Pope Benedict’s reference to a quote from the letter of a Byzantine empire, written to a Persian Muslim scholar in 1391, created a violent hysteria across the Muslim world. The Pope quoted the emperor: "Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."

What followed in the proceeding days are known to everybody: burning and bombing of Churches, killing of Christians including an Italian nun in Somalia, many Islamist clerics and militant groups sought the death of the Pope and yet others sought the immediate conversion of the Pope to save his life here and salvation in the life next.

What caught my attention is a report in Saudi Gazette, dated 20 September 2006, in which Muhammad Qaddafi, the elder son of Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi, demanded the immediate conversion of the Pope to Islam. I quote the report here:

The elder son of Libyan Leader Muammar Ghaddafi has called on Pope Benedict XVI to convert to Islam immediately, dismissing last week's apology from the pontiff for offending Muslims.

"If this person were really someone reasonable, he would not agree to remain at his post one minute but would convert to Islam immediately", Mohammad Ghaddafi told an awards ceremony on Monday evening for an International competition to memorize the Holy Quran. "We say to Pope - whether you apologize or not is irrelevant as apologies make no difference to us". [1]

What surprises me is the fact that a much greater offender of Islam lives in his own home and is his own father. Citing the literature compiled by Daniel Pipes in his book on the Salman Rushdie Fatwa [2], Ibn Warraq writes:

“Perhaps, the most famous contemporary (blasphemous) Muslim mentioned by Pipes is the Libyan leader, Mu’ammar Qaddafi, whose public statements on Muhammad, the Koran and Islam amount to a blasphemy greater than anything discussed so far. Qaddafi confined Sharia to private matters and in its stead; his own ideas were promulgated in the public domain. He changed the Islamic calendar, mocked the Mecca pilgrims as “guiles and foolish”, criticized Prophet Muhammad and claimed his own achievements were far greater than those of the Prophet. In general, he showed extreme doubt about the truth of the Koran and even the details of the life of the Prophet…” [3]

By now, there will be little doubt in anyone’s mind that Muammar Qaddafi remains one of the greatest offenders of Islam alive, even greater than Salman Rushdie. The Pope’s crime against Islam and Allah is nothing as compared to the elder Qaddafi’s. Indeed, just citing someone else’s view hardly constitutes a crime on part of the Pope or anybody else. Although religious leaders have found Qaddafi anti-Islamic and deviant, there has not been any death-fatwa declared against him, no demand for apology, nor any call for regret and immediate submission to the supreme power of Allah and his religion.

It now requires asking as to how the junior Qaddafi, not satisfied with the Pope's regrets, demands the latter’s immediate and unconditional conversion to Islam for a non-criminal reference, yet never made a simple reference of dissatisfaction against the greatest offender of his religion. But instead, he lives in perfect harmony with the same man, who should be considered the greatest evil man in his own judgment.

It appears that Muammar Qaddafi is fortunate his son is an ignorant man in the history of the Prophet’s life. After the battle of Badr, a pagan poetess Asma bint Marwan, composed a verse critical of Muhammad’s blood-letting aggressive war against Muslim’s own fathers and brothers of Mecca. Hearing the insult against the beloved Prophet, Omeir – allegedly the ex-husband of Asma – vowed to kill her. At one dead of night, Omeir stealthily entered Asma’s bedroom, slowly removed the sulking baby from the breast and plunged the sword on her bosom so hard that it got stuck on the wooden couch beneath.

The next day at the mosque the prophet heaped unqualified praise on Omeir and thanked for doing the sacred job in the cause of Allah. As Omeir was passing by the congregation assembled for the slain victim’s burial, sons of Asma accused him of murdering their mother to which, Omeir avowed: “If they dared to repeat the things she had uttered, he would slay the whole clan”. The deadly threat had immediate effect and the rest of the family professed to Islam without delay. [4]

A few weeks later, Abu Afak, a 120 year-old poet of Banu Amr, also wrote verses critical of the Prophet because of the Muslims’ cruelty in the battle of Badr. Hearing this, the annoyed Prophet cried out, “Who will rid me of this pestilent fellow.” A convert of the same clan as Afak’s took up the charge and watching for opportunity, he found the aged man one day sleeping in the court-yard outside his house and dispatched him with his sword. [4]

By this time, the Jews and other who rejected Muhammad’s new religion, became alarmed and avoided routes falling on the way of the deadly Muslims. Soon afterwards, angered by the rejection of Muhammad’s prophethood by the Jews and exasperated by their razor-sharp criticisms of his often contradictory and worthless revelations, the Prophet now gave a general order to kill any Jews wherever the Muslims met. The first victim of this order was Ibn Sunayna, a respected Jewish merchant, who happened to be on the way of a Muslim convert of his own tribe. The latter fell upon the Jewish merchant and killed him. When the elder brother of the convert, still a Jew and good friend of the slain merchant, confronted him for killing an innocent man of the same confederate, the younger brother promised to kill the elder brother, too, had the Prophet wish so. To this, the elder brother exclaimed: “A religion which can drive a man so far must be an extraordinary religion”. And immediately, he converted to Islam [5].

Then there is the story of Alladullah Ibn Obayi – labeled as the greatest hypocrites in Islam, so much so that, Allah had to reveal multiple verses to condemn his hypocrisy. Abdullah was repeatedly standing as an impediment to Muhammad’s extreme cruelty. After seizing and capturing the Jewish clan of Banu Qainuqa in 624, Muhammad started preparation to slaughter the 700 men. Abdullah Ibn Obayi, leader of the Khazraj tribe, fiercely protested and even threatened Muhammad such that he had to relent and instead ordered the Jewish tribe to leave Medina in 3 days.

Similar obstructions by Abdullah annoyed Muhammad time and again but fearing his powerful position did not dare executing any violent action against him. Abdullah’s son, a fanatical convert of Muhammad, offered to bring his father’s head to Muhammad, saying: “If he was to be killed, I will do it myself. If any other man commits the deed, the Devil will tempt me to avenge my father’s blood. By killing a believer for an unbeliever, I will go to hell. Suffer me to kill him myself.”

A judicious Muhammad, still fearful of a reprisal of unknown consequence from the still-powerful Abdullah’s followers, decided otherwise. Allah often came to Muhammad’s help to console his followers by revealing verses calling him a hypocrite and cursing for his downfall and hellfire [Quran 63:01-07].

Thus, we witness how the dedicated early converts of Islam, under Prophet Muhammad’s own command, used to kill or show eagerness to do so at the command of the Prophet, even if the victims were one’s own sibling, father, innocent and friendly confederate and ex-wife – sometimes just for writing critical verses based on justifiable reasons. In the light of the actions and attitudes of early converts of Islam, the junior Qaddafi’s fanatical rage at the Pope’s citation of a critical comment of the 14th century Byzantine emperor is consistent and understandable. What is not consistent and understandable is his deafening silence against own father’s severe criticism, indeed humiliation, of the supreme religion of Islam. They say: “Charity starts at home” and this ‘wise saying’ is most appropriate in the teaching of Muhammad in his life-time. Before pointing finger at the Pope, the Qaddafi junior should point finger at his father. Indeed, colonel Qaddafi’s humiliation of Islam deserve nothing less than instant death in the light of the justice the Prophet had handed to the critics of him and his creed. The younger Qaddafi’s sword should have delivered the justice to his father long ago.

Younger Qaddafi’s fanatic rage at the Pope shows that he possesses the same kind of rage that Muhammad’s early converts had in them. But what probably is lacking is the knowledge of Islam that when such a monumental offense is done, the justice should be executed forthwith even if the offender is his own father. Alternatively, it is possible that failing to deliver the appropriate Islamic justice to his own father out of love, compassion and respect, the junior Qaddafi is showing excessive fanatical rage against the Pope over a non-issue hoping that it will help placate the rage of Allah against his father and most importantly against his own self. If this be the case, let me assure the young Qaddafi, in case he is unaware, that Islam exercised in the days of the greatest Prophet is the perfect and only acceptable Islam to Allah. The justice due to his father and his own duty in this regard is crystal clear in the light of the perfect Islam. Taking an alternative course to compensate it is nothing but a futile exercise.

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References

1.        Convert to Islam, Gaddhafi's son tells Pope [Saudi Gazette, Sept.20, 2006]

2.        Pipes, Daniel, The Rushdie Affairs: The Novel, The Ayatollah and The West, NY, 1990; p79-80.

3.        Ibn Warraq, Why I am not a Muslim, p7

4.        Ibn Hisham, p994f; Al-Waqidi, p91; Ibn Sa’ad, p19

5.        Ibn Hisham, p553f; At-Tabari, I. 1372; Al-Waqidi, p97f