Translated by Editorial Staff
What do you say about one who kills another person in defense of his life, wealth and honor?
Respected Mawlana Rabi`a Hasani Nadwi, Respected Mawlana `Abdullah Hasani, Respected Misra Ji, and other respective personalities sitting on the dais, and beloved brothers! Shrimad Bhagvad Geeta says in its third chapter, Shalok no. 21: “Yad yad acarati sresthastat tad evetaro janahsa yat pramanam kurutelokas tad anuvartate” (Whatever action is performed by a great man, common men follow his footsteps. And whatever standards he sets by his exemplary acts, all the world pursues them.) If a perfect person shows a way, the people should follow the way.
In the Glorious Qur’an, Surah No. 7, verse No. 158 God says:
Say, [O Muhammad], “O mankind, (He did not say O Muslims, rather, He said O people of the world), indeed I am the Messenger of Allah to you all, [from Him] to whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth. There is no deity except Him; He gives life and causes death.” So believe in Allah and His Messenger, the unlettered prophet, who believes in Allah and His words, and follow him that you may be guided.”
Indeed, the Prophet (peace be upon him) was such a perfect person who is followed by hundreds of millions all over the world. I studied Islam before and knew that Islam has a divine book;the Glorious Qur’an. The rulings of the Glorious Qur’an came down to the Prophet (peace be upon him). The divine books always important deep meanings. Vedas are also amongst of the divine books. To understand such divine books, one needs the purity of mind and body, only the purity of body is not enough but the purity of mind is also needed.
In addition to that, it requires a special method to understand it. Previously, when I had studied Islam, my body was pure but my mind was impure. I had put in my mind in advance that Islam has terrorism due to many reasons that would be mentioned later. I had studied Islam thinking that Islam has terrorism; my mind had imagined that terrorism existed in Islam. That is why I saw terrorism in Islam, because, my mind was not pure. Another thing also was missing; I did not know the method. I am sure that if you study the Qur’an after reading the biography of the Prophet (peace be upon him), you will find every thing crystal-clear and as clear as you see in the mirror.
In order to understand the verses of the Glorious Qur’an, you have to know first what the circumstances were during the revelation of the verses. Why was the verse revealed? If you do not know the situations surrounded the revelation of the verse, or if you do not remember the circumstances accompanied the revelation, you cannot understand the meaning of the verses of the Glorious Qur’an. For example, if an order from the government is issued “shoot at sight” and you read the order only “shoot at sight” or if people are informed about the order “shoot at sight” out of context, what will people think about this? Surely they will think that the order is based on terrorism. “Shoot at sight”! indeed it is a big terrorism. But have you read why “shoot at sight” was issued? You need to read the context.
If some rioters began creating disturbance and started killing the innocent persons, or some criminals began committing crimes, then if you kill the criminals you would save thousands and thousands of innocents. The command refers to that situation. When people forgot this point they thought that Islam promotes terrorism, even I had thought that Islam has terrorism; also some think that Jihad means to capture any non-Muslim and chop his head and if he cuts off the head he gets the ticket to the Paradise. I also had misunderstood the concept and debated with people, even I had mentioned such opinions in my book ‘The History of Islamic Terrorism’ but after I studied the biography of the Prophet (peace be upon him) I found the meaning entirely opposite. The verses that I thought inciting for terrorism I found them eliminating the terrorism. Yes, total opposite. I learned it from the biography of the Prophet (peace be upon him).
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