Page 199 - Seekers Guide Book

The Seeker’s Guide
Islam instils in its adherents – to not react in the face of
misuse of freedom of expression but to handle it gently
and with prudence. As per another tradition, the caliph
Umar ibn al-Khattab was once walking on the street one
night and accidently stepped over the leg of a homeless
man. The man in the dark yelled out, “Are you blind?”
Umar simply replied: “I am not blind, I am Umar ibn al-
Khattab”, and walked away.

It is important to understand that an insult (or blasphemy)
is an imposed allegation; it is not claimed to be an insult
by the doer of the action. A person who is accused of
blasphemy simply voices his opinion, while it is Muslims
who begin to address him as ‘blasphemer’. This is
similar to referring someone with nicknames, which is
discouraged in Islam:

Do not call each other by [offensive]
nicknames. (Quran 49:11)

A person never says he is committing blasphemy (called
shatm in Arabic). It is Muslims who impose the allegation
of blasphemy on the person, and in doing so they go
against the above teaching of the Quran. The correct way
should be to attempt to address the mind of the other
person by healthy discussion and providing him with
books on Islam. The option to kill does not exist.

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