I
want to believe you Mr Klaidman but your retraction
has the opposite effect
By Shaikh Riyad
Nadwi, Ph.D
16
May 2005
“Revelations
of sadism in Abu Ghurayb were examples of rogue elements
in a highly disciplined force, invading to teach Muslims
civility and freedom,” we were told. Last week,
Newsweek announced to the world that a copy of the
Quran was flushed down the toilet in Guantanamo Bay.
A week later, after violent demonstrations in Afghanistan,
Indonesia, Yemen and Pakistan, Newsweek editor
Daniel Klaidman tells the BBC (Radio 4, 16.05.05)
that although he had ‘relied on a source
that was very credible and reliable in the past’
and that he had ‘run it by the Defence Department’
he now thinks that he ‘may
have made a mistake’. He is also keen to
remind the listeners that the source (a high government
official) ‘still believes that the information
was in the Southern Command report’ but
the Pentagon is denying it.
Apart
from the lame and contradictory attempt at retraction,
the problem I have with accepting Mr Klaidman’s
explanation is the global consistency with which these
gross and inhuman activities are taking place. Incidents
at Abu Ghurayb, Baghram, and Guantanamo suggest a
uniformity in policy aimed at humiliating Muslims
for their belief in the Quran. Indeed, it is a policy
justified in the idea of pre-emption.
Prophet Muhammad (on whom be peace) had advised in
his wisdom that Muslims should abstain from carrying
copies of the Quran when travelling in lands where
people were likely to desecrate it. The architects
of the policy of attacking the faith of Muslims would
do well to pay attention to the reasoning behind that
advice. The Prophet’s concerns were not primarily
for the effect it would have on Muslims or the Quran,
but the possibility that people in their ignorance
may desecrate the Quran and thereby incur upon themselves
the wrath of God.
One is reminded of Khusraw Parvez (Cosroes II, 590-628),
the King of Persia who desecrated a letter of the
Prophet Muhammad (on whom be peace) by tearing it
to shreds because he believed it to be from an uncivilised
slave. “May your Kingdom be torn to pieces,”
was the response and history bears testimony to its
truth. Khusraw was killed by his own son who then
set the kingdom on course to destruction.
It
is ironic indeed that those who promote the doctrines
of humiliation and pre-emption fail to take lessons
from the great stories of history. Absurd pre-emptive
doctrines are found prevalent only in the fading phases
of past civilisations. Those who claim to be followers
of Moses should be more cognisant than others of the
fact that Pharaoh also adopted the doctrine of pre-emption
when he vowed to kill all male, new-born children.
I
say to those responsible, do whatever you may, at
your own peril, with the pages of the Quran but know
with full certainty that the Word of God will remain
pure and lofty in the hearts of millions of Muslims
around the world. If you feel compelled to dismiss
the testimony of a Muslim like me, I suggest you ponder
the words of your own Professor Jacques Jomier: "It
is not only the intellect that is affected but all
the fibers of one's being...it is difficult to understand
the fascination that the Quran exerts without mentally
putting oneself in the place of the Muslim, who finds
God when he recites it, looks to it for guiding principles,
and for whom the Quran is the presence of God."
(Jacques Jomier, 1997, The Great Themes of the Quran,
p.124).
