Why Muslim anger against the West runs deep, by Abdulrazaq Magaji
Very early in life, the Muslim child is taught to show respect for all prophets of God from Adam to Muhammad and all revealed books Jesus; the Jewish Old Testament, the Christian New Testament, (known to Muslims as Attaura, Azzabur and Injil) and the Qur’an. He is taught to consider his faith incomplete if he denies any of the prophets of God or desecrate religious books.
By extension, any four-year old Madrassa-going child is aware, in line with the teachings of the Qur’an, of the miraculous birth of Jesus. He narrates with ease how, in line with the teaching of the Qur’an, Jesus performed his first miracle when he spoke in her defence as a baby. The Muslim child is taught early in life to attest that Jesus raised the dead, made the blind see and cured the leper. The Muslim child is aware, very early in life, that Jesus performed these and several other miracles “by the power of God”, according to the Qur’an and, by his own admission in the Bible, “by myself, I can do nothing”.
Every Madrasa-going Muslim child believes Jesus was crucified, saved from death and taken up by God; just as Jesus himself alludes to in the Bible when he reinforced his prophethood by the sign of Prophet Jonah. And what is the sign of Jonah? For three days and nights, Prophet Jonah was alive, not dead and, certainly not spiritualized, in the belly of the whale! So the Muslim child is taught that it was made to look as Jesus was killed when in actual fact he was lifted to heaven by God and that he will return to complete his earthly mission. What is more, Muslim parents teach their children to revere Mary, the mother of Jesus, who has a whole chapter named in her honour in the Qur’an. Here lies the dilemma of the Muslim!
While Muslims are brought up to respect, revere and if need be, defend messengers of God and revealed books, there are people who grow up with a conflicting mindset and who see nothing wrong in casting aspersions on prophets and messengers of God or incinerating sacred scripture. This has been the basis for the violent protests and avoidable bloodletting each time some religious zealots, misguided activists and cartoonists depict prophets and desecrate The Qur’an. The Muslim finds himself in an awkward quandary because he cannot revile messengers of God or burn religious books as that amounts to apostasy.
At issue here is the recent needless provocation of Muslims by some Islamophobes and their ultra-white supremacist cousins who were officially sanctioned to set copies of the Qur’an on fire in some European capitals. Events since the latest episode of Qur’an-burning have served to open the eyes of more Muslims across the world as to why Muslims stand up to Israel and her Western allies by continually denying the Holocaust, one matter that promptly sets hawkish Jews and their friends in the West on edge despite all the hollow and fraudulent talk of freedom of speech.
Of course, there were dark days in Europe when Jews were hunted and hounded, women, children and all, and either hacked down in the streets or sent to gas chambers. This is a historical fact and attempting to deny it merely serves other purposes. Never mind the fact that, in their attempt to right that wrong, Jews and their Western allies are perpetrating a modern day genocide on an unimaginable scale, not against the descendants of their tormentors but, against a people who had no hand in the extermination of their forebears. Put bluntly, the hateful and hurtful Israeli occupation of Palestinian land, what some commentators have referred to “a tenured tenancy” must end. It is delusional to expect Washington to bring about any form of “Salaam” in the Middle East.
For more than two thousand years, hawkish Jews and their unquestioning friends in the West have continued to reject and depict Jesus and, till date, the average Jew regard him as an impostor; not a great prophet and messenger of God, as Muslims revere him or, as some Christians call him, God or son of God. What this boils down to is that average Jews and their friends in the West are happy to besmirch Jesus and will most likely encourage and applaud a similar act by others.
Of course, protests are likely to be staged in the Muslim world if some Jew or western freethinker insults Jesus. It is for his dilemma to ‘get even’ that Muslims devise the idea of Holocaust-denial. If you asked any Iranian Mullah or the most moderate of Muslims, they are unlikely to provide convincing reasons as to why they deny the Holocaust; conversely, you will draw blank if you questioned any zealot on the rationale behind depicting prophets or burning the Holy Qur’an. They both know they are insincere in their denials or, at best, on an ego trip. This, in my native Nigeria, is called “Do me, I do you.”
It is interesting that some people in the West talk glibly of freedom of speech when it suits them but go on to draw the red line when it hurts. As we talk, some starryeyed “Death to Muslims” zealots, under the pretext of freedom of speech, are perfecting another provocative act such as burning copies of the Qur’an or drawing some harebrained cartoon or releasing a low-budget instigative film to draw out Allahu Akbar-chanting Muslims with the ultimate aim of projecting Muslims as violent and intolerant. Such provocations only serve to draw many people in the Muslim world to gravitate towards belligerency.
If truth be told, provocations serve to fuel Muslim anger against America and her European allies and do little to build a safer world!
Magaji can be reached via email at magaji778@gmail.com, +234-803-697-9133 and is based in Abuja.
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