fitna | Hicham Maged's blog

14Sep/0821

9/11: A Walk to Remember

It was the afternoon on Tuesday, September 11, 2001 when I saw TV -from a quiet far distance- broadcasting what appeared as ruins.

At the first glance, I thought it was a promo for another Hollywood movie like 'Volcano' however heading towards the screen I figured it out; attacks are real and hence the tragedian September 11 begins.

9/11 I still remember my first impression; totally shocked while telling myself: "Oh My God! Pandora has opened her box". Seven years later, it seems nobody yet has the ability to close such damn box which makes me wonder: where are we heading to?

My worries, as Muslim Human being living in the 21^st century under the shadows of the Western Civilisation, can be shaped on three layers segregated as follows:

Layer 1 - Human Interaction: Humans are persons no matter what the race, colour, faith or religion is. Therefore, all what had happened can not be described except as atrocities against civilians either who died in USA or who are died in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere.

Nevertheless, death toll is counting numbers of fatalities but actually they were people; members of families that still struggle to forget their sadness. C'Mon! I always wonder about the mentalities that can not see the ugliness of the destroyed places and smell the smoke aroused from the ashes of died people yet the wonder disappears when I see the beast of selfish rise.

Layer 2 - Misunderstanding: There's a problem among some Muslims regarding the wrong and radical interpretations for Islamic manuscripts; Holy Qur'an & Prophet Mohammed's (PBUH) Sunnah. Such interpretations were carried out by what so called 'Islamists' who claim representing the only 'right way' for Islam.

In fact, they manipulate texts to serve their own ideology that promote a rigid radical perspective which simply contradict with the principal core of Islam as Allah Almighty (GOD) revealed Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) with to Mankind.

This definitely sheds light over why I prefer to use the term 'Radicals' not 'Islamists' because if a group committed atrocities in the name of Judaism or Christianity, can we call him 'Christiansts' or 'Judaismists'?

C'Mon! There is a complete difference between the real Ideology and how some apply it and you can refer to my elaborations over I-MAG Magazine in the article entitled 'Islam: Between Ideology and Application'

Layer 3 - The Generalising Sin: A wrong stereotyped image -mainly depends on accepting the previously mentioned interpretations- has been modelled to render 'Islam' as source of terrorism and 'Muslims' as terrorists via mainstream media.

Actually I wonder how come that spotlights are placed over here yet same lights are usually dimmed when it comes to present the other side of the moon which is Islam 'as it is from Allah' not 'as some people want it to be'

C'Mon! You can not judge till hearing from both sides of the story yet it I important to have the choice to look, listen and learn!

Having said this, now it is time to merge such layers. In a nutshell, the path to reach the light at the end of the tunnel is applying 'Justice' in our wild wide world not double standards via whomever. Such justice can not be achieved unless personnel, administrations organisations and nations try to understand their differences and learn how deal with not to force others to follow what they believe in!

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Tags: 9/11, allah, coexistence, critique, fitna, god, humanity, i-mag magazine, intellect, islam, muslim, prophet muhammad, stereotype, terrorism 21 Comments

12Apr/082

Freedom and Speech

I’ve been following the controversial regarding the case of “Freedom of Speech” and found it really interesting yet something vital is missing. Well, the concept can be summarised into the following statement: “No one should be persecuted for his/her opinion regarding whatever as we are free to criticise and offend others.”

Freedom: A Perspective

Freedom is a Bird Okay! What about defining “freedom” at first? I’ve modelled freedom before, over I-MAG, as a bird that has two wings, and flies within a certain medium, heading towards a final destination. Let me elaborate more on the terminology mentioned up:

The two wings are sense and responsibly.
The medium is the freewill of the people, and;
The destination is the welfare of a certain community on the minor scale, and thus humanity on the major one.

Hence freedom itself isn’t the ultimate goal; rather it’s the right and righteous path for reaching such destination. Nevertheless, the critical point that has been fogged during such controversial is that criticising people’s acts is totally different from offending them in terms of what they believe in, regardless the race and religion.

Having said this, I do believe, as a Muslim, that neither inspecting the belief nor judging people’s intention is my ultimate business; it’s none. We should rather be concerned only about the acts, which are the practised actions that either can be right or wrong. Yet only the awareness of the civil society is capable of filtering the right acts from the wrong ones and this should be broadened and not suppressed.

Consequently, this explains why I criticised Slaman Rushdi’s Satanic Verses, Jyllands-Posten's Muhammad Cartoons, Greet Wilders’ Fitna and stuff that not merely flux wrong acts committed by some Muslims with the ideology of Islam, but mainly portray this as ‘Islam’ and ‘Muhammad’, which make me always wonders why? And why people are only highlighting on this side and don’t shed lights over the other one?

The other side stats that the revelation of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) from Allah Almighty to Mankind is simply for urbanising Earth, such urbanisation require integration of people, and the Qur’an mentioned that:

There is no compulsion in religion [2:256]

In the light of this, my criticism for terrorism is harder, regardless whoever committed; not merely because being illegal act against people but mainly because this reflects the barrenness to produce effective opinions and thus they used a short-cut: kill them all! OOPS! How about that Islam denies that concept as it contradicts with its mission statement if I can use such term!

Woah! It’s neither Islam nor Muhammad’s fault then; rather it is ignorance. For that matter, I feel sorrow for those who are committing not only the generalising sin but also the mix sin between applications and ideologies, which is much bitter, as I mentioned in my published articles over I-MAG before.

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Fitna for Whom

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Tags: allah, coexistence, critique, fitna, god, humanity, i-mag magazine, intellect, islam, jyllands-posten, muslim, stereotype, terrorism 2 Comments

29Mar/087

Fitna for Whom?

I was following the controversy regarding Geert Wilders’ documentary entitled “Fitna” however I postponed my opinion till watching it because one can’t judge anything until he read, see, hear and finally models such inputs via thinking to render an opinion.

Smoke! Actually while following such controversy, I thought it will be nothing more than what claimed before as offering Wilders’ view on Islam and Qur’an. I however sadly discovered -after watching- that the film has trapped into the stereotyped swamp in a way that makes me feel sorrow for him because he was just playing the same old recorded message in a very miserable way.

Freedom and Justice

Indeed; Freedom of Speech grantees that anyone has the right to say whatever he/she believes in, however who claimed that freedom means hijacking justice?! Sorry, if your freedom interferes with mine then it’s not freedom any more; rather it’s an unhealthy sign of ignorance; that you know nothing about me. I wonder isn’t justice missed somewhere then?

The Fallacy of the Documentary
I saw it useless for six reasons

1. Technically: I saw nothing more than a very poor presentation for miserable slides; some portray common misconceptions about Islam, others were cut out their original context, and other staggered ones that proof he knows nothing at all about Islam.

2. Globally: It committed the Generalising Sin that portrayed all Muslims as terrorists. Sorry this is rejected by Islam and Muslims, therefore don’t mention that 9/11, Madrid or London render Islam because they are unacceptable ignorance and miserable acts committed by people who either missed the mission of Islam or interpreting it for some reason or another.

3. Politically: It seems like Wilders’ political position, as the leader of the Dutch Party for Movement, has rendered his view and lead him to swim into the Islamophobia pool even if this means being inaccurate about what he presents. A good politician -from my point of view- is the one who looks for the sake of his country via integrating different views and opinions of the citizens regardless the faith or race for the welfare of the society. Therefore, this is out of scope for the Dutch citizens and I really wonder how citizens can vote for someone who knows nothing about his citizens?

4. Socially: This shed lights over the situation of Muslim minorities and how they are being ignored and their rights are being candled just because they are Muslims! I know they love their countries because they were born their and want to interact into their society not only because they are citizens but also because Islam urges them to do so!

5. Linguistically: Arabic Language is a vivid one and its terms often have different interpretations. Herby, Ftina is not mainly equivalent to strife as the documentary portrayed but also means examining one’s faith (from Allah), Fascinating between Men and Women, Refining Metals to remove dross and other meanings.

6. Scientifically: When it came to understand Qur’an precisely, one should refer to a guide called “Tafseer” or “interpretations” which explains meaning of the verses. Moreover, beside interpretations there’s another essential guide called “Asbaab Anjool” or “Raison d’être” which explains the reason for mentioning verses within the whole context of the Qur’an. Unfortunately, what Wilders has done was simply cutting out the verse from the context in order to proof his view even if it’s based on nothing but week foundations!

Hereby, even there’s nothing in Islam called “Clergy” yet still have Scholars who spent their time and life in teaching stuff related to the theological explanation of Islam and we ask them in case we don’t know. Their work is based on scientific criteria that have been implemented by Prophet Muhammed (pbuh) as the teacher of Islam. You can imagine it as a Professor do while teaching Architecture to his students; Surly a vet can’t do!

Dilemma of Contradictions

Some people spent their time to prove that Qur’an is a fallacy however Wilders’ documentary believes that it is Muslims’ book and they just follow it or as he mentioned.

Thanks
Yes it’s our book and we follow it however not in the way he thinks at all. Herby, I really feel sorrow for him because he didn’t spent his time, effort and money to understand us and just followed the wave!

Responsibly of Everyone

A true seeker should be accurate and fair so I wonder why he didn’t mention the truth that Qur’an calls humans for interacting and knowing each other according to Sura 49 verse 13 which states:

O mankind! We created you from a single (pair)of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise (each other). Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of Allah is (he who is) the most righteous of you. And Allah has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things).

Nevertheless, I’m concerned about our future and wonders where are we leading to under the shadows of stereotyping which isn’t a healthy sign and lead to inflaming hatred as I explained either my previous posts or my published articles over I-MAG.

OOPS! Didn’t we return back to the title?

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I-MAG Magazine: Issues + Books (Free downloads)
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The Fog is Lifting: A multi-lingual Documentary about Islam
We Live Here: Youth Dutch Muslims Blog (in Dutch)

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Tags: 9/11, allah, coexistence, critique, fitna, god, humanity, i-mag magazine, intellect, islam, muslim, prophet muhammad, stereotype, terrorism 7 Comments

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