Posted at [email protected] in response to concerns and question from Mian Waheed and Khalid Faridi.
First of all, I second and endorse the words of Khalid, “Quran is our symbol. And to a Muslim this symbol carries enormous weight and value.” Indeed, it is. Most of the conflicts start by messing with the symbols and icons of others.
Mian you are right about burial, as the pages may be uncovered years later, as it happened in Yemen, those unearthed pages are being looked at in Germany and there are conflicting reports on that. There is a new book out called Which Quran? By an ex-Muslim Ibn Warraq, he had copied the pages from different copies and shows them to be different. I have not seen this yet, but I have been called on it. No wonder Hazrat Umar burned several copies of the Quraan that were misprinted (written).
The Afghan rebels desecrated the Quraan before the American soldiers burnt it, they wrote secret messages on the pages of Quraan, no idea what they were, but you are not supposed to alter, or give the appearance of alteration. Neither one is charitable acts.
Burning may not be the real issue, but disrespect, desecration and denigration is the issue. The behavior is designed to irritate the Muslims and Muslims fall prey to it.
We have several choices to consider:
1. Retribution – Retribution should be addressed directly to the men and women who messed with it. They need to be called in at the court and punished appropriately, if found guilty. Islam presumes one is innocent until proven guilty as does our constitution, only God knows what is in one’s heart until we can extract it from them.
If retribution is not confined to the men and women, then it is inflammatory and wrong. We cannot condemn Afghans, Muslim or Americans for the acts of the individuals. God sets the example of punishment to the individuals. Please remember the Quraan is clear about it; no one bears the burdens of other.
2. Forgiving and turning the other cheek – Prophet Jesus and Prophet Muhammad both have set that example innumerable times – don’t aggravate the conflict, but mitigate it and nurture goodwill. Taif incident is a good example (full story below). What does Quraan say about forgiveness? God’s favorite human is the one who forgives, is it not? Forgiving disengages one from malice and liberates one to be free.
3. Reaction – Had Muslims not reacted violently across the globe, and followed the example of prophet – hold a prayer meeting, invite the press, and say prayers for the miscreants. You know what that would do? It will not tempt any one, anymore to do such despicable acts; it is no more fun to them, as Muslims will not react.
Here is a piece Imam Zia and I co-authored way back in September 2010. http://wisdomofreligion.blogspot.com/2010/09/quraan-burning-appeal-to-muslims.html it was also published in Huffington post.
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MikeGhouse is committed to building a Cohesive America and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. He is a professional speaker, thinker and a writer on pluralism, politics, civic affairs, Islam, India, Israel, peace and justice. Mike is a frequent guest on Sean Hannity show on Fox TV, and a commentator on national radio networks, he writes weekly at Dallas Morning News and regularly at Huffington post, The Smirking Chimp and several other periodicals. His daily blog is www.TheGhousediary.com