When Insulting the Prophet ﷺ Becomes a Political Tactic

 When Insulting the Prophet ﷺ Becomes a Political Tactic 

This is not the first time that the act of insulting our Prophet ﷺ has been used as a political tool. Those who understand our faith  comprehend how sacred our Prophet ﷺ is to us, and know full well the implications of such provocation. Hence, at times they use this provocation as a tactic for sinister political means.

One of the first times this occurred was during the early period of Andalusian history. Beginning from around 850 CE and lasting for at least a few decades, a strange phenomenon arose: Christian saints and leaders would walk to the city center of Cordoba, in front of the Grand Mosque (pictured below), and loudly and unequivocally shout out blasphemies against the Prophet ﷺ , using the most vulgar language and foul imagery imaginable. This was 9th century Europe, and they knew full well that the penalty for this public blasphemy was imprisonment, trial and potential execution. In fact, it is estimated that around fifty such people were eventually 'martyred' for their cause. 

What would drive the clergy of Cordoba at the time to do such an irrational act? 

Later scholars point out the psychological state of mind that occurs when a group begins to lose power or relevancy. Leaders of a movement decide to act irrationally, doing inexplicable deeds in order to draw some attention, *any* attention, to themselves and their cause, away from the success of other movements and causes.

During this time frame, the population of Andalusia was converting to Islam at higher and higher rates, and people were leaving Christianity and embracing the new faith. These 'martyrs', jealously wanting to do something to protect their old faith, and increasingly bitter as they saw their intellectual structures crumble, felt so powerless that they resorted to these psychotic episodes spiraling down into more and more irrational attacks, which, of course in their case, had dire consequences. 

The same psychology exists today.

The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, won the elections a year ago with a resounding 66 % of the vote - an amazingly high figure. He positioned himself as a centrist, meaning that he was explicitly critical of the xenophobic and Islamophobic parties in France such as the National Rally led by Marine Le Pen. Yet, in barely a year, his popularity has fallen astronomically to around 29 % (due to internal factors: favoring the rich, cutting pensions of retirees, and other dubious dealings). Additionally, in the last few weeks, France has emerged as an epicenter of coronavirus cases, with its hospitals and ICU units almost to capacity due to Macron's inept handling of the virus. 

Given all of this, what is a Machiavellian politician to do?! Why, of course, when a lone 18 year old unstable kid snaps and does something foolish, what better way to rally up support and shore up popularity than to rile up latent xenophobia against those 'beurs' * and hope for even more provocation. This is evil politics at its best (or worst): divert people's attentions away from the real issues at hand; invoke past mythical motifs of 'freedom' so that people's nationalist sentiment is sparked; and in the process shore up your own popularity by claiming to be the messianic champion of 'your people' against those 'others'. 

Us Muslims should not fall for his tactics and understand them for what they are: the desperate, foolish measures of a sinister politician who is willing to divide his own nation and potentially create chaos merely to boost his own popularity. 

Back in Andalus, those public displays of sheer lunacy neither helped the cause of Christianity nor benefitted those clerics personally. Islam continued to spread until a majority of the peoples of that land were Muslim. So too now, Macron's tactics will neither benefit his nation, nor even will his popularity be strong in the books of history. 

That is because anyone who dares challenge the sanctity of the Prophet ﷺ has been given a Divine promise: 

إِنَّ شَانِئَكَ هُوَ ٱلْأَبْتَرُ

The legacy of Macron - all of it - will be completely and totally eliminated. This is not me predicting: it is the promise of Allah speaking.

* 'Beurs' is a derogatory term that the French use for the Arabs - my apologies to those offended but I feel the term needs to be known to those who speak English.