Religion and culture: Is Lindsay Lohan in trouble with God?

Prophet Mohammad and Jesus Christ have been easy targets and we have seen various Prophets - Moses, Buddha, Krishna, and others being insulted in the name of freedom as well. ... [W]hy every so often some people have this need to go check if their freedom to insult others, Prophets in particular, has been lost.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Staff | Articles
Source & Credit: Examiner.Com | February 14, 2010
By Imran Jattala | Los Angeles Islam Examiner

Edited for Ahmadiyya Times:

It has been only a few weeks since I became the Los Angeles Islam Examiner and the world is already conspiring against me. It seems to me that the cultures of Hollywood (or, extensions thereof) are setting me up to fail. This early in my career as an examiner someone totally unconnected to me has decided to go berserk in my ‘jurisdiction’ – Los Angeles - and I am expected to offer an opinion; and that from a Muslim’s perspective. Well, good luck – to me.

OK, so here is what happened. When I opened my email yesterday morning there was this ‘heads-up’ note from Alli Sands, Home & Life Category Manager at Examiner.com, about some scandalous picture(s) of Lindsay Lohan. Another friend of mine had also sent me an email. “You gotta check it out, it is a blasphemous picture,” my friend had insisted.

“Blasphemous! Oh really?” I said to myself. “This is too close to Ash Wednesday to be in trouble with God.”

After jumping through the hyperlink hoops thrown in my way by Alli Sands, I finally ended up at the website of a French magazine called Purple as was mentioned in Alli’s message. And there it was; the Purple Fashion magazine #13, the Spring Summer 2010 issue.

I was stoned-faced, literally. As it turned out, Lindsay Lohan has decided to take on none else than the Holy Founder of the Christian faith, Jesus Christ himself. And, she did it with a long white dress, open chest, arms spread, a crown of thorns, and all. The only thing missing was a sign of cross etched with ashes collected from the burning of those crosses from the last year's Palm Sunday. Wow, what guts! Yeah, what guts? - I questioned myself immediately. This was no case of guts. She did it because she could. Jesus Christ is an easy target.

Like everyone else, perhaps in her mind she too already knows that Jesus is not coming back to go after her. No sir, no chance ever of Lindsay Lohan getting sued by Jesus Christ for the wrongful impersonation.

Now, while I do know, from all the street rumors, what Lindsay’s private life is like, I have no idea what she holds dear as her religious preferences. I don’t blame her – after all we live in times where faith is a private matter, and personal matters are not.

We have seen from time to time people start taking potshots at personalities held in reverence by various faiths. We have seen the Holy Founder of Islam, Prophet Mohammad being jeered and mocked at, some time by the cartoonists in Europe and the other times by the likes of Pat Robertson and Franklin ‘The Rebel” Graham, each known as ‘reverend.” From time to time even politicians, primarily from Europe, also seem to join the fray. We must give credit to the North American media for not jumping on these bandwagons that usually sweep through Europe every so often.

What surprises me the most is the fact that the same people who take lead in annoying others, whether it is Lohan (this time) and the Europe cartoonists at one end and Robertson and Grahm at the other, also claims to be poster-children as caring individuals. My question is simple: Shouldn’t or doesn’t the definition of the word ‘caring’ include not hurting the feelings of the others.

As I said above, Prophet Mohammad and Jesus Christ have been easy targets and we have seen various Prophets - Moses, Buddha, Krishna, and others being insulted in the name of freedom as well. First of all why every so often some people have this need to go check if their freedom to insult others, Prophets in particular, has been lost; and secondly, why pick on people who have been dead for so long. Is it because that these poor souls are not going to come back to sue your you-know-what? Try insulting someone of a nearer past and get sued by whomever is managing their estates.

From Islam’s point of view, does Lindsay Lohan have the right to spread herself out depicting herself as Prophet Jesus? Well here I will give just a little flavor of the Islamic teachings with regards to the two sides of the issue; the first about engaging in such behavior, and the second about dealing with it. The readers are welcome to be the judge.

In chapter 6, verse 109 of the Holy Quran we find: “And revile not those whom they call upon beside Allah, lest they, out of spite, revile Allah in their ignorance…” The logic of this directive is simple – don’t insult what others hold in reverence, and save your revered personalities from being insulated; don’t offend others, and save yourself from being offended. In other words, simply - live and let live.

Now, about dealing with such a problem, the Holy Quran goes only as far to advise not to associate with anyone in mocking religion –and, only to that limited extent. In chapter 4, verse 141, God Almighty commands: “He has already revealed to you in the Book that, when you hear the signs of Allah being denied and mocked at, sit not with them until they engage in a talk other than that; for in that case you would be like them...”

As it is very clear from the quoted verse, “sit not with them until they engage in a talk other than that; for in that case you would be like them...,” the Holy Quran does not require one to totally cut relations with such people, or order their killing (as was done in the case of Salman Rushdie), or burn down their properties (as threatened against the cartoonists of Denmark), or carryout extreme persecution of minorities in places like Pakistan and Indonesia where actual blasphemy laws exist on the books to aid and abet in carrying out the anti-Quranic teachings. The Holy Quran is quite clear in cautioning that anyone who associates or joins with those who mock, runs the risk of engaging in same behavior, an obviously disliked behavior according to the Holy Quran.

Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Holy Founder of the Worldwide Ahmadiyya Muslim Community wrote over a hundred years ago that people who “vilify the Prophets of other faith…sow the seed of enmity and discord among mankind.” (Message of Peace, Islam International Publications, 2007, p.32)

There are many places in the world where the freedom of expression does not exist. It is a wonderful privilege – yes, a privilege - to have. It must be exercised with honesty and respect for others in mind. We know very well when a so-called freedom becomes a nuisance; it comes to be referred to as a Jungle’s law. A jungle is a place where beasts live – not humans.

I guess the best fitting example here would be that of what we advise to our children to do out of the goodness of their hearts. And, that is, when our children misuse the bounties of God, i.e. wastage of food, etc., we remind them of the people and places in the world where these blessings are scarce. The 'Freedom of Expression' is scarce in many places of this word. Lets not waste it - for theirs sake.

Lastly, irrespective of what Lindsay Lohan does, here is how the Holy Quran relates about the Holy Founder of Christianity, Jesus Christ (peace be upon him):

"When the angels said, ‘O Mary, Allah gives thee glad tidings of a word from Him; his name shall be the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, honoured in this world and in the next, and of those who are granted nearness to God" [3:46]

All praise belongs to Allah, Lord of all the worlds.

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