Islam does not permit killing

The gruesome murder of 12 journalists, including 4 cartoonists on January 07 of a French satirical weekly newspaper, Charlie Hebdo in Paris by three masked Muslims in broad daylight has no justification in the light of the fundamental principles of Islam as enunciated in the Quran. The act has been reported as in retaliation to satirical presentation of Prophet Muhammad in the newspaper recently.

The French satirical Weekly has been publishing cartoons for a long time targeting Islam, including Prophet Muhammad and the sharia law of Islam. Besides targeting Islam and its prophet, the weekly has also been publishing cartoons on the Jews and the Christians as well. One cartoon showed an orthodox Jew kissing a Nazi soldier, while in another the Pope was depicted as dancing with a member of the Swiss guards. That means, Islam or its prophet have not been singled out as the only subject of the cartoonists.

Publishing critical news stories and cartoons on current or past events is a practice newspapers or periodicals consider a prerogative in line with freedom of expression in Europe. No law could prevent the editors of newspaper from publishing such materials either as cartons or news stories, and state intervention to discourage those would be in violation of freedom of expression. It may be recalled that two French Muslim groups had filed a case in 2007 for not publishing around a dozen Danish cartoons of Prophet Muhammad in French newspapers, but the case was turned down by French court. As of now, no Christian or Jew came out to attack newspapers for publishing satirical materials on Christianity or Judaism.  

Killing of four Jews at Kosher  supermarket  in Paris and a policeman by Muslim fanatics on the same day has backfired as can be seen from the voice of protests against the killing and solidarity with the victims was expressed by millions of French people, who,  irrespective of their religion, assembled in Paris the other day. The killing of journalists of Charlie Hebdo resulted in publication of a million copies of the satirical weekly the following week. As a fallout, many Europeans from other countries, particularly Germans, have shown their solidarity with the French people. A campaign is also on in Germany to limit immigration of Muslims. This group, in particular, believe that that the growing presence of Islam in Europe is affecting the cultural norms.

The masked killers reportedly yelled that they had avenged the insult on the Prophet. In fact, these extremist Muslims followed the path of other terrorists who have recently bombed newspaper offices, stabbed a filmmaker and killed writers and translators. The perpetrators are grossly mistaken in taking lessons from Prophet Muhammad's teaching, who, during his life time was ridiculed many a time for preaching Islam and at times even suffered tortures from the non-believers. But Prophet Muhammad treated them with understanding and kindness. No ruler during the time of Prophet Muhammad treated prisoners of war with sympathy and kindness. A Western scholar William Muir has mentioned an incident during the Prophet's visit to Taif. Accompanied by his adopted son Zayd, the Prophet was not favourably received in Taif and was subjected to much abuse, including pelting with stones, but the Prophet sought blessings from Allah and not punishment for the perpetrators.

Although some Muslim countries and some European countries have adopted the blasphemy law, but nowhere in Quran there is the mention of  blasphemy law. Great Britain has blasphemy law with regard to Christian churches, but France has no blasphemy law. Denmark has abolished blasphemy law in 2012 after Denmark saw hooliganism by Muslims in Europe because of publication of cartoons by a Danish newspaper.  

Islam and terrorism are not intertwined as some people in Europe and America tend to uphold such a view. They are simply trying to malign Islam. A terrorist does not believe in any religion whether it is Islam, Christianity or Judaism. The people who follow the tenets of Islam in the true sense of the term, could not get involved in any form of terrorism under any circumstances because he or she is connected to Allah, the creator of the Universe, and Allah would guide him or her to follow the correct path. Here this scribe would like to quote Professor Anne Marie Schimmel, an eminent scholar on Islam and Sufism, who is on record saying,  "I have never seen anything in the Quran or in the traditional writings that called for or even allowed terrorism or hostage-taking."

Islam stands for peace. The word peace is mentioned 58 times in the Quran. No terrorist in the name of Islam will be able to protect Islam, rather will bring bad name to Islam. Quran commanded Muslims to believe in the previously revealed holy books, and show respect to other Prophets. Any kind of hooliganism or terrorism by any Muslim will malign Islam. This type of action should be stopped by extremist Muslims. Religious leaders of Islam should interpret Quran correctly and preach accordingly. Similarly, world leaders have the responsibility to counsel the media around the world to show respect to  religions and prophets. To quote Pope Francis during his visit to the Philippines, "There are limits to free speech, especially when it insults or ridicule some one's faith." The Quran has stated categorically to honour the holy books of Torah, Ingil and their prophets. Therefore, there is no place of hatred in Islam.

Mohammad Amjad Hossain is a retired diplomat from Bangladesh.

amjad.21@gmail.com