Muslims are confused about many Historical Events related to Religion. They still can’t decide whether Jesus (as) was put on the cross and then Ascended to Heaven or he was never put on the cross and ascended to Heavens.
Source/Credit: The Reawakening Light | Blog
By Luqman Ahmad | January 2, 2013
“Present Religion in a Beautiful Manner. Do not make it Repulsive to others,” said by Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), the Holy Founder of Islam. These words are simple but very elegant. This saying is the basis for interfaith harmony. Whilst living in the West, one thinks there is little persecution, little racism, but that could not further away from the truth. Southeast Asia and Middle Eastern countries have challenges of war amongst different religions but Western countries have disputes on level of tolerance being displayed towards interfaith practices.
From Minaret Ban in Sweden to Burning of Holy Qur’an in America to abusive messages written in front of Mosques in France which ultimately portray the message of, “Get the hell out of my country.” This is not meant to display that only Islam is being attacked. In Saudi Arabia, the Grand Scholar declared that all Churches need to be destroyed. Although these countries are not directly being attacked at but they are engaged in a different war, a war of animosity towards religions.
“I believe Qur’an is a very violent book,” my friend once remarked. I inquired How is it possible that a religion with a Holy Founder who was sent as a Mercy for All Mankind and Upon him such a Divine Book was Revealed be a violent religion. After hours of discussion quoting ‘For you your religion, for me my religion’[1] and ‘Whoever kills a man unjustly has killed the entire mankind.’[2] He understood that Qur’an isn’t actually a violent book, it is just presented by Muslims in a violent manner.
Many a times we hear a typical response that most Muslims are good people and there is a small percentage of Muslims with extremist ideologies. I really want to believe this is true but unfortunately it is not. I studied in the western world and really thought Muslims here would be open minded and actually would strive to ‘Present Religion in a Beautiful Manner.’ Unfortunately I was incorrect. One of my friends who adhered to the Sunni school of thought once said he has heard whoever spreads an incorrect version of Islam should be murdered. He was targeting this comment at Ahmadi Muslims who present ‘unorthodox’ Islam.
I was shocked at his comment but it is just hard to be surprised anymore. Muslims are confused about many Historical Events related to Religion. They still can’t decide whether Jesus (as) was put on the cross and then Ascended to Heaven or he was never put on the cross and ascended to Heavens. One of the disappointing moments was hearing one Sunni argue with another whether Jesus will return bodily or spiritually in the later days. Do I expect these Muslims to Present Religion in a beautiful manner? Not at all, as they are not even sure of the true teachings of this religion.
Let’s dwell into this slightly a bit more. About a decade, one of my non-Muslim friend remarked he read that 1% of all Muslims have extremist ideologies. I never fact checked and was naïve and young as I did not want to agree with him. This would mean more than 10 million Muslims adhere to an extremist ideology. Recently a report came out that 6% of Muslims adhere to extremist ideologies[3]. This number is massive and very disappointing. This number is enough for media to always showcase extremist Muslims and if media is to be believed, then majority of Muslims are extremists.
Recently I was watching the Press Conference of Leader of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community at European Parliament and one of the Journalists remarked that Ahmadi Muslims celebrated Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in such a peaceful manner but media coverage was severely lacking. I blame media as a peace conference, peaceful endeavours are hardly covered by the media but I equally blame Muslims as they have done very little to present the beautiful teachings of Islam.
As an Ahmadi Muslim, I don’t remember how many times I have Thanked God that I am not a non-Ahmadi Muslim who uses abusive language to present their perspective. These individuals clearly make religion repulsive to others and hence are disobeying the Holy Prophet. The only sect of Islam who collectively presents religion in a beautiful manner are Ahmadi Muslims.
Ahmadiyya Muslim Community conduct countless interfaith conferences around the world and purpose of these conferences was laid out by the Founder of the Community. He said interfaith conferences should be held to present the beautiful teachings of one’s own religions without criticizing other religions. All religions have roots from God and all religions branches which grew should be respected and honoured. In a collective effort, this is a Prime example of Present religion in a beautiful manner.
Ahmadiyya Muslim Community hold an annual Peace Symposium in United Kingdom where the Leader of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community presents ways to establish peace in our society.
I will conclude by an excerpt from an Ahmadiyya Muslim Peace Conference where His Holiness Mirza Masroor Ahmad said, “It is because we follow the teachings of the Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him) that we feel extreme pain and anguish in our hearts at the state of the world. It is that pain which drives us in our efforts to try and save humanity from destruction and suffering. Therefore, I and all other Ahmadi Muslims are striving to fulfill our responsibilities towards achieving peace in the world.”[4]
This is more than enough to understand why it is crucial to present religion in a beautiful manner, to ensure we can save the world from destruction by leading them to the path of Unity of God. May the world truly understand how to present religion in a beautiful manner as to not make it repulsive to others.
[1] tilaw.at/5:33
[2] tilaw.at/109:7
[3] http://www.loonwatch.com/2010/01/not-all-terrorists-are-muslims/
[4] http://www.alislam.org/library/books/World-Crisis-and-Pathway-to-Peace.pdf
-- Follow the author on Twitter: @LAhmad08
-- Also Posted in French on: http://www.cultures-et-croyances.com/opinion-sublimer-la-religion-par-sa-simple-prsentation/
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