In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

 

DESECRATION OF HOLY QUR’AN – A CEASELESS CAMPAIGN OF CHRISTIAN WEST

 

[Shamim A Siddiqi, New York]

 

Desecration of the holy Qur’an by American interrogators with the innocent and harmless Muslim detainees at Guantanamo Bay, flushing the Only Divine Guidance that is now available to mankind intact and unpolluted from their Creator and Sustainer is a shear act of hate and disrespectful against Islam, Muslims and Islamic traditions. The more it is condemned the less it would be.

 

The allegation was first reported in the Newsweek magazine in its issue of May 9, 2005. The magazine reports: "Investigators probing interrogation abuses at the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay have confirmed some infractions alleged in internal FBI e-mails that surfaced late last year. Among the previously unreported cases, sources tell NEWSWEEK: interrogators, in an attempt to rattle suspects, flushed a Qur'an down a toilet and led a detainee around with a collar and dog leash."

 

The attitude of American military top notches lacks credibility as has been shown in the most heinous sex crimes committed by American military personals with Muslim detainees in the prison of Abu Ghraib in Iraq. The Chief-of-staff of the US army has already given a statement that their investigation could not find any such incident happening at their notoriously detainees concentration camp at Guantanamo Bay

 

Their inquiry will never be transparent into this sordid affair because of the age-old prejudices against Islam and Muslims. As such, the vague assurances from President Bush to Dr. Rice and military personals are insufficient to keep this incident augmenting the waves of hate and contempt against the USA and its occupation of Afghanistan and that of Iraq. This incident is likely to be used
to further harm the relations with the Muslim world. A quick unqualified apology form the President and the Pentagon top brasses could help in controlling the rise of protests in more countries.
Already a violent wave of indignation has engulfed the Muslim world from Jakarta to Ghaza.  Seventeen Muslims have so for been killed in Afghanistan alone in demonstration against this treacherous event.

 

If the USA wants peace with Muslim world it will have to educate its officers, both military and civil and general masses about the delicacies of Islam along with its fundamentals that are cherished by all and sundry throughout the Muslim world. Muslims may not be practicing their Deen well but all have sentimental attachment beyond any shadow of doubt with Islam and its outward manifestations. The Divine Book of Guidance, the Qur’an is revered by Muslims in a very high esteem and whenever and anywhere an act of sacrilege was committed with it either in the West or in the pagan world, Muslims have forcefully demonstrated and demanded unqualified apology form the people or the institutions that commit the act of desecration to the holy Qur’an in any form. So is the case with Prophet Muhammad (S). Often and on, Western writers and Christian missionary Zealots utter the language of hate against him (S) and the entire Muslim world as a whole becomes a solid body in protest indeed. European and American nations and their governments must learn for good not o do it in future in their own interest and the interest of peace and security that world needs most. 

 

Here I would like to add some words of caution for the Muslim Ummah who loves Qur’an most just prima facie. They should think: had they been a living model of the Qur’an and its teachings and had been its torch bearers to the suffering and oppressed humanity that unfortunately lives in both the spheres - North and South, East and West, the attitude of the human race would have been quite different from what we see today It would have been the attitude of respect and cordiality. In this situation, Muslims should blame themselves not others for the perpetual insults that the West has been hurling towards Islam and Muslims having no respect for the Muslim Ummah. Their material gains and military might have made them arrogance and it is this arrogance that is expressed time and again in desecration of the Qur’an and using insulting language against the beloved Prophet (S) of Islam  

In stead of reacting violently, Muslims must make a deep probe in themselves and resolve to rotate their lives both individually and collectively around the Qur’an and its teachings, be the champion of its message and present a character that is embedded in the benevolent life pattern that it envisages. That would have been the best reaction of the Muslims around the world. The guide lines from the Qur’an are extremely clear: “Endure thou patiently [O Muhammad]. Your endurance is only by [the help of] Allah. Grieve not for them, and be not in distress because of that which they devise” [Verse 127 of Surah Al-Nahal] The significance of this Verse can be envision through my paper: The Roadmap for Ummah to come out of Its Mess. It is available on my Website: WWW.Dawahinamereicas.com

 

Shamim A Siddiqi

Dated: May 15, 2005       

 

NB: It has just been announced by Newsweek Magazine that its reporting about the captioned incident was an “honest” mistake. The question arises who is going to verify: what is right and what is wrong. It may just be a face saving joint device of Whitehouse & Pentagon to befoul the Muslim world and save them for an over due apology to the Muslim masses. Further who will be punished for the valuable Muslim lives that are already lost, perhaps none, as the value of life has lost its importance with the Bush administration and its Neo-Cons.