Religious freedom between Islam and fanatic Muslims

   Part One: Freedom of Religion in Islam

Chapter 4: Muslim’s Identity belongs to his religious freedom, not his country or nation

It is common knowledge in the Wahabi culture that a Muslim’s allegiance is to his faith, regardless of country of birth or nationality. That is why the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt promotes and advocates that a Muslim in Bangladesh or Pakistan is closer to an Egyptian Muslim than an Egyptian Muslim should be to an Egyptian Copt. This rumor is adopted by religious fanatic scholars who long for the establishment of a theocracy that spread all over the world, under the banner of Caliphate to confront the western crusaders and international Zionism. This rumor has no basis in real life besides, it contradicts Islam and here are the details:

On practical level:

1-      Muslims in real life are divided into many man-made sects and denominations that feud among each other. The practical division among Muslims is as follows:

A-A substantial Shiite minority feuding with the Sunnite, this enmity sometimes supersedes the enmity between Muslims and Christians. It is a prolonged deep-rooted enmity renewed by the memories of Karbala and the continuous bloodshed suffered by Shiites at the hands of Sunni extremists, especially in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and in Egypt, due to the Saudi Wahabi Influence. When the Shiite are in power or the majority, they persecute the Sunnite as it happened during the Fatimid period, and as it is taking place nowadays in Iran. In this condition, do not question the allegiance of the Shiite Muslim to the Sunnite Muslim in the frame of same religion, for they are opposing antagonists.

B- A strict Wahabi, Sunnite minority claiming to speak on behalf of Muslims at large. Equal within its ranks, are the plain terrorists like Bin Laden and Alzawaahri, and the civilian branch of terrorism, the Muslim Brotherhood, united by the common dream of a united Muslim State, ignoring realities of matters. Among them also, are the religious scholars in the service of established corrupt regimes. They direct their enmity towards the Sufi and the Shiite whom they consider to be idolaters, calling to wage wars against them, labeling them as graves and graven images worshippers. Hence, to speak of one religion is a waste of time.

C- An atheist Sufi minority that believes in the unity of existence, incarnation and oneness of every thing in the universe. They dropped rituals from their agenda claiming it hinder reaching the so – called union in God , whatever that might be. Based on those convictions, they regard the Muslims’ creed (There is no Deity except Allah) as intended for low level commoners.

D- A vast Sunnite Sufi majority, meaning they worship Sunni style, in performing daily prayers, fasting and pilgrimage, in a very superficial form of worship, yet find no qualms in sanctifying graves starting with the one attributed to the prophet  Mohamed , then the sacred Shiite graves ,then the sacred Sunnite graves and the sacred tombs sanctified by the Sufi . This silent majority, succumbs and yields to every tyrannical dictator, its real allegiance is to make a living and to tend to the needs of everyday life. It endures the injustice of whoever oppressive tyrant in power, applauds him as long as he is in power, and do the same for the one who succeeds him. Consequently, they are not concerned with real religious identification; they are concerned with themselves, and if any of its members migrate, it is for purely economical reasons and temporary in duration. The oppressor conducts a brain washing method with them, directing their national, pan-national or religious allegiance to him alone.

2 -The essence of belonging:

A-    It is that strong feeling that prompts a person to choose a way, a path and strives in its cause. Religion or Faith, linguistically in Arabic, means Way, Path, Road. Every human being chooses for himself a religion or a way in his life to interact accordingly with his Creator and people around him. Belonging is the center piece of this interaction.

B-    According to the Quran, and with respect to divinity, people are of two types. There is the one that believes in Almighty Allah alone as deity, no partner, no counterpart, did not bear an offspring, nor was He borne, and nothing is comparable to Him, believes in the Day of Resurrection, conducts himself in this life according to what Almighty Allah demands from him, obeys Him hoping to be one of the successful on that Day.

Then there is the vast majority of mankind that worships (DESIRE), any thing that the self desires in this life. All DESIRES have but one way, which is the longing for this earthly life, to gain wealth, power, prestige, glory, influence, pleasure and selfish cravings. Under the title of DESIRES, they differ. Some of them are atheists with their gods they belong to, some of them are followers of man-made religions that allows and permits all means to achieve status, power, wealth by any method, and there are some who consider their god they belong to, mere slogans to deceive people by, like pan nationalism, nationalism and workers’ rights, their goals is to reach power and wealth, as manifested by politico- religious careerists.

Then there is the silent crushed majority, the prey that the mightiest of the gladiators compete to rule and exploit, with their religious, national, pan national and social slogans. The dominant desire controlling that silent majority is to secure the basic needs of shelter, guaranteed steady income, health benefits, and security for his children and to live in peace. Towards that end, he sacrifices his strength and his life, and this is his practical religion which never exceeds the requirements of this life. Even when he prays to Almighty Allah, or besieges the saints, holy men, sacred graves and tombs to intercede on his behalf, his aspirations are limited to livelihood, kids’ success and marrying off the girls and to make it safely out of the hands of the oppressive ruler….and the rest of those trivial things. But the afterlife, he does not even think about, because he was oversaturated with ideas from his man-made religion that he will enter heaven, regardless of what he had done, for paradise is guaranteed for him with the prophet’s and other saint’ intercession. Or for the mere uttering of the two phrases of ” I bear witness” (1)-That there is no god except Allah and,(2)-That Mohammad is His messenger, but what is not guaranteed for him in this life is his sustenance, which is exactly opposite what have been mentioned in the Quran. For Almighty Allah has guaranteed sustenance to all creation and mankind regardless of their belief or disbelief. (2.126) (17. 18 - ) (11. 6) (29. 60) (6.151) (17.030 -) As for Paradise, (Entrance) is not guaranteed except for those who work for it diligently.

C-The issue of Identity in Islam has nothing to do with the one who follows his desires and chooses this earthly life over the eternal one. This type, his identity has been determined by his desires in this life; his identity is for this life. The worst of this type is the so called godly that uses religion to achieve power, or to provide means of living ,because he is deceiving people in the name of Almighty Allah, taking up lying as a vocation and spreading untruths upon which his earthly man-made religion is established to cheat and deceive.

D-The issue of identity and belonging in Islam is restricted to those who believe in Almighty Allah and Day of Resurrection, work for the pleasure of Almighty Allah, to attain his favor and his paradise, and always strive to do good deeds, to maintain justice and secure people’s rights without any religious ambitions or without asking for anything in return. It is the task of prophets and those who walk in their footsteps.

E-This believer; who strives in pursuit of Almighty Allah’s pleasure, to whom does he belong? What is his identity?

3-The true believer and nationalism 

Does the true believer belong to his people?

The Glorious Quran recognizes nationalism when it mentions every prophet’s dealings with his own people. Does that mean that the prophets and their followers belong to and have allegiance with their people? Here we have to point out few things:

One-Every prophet used to summon his people to Faith by calling them (My people).This form of speech was repeated in the Quran. Some prophets even addressed their people after their demise, addressed them feeling sorry how they ended up. (7.79, 93) It means they were his people even after death.

Two- Determining nationality in Islam is by ancestry and living within a society, that is coexisting, or by both. For an incoming stranger, acquires a certain people’s nationality by living, sharing and interacting with them. Prophet LUT migrated with his uncle ABRAHAM from Iraq to Jordan and lived with different people than his uncle, and by living with them he became their brother and their description became people of LUT or LUT’s brothers. (50. 13) (11. 78)

A prophet or a person might belong to and be identified with his people by bloodline, though he was brought up far from them, but is considered one of them through bloodline and heritage. Moses grew up and was raised inside the Pharaoh’s castle , while his people were undergoing all sorts of torture from the pharaoh, as soon as he was in contact with the general public, he committed a murder, he fled the scene, leaving his people and his (homeland) and went to Syria. He returned to Egypt, few years later as a prophet, addressing children of Israel as his people, although he never lived among them. (7.128 -)

Here, nationality is determined by bloodline and ethnicity and not by living the society or the environment.

Three- Determination of nationality (being part of a certain people) is not affected by a prophet’s people denial of his message and his mission. They are still considered his people no matter how antagonistic they are to him and his message. He might even use this connection of common background to endear them to his message, and to show them how concerned he is for their safety. Every prophets used to say  to his people (my people) and Almighty Allah refers to them as (his people),) despite their going astray, their deviation from the truth and their refusal of him, he is wooing them and they are abusing him. They are still his people even though they caused him all kinds of hardship. (7. 59 - ) (7. 65) (7. 66) (7. 67) (7. 68) (61. 5)

The same thing happened with the seal of all prophets Mohamed and his people of Quraysh, who denied him. Almighty Allah informs the prophet and about (his people), saying about the Quran: (And most surely it is a reminder for you and your people, and you shall soon be questioned.) (43. 44 ). So prophet Mohammad and his people were asked to believe in this Glorious Quran and to follow it, for they will be asked about it, like he will be, on Day of Resurrection. But Prophet Mohammad’s people, renounced and disbelieved in this Quranic truth all together, consequently, Almighty Allah ordered his prophet to declare that he is not responsible for them, for they are still his people, although they denied him and his mission. (6. 66). 

 The Quran came down with stories of prophets and of previous people, some of those stories came down before the Torah, and some were not mentioned in the Torah, like the stories of Arab prophets from the period of extinct Arabs. The details of those stories were unknown to the people of Mohammad or to Mohammad himself. (11. 49)

Yet they argued, with no basis or foundation for their argument, and tried to refute some of those stories (43. 57) 

Prophet Mohammad passed and his people did too, and on Resurrection Day he will come back to witness that they have deserted the Quran and they are the enemies to the Prophet Mohamed: (25. 30 -) . They are the enemies of prophet Mohammad (PBUH), they are the criminals, yet they are his people.

Four-The duty of a prophet towards his people is to summon them to the worship of Almighty Allah, having no deity except HIM, to advise and preach to them, even when they go astray. He was ordered to persevere with their abuse, and if they insisted upon their conviction, he was not allowed to force them to adhere to the religion, rather to tell them to remain on what they believe in, and that he will remain on what he believes in. We will examine that in detail later on. If this abuse escalated to torture and attempts on life, then time to declare absolution of belonging to the people, to migrate from his abode which he considered home, and not to partake in his people’s actions. Likewise did Abraham and the believers when they declared their innocence of their people’s actions and migrated from their homeland, Iraq. (60. 4 - ) .Here, Almighty Allah used them as an example for the migrating companions to learn not to maintain their allegiance to their people the Qureishite, who expelled the prophet Mohamed and the companions from their towns and their homes. (60. 1- ) 

4-Migration for religious freedom is the essence of belonging to Islam

A-To migrate away from one’s own people and to absolve one’s self from their deeds does negate the presence of nationalism. We saw the people of Mohammad are the same people until all will come back on Resurrection Day, when the prophet will be their adversary and a witness against them that they have deserted the Quran. The existence of nationalism, its permanence and to recognize it does not mean that a believer belongs to it. The believer here includes the prophet and anyone who genuinely believes in and follows the true divinely inspired religion.

 We said that the prophet employs national ties as a means to summon and call for Truth. He addresses his people derived from his love and concern for them, calls upon them to seek righteousness, goodness and success in this life and the hereafter. He does not coerce them into believing; he returns their abuse with tenderness and kindness and endures it. If peaceful methods fail with them, he has to absolve himself from them, leave them and migrate abandoning them and his home. For here, affiliation and belonging of the prophet and the true believer is to Truth and not to people, he does not ask for compensation or glory, he just calls upon them to follow the Truth and what is good. If they refuse, he respects their refusal, and leaves them to their choice, if they went to extremes in abusing and persecuting him, it becomes imperative upon him to desert them and to declare his innocence of their actions, though they are still his people.

B-Migration is the corner stone in the belonging of the believer to his faith and not to his people or his country or homeland. Migration becomes compulsory when persecution reaches unbearable levels, when the believer’s faith is threatened; his practice of his faith is restricted, prohibited, severely harmed, suffer of unjustified pursuit, torture, imprisonment and murder. Migration then is not a choice, but a duty, leaving his home, and his people, despite the fact that they are his people. Migration in this situation is very crucial, for based on his decision; his eternal fate will be decided; if he was capable of migrating and chose not to, holding unto his people and his home, acquiescing to oppression and injustice, his abode will be hellfire. But if he was incapable of migrating though he would have liked to, then he is forgiven. (4. 97- ). Almighty Allah promises those who migrated, endured hardship and relied on Allah, with ample reward in this life and the hereafter.  (16. 41- ) (16.110) (22. 58) 

C-Migration also is a fundamental element in choosing the afterlife. For this life is but a bridge to cross to get to the eternal life, its joys and pleasures are mere ornaments and trials, all will be rendered ruins, that is why a believer keeps the afterlife between his eyes by doing good deeds, for those are the lasting things for the Day of Resurrection. (18. 7 – 8 . 48 ) ( 57 . 20 ) 

D- Migration is tied to the purpose of creating mankind and to creating the universe to test mankind. For, Almighty Allah, created all this, created life and death, to test Man on this earth.(11. 7) (67. 2 - ). And appointed to each human being a time when he comes to this earth to live as a person, to live on it a specified period of time, then the person will die and this (self) will return to that abode it came from. And when all humanity is done with this trial period, this universe as we know it will be destroyed, thereby ending this earthly life and this Present Day making way for the Later Day, Day of Judgment, and either hellfire or paradise.(14. 48 ).

A believer understands that, and ever-present in his mind the notion that Almighty Allah did not create this universe in vain, (3.190-) (21. 16) (46. 3) (75. 36- ) (23.115) 

No, He created man for a trial no one can escape and no alternative for. So his belonging is to the everlasting permanent Afterlife and not to this someday, vanishing disappearing life. A believer is certain with this knowledge, how important it is, this short time he is permitted to be in this life, and how important it is to invest it, in doing what is good, to benefit him later on, and to have a genuine faith in Almighty Allah and in the Day After. It would be foolish for a believer to waste his limited stay in this life and the trial period, in being subjugated to religious persecution, that is why it is important for him, due to his awareness of the Afterlife, to leave his homeland of a country that seizes his right for free worship, and to absolve himself of those arrogant among his people who abuse him, trying to force him to go back off the right track. Belonging to the Afterlife fulfils an expectation for the believer to enjoy his freedom in exercising his faith and religion, for the duration of what is left for him on this planet, till the day he meets Almighty Allah on Resurrection Day and succeed in this trial on the Day of Reckoning.

E- One of the magnificences of Glorious Quran, Almighty’s saying: “O My servants who believe! Surely My earth is vast, therefore Me alone should you serve. Every soul must taste of death, then to Us you shall be brought back” (29. 56 - ).

This earth that Almighty Allah has created is very spacious, and because it is spherical, it extends to no end. A man on this earth is like an ant on a watermelon, an ant would keep moving along the surface of a watermelon without reaching the end, in that context, and earth is spacious with no end. But life is limited for Man, and every human being will someday taste death. Accordingly, if you were predetermined to live 60 years, your age which is limited with the arrival of death to end it, diminishes with every day that goes by, and it is incumbent on you, if you were a believer, who defined his belonging by believing in Allah and the Day After, that you do not waste a single minute of your life, for the minute that expires will never return, for you are riding the train of Time. It is not a train that never stops nor does it go back for any reason but keeps moving forward, and when the station for you disembark arrives-through death-then you must leave the train of life and time, and you become a prisoner to your deeds, good or bad. It is utter foolishness for a believer to waste his life and the time assigned for him on earth in a state of surrender to the one who despises him for his religion, and to the one who prevents him from practicing his faith and his rituals freely. He must migrate to Almighty Allah striving to utilize what is left of his life in attaining belonging to Allah and His religion.

F-Notice the word (My Earth), in His saying Glory to Him, “O My servants who believe! Surely My earth is vast”, (29. 56),here, the term, earth is attributed to Almighty Allah and is owned by Him, It is the only time that the term (My Earth) was mentioned in the Glorious Quran, although the word, Earth and its derivatives were mentioned 461 times in the Glorious Quran. What is intended here with the term (Earth), is that which people fight over, yet it belongs to Almighty Allah. A day will come when Allah Almighty will destroy this earth, and people will be summoned to account for their deeds, after a short predetermined life span, wasted by most people fighting and chasing an earthly mirage, forgetting that death, the big Zero, is in wait for them all. The ones, who will survive and escape the consequences of this Zero, are those who worked for the Hereafter, paid its dues while believing (17. 19).

 G-The reference here to the spacious earth, came to emphasize upon the believer specifically in the matter of migration, if they restricted your freedom in this land, then Almighty Allah’s earth is spacious, this emphasis was repeated in rebuking those who were capable of migrating, yet lagged behind. Upon his death and upon losing his chance, the Angels of death would blame them. Allah says : “When angels take the souls of those who die in sin against their souls, they say: "In what (plight) Were ye?" They reply: "Weak and oppressed Were we in the earth." They say: "Was not the earth of Allah spacious enough for you to move yourselves away (From evil)?" Such men will find their abode in Hell,- What an evil refuge! “. (4. 97  )

Almighty Allah says about the spacious earth for those who migrate in it,” He who forsakes his home in the cause of Allah, finds in the earth Many hardships, and abundance in the earth, Should he die as a refugee from home for Allah and His Messenger, His reward becomes due and sure with Allah: And Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful. (4.100). By  hardships, you earn Almighty Allah’s pleasure when confronting difficulties and exercising patience in dealing with them, afterwards comes Almighty Allah’s abundant grace in His spacious earth.

This hardship in immigration for the cause of Allah needs patience. Almighty Allah also says "O ye my servants who believe! Fear your Lord, good is (the reward) for those who do good in this world. Spacious is Allah's earth! Those who patiently persevere will truly receive a reward without measure!" (39. 10). It is obligatory on the believer to be God-conscious in belief and in action. In return for his good deed, he will reap good reward. Almighty Allah’s earth is spacious before the believer in his short time on it. Nothing is asked of him except exercise patience, and the reward for patient persevering people is unlimited.

5 -Contradiction between the Wahabi Identity and Islamic Identity- 

(1)-There is the average common type criminal who commits murder; he knows himself to be a criminal, people know he is a criminal. Then, there is a criminal who murders people in the name of Jihad, plunders their wealth, violates their human rights , justifying that by exploiting the religion of Almighty Allah which is based on justice, peace and freedom. This criminal commits injustice against people and against their Lord. He is the worst enemies of Almighty Allah. Those man-made earthly religions which hide behind the banner of Islam are the ones responsible for the misunderstandings that caused Islam to stand suspect of extremism, terrorism and injustice to others. Those man-made earthly religions, especially the Sunnite religion, canonized their unjust rulings by distorting the terminology in the Glorious Quran, and applying it to the concepts of Islam and Beliefs, and by distorting Islamic Law through changing the Quranic terminology, in addition to fabricating divine narrations attributed to the prophet Mohamed, and writing the biography of the prophet to coincide with these lies and fabrications. The masters of these earthly man-made religions used Islam to serve and fulfill their material and political ambitions. They established, by exploiting Islam, empires and dynasties and regimes, the latest of which is the Saudi Kingdom and the Iranian Republic. Along the same patterns, the Muslim Brothers dream, faking moderation; whereas Bin Laden uses the outright bloody confrontation.

(2)-For them , the issue of belonging here is the centerpiece of events:

For them to ride the shoulders of over one billion Muslims, they must talk about Ummet Al-Islam (The one nation of Islam), and every one of them, like Ben Laden, addresses his own Islamic Nation, requiring that belonging to this (Islamic ) Nation, supersedes national boundaries, own people, languages, cultural and economical levels, by doing so, they are stealing the original genuine Islamic concept of belonging, for as we mentioned before, the primary true concern for the Muslim is his creed and his belief in Almighty Allah and the Day after. But the goal remains the fundamental difference between Islam and those man-made religions aiming to acquire Power. Is the goal-The Desire to overpower desire of material greed and manipulate people? Or is it merely to summon people to Truth, to “no coercion in religion”, to promote human rights and justice?

(3) Here, the difference is clear and evident;

A true believer does not ask for or expect a reward or glory, he endures abuse and perseveres, and he migrates and respects everyone’s right in choosing his conviction, that is, he says and practices Truth, avoids the ignorant insolent waiting Allah’s judgment of all on Resurrection Day. This fact was repeated numerous times throughout the Glorious Quran as a command to Prophet Mohamed. Almighty Allah ordered him to declare the truth clearly, all at once, firmly and without equivocation or quibble along with turning away and avoiding the aggressive idolaters.  (15. 94) (7.199)

Avoiding them here was tied also to these concepts;

(a)The command to the Prophet Mohamed to follow the Glorious Quran and stressing the point that he is not responsible for their convictional choices , “Follow what is revealed to you from your Lord; there is no god but He; and withdraw from the polytheists.” (6.106 -).

(b)Emphasizing that he, along with them, have to wait for Almighty Allah’s verdict on Resurrection Day. (32. 30) 

(c) Stressing the concept of equality between them, for one of the two parties is rightly guided and the other is in a state of perversity, and neither party is responsible for the other, at the end, it is Almighty Allah’s role to judge between them on Resurrection Day.(34. 24  - 26) 

(d) By stressing that they have chosen to concentrate on this life only, and because of their love and infatuation with it, they denied the Glorious Quran. (53. 29)

(e) Avoiding them is tied to their right in maintaining and staying their original beliefs. (6.135 ) ( 39. 39 - )

 (f) The same position was asserted again and again when commenting on the stories of previous messengers in yielding to their people’s free choice and their responsibility in regard to that choice, that they have the right to maintain their beliefs, as much as they, the prophets, have the right to keep theirs, and for the two factions to wait until Day of Resurrection, Day of Determination. (11. 93 ) (11.121- ) 

(h) When Prophet Mohammad became the leader of an Islamic state, the same commands came to him to ignore and avoids the Hypocrites. ( 4. 63) ( 4. 81)

(i) All the above is to detail, to assert, to put into effect the universal principal in Islam- :” Let there be no compulsion in religion.”(2.256)

Fourth: This contradicts the so- called Shareeah of the Sunni religion and its jihad

Where there is coercion, pursuing those with different understanding of religion with oppression and the so-called penalty of apostasy, dividing the world into two warring camps, camp of Belief and camp of Disbelief, practicing random killing, even if it means killing Muslims in the process, rather legalizing the extermination of Muslims for achieving the higher goal of establishing the alleged Islamic state, what is worse than that, is the fact under such state, it is permissible in their Shareeah for the head of state to extinguish one third of the populace for the reforming of the remaining two thirds. They consider him to be the Owner of the people, the land and whatever it carries. The same philosophy the Umayyad followed during their Caliphate, followed by the Abbasid who theorized, canonized and sanctified it on religious grounds. The Memluk followed suit, then the Ottomans and now practiced by the Shiite state in Iran and the Sunnite in Saudi Arabia. Along those lines, the moderate Muslim brotherhood dreams, likewise, the extremist Bin Laden brothers.

6 -In conclusion:

Islam is Peace to be in a state of peace with others and to interact with them in peace. Every person peaceful in his conduct is a Muslim in essence, regardless of his creed. Islam in dealing with Almighty Allah is to submit and yield to Him, glory be to Him. It is not for any one to interfere in others’ beliefs and convictions through coercion or deprivation. It is the natural right for every peaceful person to migrate with his beliefs and convictions and to practice it in whichever method he prefers.

A genuine Islamic state is the one that guarantees freedom of religion, belief, thought and practice. People in it enjoy justice and tolerance; they establish practice and enjoy Political Justice: Democracy.

It is not the duty of an Islamic State to bring people into paradise or guide them to Truth, since it is a personal responsibility. Whoever follows guidance, it is for his benefit, and whoever goes astray, the consequence of that falls on him. The duty and function of the Islamic State is to serve its citizens, guarantees their rights and preserve their dignity.

By that definition, no Islamic state exists in Muslim World in our times, rather oppressive regimes raising the banners of Ethnicity, Nationality or Religious slogans, all of which to deceive people.

Islamic State exists in the West, Europe, America, Canada and Japan, where there is democracy, justice and human rights, that is why Arabs and Muslims migrate to the West, fleeing with their religion or in pursuit of making a living and a free dignified life. You will never find a European or an American migrating to an Arab country, fleeing with his religion. Even Israel, with its secularism and its brand of democracy is better than those unjust oppressive Muslim States. If the doors of immigrations to Israel were open to non-, Jews, millions of Arabs and Muslims would migrate to it. This means, the true belonging for Man is where he finds his freedom, dignity and rights, that is how belonging to Islam coincides with genuine belonging of Man.

It is belonging to freedom and justice; but if justice is lost and freedom is confiscated at home, then Almighty Allah’s land is very spacious, where you can find equality, justice, freedom and equal opportunity.