Responding to Insults

Bismillah dan Assalamualaikum.

Today is Saturday! Spending my time quietly in my room in UKM almost the whole day already. A lot of "straightening up" and de-cluttering to do. Fyuhh~

However in the middle of my workloads, I remembered about a video I came across earlier. I was fascinated by Ustaz Nouman Ali Khan's enlightenment regarding our reaction when people insult our Rasulullah s.a.w. And so I decided to jot down what he said in the video, simply for my future reference (reminder) and also for my better understanding. Thought I'd share it here :)

* I'm not sure if it's the right word.

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Anybody who said *he's the Quran seriously knows that Allah records on multiple occasions how Prophets were insulted, how they were made fun of, how they were rejected in the most *obscene way, and how even they the Prophets themselves felt the pain of those believers making fun of them. Nuh a.s complained about how people found him disgusting, that they will plug their ears with their fingers and walk away from him, and pull their clothes back as a show of insult to him. And our Prophet (s.a.w) is no exception.

This Quran that honoured our Prophet also at the same time records the most hurtful words that were said to him, that the Prophet himself would have to recite and remind himself of the words that were said about him. Sahir (magician), majnun (insane), kazab (a perpetual liar). So many accusation are made againts our Prophet s.a.w and they were all recorded in the Quran. Allah wants us to remember that this is a fact, that all Prophets, though they are the most noble of Allah's creation and that Allah Himself has honoured them, at the same time will face the worst kind of insults, and the worst kind of ridicules.

But what is supposed to be the reaction? And if anybody supposed to be angry and just be overwhelmed with rage when the Prophet (s.a.w) is insulted, I would argue it would be his companions (r.a), whose faith can't even be compared to yours and mine. But how come they don't react the way we do? How come they're not having any protest? How come they're not going out yelling and screaming in rage? Because they understand that the Quran didn't just come to give them *any love to their Prophet but also to guide that love, and also to teach them how to respond to these kind of insults. How is it that we don't know that the Prophet (s.a.w) himself has told,

فَاصْبِرْ عَلَى مَا يَقُولُونَ

"Be patient over whatever they say" (Taha : 130)

I'm fascinated  by this ayah, because the word مَا means "whatever". Whatever they say. Not whatever they have said. Whatever they might even come out with. And the mudhori' (present tense) form in arabic suggest "what they may have said in the past, but the present and even the future, till this day". The Prophet (s.a.w) policy is to be patient himself.

*Were in the Quran, does it justify our anger like this? And actually our anger even justified, if anything I argue, the one thing we should feel towards those who hate us and make hateful speech towards muslims is sorrow. We should feel sorry for these people. They can't hurt the Prophet. They can't take away his honour. It was given from the sky, was given from Allah. Nothing on Earth can take it away. No article, no cartoon, no film, no speaker, no hate speech, no form of art. It's not gonna take away the dignity of our Prophet s.a.w.

And these films and these kind of attempts, are futile wasteful attempts to try to undermine the message of  Islam, and to misrepresent Islam. But think about it. Us reacting in this emotional manner and engaging in senseless violence, is this not also misrepresenting Islam? Aren't we doing exactly what people want, the enemy of Islam want, for Islam to be misrepresented? If anything makes me angry, it's the anger at our own self, that we don't understand the policy of the Quran, and how to respond to insults.

اِدْفَعْ بِالَّتِيْ هِيَ اَحْسَنُ

"Respond with that which is best" (Fussilat : 34)

Finally I want to share with you guys, some people think that this was the early policy in Islam, that in the Makkan time of the Prophet (s.a.w) that he was supposed to be passive. But when the Prophet (s.a.w) migrated and battles began, like Badr, and Uhud, and Ahzab, and Tabuk, et cetera, now the policy was not to be patient, and therefore we should take that. Let's look at Ali-Imran. The Battles of Uhud. What has Allah says to us?

وَ لَتَسْمَعُنَّ مِنَ الَّذِينَ اُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ وَ مِنَ الَّذِينَ اَشْرَكُوا اَذًى كَثِيرًا

"You will absolutely hear hurtful words from those who were given The Book way before you (and people who commit *adultery), and blasphemy with God." (Ali Imran : 186)

You WILL hear hurtful speech absolutely coming from them. These kind of things are a manifestation, a prove, that Allah prepares us mentally for that. But what was supposed to be our reaction? God Himself tells us, Allah Himself tells us;

وَ اِنْ تَصْبِرُوا وَتَتَّقُوا فَاِنَّ ذَالِكَ مِنْ عَزْمِ الْاُمُورِ

"If you can be patient and you can maintain your conciousness of Allah, then that is the most noble of deed, the highest of accomplishment that you can accomplish." (Ali Imran : 186)

That is supposed to be the reaction of the muslims. This video (Innocence of Muslims), was watched by, what, 30 people? this loser and his cousins.. before WE gave it support. WE made it popular. We're the ones that were giving it more flame.

And I wanna end with this. In school, bullies tease the kid that they know takes the teases and shows the reaction. The more we react in this way, the more we're encouraging others to pursue more hateful speech. We have to learn to respond in mature, civil, and higher discourse, the way the Quran and the Sunnah of our messenger. The legacy of our Prophet (s.a.w) expect from us. 

I pray that this is the message that reaches all of my young brothers and sisters that were feeling the rage because of this incident. But I hope to turn that rage, and I hope you can turn that rage into something positive. Barakallahu li walakum. Assalamualaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

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Note: This is simply according to my hearing ability, therefore there might be some errors/mistakes. Please correct me if you think you hear it differently.

Ps. I've been thinking of translating this into Malay too, but it'll surely need some time. I'll post it when I'm done (hopefully). InsyaAllah. Semoga Allah redha :)