DOES ISLAM NEED DEFENDING?

Those who, stand either individually or in clumps, and claim that they are defending Islam do not trust in Allah and thereby blaspheme. Let us consider some of the more relevant and obvious repercussions of accepting Allah as the "The Originator of the heavens and the earth!" (Surah 6:101) which is basically this Universe, and the many billion other universes out there, all that space, and clutter in between. We, in truth, don't even make up an atom of a grain of sand in the entire scheme of things. And those are just His creations - so, in truth, we will never be able to even comprehend Allah. Whoever claims they do, makes false claims to godhood.

Let us consider this starting point: that we are unfathomably small in His entire design. We die out just like all other living things on this earth. Our lifespan is short - a maximum of just over one hundred - with an average of about late 60s these days. We, as Homo Sapiens, only arrived on the scene relatively recently i.e. about 400,000 years ago, and our recorded history only stretches back to about 32,000 years ago with those cave paintings in Chauvet Cave of Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc Cave, in southern France. The earth is estimated by scientists to be approximately between 4.5 - 6 billion years old. So that's how we are even compared to the earth. Nothing much. And the universe? Scientists currently estimate it to be about 13.7 billion years old. So temporally our Homo Sapien race existence compared to the universe - our significance is 0.0000029197080. Now you then divide that by all the many people, animals, etc. and you come through and we realize how insignificant any of us are in the entire scheme of the universe. Even if you had the biological abilities, you just didn't the time.

When seen in this light, that Allah was long before us and shall be for ever, so what does it matter if some of his most insignificant creations on one of His billions, if not trillions, of galaxies and planet, does not believe in Him or infringes His injunctions? What does it matter that there are these non-believers who speak ill of Him? The truth is that no one can harm Allah or his religion because we are in His realm. What is more, going by scripture, we are all answerable to him on Judgment Day, so why should we have to answer to someone lesser whilst we are alive? A comparative analogy of the relationship between Allah and mankind/His Universe would be as a computer programmer to his program. Whatever program a programmer programs into his computer can never harm him (assuming it is your usual standard desktop PC and not some robotic killer machine whose sole purpose is to annihilate any living thing) - he can manipulate it, change it, do virtually anything to it but the computer or its programs or the product of its program can never, ever harm the programmer. So when there is no threat, there cannot be a defence.

And Allah is Eternal and Creator of All - what possible threat can there be to the Supreme Being of the Universe? If even Satan himself cannot bring about such an event (because he will get his butt kicked in the End), then what more the mere sons of Adam? And what do these ants think they can do in Allah's defence? That some of his sons thinks that Allah is in need of protection is to betray what they really think of themselves and Allah. The first is that they think too highly of himself and his worth to Allah and the Universe and secondly, they think too lowly of Allah and his Creations. They do not say this explicitly, but there is no need to because actions have always spoken louder than words.

If Allah does not need defenders, neither then does Islam. So what is this Defence of Islam really about then?

It's the same thing that has happened over the centuries where religion is concerned: frustrated, unthinking, unlearned, morally and ethically corrupt human beings who want to achieve some control in their livese and that of others, and do so by piggybacking on a religion to establish a high moral position and to burn with righteous anger with supposed authority from God with which he can then carry out his psychosis. This Defence of Islam strategy is an attempt to play up their victimhood (defence presupposes an attack) to try and attract sympathy from concerned or related parties. But then in banding together and claiming defence they then allow themselves the possibility of a pre-attack strike (that is a 'defence' too which America used as a justification in attacking Iraq. Anybody notice the similarity in modus operandi between Muslim fundamentalists and USA foreign policy towards hostile countries?). Ultimately, the strategy is geared towards confrontation, violence and non-resolution.

The truth of the matter is that the Defence of Islam was, is and never will be about Allah. It is about flawed human beings. It is about the corrupt, hypocritical human beings who seek not to worship Allah in humility but to try reach His exalted status by inflating further their massive ego; and then in failing so miserably and ending up ultimately becoming a disgrace both to Allah, Islam and human beings in general. Just because someone professes to be Muslim does not necessarily mean they practise Islam (i.e. submission) and just because one is practising Islam does not necessarily mean they are actually practising Islam. In either case, those questions are for Allah to decide, not us. If there's one thing I am certain of it is this - there is no human being in existence that can equal Allah's ability in deciding whether someone is a Muslim or not (and consequentially - a good enough one for that matter). One would have thought a Muslim would be very wary of assuming such a responsibility. That some are ready to do so with such casualness and vindictiveness provokes me to think they do not take their faith seriously in the ways that are important and meaningful for their own personal self-development (which must be distinguished from self-enrichment) and that of others.

Fahri Azzat

Used with permission

(Originally posted in The Rostrum Google Group)