Host: Fareena Alam

Produced for: British Muslim TV (before Narcissi was set up)

First Broadcast: 26th of October 2015

Producer and director: Majid Khabazan

Welcome to Questions.

It’s a badge of honour in some quarters of society to insult the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and the Muslim faith. When did it become so trendy and how should we, as Muslims, react?

In this programme to discuss

1.    How and when did Muslims becoming known as the community least likely to tolerate such insults to that which they hold sacred? Is it fair to say we “over-react”?
2.    Do we just “care more” than other faith groups or is there more to the underlying reasons why some of us respond so furiously?
3.    What is a legitimate response to such insults? Is there precedence in our sacred history? How did the Prophet (saw) react to insults? How did his companions react?

Muslims are continuously left to grapple with answers and questions about how they should react to the issue of freedom of speech and and the response to the mocking of their Islamic sentiments. The Quran strongly condemns indecent behaviour and speech, the hurting of others rituals and sensitivities. But it also called on through the teaching of the Prophet that believers should encompass forgiveness, patience, abstention from injury and sweetness of speech and reactions. So Islam does not endorse people who violently censor free speech. The Prophet pbuh who has the highest and most sacred position in Islam himself was insulted on many occasions in his face and never retaliated. He was called names, attacked with stones and accused, but he never called for those people to be punished, seized or executed. Because in the Quran it advises: “overlook their annoying talk” and to “bear patiently what they say”.

So with mockery of religions, their holy scripts and their Prophets becoming a trend now, how should Muslims, while taking into account what the Quran and the hadiths advice, react to the insults about Prophet Mohammad pbuh?

The Qur’an tells us to dismiss the people of ignorance and not to give a lot of attention to them.  It asks us to not engage with them in any conversation, except perhaps to safeguard ourselves from greater harm. Is this possible today, when the media is waiting got a reaction from the Muslim community?

The Quran also encourage us to debate those who have a different point of view? But it seems that those who are willing to debate this are not being given a platform? Unlike the extremists, like Anjum Choudary, who have all the attention!

A verse in the Quran goes to the heart of this issue, by addressing Prophet Mohammad directly: “We have spared you those who ridicule you”, so what gives us the right to react violently towards those insults?

trailer of the show:

Panel:

With me to discuss is 1.     Humera Khan is a founding member of the Ani-Nisa Society in Wembley, London and has almost three decades of experience working with Muslim families and communities. 2.     Jamaal Richards is a TV presenter and chairman of Deen Riders, a Muslim motorcycle organisation. Runs a marriage service and has recently begun delivering marriage workshops 3.     Maulana Sayed Ali Reza Rizvi is president of the Shia Ulema Council of Europe, having trained in the Islamic sciences in Iran. Also a writer and translator 4.     Zahra Al-Alawi is a TV presenter and editor on AhlulBaytTV and lectures around the globe on women’s issues and Islamic studies.