It is a grave danger for our Christian brothers to confuse bigotry with true Islam

A model of Muslim that incites wars in the name of Islam and that encourages killing and bloodshed leads some Christians and Jews to form an incorrect opinion regarding Islam. They imagine that the BIGOTED mindset that emerges in the name of Islam is true Islam. They do not know that this bloodthirsty system has nothing to do with the real Islam and is even a lifestyle diametrically opposed to it.

Some people imagine that various types who appear to be Muslims but who carry out actions that have no place in Islam and live within a mindset that totally conflicts with the spirit of the Qur’an are genuine representatives of Islam. As a result of that erroneous opinion, some of our Christian brothers in particular strongly oppose Islam and Muslims, regard them as a grave threat and prepare to fight against them. They attempt to equate the bloodthirstiness, enmity, cruelty, lovelessness, ruthlessness, lack of conscience and lack of affection they see in such people with the Qur’an. The fact is, however, that those who espouse a bloodthirsty system have nothing to do with true Islam. They do that out of a nonsensical faith they invent out of their own ignorance. Otherwise, there is no such mindset in the Qur’an. Our Lord describes people with a mindset that espouses bigotry, seeks to mix religion with nonsense and make it impossible to live by and to deceive people in the name of Allah as follows in the Qur’an:

Among them is a group who distort the Book with their tongues so that you think it is from the Book when it is not from the Book. They say, ‘It is from Allah,’ but it is not from Allah. They tell a lie against Allah and they know it. (Surah Al ‘Imran, 78)

True Islam is the Islam revealed by Allah in the Qur’an and manifested by our Prophet (saas). In other words, Muslims have a responsibility to live by the Qur’an and the Sunnah of our Prophet (saas), not by the nonsense and invented interpretations of bigots. Their measure must be the Qur’an and the Sunnah, not nonsense. True Islam is the Islam of the Age of Felicity, in which people follow the Qur’an and the life of our Prophet (saas). The affectionate and loving, protective and noble life of our Prophet (saas), who attached great value to art, beauty, cleanliness and kindness is the most perfect role-model for Muslims. In the same way that examples not from the life of our Prophet (saas) are not esteemed by Muslims, so non-Muslims must not think of Islam in terms of the dark lifestyles of certain bigots.

On this subject, our Christian brothers need to bear in mind the following statements:

The bigoted mindset is as hostile toward Muslims as it is toward Christians and Jews

This sinister mindset people try to ascribe to Islam is BIGOTRY, not real Islam at all. The bigot claims to act in the name of Islam. But he is loveless, with a dark soul, fanatical and without understanding. He is the enemy of all beauty, art and science. He is even the inimical to life itself; and to joy and happiness.

The bigot regards all kinds of beauty with hatred. He hates flowers, and children, and cats, and dogs and rabbits. His spirit and soul are empty. As revealed in one verse of the Qur’an, such people are, “like propped-up planks of wood” (Surat al-Munafiqun, 4). There is nothing even resembling love in their souls. They attach no value to human beings and no importance to any living thing. There is no room for consideration, love or compassion in their hearts.

As a result of all this, the bigot also hates women. One of the main features of bigots is their enmity toward womankind. Treating woman as third-class citizens is a fundamental characteristic of the bigot. Communists, Darwinists and those who to date have regarded Islam with a hostile eye have made verbal assaults against Islam, accusing it of a supposed hatred of women. But this enmity toward women that they oppose is a characteristic of fanatical and backward bigots, not of Islam, which attaches the greatest value to women and praises and protects them. (You can find more information about the importance attached to women in the Qur’an from here.)

In the same way that the bigot loves nobody, so nobody loves him. Everyone detests the presence, logic, lifestyle and way of thinking of the bigot. Even bigots detest bigots. That is why there is constant division and rancor among them. They can never live in peace and happiness together. Like their souls, their lives are in utter darkness.

The bigot may be found in all faiths and sections of society. There are people in Christian and Jewish communities, as well, not just among Muslims, who seek to turn religion away from its true essence, and to inflict a dark and bloodthirsty state of mind instead of the joy and love bestowed by faith in Allah. What we are discussing here is people who try to infiltrate themselves among Muslims. But the fact is that the bigot represents a polluted and perverse idea, no matter from what faith or section of society he comes from.

As a result of this frightening state of mind, the bigot desires bloodshed. He wants bloodshed everywhere. He can only find peace with blood and oppression. He can only express the hatred within him by causing blood to be shed and speaking with hostility. These people, who espouse bloodshed in the name of Islam, spread hatred of and rancor toward Christians, Jews and even Muslims, and who drip hatred and loathing from their lips, are very definitely NOT MUSLIMS, but bigots under the influence of the way of the antichrist.

For these reasons, our Christian brothers must properly distinguish between genuine Muslims and bigots, between true Islam and the bigoted mindset. Only then will they be able to see that the lifestyle they are opposed to is bigotry, not Islam.

Bigots are the army of the antichrist; they neither apply the Qur’an, nor let others apply it.

Backwardness, fanaticism and bigotry IS THE GREATEST ARMY OF THE ANTICHRIST OPPOSED TO ISLAM. Our Prophet Muhammad (saas) reveals this in a hadith:

”Seventy thousand scholars from my community, all wearing turbans, will follow the dajjal [antichrist].” (Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, Musnad, p. 796)

In referring to the people who will follow the antichrist in the hadith, our Prophet (saas) speaks in particular of THOSE WHO EMERGE FROM WITHIN THE UMMAH (COMMUNITY) OF ISLAM AND REGARD THEMSELVES AS SCHOLARS. Through this hadith, our Prophet (saas) indicates that it is bigots who are the main group who, as supporters of the antichrist, will act against all the friends of Allah and do the worst damage to religion.

In another hadith our Prophet (saas) says:

“People will spring up in the End Times: but their brains will not function. They will speak fine words when they. The will read the Qur’an, but their faith will go no further than their throats...” (Buhari, 3611, 5057, 6930, Muslim, 1066, Abu Dawud  4767, Ahmed ibn Hanbal, Musnad 1, 81, 113, 131, 289; Al-Tayalisi, al-Musnad, no. 1984.)

As set out in the hadith, these people will speak very finely and read the Qur’an; but ‘their faith will go no further than their throats.’ In other words, they will not base themselves on the Qur’an. These people will speak of the Qur’an but will not be devoted to it and will rule by mixing nonsense up with it. They will regard the provisions of the Qur’an as inadequate and will implement a faith they invent themselves under the name of Islam. There, a significant proportion of the army of the antichrist will emerge from every religion, and they will constitute bigots who seek to damage their own faiths and the world.

Bigots’ aim is to stop people applying the Qur’an. In adding things to Islam that have nothing to do with it, they reject those parts of the Qur’an that are incompatible with their own foolish ideas. For them, it is a cause for tremendous rage the way that the Qur’an recommends love, peace, affection, brotherhood and unity and encourages beauty, art and science. The quality and depth of soul resulting from living by the moral values of the Qur’an, a Muslim model that is rational, esthetic, modern and full of love, is incompatible with their own nonsensical religions. That is why the antichrist uses bigotry and fanaticism to strike at Islam and seek to do away with it.

This point now needs to be made clear; there may be honest people who genuinely love Allah but who espouse ideas that actually have no place in true Islam, either from lack of knowledge or inaccurate education. We need to differentiate between these people and bigots who deliberately try to add nonsense to religion. The former are people who will accept the truth once they have been enlightened by the luminosity of the Qur’an. Almighty Allah is He Who always shows His genuine servants the true path.
 

The Qur’an has declared war on bigotry

THE QUR’AN HAS DECLARED WAR ON ALL SCOURGES RESULTING FROM BIGOTRY, ON UNHAPPINESS, OPPRESSION, LOVELESSNESS, FANATICISM, ANGER AND BLOODSHED. The Islam based on the Qur’an IS THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF BIGOTRY. Islam teaches peace, love and friendship. It encourages unity, the praising of the name of Allah all together, brotherhood and world peace and security. People who ignore the verses of the Qur’an and others who distort the verses in the light of their own foolish minds and purport to use them as evidence and thus claim that Islam encourages war, are making a serious error. As our Lord reveals in verse 25 of Surah Yunus, "Allah calls to the abode of peace." According to the Qur’an, active war is only permissible for defensive purposes. The condition is imposed that a Muslim can only wage war in the event of an attack, to defend his life. Our Prophet (saas) is the person who applied this in the clearest way. All three wars fought in the time of our Prophet (saas) were waged for defensive purposes, and forgiveness was always advised. During the Battle of the Trench, for example, our Prophet (saas) had a rampart erected to protect Muslims from attacks by the other side.

In the Qur’an, Almighty Allah makes war lawful for Muslims only under specific circumstances:

Fight in the Way of Allah against those who fight you, but do not go beyond the limits. Allah does not love those who go beyond the limits. (Surat al-Baqara, 190)

But if they cease [fighting], Allah is Ever-Forgiving, Most Merciful. (Surat al-Baqara, 192)

In order for Muslims to go to war, the other side has to go on the offensive. War can never be resorted to in order to protect a cruel society that is aggressive and does not listen to reason. In such a case, Muslims have a duty not to go to extremes; in other words, they may only fight defensively. Moreover, according to Islam, no harm must befall women, children or the elderly. As our Lord reveals in verse 192 of Surat al-Baqara, Muslims are also advised to stop fighting once the other side does.

Again in the Qur’an, it is clearly stated that killing is a sin:

"...if someone kills another person – unless it is in retaliation for someone else or for causing corruption in the earth – it is as if he had murdered all mankind. And if anyone gives life to another person, it is as if he had given life to all mankind. Our Messengers came to them with Clear Signs but even after that many of them committed outrages in the earth.” (Surat al-Ma’ida, 32)

Those who do not call on any other god together with Allah and do not kill anyone Allah has made inviolate, except with the right to do so, and do not fornicate; anyone who does that will receive an evil punishment (Surat al-Furqan, 68)

As is clear from these verses, it is a sin in the Qur’an for a Muslim to kill. In Surat al-Ma’ida, Allah reveals that although the envoys He sent warned people of that sin, many of them still overstepped the bounds. In other words, although this is set out in the Qur’an, there are still people who find the Qur’an inadequate and go beyond proper bounds and engage in unjust oppression and bloodshed. These people are the fanatics and bigots who claim to act in the name of Islam but are in fact under the influence of the way of the antichrist.

Declaring war on Islam is not how to get rid of bigotry

Those who ascribe bigotry to Islam in an ill-informed manner and seek to eliminate that bigoted system generally fall into the error of adopting a hostile attitude toward Islam. Deliberate efforts have been made to spread the perspective toward Islam in question, especially by the atheist and Darwinist press, intellectual organizations and influential circles. These circles deliberately misrepresent Islam, engaging in incitement using conditioning techniques such as saying, “This is what Muslims are like, they will not let you live, so you had better annihilate them before they annihilate you.” They have been charged with doing this by various sinister forces. Under the influence of that conditioning, some Christians maintain that the Qur’an and Islam have to be eradicated if the oppressive and unjust system created by bigotry is to be done away with (Surely Islam and the Qur’an are beyond that). But this policy, a violation of reason and good conscience, merely leads to the feeding of bigotry and backwardness, contrary to expectations. Attacks on the Qur’an and true Islam further strengthen the bigoted system that espouses bloodshed and violence and desires lovelessness. This means being angered by the bigot but declaring war on Allah (Surely Allah is beyond that) and is an exceedingly foolish way of behaving. The way to eliminate bigots and the bloodthirsty system espoused by them is to emphasize the Qur’an and true Islam and bring about the Islamic Age of Felicity. Muslims living joyful, outward-looking lives based on love, affection, friendship and brotherhood and sharing a mindset that espouses democracy and freedom and is modern and progressive will burn bigots to dust. Therefore, our Christian brothers must support true Muslims against the bigoted mindset that is inimical to both Muslims and to Christians and Jews; they must encourage people to live by true Islamic moral values.

Combating bigotry is a religious observance for Muslims. Because opposing hypocrisy is one of the commandments of the Qur’an. ‘Bigot’ is another way of describing the ‘hypocrites’ referred to in the Qur’an. Almighty Allah refers to hypocrites, and unbelievers and those with sickness in their hearts, and they all ascribe equals to Him. They are the enemies of the Age of Felicity, THEY DECLARE WAR ON THE QUR’AN IN THE NAME OF THE QUR’AN. The perverse way of thinking that is loveless, devoid of compassion, uncultured and ill-educated, that dislikes art and science, that does not think deeply and seeks to make religion something complicated, a matter of showing-off, and that develops a religion constantly equated with prohibitions and inventions is ‘backwardness,’ in other words ‘polytheism.’ THE BIGOTED SYSTEM DEVELOPED IN TOTAL OPPOSITION TO THE QUR’AN, THAT REGARDS THE QUR’AN AS INADEQUATE AND APPLIES THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF THE COMMANDMENTS IN THE QUR’AN IS A PERVERSE SYSTEM THAT NEEDS TO BE CRUSHED BY MUSLIMS. For that reason, the most effective intellectual campaign against it comes from the Muslims of the Qur’an, in other words, from us.

The solution to bigotry comes from espousing the Islam of the Age of Felicity and the true moral values of the Qur’an. Hazrat Mahdi (as) will do that in our day. For that reason, it is most important that the way of the Mahdi be supported. The way of the Mahdi contains love, peace, brotherhood, security, peace and friendship. It contains joy, happiness, art and beauty. It means freedom, liberty and democracy. It is modern and progressive. It is terribly dangerous to support the bigoted system that represents a scourge on the whole world by attacking true Islam. The bigoted system that constitutes a threat to the three great faiths will come to an end only when the Qur’an is fully applied and the way of the Mahdi (as) is strengthened and supported. The Islam of the Qur’an will leave neither shamanists, nor atheists, nor satanists nor Darwinists behind. This is the sole and definitive solution.

Christians and Jews will also be at peace when people live by true Islamic moral values

It is very important for our Christian and Jewish brothers to interpret what we have described in reference to such concepts as love, peace, democracy, liberty, happiness and modernity as a “well-intentioned analysis.” These are not our personal opinions. THEY ARE FOUNDED IN THE QUR’AN. They are in agreement with the spirit of the Qur’an, all the examples we see in the Prophet Muhammed (saas) and the approval of Allah, the Rahman and Rahim. That is how the Qur’an was implemented in the time of our Prophet (saas). Bloodshed exists only in the nonsensical ideas of the bigots. Bigots controlled by the antichrist have depicted bloodshed as true Islam, misleading vast masses of people, and have sought to spread it across the world.

It is essential that our Christian brothers should see the true Qur’an and its great message. The Qur’an is a ray of light for anyone looking at it with good conscience. Everything that makes people happy and enlightens the world is in the Qur’an. Living by the Qur’an as people did in the Age of Felicity will bring total well-being and beauty to the world. For Muslims to apply the Qur’an in that way will be a source of peace, happiness and clam for Christians and Jews, as well. The young people that emerge as a result will enjoy exceedingly happy lives. The joy that is part of human nature but that has vanished under the influence of the system of the antichrist will return to society. Art will develop, and artists making real art will appear. The architecture that disappeared under the influence of the system of the antichrist will be restored to life. Because security, peace, happiness, friendship, brotherhood and, most important of all, love of Allah will spread widely. When love comes, art will come to everything, too, and beauty, joy, happiness and science. The perspective of the Islam of the Qur’an is founded upon affection, compassion, love, reason, consistency, behaving in a balanced way, thinking logically, looking at events in a positive manner, making sacrifices and seeing the best in everything. A world in which people apply Islam in that way will thus be one of extraordinary beauty for Christians and Muslims, too.

What Christians must oppose and wage an intellectual campaign against is bigotry, Darwinism and materialism, the foe of all three faiths. What they must support and espouse is people living by Islam as set out in the Qur’an and the way of the Mahdi that will bring that about in our day. When they support that, bigotry, fanaticism, backwardness, Darwinism and materialism will disappear, an air of festive rejoicing will enfold the world and everything and everywhere will be enlightened. When they support that, the corruption of bigotry will enjoy no success whatsoever. Churches and synagogues are under the protection of Almighty Allah, as revealed in verses of the Qur’an. Our Christian and Jewish brothers will worship as they please and attain the ease and beauty they desire. Muslims will live in a state of love and brotherhood with Christians and Muslims, wars will come to an end and the world will become a place of well-being, peace and security.