Who are the real terrorists?
This man still remains, unarguably, the greatest man the world has ever seen. Of him, the reknown French scholar Lamartine wrote: “If greatness of purpose, smallness of means, and astounding results are the three criteria of human genius, who could dare to compare any great man in modern history with Muhammad? The most famous men […]
This man still remains, unarguably, the greatest man the world has ever seen. Of him, the reknown French scholar Lamartine wrote: “If greatness of purpose, smallness of means, and astounding results are the three criteria of human genius, who could dare to compare any great man in modern history with Muhammad? The most famous men created arms, laws and empires only. They founded, if anything at all, no more than material powers which often crumbled away before their eyes. This man moved not only armies, legislations, empires, people and dynasties, but millions of men in one-third of the then inhabited world; and more than that, he moved the alters the gods, the religion, the ideas, the beliefs and souls…. Philosopher, orator, apostle, legislator, warrior, conqueror of ideas, restorer of national dogmas, of all cults without images; the founder of twenty terrestrial empires; that is Muhammad. As regards all standards by which human greatness may be measured, we may well ask, is there any man greater than he?” [Histoire de la Turquie,vol.II,pp. 276-77]
It’s so unfortunate that after the demise of this man, many saboteurs engaged in incessant mudslinging campaigns, surrounding his main teachings [the religion he preached] with all sorts of outrageous claims, making it impossible for many ignorant people [either inside or outside the religion] to decode what his main teachings were, and how he really carried out his mission. This unawareness is further instigated by the way the present Muslim society portrays itself and carries out its activities, which are obviously due to misconceptions of his true teachings.
The foremost myth is that Islam spread by the sword. Profound knowledge of how the Prophet carried out his mission, and also how the religion later spread, will leave this contention in no corner of a discerning mind.
It is recorded clearly that it was the polytheists, fearing his growing influence in the Arabian Peninsula that carried out three unsuccessful attacks on him, thereby putting him in the defensive.
Also, the allegation and belief that Islam preaches violence is more than absurd. True, by the way our current mass media portray Islam and Muslims coupled with the high level of extremism displayed by our present Muslims, which is nothing more than a deviation from the original teachings, one cannot blame anyone who holds this belief. But a clear understanding of the Prophetic teachings and attitudes will easily kick that belief to the trash. The fact that neither the Prophet nor his followers ever desired fighting, but consistently prayed and preached peace, might sound unbelievable to one fed with distorted stories about jihad in Islam. Believe it or not, the Prophet stated categorically to his companions “never desire fighting, but pray to Allah for peace and security. And when you have to fight the enemy, fight with steadfastness and know that paradise is under the shadow of the swords”.
The manner in which the earlier Muslims lived and associated with those that didn’t believe in their ideology is also a case study as it is in total contrast to how the contemporary societies do theirs. While the former upheld tolerance and peace, the latter believes in zero tolerance and persecution. This fact is evident in the first constitution ever written in history of the Prophet. Excerpts: “The Islamic state will protect whoever wishes to stay friendly and peacefully with the Muslims; there will be freedom of religion for the non-Muslims who agree to stay with the Muslims in peace and their lives will be protected; the state will protect the non Muslims in the same way it protects the Muslims.”
It is apparent that the Prophets companions also upheld his teachings. This fact is visible in Abuakar’s [the Prophet’s 1’st administrative successor] instructions to his army commandants, which says, among others: “Do not disturb saints and worshipers of other religions; do not destroy places of worship; do not kill a woman, an old man or children, or those who do not fight you; do not cut flowering trees nor burn gardens; do not kill goats, camels and cattle beside what you need to eat.” This instructions in no way match neither that of a person willing to terrorize nor those of the present day ‘’Muslims’’.
Another case of study is the total number of recoded deaths during the whole of the Prophet’s 23 year mission. The numbers as recorded are 1,014 {255 Muslims, 759 non-Muslims [Encyclopedia of Seerah vol.1, Afzalur-Rahman; page 660]}. This figure when compared to millions killed by the US drone attacks on Baghdad, Afganistan and recently Pakistan, in addition to those recorded by other historical missions such as the sack of Jerusalem by Christian invaders, or the sack of Baghdad by the Mongols, will be seen as an outrageously latent fact. Going by these figures, who are the real terrorists? How did Islam spread by sword? And who really taught violence? All these are questions needing answers from both the “Muslims” and non-Muslims.
Cameel Tom wrote from Gwagwalada, Abuja