Absolute Justice, Kindness and Kinship — Page 189
— Part II 184 In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful. When the hypocrites come to you, they say, 'We bear witness that you are indeed the Messenger of Allah. ' And Allah knows that you are indeed His Messenger, but Allah bears witness that the hypocrites are surely liars. They have made their oaths a shield; thus they turn men away from the way of Allah. Evil surely is that which they have been doing. (S u rah al-Mun a fiq u n; Ch. 63, Vs. 1-3) This means that they sought shelter under their profession to fulfil their twofold ill intentions. First, to save themselves from the Muslims while they were in a state of war. Second, under the cover of Islam they could mislead the innocent Muslim common folk while posing to be Muslims themselves. Despite this, the Holy Prophet sa is not permitted to deprive them of their fundemental right to profess with their mouths what did not lie in their hearts, and they are still extended the right to call themselves Muslims. What a paradox we witness today in the various Muslim countries of the world, where coercion in religion is not only preached but is also most tenaciously practised. The mullahs see someone who calls himself a Muslim, who recites the Kalima , who performs prayer like other Muslims and who faces the Holy Kaaba while praying, yet they deny him the right of association with Islam. To them, forcing a person to recant his faith is a service to God, while actually it is tantamount to an open rebellion against