prevails, but on a large scale, for instance, in Kashmir, Palestine, etc.
There also the Muslims first throw stones at the police or the army.
Then the police or the army shoots at them or bombs are dropped
on them from aeroplanes. In such cases what happens, in effect, is
that even those Muslims who are not directly involved also become
the targets of retaliatory violence.
The verse quoted above applies to all such cases. Therefore,
protesting by referring to such cases where, in the retaliatory action
of the other party, both kinds ofMuslims—those involved in violence
and those who were innocent
--
were the object of retaliation and, as
such, holding that
this was against human rights, is totally wrong.
This method of protest is alien to Islamic norms. It is but natural in
such matters that the innocent are also killed along with the guilty.
According to the Quranic principle, in such cases those who
are held guilty are those who initiated the provocation (9:13). In
the light of this verse, Muslim leaders, rather than protest against
retaliatory action, should be extra careful to refrain from creating
any provocative situations in Muslim society. Taking such a stand
is doubly harmful. One, such people may face God’s wrath, second,
their condition never improves because the situation is never
rectified and they remain forever in a state of humiliation.
Reaction is Un-Islamic
Many are involved in war and violence, both at the individual and
the social levels. If they are told to refrain from involving themselves
in such destructive activities, their answer will be that it is a natural
reaction: any group facedwith suppression and injusticewill certainly
react. It will take to using guns and bombs, and will ultimately resort
to suicide bombing. They will say that if you want us to stop violent
reaction, you shall have to put an end to the oppression and injustice
perpetrated by the other party, otherwise our violent activities will
go on. If you want to put an end to reaction, you shall first have to
end action. Unilateral advice is not going to serve any purpose in this
matter.
This philosophy of reaction is wholly unnatural and results from
a wrong conception of what is justifiable action. The right criterion
for any action is its being productive of useful results. Any action
which does not produce beneficial results is fit only to be rejected.
It is an obvious fact that an action either produces a good result
The Guidance of the Prophet
39
