Newton's Law

"For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction". Only when this happens, there will be progress - a fish can swim, a bird can fly. Now, relate this with the current turn of events on the overzealous reactions of some Muslims on the blasphemous caricature. Does the reaction commensurate the act done by the European press? Or is it an over- reaction?

Many Muslims scholars all over the world has worked very hard to educate the non-Muslims that Islam is a peaceful religion. It is! Our beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was tortured during his time, was tormented with words of hate, disgust, thrown with stones and human wastes - and how did he react? Sabar. He showed us the best way to deal with conflict. Sabar. He never took stones to throw back at others or damage or kill others for revenge. He looked for alternative peaceful solutions - having a discussion, getting a formal agreement/ treaty. All these led to the progress of the Muslim World.

Violence was never in his way and should never be a Muslim's way. Even in the wars he fought, it was to defend Islam and Madinah against the Mekans attackers. And even when he led his army into Mekah, it was because the Mekans broke their treaty, not once but three times. Our beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon) is the role model for us Muslims. He promotes the value of peace, the value of living in harmony with people from various religion. Islam teaches us tolerance. Islam does not force people of other religion to hold the same views as us. They can lead their way, and we will follow ours. All this is clear in Surah Al-Kafirun.

It is a never ending struggle if some Muslims persist on showing their reaction through violence. It gets us, Muslims nowhere. In fact, the sheer act of violence by other Muslims, put us at risk. We are viewed with constant suspicion and it caused us to stray away on our actual responsibilities of being Muslims in the first instance.

This whole saga is like a slapping incident - when the party being slapped decided to return the slapper with another tight slap. Angered and brimming with revenge, the slapper returned another favour - slap once more. So it becomes an endless slapping event. At the end of it, no one is better off than the other. Nothing is achieved - only extremely sore cheeks and palms and hearts filled with anger, hatred and revenge.

It is another challenge for us Muslims, yet again. Look back at the ways and mannerisms that our beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) had portrayed when he faced the continuous adversaries during his times. There are endless lessons that we can take, reflections that we can make. We have to work even harder to educate non-Muslims, other Muslims and even ourselves, on what Islam is all about, the teachings and examples set by our beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). We have to apply the Newton's Third Law of ensuring that our reactions should always equally commensurate the actions. There is always a better, peaceful, forward looking solutions that will create a win-win situation. Unless this is done, we will not be able to achieve any progress.

Let's think about it & Wishing you a blessed Asyura tomorrow.