What would you do if your son was arrested overseas on charges of assault? Would you do everything you can to help him? Or would you do everything you can to annihilate the country in which he was arrested? For Libyan President, Muammar Gadhafi, the second option makes more sense.
This Thursday, Gadhafi called on all Muslims worldwide to wage a jihad against Switzerland, supposedly in response to Switzerland’s new law banning the construction of minarets in mosques built in their country. At a meeting meant to commemorate the birthday of the Prophet of Islam, Gadhafi said:
“The masses of Muslims must go to all airports in the Islamic world and prevent any Swiss plane landing, to all harbors and prevent any Swiss ships docking, inspect all shops and markets to stop any Swiss goods being sold.”
What about all reasonable Muslims who would never do something like this? Well Gadhafi had a warning for them:
“Any Muslim in any part of the world who works with Switzerland is an apostate, is against [the Prophet] Muhammad, God and the Quran.”
Muslim sentiments were certainly hurt when Swiss voters approved a referendum to ban the construction of minarets on mosques this past November. It was an unnecessary precaution considering that only four of Switzerland’s 200 mosques even have a minaret. There was no “scare” of minarets appearing all over Switzerland, nor did the country see any issues with militancy amongst Muslims. The referendum exhibited a lack of trust in Muslims and cast a shadow of doubt upon their religion.
But we Muslims are not up in arms about that because we know that this ban will not stop us from practicing our faith. After all, the earliest mosques, including the Kaaba in Mecca and Prophet Muhammad's mosque in Medina, did not have a minaret until long after Muhammad's death. So why the sudden declaration of Jihad against the Swiss state?
This has nothing to do with religion; this has everything to do with Gadhafi’s vendetta against Switzerland dating back to 2008 when his son and daughter-in-law were arrested there for allegedly beating two workers at a hotel. They were released soon thereafter and charges were dropped, but the Libyan leader was so infuriated by his son's two-day confinement that he withdrew several billion dollars from Swiss bank accounts, cut oil supplies to Switzerland, shut subsidiaries of Swiss firms in Libya, had two Swiss businessmen arrested, and canceled most flights between the two states. Apparently, hell has no fury like a father scorned.
In 2009, Gadhafi proposed that Switzerland be abolished as a country and its territory be split among Germany, France and Italy. That didn’t work. Now his focus has shifted to exploit his religion to fool Muslims into believing it is their religious obligation to wage a physical defense against Switzerland. This mis-use of Islam is what other so-called Muslim leaders and clerics have been doing for years.
As a Muslim, I find Gadhafi’s call to Jihad against Switzerland simply ridiculous. This dim-witted self-proclaimed leader of Libya has proven he is more interested in his personal interests than the Libyan people. He is incapable to lead that country and certainly has not earned any right to declare what Muslims worldwide should do.
Islam does not allow Muslims to initiate physical resistance or even a boycott for political reasons. In addition to calling for Gadhafi to be ousted from his position, I call on all Muslims to join me in relaying a message to Gadhafi: go wage your own personal family feud with Switzerland. Leave Islam out of it.
Comments
Thank goodness a Muslim has stood up against a thug like Gadhafi in the defense of his faith. Reading this gives me hope that there are indeed Muslims who are different from what we see on the news. Thanks for the article!
Thank you for your valuable insight into this issue. Your analysis makes a great deal of sense. I was unaware of Gadhafi's previous "family feud" with Switzerland.
Very nicely done. I'm extremely sick of people using Islam as a weapon. It's totally against the spirit of the religion.
Thank you for the article. I am with you.
As a muslem and an Arab American, I was fummed by the sick allegation that Gadhafi claim aginst the swiss pepole. despit some different in certin issues, I have high respet for the great pepole of swisserland.
Ghadafi was always against Islam and Religious people, they tortured them, they through in jail until death, he is a real dictator, now he is using Islam to support his personal issue.
believe me 99% of muslims will take this as a rediculous statement and now one will even listen to him or take hi words serious, because simply all Muslims know who ghadafi is.
Why does this even make the news? The world would be a much better place if we just ignored leaders who make such statements.The news service has just helped Gadhafi in the calling of this Jihad. If he was completely ignored, he have to get on the phone, emails, or use some other form of calling this Jihad.
As a Swiss, I am not particularly proud of the vote against the minarets. It should be noted that the Swiss government recommended to reject that initiative. Also, don't forget that the vote was not against construction of new Mosques while the construction of Christian churches is forbidden in most of the Muslim world. I wish more courageous Muslims would break the silence and refuse to be represented by a Libyan dictator with a chip on his shoulder. Thank you for your article! Muslims will never be our enemies, regardless of the verbal abuse of a tiny fraction of extremists.
Thanks everyone for the very positive feedback. I enjoyed reading everyone's feedback.
Christophe - You are absolutely right that the Swiss government was against the idea of banning the construction of minarets and were actually surprised that the voters agreed to it. I don't have anything against the Swiss government or its people, although I do believe that it is an un-necessary law. But like I mentioned, I don't believe Muslims are prevented from practicing their faith in Switzerland at all.
Johannes Kelder - You have a point that we should not give Gadhafi the attention he so desperately desires, but at the same time when Muslims stay quiet about such issues, some people assume we agree with him. I am the type of Muslim who speaks out when other Muslims mis-represent their faith. I want truth to reign over falsehood, which is why I decided to speak out about this.
Thanks again everyone. I look forward to reading more of your feedback.
It's nice to know that not everyone in your faith is a lunatic. I've always know that to be the case, but it's hard to keep it in perspective when 99% of what you hear is negative. From the bombings to banning video games in the US because it has a song that quotes the Qur'an (“Tapha Niang” in LittleBigPlanet). We need more Muslims publicly denouncing the hate, let the world know you're not all extremest. As someone who belongs to no faith, it bothers me when the religious try to push their morals on others. Believe what you want, be a good human and let others believe as they wish. Live by the values of your chosen faith but don't force others to follow your ideals too.
LittleBigPlanet is a good example, if you don't want to hear it don't buy it, but don't force others to go without. It's a nice song that would've fit nicely with the game, even though I can't understand the language, the melody was pleasing.
I have eaten a great deal of Swiss cheese and I now declare Jihad on insanity. I have ordered my own execution. Urp!
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