21 October 2011

Qaddafi's executioners break the Third Commandment

There is no doubt that Qaddafi was a dictator and a ruthless human being. However, as I watched the video of his death I thought of the Third Commandment, revealed to the Prophet Moses, peace be upon him, at Mount Sinai:
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
The Ten Commandments also show how Allah guided mankind in small albeit profound steps.

Qaddafi's executioners dropped on him in a blood-thirsty mob chanting Allahu Akbar (God is Great). The cruelty of the scene is beyond words, not simply in the act itself but also in the signal that moral progression of the nation would not come easily as those who aim to stand in Qaddafi's stead have shown themselves to be opposed to tribunal justice, and subscribe to naked violence, much like the dictators they shun. Their racist violence against black members of their continent in the so-called Libyan revolution has been well recorded. They considers themselves Arabs, true Muslims, haughty in their tribal disregard for Allah's family. Thus one dictator follows another, cruelty continues, the strongest, the hyper-masculine victimise and brutalise without pondering Allah, they use His name as a slogan, squeezed tight in their rage.

At Asr I sat down to read the Qur'an to assuage and get an answer for why things were as they were, why were these Muslims behaving contrary to Islam, what were we to do, and then it came -- in fact it says all over the Qur'an -- for indeed the Book endears itself not to Muslims but "believers who do righteous deeds". And in the faces of many Muslims all around the worlds there is light, for it has to be if they help the poor and infirm, take care of their parents, be kind and encourage and be full of love toward their husbands and wives, and struggle for social justice for everyone and be good to Allah's creation. That is proof that they have understood His message.