How to Behave when someone insults Islam

Let’s first remind ourselves, that our Prophet (peace be upon him), the single most perfect man in history, had the following done to him

People physically assaulted him.

People threw stones at him.

People threw dirty intestines on him whilst he was praying.

People threw their dirty garbage on him

People abused him

People killed his loved ones

People tried to give him poison in his food

They laughed at him, Mocked at him

They made fun of Him

He lost His two teeth in the Battle of Uhd

Has someone ever thrown stones at you? Have you ever had dirty garbage thrown over your head? Yet somehow our aggressive reactions would lead someone to believe as if someone has actually done this?

So the question is, whom should we follow when something like this happens?

Let me give some examples. For people who are reading this and are into IT and Sports. If you wanted a successful IT business then you will follow the careers of Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, as they have done incredibly well in the IT field. If perhaps you wanted to become a professional footballer, you might follow how Cesc Fabregas or Messi play, as again they are among the best footballers in the world.

So what is our end goal? It’s obviously to reach Jannah and the way to do this is to try to follow the life of our Prophet (peace be upon him) If we try to study him, act like him, perform the Sunnah then we have a good chance of achieving our goal.

When someone insults Islam or our Prophet (peace be upon him), or Allah, of course we all hurt, but what I witnessed a few days ago, was perhaps worse. A barrage of abuse from Muslims to the offenders swearing and insulting back. Did our Prophet act like this? Of course not, so by acting in this way are we really defending our faith or weakening it? I feel we are weakening it, we are showing just how weak we can be.

Did our Prophet lose such control? Engage in such filthy language? We all know certain people hate unconditionally, and in this case, it was a group of young teenagers who were spouting such hate, but we also know, or should know that many non Muslims respect Islam, respect Muslims, but when they see us defending our faith in such a violent aggressive manner, what must they think?

Once when the Prophet was being physically abused in Taif, he was bleeding from having stones thrown at him, Angel Jibraeel came to him and said the Angels of the Mountains can crush these ignorant people between the mountains, should you wish O Muhammad.

Bleeding from head to toe and battered and exhausted, the Prophet (peace be upon him) was faced with a choice; should he or should he not seek to destroy the people who had just humiliated him by having their children chase him out of town while throwing stones at him? And for what crime? All he had wanted to do was convey the message of the One God to His creation and seek benefit his own people.

However, although they hurt him, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) looked beyond his own wounds and forgave them, replying to the angel of the mountains he said,

‘No, do not destroy them, for I hope that Allah will bring out of their offspring people who worship Him alone without associating any partner with Him in worship.

What a beautiful excellent response. Look at the humility. The control.

The way you respond to insults has an impact on the actual image of Islam. So lose this anger, lose the bad language and become an advert for Islam. Ignore the ignorant who hate unconditionally, if someone criticises Islam and you feel you can have an intelligent conversation with them, then do so politely, they will think so differently of you, even if they don’t agree, they will respect the way you have conducted yourself.

You will promote Islam much more effectively this way if you control yourself.

That’s real faith.

Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala says what means in the Quran, “Hold to forgiveness; command what is right; but turn away from the ignorant”. He subhanahu wa ta’ala also says what means, “And when they hear vain talk, they turn away therefrom and say: ‘To us our deeds, and to you yours; peace be to you: we seek not the ignorant.’

Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) said

“The strong is not the one who overcomes the people by his strength, but the strong is the one who controls himself while in anger.”(Bukhari :: Book 8 :: Volume 73 :: Hadith 135)