India: Insult the Prophet ﷺ and we’ll slap you
12th June 2022
Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,
I was at the front and if one of the speakers had said “storm the embassy”, the crowd could have done it. People were that angry. The crowd outside the embassy was seething with anger after the insults on our Beloved Prophet ﷺ.
مَنْ رَدَّ عَنْ عِرْضِ أَخِيهِ بِالْغَيْبِ, رَدَّ اَللَّهُ عَنْ وَجْهِهِ اَلنَّارَ يَوْمَ اَلْقِيَامَةِ
“Whoever defends his brother’s honour in his absence, Allah will protect his face from the fire of Hell on the Day of Resurrection.” [Tirmidhi]
The Ummah will always defend the honour of our Beloved Prophet ﷺ.
Insults of Prophet ﷺ continue
That demonstration ended peacefully outside the Danish embassy in London in 2005. Since then, we have had many other instances of European government’s defending the right of citizens to insult our Beloved Prophet ﷺ.
Most recently, Macron’s government in France defended the projection of images of offensive cartons of the Prophet ﷺ onto public buildings claiming it was in defence of free speech. In this video debate on UK TV, I address how there is no such thing as absolute free speech. In Europe, people are punished by courts for insulting dead war heroes like captain Tom in the UK, or for voicing a range of other ‘unacceptable’ opinions in France.
There was anger from the Muslim ummah, but little action from Muslim governments. French embassies are still welcome in Muslim countries and trade with France continues as if nothing happened.
Prophet ﷺ insulted in India
Nupur Sharma, national spokeswoman of India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) insulted Prophet Muhammad ﷺ on one of the country's most-watched television networks. Fearing a backlash from the Muslim world, the BJP has desperately tried to defuse the volatile situation.
Sharma was suspended and the BJP's media chief Naveen Kumar Jindal, who tweeted an offensive comment about the Prophet, was expelled from the party.
The hatred and insults spewed by Nupur Sharma and others is no surprise as the BJP government is currently engaged in a deadly assault on Muslims in India, with lynchings, attacks on Mosques, Muslim businesses and homes while constantly demonising Islam and Muslims.
So, insulting the Best of Creation ﷺ comes in that context.
Reaction of so-called Muslim rulers
When our Beloved Prophet ﷺ is insulted, the so-called Muslim rulers are forced to say something because of the ummah's anger. Even though these rulers do not cut relations with India, stop the supply of oil, or expel its diplomats. Yet, the Indians are seeking to back down, hence they quickly disciplined Nupur Sharma.
Kuwait’s government is deporting expat Muslims who protested protested against India’s insult of the Prophet ﷺ. May Allah (swt) destroy their throne.
India has a lot to lose
India's trade with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which includes Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman and the UAE, stood at $87 billion in 2020-21. Millions of Indians live and work in these countries and send millions of dollars in remittances back home. The region is also the top source for India's energy imports.
So, the Muslim countries have huge leverage and could make India stop the attacks on Muslims in India and Kashmir or insults on the Beloved Prophet ﷺ. As individuals, we Muslims can demonstrate against insults on the Prophet ﷺ. However, the real power to stop the insults rests with Muslim governments who control all the resources of states.
Despite the recent backlash and some backing down, this weekend, India has burnt the homes of Muslims who dared to protest against Nupur Sharma’s insults against our Beloved Prophet ﷺ. Today's so-called Muslim rulers can't claim to defend the Prophet's ﷺ honour just by mere words but no real action.
What we need to defend the Prophet ﷺ
1)We should demand these rulers’ cut relations with India, stop supply of oil and expel its diplomats.
2) Muslims must work for the re-establishment of the Islamic Khilafah state in the Muslim world so the Prophet’s ﷺ honour and Muslim blood are defended once again.
The Khilafah state will cut relations, cut trade, stop the supply of oil, and expel diplomats of countries that insult our Beloved Prophet ﷺ. The Ottoman Khalif, Sultan AbdulHamid, famously forced the French to back down when he threatened to declare jihad if they did not stop a play insulting Prophet Muhamad ﷺ. May Allah (swt) bless us with the Khilafah state soon. Amen.
Love and salams,
Taji
🧔 What have I been up to?
Shared an old video ‘What we need to defend the Prophet ﷺ ‘ from my Five Minute Fridays series of Videos.!
📖 Ayah and Hadith
تَبَـٰرَكَ ٱلَّذِى بِيَدِهِ ٱلْمُلْكُ وَهُوَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍ قَدِيرٌ
Blessed is the One in Whose Hands rests all authority. And He is Most Capable of everything. [Al-Mulk 67:1]
Quote of the Week
“I am the sultan of the Balkans, Iraq, Syria, Mount Lebanon, Hejaz, Caucuses and Anatolia. I am the Caliph of the Muslims, AbdulHamid. If you do not stop this offensive against our Prophet, I will destroy the world above your heads”
—Ottoman Khalif, Sultan AbdulHamid II to the French Ambassador, 1890s
❤ My Favourite Things
Podcast –Homer Simpson vs. The Economy, an episode from Planet Money.
When the beloved Simpsons family made its TV debut in 1989, it squarely represented middle-class America. Today ... not so much. That house, those two cars, those three kids all on one salary doesn't seem so believable anymore. This episode examines the changing reality of what middle-class means in America through the Simpsons.
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