Caricatures, Violence & Freedom of Speech How Did the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa) Teach Us to React? By: Sarmad Naveed, Canada
Originally Published in The Review of Religions
As if the world wasn’t already dealing with enough.
the Holy Prophet of Islam (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).
In recent days, France has been made to deal with atrocities which no individual, community or country should ever have to deal with. First, there was the horrendous beheading of a school teacher, Samuel Paty, on 16 October 2020. Then on October 29 2020, the ghastly stabbing of three people in Nice. According to accounts, one of the victims was practically beheaded.
As the worldwide Head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, I extend our deepest sympathies to the loved ones of the victims and to the French nation. Let it be clear that our condemnation and hatred of such attacks is not something new but has always been our position and stance. The Founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community (peace be upon him) and his Successors have always categorically rejected all forms of violence or bloodshed in the name of religion.’
Such inhumanity has no place in our world. The Fifth Caliph and Worldwide Head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, His Holiness, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad (aba) categorically condemned these attacks when he said: ‘The murder and beheading of Samuel Paty and the attack in Nice earlier today must be condemned in the strongest possible terms. Such grievous attacks are completely against the teachings of Islam. Our religion does not permit terrorism or extremism under any circumstances and anyone who claims otherwise acts against the teachings of the Holy Quran and contrary to the noble character of
Yet another unfortunate byproduct of these events is the ensuing conversation surrounding Islam. At the outset, it must be clear that in the case of abhorrent acts such as the ones which have taken place in France, the only thing which they can be attributed to is sheer barbarity and inhumanity. But to the dismay of the overwhelming majority of peace-loving Muslims around the world, the perpetrators attribute themselves to a religion which considers them outside its
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