Tuesday, September 18, 2012

 Muslim leaders call for patience toward anti-Islam film

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Muslim leaders and local clerics want the local communities to be sensible rather than be sensitive and emotional in dealing with the mounting indignation over the controversial “The Innocence of Muslims” film, which has been perceived as a means to malign Islam.

Acting Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Governor Mujiv Hataman said that he is convinced that the film’s having been uploaded to the video-sharing site, YouTube, could be a ploy to stir violent reactions from among Muslims and, as a consequence, destroy the image of Islam.

Hataman said he is confident that while ARMM residents look up at the issue as an affront to the Islamic faith, they will deal with it according to the value of saba’r, the Arabic for patience and endurance.

Islam strictly prohibits retaliations against groups or communities for an offense supposedly done alone by a solitary individual.

“Under Islamic principles, one cannot force Pedro to do reparation, or be penalized for an offense done by Juan,” said Ustadz Esmael Ebrahim, a commissioner in the National Commission for Muslim Filipinos.

Patience and perseverance

“Now is the time for us to exemplify what Prophet Mohammad had taught us, to be patient in addressing challenges that come our way,” Hataman said.

Even officials of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), which crafted a peace pact with the national government on September 2, 1996, agreed that reacting violently to the controversial
YouTube video will only unduly glorify the anti-Islam film and its producer.

Cotabato City Vice Mayor Muslimin Sema, also chairman of the largest and most politically-active of the three groups in the MNLF, said preachers in their ranks have been tasked to educate their followers on the need for them to be patient and forgiving in dealing with the issue.

Sema said Islamic history books tell of the examples on how Prophet Mohammad opted to “swallow pride,” accept humiliation and opt for reconciliation to end conflicts; initiate the settlement of disputes peacefully and promptly, instead of witnessing any violence.

Sema said many of them in the MNLF are convinced the anti-Islam YouTube film happened for a purpose; to put into test the sobriety and perseverance of Muslims in confronting any affront against Islam.

“We, Muslims believe that sometimes we stumble and fall today, purposely for us to rise and bounce back as better, peace-loving Muslims the next day,” Sema said.

“Reacting violently on that YouTube movie will only create a bad image of Islam,” he added.

Impregnable

For Hataman and Sema, evil motives must not prevail over good and affect peaceful coexistence among followers of the world’s great religions.

“It is not easy to destroy the image of Islam, by any form of media, unless Muslims themselves do wrong and destroy themselves,” Hataman said.

Hataman said the book, “The 100: A List of the Most Influential Persons in History” by Michael Hart has retained in its No. 1 slot the name of Prophet Muhammad, 37 years after its first and only edition was written.

Members of the newly-launched provincial party chapter of the joint United Nationalists Alliance-Partido ng Demokratikong Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan have called on Muslims in Maguindanao to be sober and avoid instigating any unruly reaction against the YouTube publication.

The party’s figurehead in Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat Mayor Tucao Mastura, who is running for governor of Maguindanao in next year’s elections, and his running mate, former Talayan Mayor Datu
Ali Midtimbang, both asked preachers to remind Muslims about how Prophet Mohammad used diplomacy in addressing attacks on Islamic communities.

Mastura and Midtimbang, who were sworn in, along with dozens of their followers, into the PDP-Laban by Vice President Jejomar Binay and the party’s secretary-general, Jose Peping Cojuangco, Jr., in Manila last week, are both keen on introducing “religious awakening” as a platform for propagating Muslim-Christian solidarity in the province.

Mastura and Midtimbang, who are both close to clerics in the province, and members of their newly-launched political group, all acknowledge that any sectarian animosity among Mindanao’s Muslim and non-Muslim folks can stifle the Southern Mindanao peace process.

From:
John Felix Miciano Unson