On oppression and discrimination in history
Throughout
ages, history has borne witness to the inequalities which man inflicts upon
himself. He callously degrades some of his identical selves (humans like
himself), while elevating others. Thus, man and man got separated through the
passage of time because of colour, race, creed, culture and ethnicity. Some
became superiors while some inferiors. And the inferiors had to comply with the
wishes and commands of those who had the upper hand upon them, for if they
refuse to do so, they would be severely punished and degraded further. (Inset: Le Morne Cultural Landscape, a UNESCO World Heritage Site- a rugged mountain that juts
into the Indian Ocean in the southwest of Mauritius. "It was used as a shelter by
runaway slaves, maroons, through the 18th and early years of the 19th
centuries. Protected by the mountain’s isolated, wooded and almost inaccessible
cliffs, the escaped slaves formed small settlements in the caves and on the
summit of Le Morne. The oral traditions associated with the maroons, have made
Le Morne a symbol of the slaves’ fight for freedom, their suffering, and their
sacrifice, all of which have relevance to the countries from which the slaves
came - the African mainland, Madagascar, India, and South-east Asia. Indeed,
Mauritius, an important stopover in the eastern slave trade, also came to be
known as the “Maroon republic” because of the large number of escaped slaves
who lived on Le Morne Mountain").
Spirituality and human rights
Prophets
of Allah came to bring about a change in that state of affairs. The
commandments of Allah came through to bring about hope in the life of those
whom society viewed as inferior and as having no dignity and the freedom to
express their rights as fellow human beings.
Prophets
of Allah tried their best to bring about a change, but every time their
heartfelt wishes were crushed until the ultimate saviour of mankind was born
and promised to create a new world where every man should live as equals, for
this is the absolute command of God Almighty who has created all humans alike,
except in piety, for those who are truly pious, they are those who truly
realise the goal of life, and that of their own creations and presence on
earth. That promised hope came in such a country where hope was previously absent,
where men and women were treated as the worst of animals, where it existed such
a society which were devoid of human attributes. It was in that society which Allah chose to
raise His greatest and the seal of
all prophets (last law-bearing prophet), to accomplish a miracle by transforming the
lives of those barbarous people, and teaching them humanity, morality and
spirituality.
Unfortunately,
despite the clear signs of Allah, of Islam and the Holy Prophet of Islam Hazrat
Muhammad (pbuh), by sending and implementing respectively the divine
commandments to bring about transformation in the lives of those barbarous
people, and turn them in real affectionate and compassionate human beings and
servants of God, yet despite all these, Islam and its prophet are vehemently
viewed as greatest promoters of terror for some ignorant people who have not
studied the heart itself of the extraordinary life of the best of men and
prophets of Allah.
On Islam's alleged 'tolerance' of Slavery
In the
context of the Abolition of Slavery which is commemorated in Mauritius every
February 01 – and for which it is a public holiday – I have chosen to talk to
you about one allegation against Islam and the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). It
is alleged that Islam encourages slavery, but it a fact that Islam is the
greatest enemy of slavery, and has put an end to all modes of reducing men to
slavery which were current in pre-Islamic days. Islam forbids the reduction to
slavery of men who are captured for no reason, or merely because they belong to
a hostile tribe or nation, or who have been taken prisoners in worldly wars.
It
permits only of such prisoners of war being reduced to slavery who are captured
in a war undertaken by the enemy with the object of enforcing the renunciation
or acceptance of a religion by means of the sword. And can it be doubted that
such an attempt is an offence which places those who are guilty of it beyond
the pale of humanity?
Those
who express their abhorrence at the loss of a man’s physical freedom must
consider that the man who is thus punished was seeking by means of the sword
forcibly to prevent men from worshipping God and to hand over their souls to
the bondage of Satan. Had he been successful in his object, thousands and
hundreds of thousands of men should have been compelled to forsake the truth
and would have been consigned to eternal darkness.
Does
such a man deserve to have his freedom restored to him till he repents of his
guilt and is truly sorry for his conduct? For what is slavery? It is the
restricting of a man’s freedom till he discharges his share of the
responsibility for his guilt and he pays his share of the cost of the war. Is
there any moral or political reason which prohibits the taking of prisoners of
war, and to get work out of them?
'Accepted' Forms of slavery in our times
Strangely
enough, nowadays it appears to be regarded as permissible and proper to keep
whole countries in the bonds of social, political or financial slavery, till
they are able to pay their quota of heavy war indemnities, and yet the keeping
of only such men who have been guilty of actual participation in a war of the
kind that I have just mentioned, in imprisonment till they are able to pay
their respective shares of the cost of the war, is condemned as improper and
inhuman.
The rights of Prisoners of War
Islam
provides that every prisoner of war who is held in slavery is entitled as of
right to purchase his liberty on payment of his proportionate share of the
expenses of war. If, therefore, a slave does not prefer his slavery to his
freedom, why does not he, or why do not his relatives or his countrymen,
purchase his freedom by payment to that oppressed nation whose religion they
had attempted to destroy, his share of the expenses of the war which was thus
forced upon the latter?
As opposed
to unislamic military frame of minds and strategies, Islam provides even the
fairest of judgements for all, for the innocents as well as the culprits. In
Islam, the culprits being held as prisoners of war, aka slavery are given clear
options to have their freedom back. They are well treated, until these
prisoners or their families or nation give the proper payment for their
liberty. Slavery in the actual sense of holding in bondage innocent people and
depriving them of their basic human rights is clearly inhuman and is
condemnable in Islam. Islam strives to protect the rights of each individual in
society, Muslims as well as non-Muslim. (Inset: The distinguished jurist and Professor of International Law M. Cherif Bassiouni's recent work (CUP, 2013) applies classical Islamic legal and religious doctrine to
contemporary issues surrounding war. In doing so it shows that the Shari'a
and Islamic law are not only compatible with contemporary international human
rights law and international humanitarian law norms, but are appropriate for
use in Muslim societies. The book also rebuts the Islamophobes in the West who discredit Islam on the basis of the violent practices of some people- the so called "jihadists" and "mullahs" whose activities are a dark spot on the fair name and credible record of Islam.)
Blaming Islam and Muslims
But if people try to create problems
and uses the sword to prevent other people from realising God’s truth, and seek
to harm them in the process and depict Islam in a wrong way, then Islam’s laws
come to put these kinds of people in their place and make them taste the fruits
of their deeds until proper payment is given – just like any criminal in any
court of justice in the world who have to pay the price of his/her crime either
through a given number of years of imprisonment, or life-imprisonment or even capital
punishment – “to be hanged till death!”
(or death through the electric chair). If other nations apply such kinds of
treatments for their criminals, and if it happened that in the territory of the
Muslims, a non-Muslim has penetrated the territory (or even a non-Muslim
native) to cause harm to the religion of Islam and to deviate the Muslims, is
it not the right of the Muslim court of justice to mete out proper justice? Is
then Islam and the Muslims to be blamed or the people behind such heinous
strategies?
The
world is evolving at full speed, yet the basic rights to freedom of religion
and faith is being trampled upon, and Islam continues to be target of so much
hatred. Despite the good faith of Islam to promote the rights of one and all in
the best of ways as commanded by the God of all mankind, yet it is being blamed
for many devilish acts, whereas the accusers are themselves filled to the
throat of such acts which inevitably depict them in a poor light. Then why
pinpoint Islam, the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and the Muslims and frowning
on the divine commandments in the Quran when they are devising strategies to
bring law and order to the peak so that criminals may be punished severely for
their acts.
Islamic values promote human rights
Why blame Islam, and the Quran’s Allah to have devised such perfect
laws which they are themselves secretly following so as to remedy many ills of
this world? They copycat the Quran’s laws and pass them as their own whereas
Allah and His Prophet (pbuh) already laid down the foundations of all remedies
and equalities so that all people may live in peace and harmony and that only
the true culprits are punished and even later on pardoned for their behaviours.
Islam
represents the perfection of religion, the pinnacle of freedom of faith and
religion. It invites to equality of man and woman; each has their role to play,
and each are not each other’s slaves. If you are an employee, then there is an
employer who pays you, but the beauty of Islam is that the employer despite the
payment he gives you must respect the human that you are and thus treat you in
the most decent way. You are an employee, not a slave. You have rights, and can
use them to make yourself be heard. Islam gave you that right, and slowly but
surely the global society is trying to make it up to the Quranic teachings to
have those rights reflected into its constitution. Islam is for all mankind,
not only Muslims, but those who are truly God-fearing and pious are those who
really benefit to the most the verities and actualities of the Quran, the
perpetual source of light and guidance for all mankind.
May
Allah guide you and me and humanity at large to respect the rights of others,
of the innocents, the wrongly oppressed and victims of the machinations of men
for the greed of the world. What is a territory and of what value it is if in
gaining it you lose the true faith with which you were born with? Equality in
submission to the Almighty was your constitution Oh man, then why change that
constitution to establish your vain desires and selling them to the temporary
cupid sires of this world? Be not slaves of your vain passions; learn to
cultivate passion of devotion to the Lord who ask nothing of you but the lasting
promise to be ever His for all times. That you worship Him and do not betray
Him!
May
Allah enable us to respect the Quran and all its commandments and help this
modern society to realise the beauty of the Quran and Islam. Ameen, Summa Ameen, Ya Rabbal Aalameen.
-Extracts from the Friday Sermon of 30 January 2015 ~(08
Rabi’ul Aakhir 1436 Hijri) delivered by the Khalifatullah Hadhrat Munir Ahmad Azim Sahib (atba) of Mauritius