Salam Sister Saba, Here is the complete article by Tawfik Hamid complete with references:
Underlying Factors behind Muslims Riots
By Tawfik Hamid
www.tawfikhamid.com The film" Innocence of Muslims" which denigrates Islam's prophet Muhammad has sparked violent protests in many Muslim countries. Violent demonstrations initially erupted in Cairo followed by Libya in which the U.S. ambassador was killed. Later on, the furious demonstrations of Muslims spread globally. This problem can affect future relations between the U.S. and several Muslim countries. Additionally, the angry Muslim reaction can affect the handover of power in Afghanistan.
It is vital to understand the underlying causes that led to such furious reactions against the U.S.
The following components played a role in creating such a reaction:
Religious Factors
Mainstream sources of Islamic law establish the principle that anyone who insults the prophet Mohamed MUST be killed without even giving them a chance to repent. The existence of such laws creates a mindset among many Muslims that justifies the use of violence against those who are perceived as insulting the Prophet. The violence in such cases may not be limited to those who are directly engaged in the insult, but it also affects those who gave them the freedom to do this. Thus, for instance, the U.S. is seen by many Muslims as a co-conspirator to insulting the founder of Islam.
Love to the Prophet
According to traditional Islamic teaching, in the Day of Judgment, Allah will order the Muslim sinners to go to hell. As related in one of the most reputable, classical collections of the sayings of Mohamed, the Hadith of Al-Bukhari, Muslims will then go to the prophet Mohamed to complain. The Prophet will do intercession (or 'Shafaa') to ask Allah to change his decision and allow them into the Paradise. Allah - according to the story - will do this for the sake of Mohamed. This creates unparalleled love to the Prophet and makes many Muslims ready to defend him or his name with their lives as they feel that if they did not show anger toward those who insult him they may not be qualified to get his personal intercessions. The vivid descriptions of the torturing methods in Hell in Islamic core texts create a level of fear in Muslims' minds that partially explain this fury to support the prophet just to avoid Hell.
Lack of important Cognitive Associations
Appeasement of the Islamists has impeded a vital cognitive process in human minds that is vital to prevent such furious reactions.
The human mind learns via creating certain associations. For example, if a student did not study and thus failed an exam, their mind will realize that this failure is their fault. This may lead the student to study hard to avoid failure in the next exam. If someone persuaded this student that their failure is NOT because of negligence, but rather because someone hates them, the student will not develop the vital association between a lack of studying and failure and will thus likely do the same mistake and fail again.
A similar problem exists in dealing with the Muslim world.
If Muslims had learnt that the negative image of Islam in the West is NOT the result of unconditional hatred to Islam as they think, but rather a consequence to the violent deeds of Radical Muslims all over the world, their brains would have created the vital mental association that would have encouraged them to fight radicalism in their own societies and thus improve the image of Islam.
Apologetic attitudes toward Radical Islam that tried to blame the West for the development of Islamophobia instead of blaming the Radical Islamists have actually made things worse as they prevented the development of such vital mind links. As a result, the Muslim world keeps blaming the West and the U.S. for the negative image of their religion instead of engaging in efforts to reform their religion, reduce or eliminate violence, and thus decrease the criticism of Islam.
Confrontation between Delusions and Reality
On one hand, many Muslims strongly believe that Mohamed is the best human being in everything and the best role model for mankind {Quran 33:21 There has certainly been for you in the Messenger of Allah an excellent pattern for anyone whose hope is in Allah and the Last Day and [who] remembers Allah often}. In some Muslims' minds, these feelings can reach the level of delusions. On the other hand, mainstream Islamic books teach that the Prophet married a child of 6 consummated marriage at 9 years old [1,2], used to have sex with 9 wives in one night [3,4], had romantic feelings toward the wife of his adopted son and that a Quranic revelation made his son in law divorce his wife so that Mohamed can marry her[5]. Furthermore, authentic Hadith books mentioned that Mohamed killed all the men of some Jewish tribes, took the wife of the Jewish leader to have sex with her after killing her husband [6,7,8], and that he encouraged the killing of a respected old lady called Um-Querfa [9,10] in an extremely brutal manner because she criticized him.
Many Muslims feel disgusted of such stories, but they have to suppress their feelings and live in their 'Delusions' that Mohamed is the best role model for the world. The recent film depicted these stories in a way that released the suppressed conscious from its inhibition - and thus created a confrontation between the 'Reality' (as described in authentic Islamic books) and the 'Delusions'. It is known that confronting Delusions with Reality can cause severe agitation. This complex mental phenomenon may explain the aggressive and furious reaction of some Muslims in response to the film.
Anti-Americanism
To a great extent, anti-Americanism in the Muslim world stems from the supremacy feelings of the Islamists that the Muslim world must be the most superior power in the world - as it used to be at some stage of history. These feelings of supremacy have been nourished by the media, education, and religious teachings in several parts of the Islamic world. The film was an opportunity for Islamists to achieve a false feeling of 'victory' over the U.S. - as many radical Muslims feel that invading the U.S. embassies, removing its flag and replacing it with the Islamic flag is a sign of victory (or superiority) over America. In fact, some Islamists in Egypt called the attack on the U.S. embassy "Gazwat Al-Sifara" which means the Islamic raid of the (U.S.) embassy. This description makes Islamists live again in the spirit of the early Islamic conquests and victorious raids against the "Un-believers".
To conclude, the violent reaction of Muslims against the U.S. is the outcome of several factors. Understanding these factors is vital to developing effective approaches to deal with the Muslim world - profuse apologies and appeasement will not work. The US need to stand for its core values of freedom and liberty and must work on developing more comprehensive strategy to confront the phenomenon of Radical Islam.
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[1] Sahih Bukhari Narrated Aisha: The Prophet engaged me when I was a girl of six (years). We went to Medina and stayed at the home of Bani-al-Harith bin Khazraj. Then I got ill and my hair fell down. Later on my hair grew (again) and my mother, Um Ruman, came to me while I was playing in a swing with some of my girl friends. She called me, and I went to her, not knowing what she wanted to do to me. She caught me by the hand and made me stand at the door of the house. I was breathless then, and when my breathing became Allright, she took some water and rubbed my face and head with it. Then she took me into the house. There in the house I saw some Ansari women who said, "Best wishes and Allah's Blessing and a good luck." Then she entrusted me to them and they prepared me (for the marriage). Unexpectedly Allah's Apostle came to me in the forenoon and my mother handed me over to him, and at that time I was a girl of nine years of age. Volume 5, Book 58, Number 234
[2] Sahih Bukhari Narrated 'Aisha: I used to play with the dolls in the presence of the Prophet, and my girl friends also used to play with me. When Allah's Apostle used to enter (my dwelling place) they used to hide themselves, but the Prophet would call them to join and play with me. (The playing with the dolls and similar images is forbidden, but it was allowed for 'Aisha at that time, as she was a little girl, not yet reached the age of puberty.) (Fateh-al-Bari page 143, Vol.13) Volume 8, Book 73, Number 151
[3] Narrated Qatada:
Anas bin Malik said, "The Prophet used to visit all his wives in a round, during the day and night and they were eleven in number." I asked Anas, "Had the Prophet the strength for it?" Anas replied, "We used to say that the Prophet was given the strength of thirty (men) to do sex." And Sa'id said on the authority of Qatada that Anas had told him about nine wives only (not eleven). (Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 1, Book 5, Number 268)
[4] Narrated Anas bin Malik:
The Prophet used to visit all his wives in one night and he had nine wives at that time. (Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 1, Book 5, Number 282; see also parallel hadiths in Vol. 7, Book 62, Numbers 6 and 142)
[5] See Tafeer Al-Shawkani [in Arabic] for {Quran 33: 37-40} Published by Dar Al-Kitab Al-Arabi p. 510. Tafseer Al-Shawkani described that after the Quranic revelation {Quran 33: 37-40} Mohamed entered the room of Zeinab to have sex with her without permission, without contract, and without dowry....
[6] Sahih al-Bukhari Narrated Abdul Aziz: Anas said, ".....We conquered Khaibar, took the captives, and the booty was collected. Dihya came and said, 'O Allah's Prophet! Give me a slave girl from the captives.' The Prophet said, 'Go and take any slave girl.' He took Safiya bint Huyai. A man came to the Prophet and said, 'O Allah's Apostle! You gave Safiya bint Huyai to Dihya and she is the chief mistress of the tribes of Quraiza and An-Nadir and she befits none but you.' So the Prophet said, 'Bring him along with her.' So Dihya came with her and when the Prophet saw her, he said to Dihya, 'Take any slave girl other than her from the captives.'" Anas added: "The Prophet then manumitted her and married her." (Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 1, Book 8, Number 367)
[7] Sahih MuslimBook 008, Number 3329:
Anas, (Allah be pleased with him)reported: Safiyya (Allah be pleased with her) fell to the lot of Dihya in thespoils of war, and they praised her in the presence of Allah's Messenger (maypeace be upon him) and said: We have not seen the like of her among thecaptives of war. He sent (a messenger) to Dihya and he gave him whatever hedemanded.
[8] Book of Tabaqat by Sad (andIshaq)"
Safia was groomed and made-up forthe Prophet by Umm Sulaim, the mother of Anas ibn Malik. They spent the nightthere. Abu Ayyub al-Ansari guarded the tent of the Prophet the whole night.When, in the early dawn, the Prophet saw Abu Ayyub strolling up and down, heasked him what he meant by this sentry-go; he replied: "I was afraid foryou with this young lady. You had killed her father, her husband and many ofher relatives, and till recently she was an unbeliever. I was really afraid foryou on her account". The Prophet prayed for Abu Ayyub al-Ansari (Ibn Hisham,p. 766)
[9] Tabari: Allah's Messenger sent Zayd to WadiQura, where he encountered the Banu Fazarah. Some of his Companions werekilled, and Zayd was carried away wounded. Ward was slain by the Banu Badr.When Zayd returned, he vowed that no washing should touch his head until he hadraided the Fazarah. After he recovered, Muhammad sent him with an army againstthe Fazarah settlement. He met them in Qura and inflicted casualties on themand took Umm Qirfah prisoner. He also took one of Umm's daughters and Abdallahbin Mas'adah prisoner. Zyad bin Harithah ordered Qays to kill Umm, and he killed her cruelly. He tied each of her legs with a ropeand tied the ropes to two camels, and they split her in two. Tabari Vol.8:Page.96...
[10] Ibn Ishaq continues: Then they brought Umm Qirfa's daughterand Mas'ada's son to the apostle. The daughter of Umm Qirfa belonged to Salamab. Amr b. al-Akwa who had taken her. She held aposition of honor among her people, and the Arabs used to say, "Had you beenmore powerful than Umm Qirfa you could have done no more". Salama asked theapostle to let him have her and he gave her to him and he presented her to hisuncle Hazn b. Abu Wahb and she bare him Abdul-Rahman . Hazn. Ibn Ishaq 980
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