Muslims everywhere speak the language of complaint. They say that they are discriminated or conspired against. Yesterday, news of violence perpetrated by Muslims came from Athens due to alleged defacement of the Quran.

It is strange how no other community reacts in such a negative manner except Muslims who have become a Protestant community world over. Muslim newspapers from such countries speak solely of discrimination and make no mention of the economic gains which Muslims enjoy there.

Diagnosis & Prescription

Diagnosis precedes prescription and only correct diagnosis leads to correct prescription. But in case of Muslims, no Muslim leader could do the correct diagnosis of their problem. Since the diagnosis was incorrect, so was the prescription.

According to my diagnosis, the problem of present-day Muslims is that they have abandoned the Quran. That is, Quran is no longer a guidebook for them but only a sacred book which remains wrapped in beautiful cover. The defacement of the Quran leads to hue and cry among the Muslims; however, they do not take hidayat or guidance from the Quran. The Muslims react to situations without referring to the teachings of the Quran. For example, the conspiracy theory which Muslims so often complain of has no mention in the Quran. Muslims give incorrect references from the Quran to justify their wrong notions.

Predicting about the latter-day Muslims, a Hadith states:

 You will walk the path of the previous communities (ummah). (Musnad Ahmad)

The above Hadith means that the Quran would no longer remain a guidebook for the Muslims and they would indulge in wrong practices as was the case of communities prior to them.

Deviations adopted by present-day Muslims

I shall cite here an example to illustrate how deviation has crept into the Muslim society. In earlier times, the Jews were considered as the ahl-e-imaan or the believing people, but they degenerated.

The first deviation which came in Jews was the concept of birth-based salvation. This was a deviation because in God’s religion salvation is only merit-based and not birth-based. Present-day Muslims consciously or unconsciously hold the same opinion. Had the Muslims taken the Quran as their guide they wouldn’t have thought so. This is because it is clearly mentioned in a verse in the Quran:

It is not your desires, nor the desires of the People of the Book, that shall prevail. (4:123)

The concept of birth-based salvation inculcates a great evil in the mindset of the community by demolishing the edifice of the religion. It leads to wishful thinking and stirs up false conviction – thereby cutting the very root of action (amal). This is then becomes the source of all evils.

Let me cite another such example of the unfounded beliefs adopted by Muslims. According to a Hadith,

He who says there is no god but One God, will be rewarded Paradise. (Bukhari)

Instead of realizing the true meaning of this Hadith, Muslims began to hold that the mere recitation of the kalimah or saying la ilaha, will lead them to Paradise. This was a baseless belief as is proved by another Hadith according to which,

Those who attain realization will find entry into Paradise. (Fathul Bari)

When considered in conjunction (the correct method of arriving at the interpretation of Hadith) the above mentioned Hadith clearly alludes to the fact that Paradise would be for those who recite the kalimah after realizing that there is no god but One God.

Selection for Paradise

There is a verse in the Quran which describes how a Christian group that came to listen to the message of the Prophet, upon listening to it, had tears flowing down from their eyes. They were crying because they had realized the true meaning of those verses. Quran says:

When they listen to what has been sent down to the Messenger, you see their eyes overflowing

 with tears, because they recognise the Truth [in it]…..And for their words, God will reward

 them with Gardens through which rivers flow, wherein they shall abide forever. (5:83)

From this Quranic example it is clear that selection for paradise would be through a process. In the above case, the Christians were seekers of Truth; when they listened to the deep message of the Prophet they attained realization. Hence, those who say that Paradise can be attained by mere recitation of some verses try to cut short the whole process through which Paradise has to be attained.

It is therefore imperative to understand that Imaan is that process which starts from being a true seeker, one who listens with an objective mind and consequently realises. The realisation moves him so deeply that he is compelled from within to acknowledge and bear witness to the existence of his all-powerful Creator. Paradise then becomes the culmination of this process.                  

Action without spirit

It is there self-styled thinking that makes Muslims believe that mere action can lead them to salvation. It is this very thinking that has detached spirit from Ibadat. Namaz for example, has a particular form, however, khushu or spirit (arising due to fear and surrender to God), is also an integral part of the Namaz. Quran says,

Successful indeed are the believers, those who are humble in their prayers. (2:1-2)

The Namaz which is devoid of spirit is khudsakhta Namaz. According to a Hadith, a namaz devoid of khushu (spirit), is not a true namaz. (Al-Tabrani)

Abandoning the Quran

According to another Hadith,

My people did indeed discard the Quran. (25:30)

The incident of protests registered by Muslims in Athens was haram or unlawful as per Islam. Despite having lived there for so many years, Muslims of Athens do any work to present Islam, instead they started fighting. In so doing, they counteracted the Fiqhi principle of “No qital without dawah”. As per my assessment, the following would have been the flow of events in Athens:

Keeping in mind the security concerns, the police officer would have wanted to check the book which a Muslim was carrying. Not knowing that it was their sacred book, Quran, the police officer must have dropped it during their hand-to-hand struggle.

This episode led to such an outrage among Muslims that they indulged themselves in acts of protests and violence. Such behaviour is against the well known Islamic principle according to which, Muslims cannot resort to jihad unless they have done dawah work. The Muslims in Athens had done no dawah work among the non-Muslims, but they came to the streets in protests against their madus.

In Athens, the Muslims should have introspected as to why in certain places, non-Muslims accept the Islamic literature with great interest and why in their case was there such a case of defacement? They would then have realised the reason that in Athens, Muslims failed to perform dawah among non-Muslims. The Muslims should have realized this and involved themselves totally in dawah so that non-Muslims become positive about Islam. But Muslims did not do so, they rather initiated jihad. According to a verse in the Quran,

Never have We destroyed a town without sending down messengers to warn it. (26:208)

The non-Muslims of Athens are unaware as dawah has not been performed upon them; therefore, the jihad undertaken by Muslims was highly erroneous.

Quran enjoins the believers to:

Do not revile those [beings] whom they invoke instead of God,

 lest they revile God out of ignorance. (6:108)

Clearly, this verse is advising Muslims and not those who deface Islam. However, Muslims today actually go against their madus rather than introspecting themselves. In Athens, Muslims did not introspect that their neglect of dawah work had caused defacement of the Quran.  Muslims should be patient in such circumstances.

Immersed in negative thoughts

Muslims world over are involved in finding negative items about others rather then introspecting themselves. An example of this is a Muslim agency in America which involves itself in doing “media watch.” Their sole job is to find any news item where American media has spoken negatively of the Muslims. They do not concern themselves with the comfort enjoyed by Muslims living in America. This is a very harmful approach and much against the traditions of the Prophet. Let me elucidate this with examples from the life of Prophet Muhammad. There were two incidents in the life of the Prophet of Islam which were typically atrocious. These were the battles of Uhd and Hunayn. The Prophet had peacefully migrated from Mecca to Medina as the Meccans were creating new hurdles in his dawah work. Despite their migration from Medina, the Meccans launched an offensive on Medina. This was 100% aggression from the side of the Meccans. Many Companions died defending themselves in this war and huge losses were incurred. Now, the Quran should’ve spoken badly about the Meccans. Rather, the following verse was revealed,

Your courage failed you and you disagreed among yourselves. (3:152)

At the time of the battle, some differences had emerges amongst certain Companions. Instead of mentioning about the aggression, Quran pointed out this difference. This was because the policy of Quran is “Blame thyself.” That is, the Quran stressed on the shortcoming of the Muslims. However, it is the reverse that happens. Instead of the policy of blame thyself, Muslims are following the policy of “blame others.” Indulging in complaints is against the policy of the Quran. There is a verse in the Quran to this effect,

Whatever misfortune befalls you [people] is of your own doing. (42:30)

All Muslims are walking opposite to this teaching of the Quran. Everywhere Muslims have complaints against others and blame others, whereas the Quran advises the Muslims to find fault in their own selves in whichever circumstance they are; that is, to blame thyself without any exception.  

Conclusion

Therefore to reiterate, I would like to point out that the root cause of all problems of Muslims is their self-made notion of birth-based salvation. This thinking has obliterated fear of God from their hearts. According to a Hadith,

Wisdom results from fear of God. (Al-Baihaqi)

Moreover, Muslims have left the right guide, the Quran and therefore, having become devoid of the spirit and are merely holding on to the form. For example, the following verse in the Quran gives the criterion for true Namaz,

Surely prayer restrains one from indecency and evil. (29:45)

This means that one who performs namaz but does not give up his bad activities, would be considered as someone who merely repeated certain memorised words.

In fact another evil that has developed amongst Muslims is that despite being unaware of a situation, they Muslims jump to draw its conclusion. They do not feel the need to scrutinise and simply react. According to a Hadith,

A liar is one who absorbs whatever news befalls him, without scrutinising them. (Muslim)

Giving a principle for such instances, Quran says,

Believers, if an evil-doer brings to you news, ascertain the correctness of the report fully. (49:6)

And ultimately, Prophet gave this eternal advice while addressing a gathering of companions:

I am leaving behind two things that you must adhere to or else you will be misled – One is God’s Book and the other is my sunnah. (Al-Muattah)

This means therefore that Quran is the ultimate point of reference for the Muslims and they must make it their guidebook if they wish to be successful today and in life to come.

May God show us the right path!