Muslims Must Also Be on Their Guard against the Wiles of the Dajjal The Dajjal is trying to use another stratagem against Muslims, similar to that he wishes to employ against Christians. He wishes to bring Muslims under his control in order to create terrible strife and wickedness on earth. By deceiving Muslims, too, he seeks to encourage them to resort to violence in response to the violence aimed at them, and thus quench the devils thirst for bloodshed. On the other hand, he is also striving to turn Muslims against one another by encouraging terror amongst them. In this way he aims to increase the climate of fear and terror, and by shedding the blood of the innocent to turn the world into a place of strife where his own moral values can prevail. The great Islamic scholar Bediuzzaman Said Nursi has warned all Muslims against this peril, and said that the Dajjal would put pressure on the Islamic world and inflict difficult and hard times on devout Muslims: According to a noble Hadith of the Prophet (saas), noxious and awesome persons like Sufyan and the Dajjal will come to rule over the godless at the end of time, and exploiting the greed, discord and hatred amongst the Muslims and mankind, they will need only a small force to reduce humanity to anarchy and the vast world of Islam to slavery. (14) Devout Muslims should be aware of this danger and not fall into the Dajjals trap. As a requirement of the verse Allah loves those who fight in His Way in ranks like well-built walls (Surat as-Saff: 4), Muslims must act in a spirit of unshakable unity and union. They must take the moral values of our Prophet (saas), who always sought the path of understanding even with the idolaters, as their role model; they must scrupulously avoid disputes and disagreement. In fact, our Prophet (saas) has warned Muslims against such a danger by reminding them that in the event that believers turn against one another they may fall under the influence of the Dajjal: In those days believers whose relations between one another are defective will be unable to escape being the target of the Dajjal. (15) It can be seen from these words of our Prophet (saas) that believers who wish to be protected from the strife of the Dajjal must act in the awareness that all Muslims are brothers. It has been revealed in the Quran that the faithful must support one another in solidarity, otherwise there will be great corruption and chaos on earth: Those who disbelieve are the friends and protectors of one another. If you do not act in this way, there will be turmoil in the land and great corruption. (Surat al-Anfal: 73) Muslims must also behave towards Christians and Jews in the manner required by the moral values of the Quran, in the same way as they must amongst themselves, and must be on their guard against the wiles of the Dajjal in that regard too. In many verses of the Quran Allah has revealed the importance of proper moral values, goodness, and responding to evil with good, and has commanded Muslims to treat Jews and Christians, in other words the People of the Book, with good intentions and tolerance. In the Quran our Lord commands people to rule with justice, with no discrimination between people, to protect peoples rights, to have no allowance for oppression, to support the oppressed against the oppressor, and to help those in need. This concept of justice requires the rights of both sides to be protected when a decision has to be reached, a multi-sided consideration, unprejudiced thought, neutrality, uprightness, honesty, tolerance, compassion and affection. Muslims must always behave in accordance with the verses of the Quran against the Dajjals deceptions of this kind, with patience, submission to Allah, and moderation, and must respond with love and affection. Allah has revealed in the Quran that when believers encounter evil they must respond with goodness: A good action and a bad action are not the same. Repel the bad with something better and, if there is enmity between you and someone else, he will be like a bosom friend. (Surah Fussilat: 34) One of the finest models on this subject is the moral values displayed by our Prophet (saas). Prophet Muhammad (saas) always behaved most justly and compassionately towards Jews and Christians. He wanted an environment based on love and compromise to be established between Muslims and members of the other revealed religions. In the early years of Islam, some Muslims who suffered oppression at the hands of the polytheists of Mecca lived in friendship and peace with Christians by sheltering with the Christian king of Ethiopia, Negus (or al-Najashi). Believers who migrated to Medina with our Prophet (saas) developed a model of living with the Jews in Medina that constitutes a model for all subsequent generations. During the spread of Islam, the tolerance shown to Jewish and Christian communities in Arabia went down in history as an important example of Muslims tolerance and justice towards the People of the Book. Under the provision of the Constitution of Medina that The Jews of Banu Awf [non-Muslim minorities] are a community along with the believers. To the Jews their religion, and to the Muslim their religion, the foundations of the tolerance that Muslims showed towards Jewish traditions and belief were again laid in the time of our Prophet (saas). Another example of these moral values of Muslims was experienced at the time of the Ottoman Empire. At a time when the world was full of intolerance and oppression, the Ottoman Empire went down in history for the great tolerance it displayed towards Jewish communities. Throughout history these Muslim moral values have resulted in Jews sheltering in Islamic lands at various times when they were suffering trouble and difficulty. The Ottoman Empire opened its doors to the Jews who were unjustly expelled from Spain, and the Ottomans sheltered thousands of Jews who had been exiled from their lands. Jews and Muslims lived for centuries in peace and security in Muslim lands. Jewish subjects of the Ottoman Empire were always grateful for the tolerance shown them by the Sublime Porte. The same thing applied to Christians under Ottoman rule. Christians, too, found tolerance, peace and freedom in Ottoman lands. In the Middle East, which has been in a state of chaos and conflict since the first half of the 20th century, a climate of peace and security was established that lasted throughout the centuries of Ottoman rule. Although Christians and Jews did not acknowledge each others religions, they enjoyed dialogue and compromise in this tolerant environment established by the Ottoman administration. Under Ottoman sovereignty, Jews worshipped in their synagogues, Christians in their churches and Muslims in their mosques, and members of the three religions lived alongside one another in peace. The proper moral values, tolerance, and peaceful understanding demonstrated towards the People of the Book by our Prophet (saas) and the Ottoman administration must be a role model for all Muslims. As revealed by Allah in the verse Only argue with the People of the Book in the kindest way-except in the case of those of them who do wrong-saying, We believe in what has been sent down to us and what was sent down to you. Our Allah and your Allah are one and we submit to Him, (Surat al-Ankabut: 46) no concession must be made in a struggle to be waged in the kindest way. On the contrary, it must not be forgotten that a climate of strife and chaos will emerge as the Dajjal wishes. Muslims must approach the People of the Book with respect, love and understanding, based on these foundations, and with the moral values to which they adhere must transmit the call to unite in a common proposition in the kindest manner possible: Say, People of the Book! Come to a proposition which is the same for us and you-that we should worship none but Allah and not associate any partners with Him and not take one another as lords besides Allah. If they turn away, say: Bear witness that we are Muslims. (Surah Al Imran: 64) When people act in the light of this spirit of love and tolerance imparted by Quranic moral values, the Dajjals stratagem aimed at turning civilizations against one another and making the world the scene of bloodshed and war will, by the will of Allah, be thwarted.
Posted on: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 14:04:07 +0000