teacher

Are Muslims Permitted to Behead those who Insult Islam?

Are Muslims Permitted to Behead those who Insult Islam?

Eric Brazau

French Teacher Patty Beheading is it permissible? The answer could be yes. However, it must be contextualized. French teacher Samuel Patty’s beheading happened in the street of a Paris suburb. The Chechen refugee who beheaded him was shot to death by French police. This man did not attempt to escape. He sacrificed his life for Islam. He is a hero to some in the Muslim community.

Not all Muslims were pleased with the French Teacher Patty Beheading.

Some people were outraged by this act of beheading a teacher. Many labeled this to be a savage, barbarian act. Many were quick to denounce this act of beheading as unacceptable. It was condemned  for all the regularly stated reasons. Others said this act of beheading does not represent the TRUE Islam. Others said the Moscow-born Chechen refugee who beheaded the teacher was misunderstanding.  

Contextualizing the Islamic Perspective on Beheading those who Insult Islam or Prophet Mohammad PBUH.

Imam Shabbir Ally

(Biography) was interviewed on Let The Quran Speak

There are classical books written that explain the religion of Islam. And these classical interpretations of Islam make it so objectionable to criticize God or the prophet or the scriptures of Islam, to the extent that they prescribe the death penalty for the critic.

Question: Are you saying that this is part of Islamic law then?

There is a report saying that the prophet Muhammad PBUH validated the actions of a person who took the matter into his own hands and slaughtered the critic.

Imam Jawed Anwar

Muslims have requested that blasphemy, ridiculing, insulting and disgracing against Prophet Muhammad be made a punishment, crime felony. Muslims can tolerate anything… But whenever someone insults Prophet Muhammad, they always react, they get revenge. They cannot control their sentiments. The word tolerance doesn’t apply here. Enough will be enough. It has been proven in history again and again. Whenever someone dishonored and insulted Prophet Muhammad, Muslims always first try to convince them not to do that. But if they do not abstain and ignore the collective demands of the Muslims, some young blood comes forward to make a score. The non-Muslim world, the courts, convicted and hanged them, but in the eyes of Muslims they are martyrs.(heroes)

Muslim Community has given Repeated Warning that Perceived Insult Would be Severely Punished with Execution.

Imam Yasir Qadhi

Interviewer

We also have to conclude that there is a strain or narrative within the Muslim community that uses Islam to justify such actions? (beheading for insulting Islam) And our history is replete with such devotion towards the messenger.

Response

Like all discussions, we have to start with the revelation. How does Islam ask us to respond to such deliberate provocation against the messenger of Allah?… We have to acknowledge that we do have two sets of principles or paradigms depending on our context. There is indeed a Mecca phase and a Medina phase.

Because again, in Mecca, no Muslim committed any act of vigilante justice against those that persecuted him. Now, obviously in the Medina phase, Muslims have political power and there is a very different set of rules.

The Beheading was not actually Condemned but the Political Effect was seen as Unfavorable.

Imam Karim AbuZaid

Someone is insulting Mohammad and depicting him in cartoons. The whole Ummah is rising, saying we cannot take that! You see, I understand if a non-Muslim feels this way. Because they are not educated about the love, they are not informed about the love which Allah has placed into the hearts of every Muslim for the prophet Muhammad.

So, why are we blamed (for beheading French Teacher), rebuked, for showing this love?

Is the Perspective of Execution being Uncivilized a form of White Colonialist Islamophobia?
Saudi Arabia Leading Authority Provides References that Unequivocally Supports Execution for Perceived Insult to Islam

Islam Q&A is an academic, educational, da‘wah website that offers advice and academic answers based on evidence from religious texts. These answers are supervised by Shaykh Muhammad Saalih al-Munajjid. 

Question

There is no one among us who is unaware of what the Christians say defaming the Prophet. What should be done?

Answer

Defaming the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) is a kind of kufr. If that is done by a Muslim, then it is apostasy on his part, and the authorities have to defend the cause of Allaah and His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) by executing the one who defamed him. If the one who defamed him repents openly and is sincere, that will benefit him before Allaah, although his repentance does not waive the punishment for defaming the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), which is execution. 

Question

With regard to the Muslim who impugns the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) in secret and conceals it, if he repents before he is executed, will Allah accept his repentance? Or does he have to announce what he did so that he will be executed before Allah will accept his return to Islam?

Answer

Ibn al-Mundhir (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 

The majority of scholars are agreed that the one who impugns the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) is to be executed. 

Al-Khattaabi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 

I do not know of any of the Muslims who differed concerning the obligation of executing him.

Ma‘aalim as-Sunan, 3/295 

Secondly: 

If the one who impugned the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) repents and regrets what he did, and he comes back to Islam, that repentance will benefit him in his relationship with Allah. So before Allah he will be a believing Muslim. But the obligation of executing him will not be waived.

French Teacher Patty Beheading

Conclusion

According to what we learn in this article, Muslim leaders and Islamic doctrine sanction execution for insult. Insult cannot easily be separated from annoyance or disagreement. Therefore, if a Muslim disagrees with a statement, he can feel insulted. Insult is not usually a fact, but an opinion based on perception; however, people can be hunted and executed because of a perception.

Cabbage Town

How Hijab can be Jihad – Imam’s Lecture on Quebec’s Bill 21

Eric Brazau

How Hijab can be Jihad? Imam contextualizes how the hijab can be a tool for advancing political Islam using females as the vanguard.

“It is the hijab which is the distinctive identity of Muslim women.”

Toronto cabbage town 2008

Toronto Imam Syed Rizvi is perhaps the most influential Shia Imam in all North America. He gave a lecture on December 17, 2021. Imam Syed Rizvi made it clear that Muslim women wear the hijab as a form of Jihad. Hijab is a political statement. It affirms the rights of the Muslim community to be recognized as a distinct people. Below is a partial transcript of the sermon regarding Quebec Bill 21.

Imam Syed Rizvi

The statement which has come recently, especially from the leader of the NDP, it is more powerful, especially in the press conference. He used a very good example: a brother and a sister from the Muslim background in Quebec, both of them trained and qualified teachers. According to this law, the brother can be a teacher in this school but the sister cannot be because she is a hijabi.

This hijab cannot be a barrier. This is where I would say that Muslim women who are being targeted because they practice their faith, they are actually not only doing something on a personal level to practice this faith. It is in a way jihad for them. Muslim men we can just go around because beard is very common in many cultures. Attire-wise there is no issue. It is the hijab which is the distinctive identity of Muslim women.

Progressive lesbian Muslim reformer and bestselling author Irshad Manji’s book Allah Liberty & Love P.181

Some women tell me by choosing the hijab they make a political point, not a spiritual world one.

Is this confirmation the Hijab is a Form of Jihad?

NCCM, National Council of Canadian Muslims has developed workshops to normalize the view of hijab and Islam as the champion of human rights. They have also developed workshops that specifically target teachers and parents.

Conclusion:

The hijab is being used as a tool to inculcate Islamic culture as normative. This is a definitive signal that Western culture is on the wain. In contrast Islamic culture is in the ascendance

How Hijab can be Jihad

Hijab Interfaith Solution to Political Statement – Bill 21

Hijab Interfaith Solution to Political Statement – Bill 21

Eric Brazau

Is hijab mandatory in Canada. December of 2021, a teacher in Quebec who wears a hijab was reassigned. She was reassigned from her teaching position in accordance with Quebec Bill 21. This law prohibits the the display of ostentatious religions symbols such as the hijab or kipa.

Quebec judge wouldn’t hear case of woman wearing hijab

Muslim leaders in Canada mandate that people who identify as women and Muslim wear the Hijab in public

Muslim leaders state clearly that Muslims are bound by love and dedication to Allah to strive to establish Islamic dominance. This is achieved by displaying loyalty to Islam. NCCM has developed workshops to normalize view of hijab and Islam as the champion of human rights. They have also developed workshops that specifically target teachers and parents.

Is the hijab used to make a political statement or Is hijab mandatory in Canada?

We first learn from progressive lesbian Muslim reformer and bestselling author Irshad Manji’s book Allah Liberty & Love P.181

Some women tell me by choosing the hijab they make a political point not a spiritual world one.

Chicago School Faculty Professor Jaleel Abdul-Adil

The vast majority of Islamic scholars make it clear that democracy and secularism are not compatible with Islamic values.

Following are statements made by influential Imams and scholars regarding secularism and democracy.

Dr. Jaleel Abdul-Adil, speaking at the Islamic World Order Conference 2020. From Pandemic to BLM an Alternative.

We Muslims are carrying our message of Islam that is not designed to assimilate or integrate into secularism. We cannot follow the crowd. Muslims must create the crowd moving toward an Islamic world order.

American Scholar Imam Hayton

Islam is not here to integrate. Islam is here to dominate. This is an ideological struggle the sole purpose of which is to organize men’s affairs in accordance with the system revealed by Allah. There is no room for compromise. 

Many Quebecer believe women wear the hijab to signal the rejection of Quebec culture

Mustafa Farooq of NCCM  National Council of Canadian Muslims

How are Muslims going to recreate Cordoba [Islamic State] in Edmonton, Toronto, Montreal, one in which we Muslims erase these artificial “nation-state” identities and move together to pursue jannah [Paradise]?

Sheikh Abu Ameenah Bilal Phillips founder of Islamic online University

Hijab is quite simple. Hijab is an obligation on Muslim women. It does not mean that if a Muslim woman doesn’t wear the hijab she is no longer a Muslim, but she is in sin. From the perspective of God she is in sin. If she does not wear the hijab, meaning that she covers her body, the whole of her body, with loose garments from head to toe, nothing being seen of her except her face and hands.

Secularism directly conflicts with the foundations of Islam. Faith and worship are interwoven into the fabric of Islamic society.

Islam q&a  is an academic, educational, da‘wah website which aims to offer advice and academic answers based on evidence from religious texts

There is no separation between politics and the religion of Islam.

Imam Syed Rizvi

When I look towards Allah and I see he has affiliation with Iran, has no affiliation with Canada, with America, I say I have affiliation with Iran.

Imam Mazin Abdul Adhim

Our loyalty is to the Khalifa. Our loyalty must remain with it whether it is present or absent. The only thing we are allowed to have loyalty towards is the full implementation of Islam.

Imam Ahmed Kutty is a well-known Islamic scholar in North America. He is currently a senior resident Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto. He has previously taught as an adjunct instructor at Emanuel College of the University of Toronto.

Toronto Imam Shabbir Ally

Modest attire for women that covers the whole body, excluding the face and the hands, is ordained by a law in the Quran. No Muslim or Muslima can reject it on the grounds of that, I am an adult, I can decide for myself.

Shabbir ally

Women who wear the hijab will be recognized and not molested. Some classical scholars say the woman should cover her face and hands when she goes out of the house.

Islam Balancing Life distributed at Toronto Dundas Sq.

Hijab frees a woman being perceived as sexual objects. Whereas when a woman chooses to show her body in one form or another the message is clear she wants attention and possibly much more.

Conclusion

Some people on the “right” will argue that this teacher is simply pushing the Islamic agenda to bring about the normalization of all things Islam. They will point to the statements made by NCCM and leading senior Imams that say just that.

Some on the ‘left” will argue that we must respect this teacher’s right to express her religion because it is her right guaranteed by the Canadian charter. The fact that Islamic leaders in Canada say all Muslims have a duty to strive in establishing Islamic Law in Canada and the world, that her hijab may be a political statement, is not important because this teacher is very nice and many like her.

Solution

Perhaps Muslim women could wear a hat. That is an interfaith bridge building compromise.

“Canada is not strong in spite of diversity but because of it”.

Hijab Interfaith Solution to the Question Is hijab mandatory in Canada.

Texas Imam “killing civilians and whatnot” “But we cannot ignore provocation”

Texas Imam “killing civilians and whatnot” “But we cannot ignore provocation”

Eric Brazau

Premiered Nov 2, 2020 Imam Yasir Qadhi is responding on, Thinking Muslim’ Podcast: Difficult Questions About the Situation in France, the increasing tensions in France, that has, in the last several days, been stricken with two jihadist attacks. French teacher Samuel Paty was beheaded & 3 people in church in Niece were killed an elderly woman was decapitated.

The following description is from Imam Yasir Qadhi’s you tube channel: Shaykh, Dr. Yasir Qadhi speaks about the French Policy towards Muslims, the potential for the ‘French model’ to be exported to other countries where Muslims are a minority. He also touches on the Islamic justifications for violence, how we (Muslims) should defend the honour of the Messenger of Allah. (SAW) Below is an excerpt of this interview.

If you listen to my lectures throughout Al Qaeda and ISIS era I was always without exception bringing up American foreign policy as a primary cause of those jihadist movements. I gave a number of lectures that went viral. That once again, yes I criticize the beheading of journalists. I criticize a lot of the errant views that Al Qaeda and ISIS had and the killing civilians and whatnot. But I never stop speaking of the broad picture which is, these movements are, a reaction to your invasion

The same applies over here now. What we’re seeing now is wrong. What these people are doing is wrong. But we cannot ignore provocation. We cannot ignore…

This is what I call it asymmetric warfare. You have the state on one side, you have the media, you have the president, on one side that is prodding and poking and provoking and wanting to incite, continuously demonizing the entire faith. And on the other side you have a bunch of citizens like us expected to monitor each and every individual. That’s impossible… It is the government that should think about its future course of action. Not as a threat to – for a future attack but as a sensible policy. In this case secularism has become an excuse to be anti-Muslim. Therefore even when this one attack happened, or three attacks or two attacks, we criticize those attacks. But we always jump to the broader narrative. And Allah knows best this is what has been my philosophy pretty much from the beginning.

Shaykh Yasir Qadhi is a Pakistani-American Islamic scholar, theologian and preacher. Since 2001, he has served as Dean of Academic Affairs at the Al-Maghrib Institute, an international Islamic educational institution with a center in Houston, Texas. He also taught in the Religious Studies department at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. He is currently the resident scholar of the East Plano Islamic Center in Plano, Texas.

Qadhi has written numerous books and lectured widely on Islam and contemporary Muslim issues. A 2011 The New York Times Magazine essay by Andea Elliott described Qadhi as “one of the most influential conservative clerics in American Islam.

Qadhi was previously affiliated with the Salafi movement but has since left the movement and now identifies as a Sunni.

Texas Imam: France is blatantly Islamophobic & Xenophobic. Muslims say Enough is Enough

Texas Imam: France is blatantly Islamophobic & Xenophobic. Muslims say Enough is Enough

Eric Brazau

In the weeks prior to Nov 2, 2020, France has been stricken with two jihadist attacks. French teacher Samuel Paty was beheaded and 3 people in a church were killed, including an elderly woman who was decapitated. American Imam Yasir Qadhi, a world renowned Islamic leader, is responding to the backlash.

Interview with ‘The Thinking Muslim’ Podcast: Difficult Questions About the Situation in France  Premiered Nov 2, 2020

The following description is from Imam Yasir Qadhi’s youtube channel:

Shaykh Dr. Yasir Qadhi speaks about the French Policy towards Muslims, the potential for the ‘French model’ to be exported to other countries where Muslims are a minority. He also touches on the Islamic justifications for violence, how we should defend the honour of the Messenger of Allah. (SAW) Below is an excerpt of the lecture.

“Again I reiterate our loyalties are to our creator not to our nation state. As for France, I’ve only been three times, I think. I agree with you. And of course I have met many French Muslims. I agree with you the xenophobia, Islamophobia, I really don’t know of any other Western country in the world that is more blatantly Islamophobic than France. I do not know of any other country. Now that is frightening because France has the highest percentage of Muslims of any – the entire Western world. Those two facts together do not bode well for the future. That’s all I will say – do not bode well. If you study history, and the exacerbations going on, tit for tat, at what point do the Muslims say enough is enough?” Video Excerpt

Shaykh Yasir Qadhi is a Pakistani-American Islamic scholar, theologian and preacher. Since 2001, he has served as Dean of Academic Affairs at the Al-Maghrib Institute, an international Islamic educational institution with a center in Houston, Texas. He also taught in the Religious Studies department at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. He is currently the resident scholar of the East Plano Islamic Center in Plano, Texas.

Qadhi has written numerous books and lectured widely on Islam and contemporary Muslim issues. A 2011 The New York Times Magazine essay by Andea Elliott described Qadhi as “one of the most influential conservative clerics in American Islam.

Qadhi was previously affiliated with the Salafi movement but has since left the movement and now identifies as a Sunni.

The following are excerpts from Islam Q&A academic, educational and da‘wah website supervised by Shaykh Muhammad Saalih al-Munajjid, dealing with the topic of execution for insult or blasphemy.

Defaming the Prophet PBUH is a kind of kufr. If that is done by a Muslim then it is apostasy on his part, and the authorities have to defend the cause of Allaah and His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) by executing the one who defamed him.

If a Muslim hears a Christian or anyone else defaming the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) he has to denounce him in strong terms. It is permissible to insult that person because he is the one who started it. How can we not stand up the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)? It is also obligatory to report him to the authorities who can carry out the punishment on him. If there is no one who can carry out the hadd punishment of Allaah and stand up for the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) then the Muslim has to do whatever he can.

That is because there is no room for compromise with regard to the rights of Allaah but there is room for compromise when it comes to the rights of human beings. 

from al-Adaab al-Shar’iyyah (1/237-238) 

The ruling of execution because of a word that somebody utters is what the Muslim scholars call al-riddah (apostasy). What is apostasy and what constitutes apostasy? What is the ruling on the apostate (al-murtadd)? 

Texas Imam: Islamic Terror attacks Fuel Islamophobia Taking a Toll on the Muslim Community

Texas Imam: Islamic Terror attacks Fuel Islamophobia Taking a Toll on the Muslim Community

Eric Brazau

Premiered Nov 2, 2020, Interview with Imam Yasir Qadhi on ‘The Thinking Muslim’ Podcast: Difficult Questions About the Situation in France.

Question

But I think it would be remiss of me not to mention the events currently unfolding in Niece. Yet again, France is subject to another set of murders. Initially, reports suggest that Muslims may be involved. You said that after the killing of Samuel Paty, that Muslims should stop condemning. Yet after today’s attack you did condemn these crimes. But doesn’t that condemnation imply some level of culpability on behalf of the Muslim community? Can you explain your thinking behind this, Sheikh?

Yasir Qadhi: To be precise it wasn’t that I said we should stop condemning unconditionally. I was contextualizing and saying that we need to understand where that anger is stemming from.  And that the onslaught of terror that France & Europe – and I did, even in the hutba (sermon). I explicitly said that what that individual did was wrong. So we need to be a little bit more careful because we have so many different demographics that we’re dealing with. It’s well nigh impossible to say something that’s not going to offend one demographic. Which means we need to forget about offending or not, and we need to think a little bit more to speaking the truth, speaking the reality. So we are now caught between a rock and a hard place. We have, on the one side, our own Muslim community that has been burnt and scarred. That Our Prophet PBUH has been ridiculed and threatened… They have just been completely rinsed out for the last decade and a half. Always having to condemn, always having to be on the defensive, and they are simply tired. They really are tired and they have every right to be tired. For how long are we going to be expected to, as you said, condemn or apologize on behalf of somebody that has nothing to do with us?  The narrative of radical Islam, the narrative of Muslims and Islam has an inherent problem with violence. And even the more broad-minded amongst them, even the more tolerant amongst them, are saying “okay, the majority of Muslims are not terrorists but the majority of terrorists are Muslims”. They have bought that narrative. And we need to work to challenge that narrative of the mainstream. We need to understand their narrative and then work to change it.  The way that’s going to happen is by getting out of our safety zone and bubble from within our own community and to acknowledge that, you know what, they have been miss-fed a series of lies and narratives that is incorrect. In order to battle that we are going to have to say things that – I don’t like to apologize for what happened. I don’t. It’s not my business to do that.

Shaykh Yasir Qadhi is a Pakistani-American Islamic scholar, theologian and preacher. Since 2001, he has served as Dean of Academic Affairs at the Al-Maghrib Institute, an international Islamic educational institution with a center in Houston, Texas. He also taught in the Religious Studies department at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. He is currently the resident scholar of the East Plano Islamic Center in Plano, Texas.

Qadhi has written numerous books and lectured widely on Islam and contemporary Muslim issues. A 2011 The New York Times Magazine essay by Andea Elliott described Qadhi as “one of the most influential conservative clerics in American Islam. Qadhi was previously affiliated with the Salafi movement but has since left the movement and now identifies as a Sunni.

  • Yasir Qadhi Picture: screengrab from YouTube Yasir Qadhi