Rights of Minorities and

We all know that Islam is a religion of mercy, and its scope of compassion and benevolence is not dedicated to a particular nation, nation or group, but in Islam there are immense treasures of goodness and well-being for all mankind. In Islam, all mankind has been declared as the family of Allah, and Allah has taught goodness and kindness to his family without discrimination, and the best person in the eyes of Allah is the one who treats his family in the best manner. It has even been said that if you want the Lord to love you, then treat his family with love and affection. In the Holy Quran, it has been ordered to settle all matters with justice and fairness, and there is no distinction between Muslims and non-Muslims, and it has also been said that do good to others in the way that Allah does good to you. He behaves.

All the moral rules in Islam are common to all humanity without distinction of religion and nationality and it includes all Muslims and non-Muslims. There is no discrimination for any Hindu, Sikh, Christian or any other religion. In Islam, the commandment of helping the poor and treating the oppressed, brotherhood and tolerance and all other good deeds is not reserved for anyone, but it is the equal right of minorities. In these commands, Islam has given its believers A fundamental reform has been made for the followers of non-religions, in which all the responsibility for the protection of minorities in the Muslim society is not only on the state, but every Muslim has been ordered to follow it. Before the message of Islam, all the people of religions called each other false and false, even Jews and Christians, who are two branches of the same tree, the Abrahamic religion, considered each other as liars and were engaged in war and conflict to erase each other from the face of existence. . Hindus did not consider any other religion in the world apart from their religion and now the situation has become much worse than that. This was the situation of the sense of superiority of Iranians, but first only Islam came and destroyed this human race. Ended hatred and differences that no nation in the world is deprived of Allah’s mercy and the biggest sign of this is that He sent a leader and a prophet to guide and guide every nation.

Before the religion brought by the Prophet ﷺ, all the ancient religions had been distorted to such an extent that their original facts and teachings were badly distorted but judge the mercy of the religion of Islam from the fact that on the first day it He declared that “There is no compulsion in religion, surely guidance has been clearly distinguished from misguidance.” (Al-Baqarah: 256) “Rather, the Holy Qur’an, while avoiding debates, has given this command: “O Messenger of Allah! Do what is most beautiful, surely your Lord knows well the person who has strayed from His path and He knows well those who are guided (Al-Nahl: 125). It is strictly forbidden to say that the believers of non-religions should not, in ignorance, curse the true Lord in response, although history is a witness that from the beginning, the believers of all these religions united with each other and destroyed Islam. had established a front to do it, but despite this, he ordered the Muslims to establish justice among themselves, “that Allah considers only those who do justice as His friends.” This is the reason why non-Muslims in any Islamic state have their rights has never been deprived of.

Once, a delegation from the ruler of Abyssinia Shah Najashi came to the service of the Holy Prophet ﷺ, and the Holy Prophet ﷺ performed all the duties of hospitality with his own hands. When a large group of Companions expressed their desire to pay hospitality, the Holy Prophet (PBUH) said that they had served my companions, so I will serve them with my own hands. The Prophet (peace be upon him) had also given permission to people of non-religious faiths to worship in Masjid-e-Nabawi, the head of all mosques. Once a delegation of Christians from Najran came to meet the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him. When the time came for the Christians to pray, they started to pray in the Prophet’s Mosque. As soon as the Muslims tried to stop them, the Prophet, peace be upon him, While forbidding the Companions, the Christians were given full permission to pray and the Christians, according to their beliefs, performed their prayers facing the opposite direction in front of the entire congregation of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and the Companions.

History is a witness that the main enemies of Islam were polytheists, Arabs, and tribes of all religions formed a common front against Muslims, and years of wars and attacks were carried out to torment and exterminate Muslims. I did not give up any minute, but in order to preserve the existence of the Muslims, I definitely gave the order to fight during the war, but during the war, I did not allow any unnecessary abuse and cruelty, even forbidding the cutting of standing crops and trees. went. In the Holy Quran, it was ordered with great clarity that “Those who fight you, fight them in the way of Allah, but do not do any kind of abuse, because Allah does not like those who do abuse”. Muslims were forcibly prevented from knowing the Masjid Ihram while all Muslims were in the state of Ihram, they were also prevented from abusing them. In the Holy Qur’an, this order was revealed that “The people who prevented you from going to the Ihram Mosque should not cause this act of abuse.” In Quran and Hadith, there are countless commands on many occasions in which there are many lessons of tolerance, brotherhood and love of Islam.

The question arises as to what rights Islam has given to its non-Muslim minorities and how far the Muslim states have implemented them. If we turn the pages of history, we find evidence that Islam has proved to be a religion of mercy, peace and brotherhood for the non-Muslim minorities. Such rights and powers were given to Tuan, who were not available in their nation and in their co-religion governments. Their status was worse than slaves and their job was to provide luxury goods for their rulers and landlords by shedding their blood and sweat. They were given the most brutal punishments for minor mistakes. The nations that today claim to be highly civilized and possessing high moral values ​​have their own history in their libraries. A single incident will be enough to understand a low example of this. Shepherd’s Bush is a very famous area of ​​West London, England, which is still known as “Shepherd’s Bush”. The shepherd’s wrong arrow shot out the eye of the beloved deer of the county’s prince, in return for which the prince killed the tribe. Open the eyes of all people, where many such brutal punishments are also mentioned in this book, there is also a mention of the rights given to Muslim minorities in Islam.

During the time of Hazrat Umar Farooq, the entire Arabian Peninsula was exposed to Islam. The earliest instance of good treatment towards non-Muslims is found in the agreement with the Christians of Najran, the precedent and precedent of which cannot be dated till date. We still find twelve terms of this agreement in history.

(1) Their lives will be protected in any case

(2) Their land and property and all their possessions will remain in their possession

(3) They shall have full religious freedom and their religious officials shall continue to hold their posts and shall have the power to depose them.

(4) No harm shall be done to their places of worship, crosses, women and children

(5) Nothing belonging to them shall be confiscated

(6) Muslims are commanded that whenever the state declares Jihad, it will be obligatory on all Muslims to obey it, but no military service of any kind will be taken from them.

(7) Tenth of the produce shall not be levied as tax either

(8) Army will not be sent to their country

(9) Their cases shall be decided according to their own laws

(10) No injustice will be done to them

(11) No person shall be arrested for any uncommitted sin and

(12) They will not be allowed to do any type of oppression on them.

Even today, historical books mention brotherhood, tolerance, justice and fairness with minorities in Syria, Iraq and Egypt, and from this one can make assumptions about other conquered countries. When Iraq was conquered, most of the Companions were of the opinion that the land here should be distributed among the Muslims, but the opinion of Hazrat Umar Farooq was completely different and he insisted that the same farmers and landowners should remain in possession of this land. They are already cultivating it, but in the future, their generations should continue to cultivate this land and benefit from it. After several days of discussion, the Companions had to agree with the opinion of Hazrat Umar Farooq and thus a law was formed to keep all the lands of the conquered areas with the former owners, that this land will continue to be transferred from generation to generation and they will You can also buy and sell it. Ownership rights were given to them by the government and the government also had no authority to take back the land until the concerned party was compensated according to his will.

During the time of Hazrat Umar Farooq, when Kufa was settled, the ruins of the dilapidated and ruined palaces of Hira were used in the construction of a mosque in the city. There was no heir of these palaces, but the land belonged to the Dhimmis, for which a high example of justice was established by deducting the value of the ruins from the Jizya of the Dhimmis. In the treaties copied from the conquered nations in history, minorities were officially guaranteed complete religious freedom. Just as the Islamic Baitul-Mal takes the responsibility of sponsoring a Muslim when he becomes disabled or becomes in need due to old age and poverty, in the same way, the Islamic Baitul-Mal is obliged to sponsor a non-Muslim in case of his disability or infirmity. Is. In the Kitab al-Amwal, Abu Ubaid has narrated a hadith from Hazrat Saeed bin Musayb, may Allah be pleased with him: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, gave charity to a family of Jews, and it is being given to them even after the departure of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. An example of an agreement in the conquered areas of Syria during the era of Siddiqui was the trust that Hazrat Khalid bin Walid wrote to the people of Hira and the Syrian priest was fully guaranteed in a written agreement: In any case, their monasteries Or the churches will definitely not be demolished and they will have complete freedom to play the Naqous on festivals and take out processions carrying crosses and according to another tradition, they can play the Naqous whenever they want, depending on the prayer times. It has also been reserved for them that a person who becomes destitute due to old age or a calamity befalls him, or he was rich and then became poor until his co-religionists started giving him charity. , then his jizya will be waived and he and his children will be spent from the treasury of the state. If a dhimmi dies and the full jizya or the arrears of jizya is due in his account, it will not be collected from his inheritance, nor will it be burdened on his heirs because it is not a debt to him. Imam Abu Yusuf writes: If the jizya is due on him and he dies before the full or partial payment of the jizya, then the remaining jizya due on him will not be collected from his heirs because it is not a debt to him. (Book of Al-Kharaj: 32)

Similarly, Hazrat Abu Ubaidah also made a written agreement of complete religious freedom to non-Muslims in some of the conquered areas of Syria, which is still present in the history books, and during the reign of the Caliphs, these agreements were fully respected and there was no idea of ​​any change in these agreements. Not done. Imam Abu Yusuf has clarified these agreements that during the periods of Hazrat Abu Bakr, Umar Farooq, Usman Ghani and Ali Murtaza, these agreements were fully observed, but the priests, monks and other officials of these religious monasteries as well as their endowments. were also maintained and regular stipends were issued to these officials from the public treasury. In the same way, the amount of land dedicated to these religious areas in conquered areas in Egypt was not only maintained, but regular government support was also provided for the renovation of these places of worship. During the time of Muqrizi, there was a waqf of one and a half thousand acers of land with a church, and no tax was taken on its cultivation. During this golden age of Muslims, not only their religious places of worship were fully protected, but many new churches, shrines and temples were built, in which most of the government land was allowed to be used. In this way, the fear of being held accountable to Allah for the rights of the minorities was also their deception and they set those shining examples of justice and fairness that cannot be found even in today’s enlightened and civilized countries.

It is a well-known fact in history that Waleed bin Abd al-Malik Umayyad forcibly snatched the Church of John from Damascus and added it to the mosque. According to Bilaziri: When Hazrat Umar bin Abdulaziz ascended the throne and the Christians complained to him about the cruelty done to Walid’s church, he ordered his agent to give as much of the mosque as was built on the land of the church. Demolish it and refer it to the Christians and they should also be given a reasonable compensation for their heartache. (Fatuh al-Buldan: 150)

When Muhammad bin Qasim conquered Sindh against the tyranny of Raja Dahir, first of all, complete peace and religious freedom was declared to the followers of all religions and Hindus. Therefore, Islam not only protected the lives and property and religious values ​​of the minorities, but it was a sign of Muslim brotherhood and tolerance that when Muhammad bin Qasim was called back from Sindh, most of the Hindus at that time in their temples, places of worship and homes. Muhammad bin Qasim’s idols were decorated due to his good behaviour. In Islam, not only his life and wealth and complete religious freedom were limited, but Hindus were also appointed to important positions according to their abilities. It was done where all their cases were decided according to their own religious customs. These are few examples of non-prejudice, generosity of heart, magnanimity and justice towards the minorities, which shows how much respect and protection the minorities had in Islam, but on the contrary, today’s enlightened and civilized West and bare humanity. See the latest examples of what is happening in bigoted Hindu India in these two news.

Muslim and Jewish organizations are protesting against the ban on circumcision in Berlin, Germany. A court in Cologne ruled that infant circumcision on religious grounds alone amounted to grievous bodily harm. After the decision, the German Medical Association asked all doctors not to perform circumcision on children unless it was medically necessary to avoid legal action. were united on the issue and jointly called on German lawmakers to protect the right to circumcise children. A monk in Bavaria is being investigated for performing circumcision.

A panchayat consisting of 14 members of Hindu leaders in Katoli, a village in Rohtak, just 65 km from the capital city of India, immediately demolished the mosque in which the Muslims used to offer prayers in accordance with a Tughlaq decree. has been given, and it has been imposed that all Muslims in the village should immediately shave off their beards. In future, no bearded person can enter this village, if anyone wants to enter this village, he has to shave his beard. Among the six decrees issued by this Hindu Panchayat, the first decree is that a Hindu goat died at the hands of a Muslim youth of the village, for which he has been imprisoned and a case has been filed against him. Despite being sentenced to prison by the government, he cannot enter the village for the rest of his life, while the Muslims have also paid a fine many times more than the value of the goat.

The second decree is that immediately after the harvest of paddy, the graveyard of Muslims will be completely cleaned as if all the graves will be demolished and turned into a field. The third commandment is that no Muslim cleric will be allowed to enter this village, and the fourth commandment is that no person from the village will offer prayers or perform any kind of Islamic rituals, and the fifth commandment is that no one Also, the new born baby boy or girl will not be given an Islamic name, but will be named in the Hindu style and all the Muslims in the village who have been living here for centuries will have to delete their Islamic names and re-register as Hindus in the official records. The sixth statement is that if a member of a Muslim family comes from another village or city to condole the death of a Muslim relative, then he must clean his beard completely before entering the village. Yes, after the issuance of this decree, all the people of the village who have served in the Indian Army for many years, their beards have also been forcibly removed from their faces. The Muslims there have been given a month’s time to implement this inhuman decree, after which the house of the violator will be burnt.

Infer from these two examples that those who claim to be the champions of democracy do not see the beam in their own eye, but the straw in the eye of the Muslims misses them.

Friday 28 June 2024