All opposition to discuss Islam in a pragmatic way is very relevant to Prophet Muhammad’s last address to the pilgrims in Mecca. He said ‘Do not over do with religion”. What he really wanted to mean by that stern warning at the end of his prophet hood? Many learned scholars say that, he emphasized moderation and liberty. This has been misinterpreted by the vested interests as rigidity and immobility. The entire life of Muhammad was opposite to this interpretation. His was a time when he had to show much magnanimity to establish a new ideal in the place of very old one. He was reasonable, diplomatic, considerate, tolerant and above all principled. To day when we are emboldened by a series of progressive revolution in the field of knowledge rigidity and baseless fear is not an option. Islam does not approve submission to ignorance. Salman Rushdie, Taslima Nasreen, Irshad Manji, Hirshi Ali or Tarek Fatah did not harm Islam in any way. For asking questions we can’t ask for their beheading. Ibn Warraq’s book ‘Why I am not a Muslim” should not be an off limit for the Muslims. Ayatollah Khomeini did a great harm to Islam by giving a fatwa to kill Salman Rushdie. This was a thuggish and lawless wild attitude he took which has defamed Islam in many ways. No human being on earth can openly call a persons murder without proper recourse to law. This is civilization and what Khomeini did was illegal and he was liable to be tried for this crime.


Unfortunately things went further wrong when majority of the Muslims accepted this criminal act as Islamic and many people remained silent which was tantamount to giving company to him. We need to remove that STOP sign which puts us in loggerheads with the contemporary world. The door of accommodation and toleration must be adopted and be kept open. Those quarters that are afraid to hear protestant voices must be ready to live with more adamant rebel voices. In this age of reason, logic and human rights dogmas will not prevail for long.


Many Muslims try to find an escape route by accusing America and the West for their ills. The question is if the West and America pulls out from Iraq and Afghanistan everything will be honey and milk in the Islamic world? That’s not going to happen. The events of 9/11 have opened the flood gates of contradictions in the Muslim world. Now this is unstoppable. To survive in this small and unitary world Muslims have to reshape their entire gamut of the thought process. An attitude of toleration and adoption must be established for survival. We have to tear down that STOP sign

Akbar Hussain