two months after 11th September, two months after 11th September…. two months after 11th September 20,000 Americans accepted Islam.
And after the 11th September I was there on the 9th of September 2 days before I left other wise I too would have been…I was there in U.K. and after 11th September in a span of just hardly 5-6 months thrice I was called to U.K. only to give talks on Terrorism and its good the act is bad the act is bad.
What Salman Rushdie did, what Salman Rushdie wrote against the Prophet was bad, but people wanted to know what did Salman Rushdie write, and they read the Qur’an to find the truth and they accepted Islam.
Today in America, these all statistics, from the leading newspapers of America, even New York Times, it said; the American wants to know, can I have a Bible of the Muslims, they don’t even know that Qur’an is the Holy Book, they want to read the Bible of the Muslims, its good. And the moment you have interaction with the truth, as I started my talk by quoting the verse of the Qur’an from
Surah Al Isra, Chapter No. 17, Verse No. 81, which says,
“Waqul aa alhaqqu wazahaqa albatiluinna albatila kana zahooqa”
“When the truth is hurled against falsehood, falsehood perishes, for falsehood is by its nature bound to perish.”
We have to use the sword of the intellect, the sword of reasoning, which is conquering the hearts.
And Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala), Almighty God, he gives a promise in the Qur’an in no less than three different places.
In Surah Taubah, Chapter No. 9, Verse No. 33,
in Surah Saff, Chapter No. 61, Verse No. 9, as well as in
Surah Fath Chapter No. 48, Verse No. 28, with the different ending Allah says,
“Huwa allazee arsala rasoolahu bilhuda wa deeni alhaqq liyuzirahu ala addeeni kullihi”
“Allah has sent his messengers with guidance, and the religion of truth, so that it may prevail over all the other isms, and Islam is destined to supersede all the other isms, and Allah says however much the unbelievers don’t like it.”
And Allah gives the different ending in Surah Fath, Chapter No. 48, Verse 28, which says,
“Wakafa billahi shaheeda”
“And enough is Allah as a witness.”
I would like to end my talk of this topic “Terrorism and Jihad - An Islamic perspective”, with a quotation and a statement of Dr. Adam Pearson, who said,
“People who worry that one day nuclear weaponry will fall in the hands of the Arabs, they fail to realize that the Islamic bomb has already been dropped, it fell the day Prophet Muhammad was born.”
Wa Aakhirud Da’wana Anil Hamdu lillahi Rabbill Aalameen!
TERRORISM AND JIHAD - AN ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE
Kamaraj memorial hall Chennai 4th oct 2002
By
Dr. Zakir Naik
Question & Answer Session
(Duration – 1 hour and 9 minutes)
Ashraf Mohammady: Now we begin with the more interesting part of the progamme, that is the question & answer session. Please pose one question at a time. May we have the first question.
Questioner: Sir My name is Vasi Grana, I am a Christian and we are told that the crusaders & the crusades were waging a Holy war. I am a Christian Sir! I am a journalist. We were told that the crusaders and the crusades were waging a holy war and now after seeing the films, we know how much terrorism they did to the innocent Muslims and do… Do you not think that this religious terrorism started from these crusades and it is in another way, it continues against the Muslims through all these centuries? Now this terrorism seems to be in another phase and why these westerners are always after the crusades continuing this sort of thing against the Muslims?
Dr. Zakir Naik: Brother has asked a very good question. He being a Christian he says, that he was told that the crusades were holy war and that’s what I told you the Orientalist used this word Holy war for Jihad. It was nothing but the usage of holy war, was another name for crusade, to see to it that everyone joins & thinks it is religious. And the brother being a journalist has rightly said that now we realize that these crusades were nothing but terrorizing the innocent Muslims.
I didn’t say anything about this in my talk because I came here to speak about the Islamic concept. I didn’t touch on any religion, negative point of any religion neither do I want to touch, It is just I said that all religions prescribe fighting to let peace prevail that’s what everyone does, I never touched on any religion, that’s not what I’ve come here for but if you ask me a question, I have to say, yes you are right brother that the crusade did terrorize the innocent Muslims and that’s how it has continued & now the same thing what they do, they are now saying the same thing to the Muslims which if you analyse, you see in the world around you, you see in the world around you that how many people are actually accepting, today Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world. There may be stray incidents somewhere in the world, there are black sheep in every community but you will not be able to point out as a whole that where in the world are people forcing other non-Muslim to accept Islam at the point of the sword, no where. Infact, they are getting harassed because they are Muslims. Now this thing can only be solved if you go back, if you go back to the Bible.
If you read the Bible, Jesus Christ (peace be upon him), he said it’s mentioned in the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter Number 5, Verse number 40-41, he says that “if anyone strikes you on right cheek offer him the other”…. If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, offer him the other. “If someone asks you to walk one mile, you walk with him twain, if someone ask for the shirt, you give him the clock.” So Jesus Christ (pbuh), a messenger of Almighty God, he shows us how peace should prevail, He says love your neighbor.
So if you analyse, if you go back to the scripture, I don’t find anywhere where Jesus Christ peace be upon him, himself prescribed that you should harass the Muslims. So therefore I tell all the human beings that go back the scripture you consider to be the most holiest. Whichever scripture you consider, at least go back to your scripture as the Qur’an says in Surah Ale Imran Chapter 3, Verse 64,
“Ta`alaw 'Ilá Kalimatin Sawa'in Baynana Wa Baynakum”
“Come to common terms as between us and you”
which is the first term?
“Allah Na`buda 'Illallah”
“that we worship none but Allah.”
Hope that answers the questions.
Questioner: My name is C. Ilaya Raja – Salaam Walaikum. In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Beneficent. The Prophet Muhammad, Rasulullah, Let peace be upon him.
Actually, I am a Non-Muslim, my brother is Saifullah, actually he is standing the Dais, everyone can see him. He has embraced Islam in my family & he is having so much problem with the parents actually that is not my question now.
Actually I am belonging to the fraternity of law….
Dr. Zakir Naik: You know I’d just like to make a suggestion that the Non-Muslims can ask any question, in topic, out of the topic, this is the opportunity, they don’t get the opportunity, I would not mind answering any question – If it’s from Non-Muslim.
It will be my pleasure to answer any question, in the topic, out of the topic, on religion, on any religion. It will be my pleasure – yes brother most welcome to continue.
Questioner: Yeah actually, here is the situation after the September 11 and before the September 11 from the Kenya & Tanzania bombings in actually by the U.S. embassies. About Osama Bin Laden, actually, every people in the society are talking about Osama Bin Laden and Islam. They are measuring Islam with Osama Bin Laden and my brother and we used to say Islam is different and Osama Bin Laden is different. Actually I want a simple question, as a knowledge of Islam, Islamic theology and a person who follows the religion of God, what is your view. Can Muslims tell separately openly that Islam is different and Osama is different, Osama Bin Laden….
And my second question is basically for my friend actually he is a disabled person. He is physically handi …. Handicapped he is asking whether there is any intention of the God or there is any verse or any sayings of the Prophet Muhammad. What is the criteria for God to create handicapped or disabled persons?
That’s it and I think mike will not be available after my asking the question. So for the ‘Islamic Information Center’ and the Dr. Fatima Muzaffar & Dr. Zakir Naik thanks for giving me this beautiful opportunity. Thank You.
Dr. Zakir Naik: Brother has asked basically two questions, the first part of the question was regarding comments on ‘Osama Bin Laden’ the second part was, what is the reply that God Almighty has created disabled people in the world.
The first question that, why should ‘Osama bin Laden’ be linked with Islam, Islam is different ‘Osama bin Laden’ is different, and what are my views regarding ‘Osama bin Laden’?
Brother as far as Osama bin Laden is concerned, I personally have not met him... I don’t know him personally and this question was asked to me in Australia, when I was there a few months back, in Perth, that do you consider ‘Osama bin Laden’ as a terrorist? So I gave the same reply, that I personally don’t know Osama bin Laden, I don’t know him, I haven’t met him. If you are going to ask and say that based on the news that I get from the media whether it be BBC, CNN, etc., then if I agree with that news, I have no option but to label him as a terrorist but, the Glorious Qur’an says in Surah Hujurat Chapter No. 49 Verse No. 6. It says that “whenever you get an information about some thing, check it up before you pass on to the second person or the third person”
As far as Osama bin Laden is concerned, I don’t know him personally, I haven’t met him, I cannot base my answer just on the news reports, unless the news reports are verified but one thing I can say for sure, that he was always called as a “Prime Suspect” on CNN, prime suspect, prime suspect… till today “Prime Suspect”. Prime suspect number one, No proofs! According to a normal human being who has little bit logic, the proofs given, there were no proofs at all, what were the proofs? I’m not here in favour of Osama bin Laden, he is not my friend, I don’t know him, I’m neither saying he is good I’m neither saying he is bad but just to say on the Prime Suspect, and just on suspicion to attack a country, which is one of the least equipped country in the World.
Qur’an says in Surah Hujurat Chapter No. 49 Verse No. 12
“Avoid suspicion, for in many cases suspicion is a sin” it says that….
And this question was posed to me by the Vice Consulate General of USA, in Perth that do I consider Osama bin Laden as a terrorist? And who is a real terrorist? And the reply of mine came as headlines on the news paper in Perth, which I feel, I’m thinking twice whether should I repeat that answer here or not. The reason is because I don’t want to offend any of our guest that has come… He says that with proof, who should be the terrorist? And I told that Vice Consulate General of US that, as for as whatever knowledge I have, based on the reports of CNN, BBC, I cannot say that he is a terrorist at all. I’m neither saying he is good, neither I’m saying he is bad, otherwise tomorrow you have the police doing enquiry on me that another accomplice of Al Qaeda and we have there in Bombay, a person caught up as accomplice of Al Qaeda. So neither I’m in his favour, neither I’m against him, I don’t know, so based on that, you cannot just attack unless you have proof, unless you have solid proof.
Yes the proof that we have, is the country which is the most advanced in the world, the country which is the most advanced in the world, I’m sorry, I’m referring to the USA, attacking country which in the least equipped, just on hypothesis. Imagine, if you go to the USA, if you go on the Internet, the USA, American citizen themselves, they have a hundred other hypothesis, for who is the person who was responsible for 11th September, do you know that? You go on the Internet, you find Americans, I’m not quoting Non-American sources, American Journalists, American Historians, they have given that this thing could not have been done by Bin Laden. A person, imagine how could he get so equipped. The CIA which has a budget of billion of dollars, the FBI, the budget, it’s not possible. I’m not saying what they are saying is wrong, or whether, what they are saying is right, I don’t know, I’m just giving you information which you may not be aware because I’m a person who keep on traveling a lot, I’m a person who surfs also on the internet and get the information.
Some of the people even said, again I’m not saying what they are saying is right, but some of the people said that George Bush himself did it. Now do you mean to say just based on this assumption, if I say that he is the main culprit, hand him over to me otherwise I’ll bombard America, you will call me a lunatic. If I tell that, George Bush is the person who did the World Trade Center, give him to me otherwise I’ll bombard your country, you will call me a lunatic. So based on that what we know, we surely know that on CNN and BBC, war on terror, War on terror, War on terror, and I gave an indication that it is the few political people for their own political gains that you find that they divert the issue and there have been reason given by Americans, why it was done for oil for this, for x, y, z reason, anyway I’m saying what they are saying is right or wrong, I’m not saying that, I’m just giving information.
But what we can say, that imagine using full army against a country which is one of the least equipped, surely it came on the headlines, I’m sorry to hurt anyone’s feeling, I said for definitely, what we have proof, that if someone attacks an innocent country, even if suppose hypothetically Osama bin laden did it, hypothetically, I agree with it, how can you attack a country? How can you kill the tens of thousand of people for one man? How can you do it? It is nothing but terrorism and I said that according to me, if you base on the reports what was said by CNN and BBC, if you agree that George Bush waged a war against the country, least equipped, I say according to me number one terrorist, it came as a headlines of… number one terrorist according to me was George Bush.
The question posed, and I apologise again, I don’t want to hurt the feelings of any person, please don’t misunderstand me, they asked my opinion, it was a Vice Consulate General of USA, of Perth, he asked me this question, the first question….
Brother you should realize that we can’t blame anyone unless you have proof, in Islam it says that if anyone gives a false verdict, and if he’s caught in cross examination that he is proved wrong, he gets lashes in Islam. And in Islam, it says, whenever you get an information you check it up, before you pass it on to the third person. And this is the one of the major cause for disruption of the Universal brotherhood, we’ll discuss it tomorrow hopefully, one of basic cause of disruption is giving false propaganda. And if you analyse, that now, latest, a couple of days back number one terrorist has become Saddam Hussain now…..You require someone, someone in the media to bell the cat you know, you require someone atleast to let the issue running. There will always be someone or the other coming. So we have to realise, it is mainly a few selected people who for their own personal gains, they want to be and see to it that they divert the attention mainly. So what I personally don’t know Osama bin laden, but anyone who condemns him, I said if you condemn him, you should have solid proof. Not just hypothesis… that I found a passport in the World Trade Center, so the article that came, that next time you should make, the, the dress of the US Police, with that passport material, so nothing will happen.
Imagine the Passport didn’t burn, the crash took place and the Celsius out there, was more than a thousand Celsius, the amount of heat that was generated, and they find a passport in it. So here we have to realise that we as Muslims, anyone, anyone lays allegation against anyone, whether Muslim or Non-Muslim before we agree with it, we have to have proof, if we don’t have proof, and if I agree with it, I will be held responsible on the day if judgment.
Coming to your second question, that, why… what is the reason that almighty God has created some people who are handicaps?
Brother the reason is given in the Qur’an in Surah Mulk Chapter No. 67, Verse No. 2, which says,
“Allazi Khalaqal Mauta Wal Hayaata”
“It is Allah who has created death and life to test, which of you is good in deeds”
Now this question posed by you brother, that why were some people created handicapped, some poor, some people were defective, congenital heart disease. This question even troubled the philosophers of Hinduism and that’s the reason, the Hindu Philosophers they came up with a philosophy known as “Samskara”, the cycle of birth and rebirth. If you read in the Vedas, I’m a student of comparative religion, Veda speaks about “Punar Janam”, “Punar” means next and “Janam” means birth, next birth. Even the Qur’an speaks about life after death, but nowhere does the Veda speak about life then death, life then death, life then death, there is no cycle. But because the Hindu philosophy is based on the logic “KARM” every KARMA’ based on “DHARMA” it has an action, has a reaction. So based on that, the Hindu Philosophers came up with a philosophy, that may be in the previous birth, these people they did some evil things, that’s the reason in this life they are born handicapped.
Though this is not mentioned in any of the verses of the Vedas. Vedas supposed to be one of the most authentic scriptures of the Hindus, and you find nowhere in the Vedas it is mentioned, only “Punar Janam” is mentioned, which means the next life, which also the Christian belief which even the Muslims belief because they could not give the reply, why some people are born deaf, some people are born with heart disease, they came with a philosophy and a logic, that human beings they die, then they keep on changing forms, and if you did some bad deeds in the last life in this life you are born handicapped.
And they say that if a person does good deeds in next life, he’ll born on a higher level, and the best level of a living creatures is the human being. If you do bad deeds in this life, next life you may born as a lower being, may be as a cat or may be as a dog, as a lower being, if you do good deeds as a higher being.
I ask this question, that today crime in the world is increasing or decreasing? Increasing or decreasing? Increasing or decreasing? Increasing! Unanimous decision, increasing. Today the population of human beings in the world, increasing or decreasing? Increasing……If I agree with the logic that good deeds make you inferior being, then the population of the human being should decrease… But yet the query why some human beings are born handicapped, some poor, some congenital defect. The reply is given as I said in the Qur’an in Surah Mulk, Chapter 67 Verse No. 2,
“Allazi Khalaqal Mauta Wal Hayaata”
“Its Allah who has created death and life to test which of you is good in deeds.
This life you are leading in this world is a test for the hereafter and based on the examination that is given to you will be judged.
And Almighty God judges different people in different ways. See when you appear for an examination, every year the examination paper keeps on differing. If you have the same paper then where is the test? The paper should keep on changing; similarly Allah (swt) tests different people in different ways. Same people he gives wealth, if he gives them wealth, the Islamic Shariah says, you have to give 2.5 % of that excess wealth in charity, it is called on Zakat. For a poor person, he doesn’t have to give Zakat, he gets hundred out of hundred in Zakat. You know the rich person, is more different as Jesus Christ (Peace be upon him) said “It is impossible for the rich person to go to Paradise and Prophet Muhammad (saw) said, it is difficult for a rich person to go to heaven.
If we analyse that depending upon the facility Almighty God has given you, he will judge you accordingly. So if He has given you wealth, you have to give charity, if He has given you no wealth, then you have to give no charity. Some People, he makes them born with congenital defects, they are born handicapped, so someone may ask me that what is the fault of that young child, what sin did he do? We believe in Islam that every child is Masoom, every child is innocent, he is sinless but when he is come in this life, may be as Allah says in the Qur’an, the wealth and your children, and your wives are a test for you, it may be a test for the parents. Almighty God may be wanted to test the parents, the parents may be very pious, may be believing in God, now God wants to test them with a more difficult examination, that now I make your children born handicapped then God wants to test, do you yet have faith in Almighty God and more difficult the test, the higher is the reward.
For example if you want to appear for a simple B.A. Graduation examination, the test is easy. To appear for an MBBS graduation examination, it is more difficult, but the moment you pass MBBS, in front of your name you get ‘Doctor’. Test is difficult, but the moment you pass you get ‘Doctor’ a more superior honour. So more difficult the test, higher is the reward, so Almighty God tests different people in different ways, just because the person is handicapped, that does not mean that he did sin in his previous life, he is innocent. The handicapped person, may be it’s a test for his parents, may be is a test for that person himself, that God wants to test him, that yet does he believe in the Creator or not.
That’s the reason, some people he makes poor, to be born in a poor environment, some people rich environment, some people are born healthy, some people are born handicapped, and depending upon the examination he gives you. You know when we have a 100 meters dash, there are some people who are handicapped, they start from a 50 meters mark because if a person who has slight defect in the leg, to make the race equal, he gets a 50 meters lead. If Almighty God has seen to it that certain facilities have been taken away from certain human beings, his test will be accordingly, if the examination paper is difficult, the teacher corrects the paper leniently, if the examination paper is very easy, the teacher corrects the paper very strictly.
So similarly, Almighty God has created different human beings in different ways, in different colours, in different languages, in difficult atmospheres, and depending upon the atmosphere they have been provided by Almighty God, and the facilities they have been given, they will be judged accordingly, hope that answers the question.
Questioner: This is regarding the many books which were written against Islam which lead to the belief that a lot of people world wide that our religion was wrong, the Qur’an was wrong and our Prophets were wrong. Among these people who believed in it there were lot of Christians who believed in the Bible too… and the Bible and the Qur’an have nearly the same Prophets. We have Jesus Christ too, we have Moses too…. So why today the term terrorist used only in respect to Muslims?
Dr. Zakir Naik: The sister has a good question that when Qur’an and Bible has so many Similarities why is this word specifically used in terms with Muslims.
As I told in my talk sister, this word Fundamentalism initially was coined to describe a group of Christians in America in the early part of the 20th century when they objected to the Church. So this word was coined for the Christians initially. The first time it was used in the English language, it was coined to describe the Christians, but today as I have told you they have turned the tables over so now they use more to describe Muslims. Why it is the case regarding similarities I’ve given a talk sister similarities between Islam and Christianity, where I have described that there are various similarities between Islam and Christianity in the Qur’an and the Bible, so atleast we as human beings… let us agree to follow these similarities the differences we can talk later. But the reason that they are doing this as I told you because Islam today is the fastest growing religion in the world. The people may be fearing that if Islam grows, may be what they call as pleasure they may have to give it up.
Questioner: Good evening Sir! My name is Vasuda Tyagrajan, I’m a law student actually. Firstly, I would like to thank you for giving such an informative talk on “Terrorism and Islam”
My question is, what do you think is the reason for the sudden increase in the number of terrorist organizations which are basically Islamic, and they fight in the name of Islam and since you say that Islam is giving the guidelines is that women, children or elderly people, shouldn’t be injured or killed. Aaa… but there have been various bomb blasts and killings of women and children, what do you think is the reason for that? Thank you.
Dr. Zakir Naik: The sister has asked a very relevant question that what is the reason that there is increase in terrorist organizations amongst the Muslims and so many bomb blasts, and especially when Islam says you should not kill children etc. what is the reason? And that’s a very good question. Personally tell you again, personally I haven’t met and interviewed any so called 100% hardcore terrorist, I haven’t met. But I can give the reasons, the logical answers, why such thing may be happening.
Number one, some people may really be terrorizing the innocent people, some Muslims may be on the wrong track, they may not be following the guidance of the Qur’an. Like you have black sheep in every community, one of the number one terrorist of human history, who it is? It is Hitler. He has incinerated six million Jews. So can I blame Christianity for that? Hitler was a Christian. So I can’t say because Hitler incinerated six million Jews therefore Christianity says that you have to, he alone if you add up all the terrorist organizations put together I doubt whether it reach six million, one individual alone.
Again Mussolini, Mussolini he is a Christian, so just because Mussolini killed thousands of innocent people, that does not mean I can blame Christianity for that?
So there may be certain black sheeps in the community, black sheeps may be calling themselves Muslims, and may be in the wrong, may be
But hundred years back, you had several, so you ask me Brother Zakir, why did hundred years back there were many Indians fighting for the freedom, because the British Government ruled India. That’s the reason people were fighting for the freedom, today the British Government has gone back, so no one is fighting for the freedom. So may be these Muslims may actually be harassed, they may be being harassed.
And you find these in several parts of the world in Palestine etc. that you find that may be if you go to the history, if you go back to the history and you find that they have really been harassed and if no one is coming out to help them, they are resorting to whatever means they have, like the example which is given in the bible, David and Goliath, the stone was sufficient. So who’s to blame, we are to blame. We are to blame because we aren’t going to the root cause of the problem
If there is a terrorist organization, we have to go and really find out, what is the reason that they have resorted to terrorism. The only way you can solve this problem, just by killing them these terrorists, it will not solve the problem, if you kill one, there will be ten emerging what we have to do, we have to go and find out what is the reason, why are you resorting to these methods, we have to go back to the root cause.
It is like giving the example of Palestine, when Hitler incinerated six million Jews, the Jews were kicked out from Germany, and the Palestinians, they said “ahlan wa sahlan” you are our cousins, come and join us. It is like I tell a stranger that if you have a problem come and stay in my house, after a few years he kicks me out of the house, and when I started making a noise outside my house, that see these people have entered my house, so you call me a terrorist. Am I a terrorist? I have welcome a person, he is a stranger, just as a human brother I got him to the house, after a few months he kicks me out and when I say if want my house back, you say that I’m a terrorist.
Who’s to blame? We are to blame, we are to blame, we have to find out that what is the cause of the problem. If we who Almighty God has given us intelligence, has given even the power and to get together, if we get to the root cause, you will come to know that why should a person want to die? Who’d like to die? Who’d like to die? A person who says that as I’m going to get killed, then why not I die and take somebody else also.
So if you ask the psychologists, they will tell you, the root is that we have to go and ask these people that why you’re doing all this and many a times you will find out that the truth is lying behind it.
And the truth is that they may be being harassed, and some people may really be terrorist, some people may be terrorizing the people for money, some people for fame, some people for politics, so I do agree sister that, but majority what I feel that they are being troubled, whether it be Muslims, whether it be Hindu, whether it be Christians, there has to be a backlash if a person cannot bear whatever torture that he is undergoing, he resorts… the psychologist say and I am a medical doctor, I’ve done my studies in medicine they have to retaliate, it is human nature.
So why should a person who would not like to raise a finger, would like to carry a gun in the hand, why?
So what we have to do, we have to find the root cause and try and solve this problem, that’s the only way we can see to it that these terrorizing the innocent people will stop, and all human beings can live together as one brotherhood.
Questioner: Yeah… Myself is Ravi kumar, I’m a software engineer
And my first request to my fellow Indians is, don’t always relate September 11 with terrorism because so many things have happened in India. More than twenty thousand people have been killed in Kashmir, two thousand Muslim brothers have been killed in Gujarat, so we have so many instance to link with terrorism in India itself, like we can link December 13 with terrorism, and the day in which Akshardham temple, people have entered that we can link it with terrorism.
My, I thank Mr. Zakir Naik for clearing the misconception about the Jihad.
My question is that you told that just for the sake of one person, you cannot attack the country. Now I’m asking about a imaginary scenario, suppose i am going to the, some Arab country, I’m causing a great devastation, I’m killing lacs and crores of people there, and I’m coming back to the India and the country is giving a proof to me, proof to Indian government, stating that this person has caused the devastation, and the Indian government is repeatedly. …. Telling the proof, what is given by you is not valid and that proof is being shared with the other countries they all agree, and suppose the country repeatedly is not ready to surrender me. Then what is the action that particular country has to take, let, let, just, I’m, I’ve not completed.
And another thing is proof of that country is previously also, when that kidnapped plane entered that they encouraged the kidnapper, they allowed the terrorists who have come in that plane to escape out of the country. If that is the status of the country then what is the action that particular country has to take it. You are telling, suppose I have come, after causing a devastation I’ve come back to India, Indian government is not ready to surrender me. And the proofs have been given, and the Indian Government is repeatedly telling, the proofs what you are given is not valid, what is the action that country has to take?
Dr. Zakir Naik: The brother has asked a very good question and a very relevant question, a very good analogy between what’s happened 11th September again, though he came back to 11th September.
Analogy was very good, that he as a person goes and crosses an Arab country, kills thousands of people, devastation, comes back, and the Arab country gives proof to the Indian government, Indian government does not accept. Mulla Umar, again he is not my friend, he told USA, he told USA, give me proof, and the USA government could not give proof, they shared it with Tony Blair they shared it with Musharraf, Musharraf is saying that I have got enough proof, I have seen the proof… when you are asking the Afghanistan Government, to give the culprit, the Afghanistan government is telling at least give us proof, when they could not give proof to Afghanistan government, and they are sharing it with Tony blair, it is illogical, that means there is something fishy in the proof
Till today, till today …….. Till today Osama bin laden is prime suspect. It’s only hypothesis, the proof should be solid proof. And if they had given solid proof, that Osama bin laden had done it, Afghanistan had to hand over Osama bin laden. Which they didn’t do.
If you do something with the Arab country, and the Arab country gives proof and if Indian government objects, then you can go to the international court of law, where is the international court of law taking place, in case of Osama bin laden, where is it? ……. Where is it? There are international guidelines; do you know the rule of international guidelines? If suppose there is an extradition policy between the foreign countries.
For example, if a person, like India and UK have an extradition policy, if any criminal of India does a crime and goes to UK, they can ask for the criminal back, and one of example is Nadeem, you know nadeem, the music director. The Indian government said that he was involved in Gulshan’s murder. So when they gave the proof in UK government, in the UK court of law, the UK court of law said, your proof is nonsense. They sued the government, Indian government; Indian government had to pay the charges of the advocates of Nadeem. Enough proof they gave, they didn’t agree, they said your proof is not valid. Did India wage a war against UK? Why didn’t they wage a war, why didn’t they wage?
But the Indian government gave proof atleast, there USA didn’t give proof to Afghanistan at all. So even now if you go to a Saudi land or any Arab land, and if you do something, and if Saudi Arabia gives proof here, that you are the culprit, even if the Indian government doesn’t agree, Saudi government or any Arab country cannot bombard the one billion Indian, it does not give permission.
Islam doesn’t give permission, that even if you are the culprit, even you have killed one million people, they can come and catch you if they have the power, they can’t bombard the innocent people, they can’t, they can’t do it, its not allowed in islam
Same thing you are saying that let’s talk about the present scenario in Kashmir, in Gujarat, in Akshardham, I say that whatever may be the background, why those two terrorist entered, in Islam you cannot destroy the monasteries, you can not kill the religious people. Anyone goes in a monastery, in a place of worship, in a temple, and killing innocent people, it is against the Qur’an. It is against the Qur’an we have to condemn it, just because those two people, whatever the reason was and they got a letter, that they believe they came from ‘Tahreek–e–qisas’, qisas is an Arabic word which means you can take revenge
And it said it was the cause was because may be their family was killed, even if their family was killed; they have no right to kill 44 people. The cause was may be somebody else but the action was wrong, just because somebody killed, if they knew who the person had killed the family members, if they have gone and taken revenge with that person it was separate, how can they kill other 44 people who were innocent?
So in Islam also even if you know who the main culprit is, as I said in my talk in Surah Maidah chapter 5 verse 32
“If anyone kills any other human being, unless it be for murder or for creating mischief in the land, it is as though he has killed the whole of humanity”
Only if you know who the person is, if he has done mischief, and done murder, that’s the only way that you can kill him, for no other reason, can you kill anyone else, Islam condemns that, as though you have killed the whole of humanity, hope that answers the question.
Questioner: Assalamu Alaikum brother, as a Muslim personally I want to ask you this question. In the current socio–political theological climate of stark black and white, prevalent in the world today, I find it extremely different to endorse any faction, even my own notion of right and wrong. Ruling out the validity of the prejudice, it is an accepted norm today, that it is the followers of the faith who reflects the faith itself. Assuming such an argument, how can I make a stand, how can I preserve the solidarity of my faith, there is a basic conflict of opinion between me and my Islamic peers. As an individual would you personally endorse the stand of the Saddam hussain, the passion of the Mujahideen fighters, or the death of the Palestinian suicide bomber?
Dr. Zakir Naik: The sister has asked the question that seeing the conflicting views and ideas, she doesn’t know where she fits in, who should she agree with, who should she not agree with, what should she say, she is asking the question that, do I agree with what’s happening the Palestinian Mujahideens, what’s happening about Saddam Hussain etc.
Sister as I told you many a times these issues are political. What I say that everything has a hidden agenda, and because I keep on travelling a lot, and again right or wrong “Allahu Alam” I can’t say this is the thing.
But mainly the cause are a few selected people and the politicians again the politicians for political reasons, they make someone the scapegoat and that’s the reason they want to see to it that their ulterior motives have been solved. Me as a Muslim if you ask me, that what should I say someone ask me, I can only speak the truth, if someone has caused them harm, if someone has murdered them, etc, etc, in this way if they retaliate, its allowed, otherwise they cannot.
You ask me what’s happening about a particular individual case, Osama bin laden or Saddam Hussain. I say I don’t know the background, I cannot give a “Fatwa”, I can’t give a verdict on them, because I haven’t interviewed them, for me to give my opinion I have to interview them, so what I say “Allahu Alam” Allah know best, Allah will not ask me on the day of Judgment, Is Osama bin laden a terrorist or not?
I will tell that if he has done wrong, if he has broken the guidelines of Qur’an and Sunnah, he is wrong; if he hasn’t broken he is good that is not my basic, to pass the examination, what I have to read, I have to read the Qur’an, I have to read the scripture. This question can be dealt with those who are experts who keep on traveling to Afghanistan, taking interview etc. and we find such coming in the paper, etc. You as a Muslim, me as a Muslim, Allah will not, Almighty God will not ask you the question on the day of judgment, that do you agree Saddam Hussain is a terrorist or not? We have to say “Allahu Alam” we don’t know, neither do we support them, neither do we condemn them, if there is solid of a particular person, of a particular Muslim who has done a act which is proven to be against the Qur’an then we have to condemn him, but ifthere is no proof which is substantial proof, we have to remain neutral, that’s what Qur’an says, and you faith hasn’t to shake sister your faith should be based on the truth which is mentioned in the scripture, the best way to see to it that the faith is reinforced, is to read the Qur’an.
You will not find any defect in the Qur’an; you will not find any contradiction in the Qur’an. If a person doesn’t understand Arabic as a language, you have to read the translation of this book. This is the translation by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, and the translation is available outside in the foyer, that sister if you, read, how to lead a life based on the Qur’an, InshaAllah your faith will becomes strong, and believe me you will not feel shy at all to practice any of the fundamentals of Islam, if you know the reason and logic why these fundamentals have been prescribed, if you know that believe me I keep on traveling in different parts of the world, I mean, I speak, I go with this cap, I have a beard, I go to different western countries, never have I faced a problem, some time query, inquiry is there, but never is a problem, I mean why should I scared to speak the truth. So if you have knowledge, of the scripture and you know the reason and logic, you will feel proud, even you too will call yourself like me, you will also call yourself a Muslim fundamentalist.
Questioner: Assalamu Alaikum, I am Muhammad Fazl-ur-Rehman Abdullah. Aa…. Sir we are still on 11th September, I want to say something on this, that as you told that, as you told that there is something fishy in the proof, that’s why they didn’t prove, Aa … put the proof, I got this fish on the net, there is site ini.com, ini.net, that have been banned actually, but I got one page in that, that there were two pictures displayed on that, one was the actor who acted as Osama bin Laden in the film displayed to all, and other was Osama bin Laden. And the title was “Any fool with two eyes can see easily that these two persons are not same”
That was the proof when America put it before that, another thing, my question is, that, I was, I’m working in hl. We are given a hand book which contains do’s and don’ts. On the top of the handbook there was written a Bhagvad Gita shlok. A part of the Bhagavad Gita shlok, I will recite the whole shlok like,
“Yada Yada Hi Dharmasya,
Glanir Bhawati Bharata,
Abhyutanam Dharmasya,
Tataatmaan Sajjaymaham,
Pritaanaay Sadhunam,
Vinashay Krushika,
Dharma Santhapana Thayasham,
Sam Bhavaani Yuge Yuge”
They, they specially mentioned it that, “Pritaanaay Sadhunam Vinashay Krushika” …. If we have to, if we have to protect the truth or the good, you have to remove the bad, there is no other way.
Ok, after that I, I want that that last that that shlok is that “Dharma Santhapana Thayasham Sam Bhavaani Yuge Yuge”
It means that “Mein Har Jug Mein Sambha… Bhagwaan Kehte Hai….. Mein Har Yug Mein Sambhav Hota Hoon”… (Translation: I Manifest My Self…. God says, I Manifest Myself in every age) ….
But what our belief is, our Hindu brother belief is that “Mein Har Yug Mein Aata Hoon” (Translation: I Manifest Myself in every age) …. (Hindu)…. I want Mr. Zakir Naik to explain this, are these beliefs of we are having is correct or not, thank you.
Dr. Zakir Naik: I request again from the audience and the volunteers we prefer questions from Non Muslims so that lets clarify their misconception and then come to the Muslims, they may be attending several programmes as such
I normally prefer giving a chance to the non-Muslim they may not be having this chance regularly to ask any question on Islam.
The brother has posed a question, before that he made a comment that there was a fish on the net, and he saw that one proof was authentic and the original Osama bin Laden was false, again this fish could also be fishy.
So I’m not only one sided, haan, that proof you got is correct even that could be cooked of by somebody who is enemy of America. So I don’t believe on that fish also. So see I have to be neutral, I cannot be biased and start judging, saying haan brother you are right, you know the proof they gave, arre that also could have been cooked up, that’s what you have in ‘TEHELKA’ you know ‘TEHELKA’. ‘Tehelka’ the audio cassettes, the video cassette, so all this is a gimmick of media, see I’m a man of the media… we know if we want we can change very easy. To change something on the media is very easy, I can make you say what you have not said also, that’s our field, so it’s very easy, so let’s keep the media aside, again that also I don’t agree what is right or wrong, ‘Allahu Alam’ there is no proof at all.
Now coming to your question, what the brother quoted is a shlok from Bhagawad Gita, Chapter No. 4, what the brother quoted he didn’t give the quotation, it’s from Bhagawad Chapter No. 4, that whenever there is ‘Adharam’, there is untruth, there is violence, there is anarchy in the world, Almighty God, he comes and takes, the form of “Avatar” and he sees to it that this whatever anarchy, whatever trouble, whatever chaos is there in the world, he comes to finish, that thing by taking the form of ‘Avatar’
It is right? Do we agree? The difference what we say as Muslims, what we Muslims say that Almighty God he sent his messenger, whenever people deviate from the truth, he keeps on sending messengers as
Allah says in the Qur’an in Surah Rad Chapter No. 13, Verse No. 7,
“Wali Kulli Kawmin Haad”
“And to every nation have we sent a messenger or a guide”,
Allah says in the Qur’an in Surah Fatir, Chapter 35, Verse No. 24,
“Wa Immin Ummatin Illa Khalafiha Nadheer”
“There is not a nation or a tribe to whom we have not sent a warner or a guide”
What we say that Almighty God sent messengers,
Like Adam, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad (peace be upon them all), all of them were messengers from Almighty God. The Hindus believe in ‘Avtar’ almighty God he takes forms, we say messengers they say Almighty God takes form, that’s the difference. The difference is they say Almighty God, comes down himself in taking form, which we disagree, which Christianity disagrees, Islam disagrees, what we agree somewhat similar, though it’s a difference of chalk and cheese, but what we say almighty God sends messengers, these are chosen people of Almighty God to guide the people to the truth. And the last and final messenger that came on the face of the earth was Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) and Allah has sent several revelations. Several revelations, by name four are mentioned, if you have something like the Old Testament, something like the New Testament, we Muslims say this is the Last Testament, this is the Last Testament of Almighty God.
Questioner: Good evening Sir! My name is Raj Kumar, I’m doing my final MBBS in Stanley Medical college. My question is, why do Muslims in India constantly oppose a common civil procedure code? Why do Muslims in India, oppose a common civil procedure code? Thank you Sir.
Dr. Zakir Naik: The brother has asked a very good question, that why do Muslims oppose the common civil code?
Brother I am for the common civil code, but that common civil code should be the best code, which practically gets result.
I am for it, even if the full Muslims of India are against it, I Dr. Zakir Naik is for it, and I would debate, I would be on the platform to discuss logically which is the best code, which is the best law.
And you find this that the law which is the most practical law, you implement that, I would advocate that let India have a common civil code. Common criminal code also, why only civil code?
Have common civil code, common criminal code, but we should have a dialogue that which is the best code, like a Hindu lady who asked me that why does Islam allow a man to have more than one wife, I gave the answer, people appreciated it, so if you agree with the answer, you’ll have to write in the common civil code that man is allowed to have more than one wife. There is no other answer for the surplus number of women in the world; there is no other solution, no religion has that solution… though all the religions… there’s no religion which says marry only one except for the Qur’an and I gave an analogy that… for Hijab, for rape… I gave the analogy that the best punishment you can give, the best punishment you can give which has the best result as Islam says the women should be dressed up in Hijab, the man whenever he looks at a woman he should lower his gaze and after that if any man rapes a woman he gets capital punishment, there’s death penalty and I gave the statistics of America that according to the FBI report in 1990, 1756 cases of rape took place every day in the year 1990. In 1996 according to the statistics of US Department of Justice 2713 cases of rape took place every day in the year 1996. That means every 32 seconds one rape is taking place. You know we are here since past two hours, more than 200 rapes may have taken place since the time we are here.
I say that if you implement the Islamic Shariah that every man when he looks at a woman he should lower his gaze, every women should wear the Islamic Hijab… complete body covered except the face and the hands upto the wrist after that if any man rapes, he gets capital punishment, I’m asking you the question will the rate of rape increase. Will it remain the same or will it decrease? It will decrease… it’s a practical law and this you can see… there was a programme on BBC talking about a part of Nigeria which implemented the Islamic Shariah and they gave the death penalty for rape and immediately the cases of rape came down. The least rate of rape in any part of the world is in Saudi Arabia. I’m not speaking in favor of Saudi Arabia… but what is right we have to appreciate.
And I congratulate L.K. Advani…. I remember couple of years back in the year 1999 in the month of October he gave a statement being the Home Minister, that death rap should be given to the rapist and I congratulate him…. He’s coming closer to Islam… may be the next Home Minister will say that all the women should wear Hijab.
Questioner: Salaamu Alaikum, my name is Yashak Ayami… I’m from Iran really and I want to know exactly is that… you must have read Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verse and as a Muslim… nobody would have liked that book… so what do you think Imaam Khomeini did was… what he did was correct…. Asking for the people for Fatawa… that is my main point. What Imaam Khomeini had told about fatawa…against….. Fatawa against Salman Rushdie… was it correct or what… ?
Dr. Zakir Naik: Brother has asked the question, that what Imaam Khomeini said regarding the Fatawa of Salman Rushdie… is it right or wrong? My basic question is that why did Imaam Khomeini give the Fatawa one year later. The first country to ban the book of Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses was India… and I congratulated Rajiv Gandhi for doing that act. Why should Khomeini give the fatawa of killing Salman Rushdie after one year? Because he was getting out of the news… all politicians…politicians. If he wanted to give the Fatawa he should have given… the book was reviewed by so many parts of the world, so many countries banned it and then he gives a Fatawa that he should be killed. Whether right or wrong.. its afterwards …all these are political gains. All political gains… All these scenes are political gains but what Rajiv Gandhi did may be he didn’t know about it and I’ve given a talk on this issue of Satanic Verses. Though this book is banned in India, I’ve read that book. You know?.... Salman Rushdie who claims… just for name sake he’s a Muslim… he did not leave anyone. In his book he even abuses Queen Elizabeth. And the same British government who had banned an American author for using a four letter word, ‘Father Uncle Cousin King’… for the policy of Margaret Thatcher… that same Salman Rushdie he makes it active and uses ‘ing’ and yet the book is very popular. So one American author they ban because he uses a four letter word for Margaret Thatcher… this another person Salman Rushdie makes it active ‘ing’ for the same Margaret Thatcher policy but he gets an award… why? Because he is maligning Islam… so they are very happy and do you know he did not even leave Ram and Sita… you know these people are respected by the majority of the Indians… even abused them.. I don’t want to use that word.. he abused them… he did not even leave them also and many of the people are supporting. So may be Rajiv Gandhi didn’t know but later on if you read that book you realize that he did not leave anyone.
So if a person who keeps maligning etc., Allah says in the Qur’an in Surah Ma’idah, Chapter No. 5, Verse No. 33,
“As to anyone who wages a war against Allah and his Messenger”…
There are various options given that you can either execute him, you can crucify him.. chop off opposite limbs or take him out of the country and this law is not only in the Qur’an it is even in the Bible. If you read the Book of Leviticus, it says that “anyone who blasphemeth the lord you should stone that person to death, even a passer by who’s a stranger should stone that person to death who blasphemeth the Lord.”
So this law is there in all the religious scriptures, not only there in Islam…. In most of the religious scripture for blasphemy, whether it be Christianity, whether it be Islam, whether it be Judaism for blasphemy… if it’s a confirmed blasphemy… if it’s that part of the country. We cannot give Fatawas here, they should kill him etc.. if it’s an Islamic state of law, if anyone blasphemeth there are certain law and rules and regulations laid down but what politicians do… whether it be a Muslim politician.. or whether it be a Non Muslim politician… I’m sorry again I don’t want to hurt any politicians per se if not all I say majority you find some where or the other they compromise for their own vote bank and that’s the reason it is said that the religion and politics that poles apart. They use religion as a plank to see to it that they get fame etc and that’s what people do which we people should be aware of… the fatawa given by Khomeini, it was just for the political gimmick according to me but banning the book what Rajiv Gandhi did was perfect, he banned it, he was the first… and now they are thinking of removing the ban… I don’t know whether the ban has come out of not. There is a statement that they are trying to remove the ban but anyone blasphemeth the lord in Islam in Christianity that person according to Christianity should be stone to death, in Islam there are four options…. You can even exile him… Christianity .. no option.. Christianity only stoning to death.. in Islam there are four options you can choose. In Christianity you have to stone that person to death. Hope that answers the question.
Questioner: Good evening sir. I’m T. Anuraghini I’m a final year law student… I believe that Terrorism could be stopped by… atleast could be reduced when people are taught about tolerance, does Islam preach about tolerance? And if does, do people who are incharge of imparting Islam… I mean… I believe there are lot of…. I don’t know the exact term, terminology… yeah Guru’s like in Hinduism who teach Islam to other Muslims.. so in that case do they, do they impart.. preach tolerism?
Dr. Zakir Naik: The sister has asked a very good question and she rightly says that terrorism can be curbed by teaching tolerance and does Islam teach tolerism, do the religious leaders of Islam do they teach tolerism? Sister I said in my talk which I said a bit fast… I didn’t pay emphasis on it… one of the criteria’s for any human being to go to Jannah to go to heaven; to go to paradise is tolerance.
Allah says in the Qur’an in Surah Asr, Chapter No. 103, Verse No. 1-3,
“Wal Asr”
“Innal Insaana Lafi Khusr”
“Illallazina Aamanu”
“Wa Aamiluss Saalihaati”
“Watawa Saw Bil Haqq”
“Watawa Saw Bis Sabr”
“By the token of time, man is very in a state of loss, except, those who have faith, those who have righteous deed, those who exhort people to truth i.e. do Da’wah and those who exhort people to patience and perseverance”
Tolerance is one of the criterias to go to jannah. If you’re not tolerant, according to surah al asr you shall not go to jannah. Not only you should be tolerant… you should even exhort people towards tolerance. But tolerance by definition it has got various meanings and if you ask experts that tolerance also has a limit. What do you mean by tolerance? Fine someone does something wrong to you.. You do not retaliate It’s good. Till how long? So tolerance also has a limit. And in Islam Zaalim is a person who does Zulm means you could say that a person who causes harm. There are two types of Zulm. One is the person who does harm to the others and another person who does harm to himself. There’re two types of Zaalim and both are referred as Zaalim, one who does zulm on others, another type who does zulm on himself.
Our beloved Prophet Muhammad (saw) said, its mentioned in a hadith of Sahih Muslim, “if you see anything which is wrong going on, if you can you should stop it with your hand. If you cannot stop it with your hand, stop it with your mouth, with your tongue. If you cannot stop it with your tongue atleast curse in your heart that the act is wrong and if you do that you are the lowest level of believer.”
The lowest level. So what we have to do that we have to be tolerant, teach tolerance as Allah says in the Qur’an in Surah Baqarah, chapter 2, verse 153, “innallaaha ma’as sabireen”, that
“Verily Allah is with those who do sabr”,
but while doing sabr we should see to it that does not go beyond limit sabr also has a limitation, tolerance has a limitation. So before it goes over limit, if you see that a woman is being raped you can’t tell the woman tolerate it no problem. If god has given me strength, if I see a man raping a woman.. I should stop it with my hand… if I cannot do it by hand atleast tell “arre bhai saab”, please don’t rape. In Bombay an article.. A young girl, 13 years girl she was raped by a man and there were five passengers only one person objected and he was kept quite.
Five people could over power that man who was drunkard, who was drunk and they did not do anything. What’s happened to the humanity? What has happened to humanity? Five young people cannot take care of one drunkard… Raping a girl in a train. Will you call this tolerance? I would call it cowardice. Therefore I say, that of these five people were terrorist, terrorist in the sense, terrorizing the anti social element, that person wouldn’t have the guts to do it. So what sister… we have to encourage and see to it that tolerance level of every human being is increased at the same time they should not become cowards they should see to it that the anti social element they are reduced and we should collectively gather together and see to it that these people who are anti social people are bought to task. Hope that answers the question.
Questioner: Hello my name is B. Deepak. I’m a chattered accountant. Id like to ask you a question Sir regarding Taliban regime issued a fatwa for the destruction of Bahmian Buddhas turning it as unislamic. I would like to know whether it is really un Islamic and if it is one of the footsteps of which the Satan has laid and the Muslims should be aware of.
Dr. Zakir Naik: Brother has asked a question the same question was asked to me in Surat when I was giving a lecture in Surat just a couple of days after this issue It was very hot in the Owen Talibans were at were destroying at that time the statue of Buddha Bahmian. The brother asked a question that is it Islamic etc the same question was asked by a non Muslims to me in Surat that is it right or is it wrong and that time yet there were conflicting views whether they were destroying or not so again I said at that time that I don’t know whether they destroyed or not but today we know there are confirmed news that they have destroyed it whether right or wrong. What I can say...what I can say that I being a student of comparative religion whether right or wrong ill tell afterwards what I can tell that surely the Talibans if they destroyed the statue of Buddha what they were doing is actually they were educating the Buddhists. I’m a student of comparative religion I’ve read the Buddhist scriptures iv read Dhammapad I’ve read their scriptures, no where in any of the Buddhist scriptures did Buddha ever say that make a statue of myself...Buddha never said that the Buddhist should do idol worship. It is a later innovation what I could say as a student of comparative religion whether right or wrong we will come afterwards…what they were doing is surely they were educating the Buddhists and in none of the Buddhists scriptures it is mentioned that they should make the statue. Coming to the question and this question was asked to me even by the press even in Mangalore that
Just because Islam feels idol worship is not allowed there are other religions there is even Christianity if you read the Old Testament in the Book of Deuteronomy ch. no 5 verse no. 7 and 9 as well as the book of Exodus ch. no. 20 verse no. 3-5 it says
“Thou shall have no other image besides me, thou shall not make any graven images of me of any likeness of anything in the heavens above in the earth beneath on the water above the earth, Thou shall not bow to them nor serve them for I thy god thy lord is a jealous god.”
So even according to Christianity according to Judaism making images of anyone who says is god is prohibited, same it is prohibited in Islam.
So when I gave this reply that they were educating the Buddhists so what they said that but didn’t these Talibans didn’t they cause grief to millions of Buddhists I said yes, so does Islam allow anyone to cause grief to millions of human beings? I asked the journalist a question that what if suppose the Indian government catches a hall of drugs….Cocaine ….Brown sugar worth 10 Crore rupees, worth about 2 million dollars they catch a hall…drugs, what will the Indian government do? So the journalist told me that the Indian government will burn the drugs...I said good ….I said do you know for millions of human being in the world drugs is god for them, so will you agree with the Indian government or go against the Government that their destroying the god of millions of drug addicts.
Because the Indian government feels that the drugs will cause loss to the body what they are doing is right even thought its causing grief to millions of drug addicts but if they feel it is wrong they are burning…you cannot go and tell the Indian government that why are you burning the drugs. A drug addict will feel bad so similarly Afghanistan is their government it is their property. See the statue is their property if they come and do something in any another country then you can object they are doing it in their country it is their property if they like it they’ll keep it if they want to destroy they’ll destroy it. Who are we to object?...we cant object.
And furthermore if you analyze that people who talk...there was a person who said that Indian government is so tolerant do you know in Bombay when you come out of the domestic airport of the Santacruz airport there was a big statue of Mahaveer…of Mahaveer… just outside the holet Jaal and it was unclothed so the people took objection and then they build a wall infront of the private parts later on after a few months they removed the statue. Now those same people who objected to the statue being there, those same people today are condemning Afghanistan why?
The same people who objected to the statue being on the road…see... and do you know that there are more Jains in India then Buddhists in Afghanistan. So when the Government of Bombay could remove the Statue which is believed to be God… believed to be the Tirthankar of the Jains and there are more Jains living in India then Buddhists living in Afghanistan at that time no one objected and now when the Afghanistan Government is doing they are objecting …why these double policies? You know why because of vote banks, won’t the Jains feel bad? So if the Jains believes in keeping a statue of Mahaveer whose a Tirthankar why are we objecting at that time everyone objected the statue should be removed...statue should be removed and the same people who objected today are condemning that why did you destroy the Bahmian Budha statue.. Double policies Therefore we as logical people have a single policy. We should not be two faced jammed train where we keep on changing the rules what I feel it is their property suppose….suppose a non-Muslims he buys a house in the house there’s a Carving of Kabah Suppose if there is there, If that Non-Muslim does not like Kabah & he defaces the Kabah how can I object? If someone…& Believe me if..if any Muslim …if any Muslim if he makes a statue of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) & if you destroy the statue even if the full Muslim world is against you I Dr Zakir Naik will support you because making a statue of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is prohibited. If any Muslim lunatic makes a statue of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) & he worships it & If u being a non Muslim having Knowledge of Islam, if you go and destroy the statue Even if the full Muslim world is against you I Dr Zakir Niak will support you.
Questioner: Mr. Zakir Niak, What does Islam say about the defaming of the other religion or other religious gods why I’m asking this question is that when one of the Indian artist whose a Muslim he’s drawn a Hindu god Swarasswati in a nude condition which was appreciated by everybody as a freedom of expression and each and every Indian supported when Salman Rushdie has written one book about the Islam and when it was banned by Rajiv Gandhi almost each and every Indian had supported that move but when Hussain drawed the Hindu god in a nude condition Indian political parties especially the parties like the communists have told that it is a freedom of expression, he can draw anything, brother what is Islam’s view on that about the defaming the gods of the other religion?
Dr Zakir Naik: The brother is referring to Muslim artist M.F. Hussain didn’t give the name or maybe he doesn’t know or maybe he knows or doesn’t want to give the name M.F. Hussain is from Bombay from the city where I come he did some painting of god saraswati unclothed and many of the journalist supported…if you ask my opinion …..First of all making a nude picture of any lady whether god or not god is haraam in Islam, whether Muslim or non Muslim. It is unethical, inhuman… Why do u want to sell your daughters.. why are you going back see what’s happening in the western culture they are selling our sisters selling our mothers & one of the famous add which I heard about BMW car, you know BMW car, you know about the BMW car it is somewhat like Mercedes for the youngsters, Mercedes, top level car, In that add I’m sorry to say I was told that there’s a lady standing in a Bikini in front of that car & its mentioned there “TEST DRIVE HER NOW” Who the Car or the Girl??? What has the girl got to do with the car. So this is all in the name of freedom of expression they’re degrading the women. What M. F. Hussain did was totally wrong.
Regarding your basic Question Can you criticize the other gods of other religion. Allah says in the Qur’an in Surah Anam Ch. 6:108
“Revile not those, Abuse not those who they worship god besides Allah lest in their ignorance they’ll abuse Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala)” Qur’an says abuse not those gods whom the people worship besides Allah lest in their ignorance they will abuse Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala).
So In Islam it is Prohibited to abuse any one else’s God even though he may not agree he’ God. It’s prohibited that’s what the Qur’an says in Surah Anam Ch 6 verse no. 108 & what M. F. Hussain did drawing the nude painting its totally prohibited In Islam Hope that answers the Question.
Wa Aakhiru Da’waana Anil Hamdulillahi Rabbil Aalameen……!