The Gulf Crisis and New World Order — Page 96
Fifth Friday Sennon Nov 9, 1990 becomes totally wrong. It was neither legitimate for Muslims then, nor is it now, to assign this building to themselves on this ground, but it becomes valid for the Hindus to change its occupancy and to change its geography on the pretext of historic references. As such, today there is a grave threat to the Muslims in India but this danger is far substantial than those of a geographical nature in other regions. Here, the glory of Muslims and the unity of Islam is threatened, the glory of Almighty God and the unity of God is endangered. At a place where ONE God was worshipped, might end up into a temple where idols, attributed to non-existent gods, would be worshipped. As such, to transform a place of worship of ONE God which is the emblem of the Unity of God, into places of idol-worship, is no minor an incident, for it is an attack on the very foundation of Islam. The reverberations of this act would be far and wide in India. As a result, the fragile peace for the Muslims in India would disappe. ar and a series of terrible, uncontrollable riots would ensue. In any event, this a very extraordinary and highly sentimental matter pertaining to our faith, which the Islamic world must understand, but any counteraction must be compatible with the Islamic traditions. I am pained to observe that, the sequence of events in this incident are similar to the ones prevailing in Iraq. As a result of the attacks on the Babri Mosque by many thousands of Hindus, and their entry into the premises, and the worship of a deity already installed there; some Muslim fanatics in Bangladesh destroyed and burnt down many Hindu temples, killed and looted their properties. Is this an Islamic reaction? Certainly not. It is impossible to declare such a reaction justified on the basis of Islamic teachings. Islam stands to protect the glory and sanctity of all religions of the world. Protection and sanctity, not in the sense of bowing down before them in matters of faith but in the sense of legally protecting the adherents of those religions. Because they are at liberty to consider anything glorified to their reckoning, however false it may be in reality. Islam safeguards the sanctity of all religions in such a way, that a Muslim is not allowed to desecrate the places of worship of others even with the aim of building a Mosque or for an y purpose whatsoever. 96