Daily Times

Hamza Kashgari, a young Saudi columnist, was arrested by the authorities of Saudi Arabia for his imaginary conversation with our Prophet Mohammad (PBUH). By his appearance, he looks like a decent person who would think before he spoke, but only he knows what went through his mind as he did not hesitate to post his comments on Twitter, which got him thousands of death threats within hours.

The young boy realised his mistake and posted an abrupt apology on his Twitter account and fled to Malaysia in fear of being executed if he stayed in Saudi Arabia. However, he got deported back before he could take off to New Zealand where he was planning to take asylum.

Every Muslim loves the last Prophet (PBUH) who is a source of inspiration for all mankind. It is routine to see Muslims distributing sweets and other stuff in the name of the Holy Prophet (PBUH), seeking spiritual closeness to him and sometimes for material gains. As the followers of Islam believe that if one is in the liking list of the Prophet (PBUH), than even Allah Almighty eases the hardships in a person’s life. Not only this, the followers of all sufi saints around the world believe in saints simply because the core of spiritualism is connected to the last Prophet of Islam (PBUH), who is the one that provides spiritual richness to all the imams, sufis, walis and the saints that hide themselves from the world in order to seek closeness to Allah.

Only Kashgari knows the reason why he posted those comments on Eid-i-Milad-un-Nabi. Living in Saudi Arabia, Kashgari would have been travelling to the holy city of Madina often like all Saudi residents. In his capacity of being a Muslim, he must have had several questions for Allah and His last Prophet (PBUH).

We have come across many ‘blasphemers’ in the world but never a young Saudi national who happens to be working in a newspaper. He should have never written those comments on Twitter but since he has, now it is up to the Muslims around the world to decide what becomes of Kashgari. Should he go through psychological evaluation? Or should his parents be questioned about his life in general, and/or execute him as several Muslims are demanding that punishment?

There are thousands around the world calling for Kashgari’s execution but as Muslims, it has to be taken into consideration that how would the reasoning behind his comments be known if he were to die.

Our holy Prophet (PBUH) was the person who would pardon the most treacherous deeds of a person if he had sought forgiveness with a pure heart. And being a Muslim myself, I think that Kashgari must have not been himself that day and that is why he wrote those comments. No right-minded Muslim would hold the most loved and cherished personality of all times responsible for the hardships in their lives, but by doing so Kashgari also told the world that he often attempted to communicate with the Prophet (PBUH), maybe to discuss his problems. It shows that he was eager to learn more but something blinded him and he did the unthinkable.

For instance, children blame their parents for problems that they are unable to find a solution for, when most of the time it is not the fault of the parents. Every devoted Muslim tries to establish his contact with the Prophet (PBUH) for spiritual gains. Several Muslims around the world have claimed that they had dreamt of the Prophet (PBUH), which is a religious-spiritual honour only a handful of people might have had. In the Urdu language, such a dream is termed as bisharat and only the ‘ultra lucky’ experience it. It implies that the ones that live their lives according to the rules of Islam and tend to help others develop the ultimate contact with the most important personality of all times. Moreover, it has also been learnt through the teachings of the sufis that the people who are bestowed with bisharat seldom talk about it.

It is believed by the devout Muslims that the last Messenger of Allah is aware of everything that is going on in this world. If people have questions about the life hereafter and the problems in the world, its answer is that humans are free to make choices until the given time and they are solely responsible for their own acts. This was something Kashgari failed to understand and ended up tweeting words he wished he had not.

Though the Saudi authorities are solely handling the matter by themselves, as Muslims are present in almost every corner of the world, Kashgari should be allowed to come in public and apologise once again for his comments. Maybe in the process he would make the other young curious Muslims understand that if a person is going through suffering in life, he should try to figure out solutions himself, and if all fails, communicate with the Creator directly instead of blaming the holy Prophet (PBUH).

A human rights activist, Souad al-Shammary, tweeted that a Sharia court in the capital has ratified Kashgari’s repentance in the presence of his family, and that he showed his regret over what he had written about the Prophet (PBUH). They are talking about the possible release of Kashgari, which is a positive move. Nothing substantial in this regard has surfaced in the media yet. No word from his lawyer or family has been received in the media that would confirm his expected release.

As per Islamic interpretations, Kashgari’s comments were not meant to be online but if Kashgari was allowed the chance to issue an apology on a public forum, then people around the world would know that Muslims are capable of getting to the root of the problem and be up front about it.

After all, we are the possessors of the religion that teaches tolerance and acceptance. Ergo, the Muslim clergy and theMuslims in general around the world should support the fact that young minds such as Kashgari need to learn more about Islam and its multi-layered teachings.

The writer is a reporter at Daily Times. He is also an animal rights activist and can be reached at theold313@hotmail.com