Pity. It is a pity – with a new evil being inculcated in our society at every blink of the eye. And yet, we claim to be proponents of a faith bejeweled with doctrines of peace, love, harmony and virtuosity. The irony is that such a slogan ought not to be the basis of the defenders of the faith. And this, for the simple reason that no faith in the world enjoins a spirit of disharmony and hatred. Perhaps, ‘religions’ like the Ku Klux Klan ought to be condemned for the reason that they thoroughly inculcate in the followers, a spirit of superiority so far-fetched so as to enjoin the killing of the black races. But then, the Ku Klux Klan happens to be a cult and not a faith. Unfortunately, it would be no joke today to refer to certain individuals of the Muslim Ummah as belonging to a cult of their own. An even more tragic scenario comes to view when one considers a comparison between the so-called Knights of the Klan and certain men belonging to the Muslim circles.
The Ku Klux Klan hails the superiority of the white races. It feels no shame in declaring its Klansmen and Klanswomen as being individuals who seek to restore the pride of the white races and in the event, deal with any party that condemns its ideals.
Leaders from among the Muslims, on the other hand, feel no shame in condemning any other Muslim think tanks on the basis of opposition to its own claim-to-fame doctrines. The pity remains. Whereas the Klan rallies on a platform of and for ‘whites’ the world around, the venerated Muslim personalities act and react to crush the very Ummah that they seek to relieve from the clutches of profanity – as seen by them.
The Ku Klux Klan blatantly spells out its goals and its visions. It feels no shame in declaring its premier goal as the attainment of political power for a White Christians’ America. Even though basing its stance on racializm, it goes by arguing for its clannish characteristics in a somewhat intellectual manner in order to make itself digestible to the public eye.
Leaders from among the Muslims, however, seek to resort to cheap and loathsome tactics. These ‘mysterious’ figures do not appear from behind the veil – as if ‘playing God’ – and simply resort to the issuing of orders in their ‘struggle to save Islam’. This is, however, an ‘exertion towards the mockery of Islam’, for even the shammest of organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan realize better what ethics and legitimization mean. It says on their official website:
We will either become a modern day Rome decayed with filth, homosexuals, race mixing, idolatry, and humanism, that collapses from within or it will purge itself of the sickness and will restore law and order and Christian judgments across the land. After our nation shows God that we will obey his laws and govern our nation according to his will our people will be blessed once again with peace and prosperity.1
The motive of this essay is not to praise the functioning of or the bludgeoning etiquette defining the Klan. Rather, it seeks to highlight the values and the common sense of reasoning that are present in all kinds of people around the world, and yet, missing among those who boast of demonstrating a true Muslim’s worth.
Our enigmatic leaders believe that in their hands rests the fate of the entire Ummah. According to them, the way to a prosperous community is to revolutionize society in a manner that no opponents to their own brand of belief remain alive. The blood of the opponents, for them, means life, food and vigour for Islam – the ‘true’ Islam that they propagate. They do not pay heed to calls for those who enjoin the educating of individuals (for it is the individuals who form the meaningful fragments of the society – at large). But nay! They must strive to take control of the entire community and then, to enforce their law on the ‘subjects’. Power is the motive they are driven by and yet, they are ashamed of proclaiming it. And if power not be a prospect on the cards, their filthy, dictatorial attitudes must be fed the blood of the ones who seek to confront them in healthy dialogue. Their concern is not a flourishing of the Ummah; rather, it is the prosperity of their own versions of religion. Any attempt to question their motives or to inquire into their cognition amounts to blasphemy.
Every undesirable instance can be dealt with in more than one way. These leaders choose the easy way out. They seek instantaneous ecstasy arising from overhauling (or perhaps, over-living) the opposing man of faith. Since these Machiavellis scream slogans of Islam, it is interesting how they fail to even look into the Qur’ān itself. It says:
مَنْ قَتَلَ نَفْسًا بِغَيْرِ نَفْسٍ أَوْ فَسَادٍ فِي الْأَرْضِ فَكَأَنَّمَا قَتَلَ النَّاسَ جَمِيعًا (٥: ٣٢)
If anyone slays a human being – unless it be in [punishment] for murder or for spreading disorder on earth – it shall be as though he had slain mankind. (5:32)
In Sūrah Nisā, a brief account of the treatment that shall be meted out to such people is even more bloodcurdling:
وَمَنْ يَقْتُلْ مُؤْمِنًا مُتَعَمِّدًا فَجَزَاؤُهُ جَهَنَّمُ خَالِدًا فِيهَا وَغَضِبَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَلَعَنَهُ وَأَعَدَّ لَهُ عَذَابًا عَظِيمًا(٤: ٩٣)
But whoever deliberately slays another believer, his requital shall be Hell, therein to abide; and God will condemn him and reject him, and will prepare for him awesome suffering. (4:93)
However, men who resort to killing in order to suppress critique, it seems, are obviously unaware of the verses mentioned above. They do, on the other hand, seek to justify their actions by way of ridiculing the message of the Qur’ān itself and if not Muslims, viz-a-viz infiltrations in their respective scriptures and teachings. They argue for the ‘just cause’2. And thus, take other men’s lives into their own hands. They implicitly proclaim themselves above the law in their efforts aimed at ‘playing God’.
I am no exegete of the Qur’ān and neither do I claim significant understanding of it. My medium or sources for delving into its teachings are the various scholars of Islam. These are scholars who neither had nor have any fanatic tendencies causing God’s message to appear as a license for murder. By and large, a ‘just cause’, according to them, ‘refers to the execution of a legal punishment, or to killing in a just – that is, defensive – war, or to individual, legitimate self-defence’. It follows from this that it is not the victims who spread anarchy and corruption on earth; rather, it is the oppressors – the murderers. And in doing so, their ‘living bodies but dead souls’ do not realize the lost battle. For in murdering the opponent, they give the victim an upper hand in the eyes of Allah. Nevertheless, this obviously remains beyond their concern since the only game that they seek expertise in is that of ‘playing God’ Himself – they decide who the non-believers are and they decide whom to strike a blow of death to.
The love of God remains a superstitious phenomenon for them. One cannot even plead the case of the love of men in their courts. They do not realize the number of lives that are affected and shattered by one murder. Even more so, in the case of religious scholars, for they command the respect, the love and the veneration of plenty outside their own homes. If only the grotesque minded evil-doers could realize another solution to their problems:
فَمَا أُوتِيتُمْ مِنْ شَيْءٍ فَمَتَاعُ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَمَا عِنْدَ اللَّهِ خَيْرٌ وَأَبْقَى لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَلَى رَبِّهِمْ يَتَوَكَّلُونَ وَالَّذِينَ يَجْتَنِبُونَ كَبَائِرَ الْإِثْمِ وَالْفَوَاحِشَ وَإِذَا مَا غَضِبُوا هُمْ يَغْفِرُونَ(٤: ٣٦-٣٧)
And [remember that] whatever you are given [now] is but for the [passing] enjoyment of life in this world – whereas that which is with God is far better and more enduring. [It shall be given] to all who adhere to faith and in their Sustainer place their trust; and who shun the more heinous sins and abominations; and who whenever they are moved to anger, readily forgive. (42:36-37)
وَلَمَنْ صَبَرَ وَغَفَرَ إِنَّ ذَلِكَ لَمِنْ عَزْمِ الْأُمُورِ(٤٣:٤٢)
But withal, if one is patient in adversity and forgives – this, behold, is indeed something to set one’s heart upon. (42:43)
It would be no irreverence to call upon the believers to embrace the spirit demonstrated by the Klan minus its follies of haughtiness and arrogance. To be willing to listen – peacefully and without bias – would be a good start. A sense of unity and forgiveness would inevitably follow.
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1. Taken from http://www.kukluxklan.org/
2. See the Qur’ān, 6:151, 17:33, 25:68