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TRIPOLI, November 28 (Mercy for Mankind) – The first
morning session of the third day of the seventh general conference
of the World Islamic Call Society (WICS) went underway Sunday,
November 28, with the second working paper as the main topic. The
paper was prepared and presented by Abuzeid Al Mukri Al Idrissi,
Lecturer and Islamic researcher, and a member of Moroccan
parliament. The paper entitled; "Universality of the Call and of
Mercy" was prepared by Idrissi to shed more light on the conference's slogan
and reasons behind that choice. "It is my pleasure and honor to have been delegated by my
brothers (in the WICS), who placed their trust in my humble
knowledge, to prepare this modest research: “The Universality of
Mercy and Islam” on the exalted subject of the present Conference,
derived from Allah’s words: ‘We have not sent you forth but as a
mercy for mankind’, Idrissi said, reading from his paper. He said he divided the paper into three parts, first entitled;
"The Qur'anic Nature of Mercy", second; "The Universality of Islam",
and the third part came under the title; "The Prophet of Mercy to
the Universe". Idrissi said he resorted to that division only to make it easier
for everyone to go through the paper. "The reader of the Qur’an can only wonder at how prevalent in
this Book is the concept of mercy and its synonyms, in a way much
similar to how the soul permeates the body. "The terms of mercy, its synonyms and derivatives suffuse the
fabric of the Holy Qur’an and embellish it with their gentle
meanings, truly reflecting in linguistic form its feature as ‘A
guide and a mercy to all who believe’ (Al A’raf, 52). "The self-description of the Qur’an is imbued with mercy and
other such attributes as healing, enlightenment and guidance. If we
limit ourselves to listing the many instances where the word mercy
‘rahma’ occurs in the Qur’an, we will be amazed to note how often it
is present throughout the Holy Book. In fact, there are 340
instances of the word ‘rahma’, almost as numerous as the days of the
year, as if signifying a portion of Quranic mercy for every day of
the year." Idrissi then detailed, in his paper, both the linguistic and
semantic usage of the word mercy and its derivatives in the Noble
Qur'an and what that indicates. "Thus, every good deed, charitable act, divine munificence,
blessing, virtuous act and show of submission in good deeds is
described in the Qur’an as mercy, or motivated by mercy, or aiming
at mercy."
"This also applies to the generalization of guidance, the
revelation of the Torah and the resurrection of the Messiah, the
sending of rain, the generalization of forgiveness and salvation
from hell, the achievement of submission and piety, reverence in
worship, charity, the quest for forgiveness, mediating between
people, fortitude, hijra, the sanction of punishment, the continuity
of the creation, making lawfulness the general premise, bounty,
wisdom, justice, resurrection, heaven, fair judgment, the
alleviation of sorrow, the quest for the means of salvation,
kindness to orphans and to those in need, the avoidance of despair,
praying for the wellbeing of the parents, erecting the barrier
against Gog and Magog, the bliss of matrimony, and all other sublime
meanings and bestowed godly blessings, all these attributes are
referred to in the Qur’an as mercy or the result of mercy, the aim
being to send mercy down and generalize it to all worshippers, pious
men and the gentle-hearted." War vs. Mercy
Idrissi then touched upon accusations Muslims fought many wars
and that apparently contradict the concept of mercy. "Talking about mercy in Islam may clash with reality since
Muslims fought many wars throughout the shining history of the
Islamic civilization. "In answer, we need no more than say that Islam legitimized
warfare for Muslims while considering it undesirable, a simple
reminder of the inherent human nature which rejects harm and
bloodshed so that the Muslim accustoms his mind to the idea that war
is an undesirable exceptional state. Hence engaging in war became a
special dispensation for those who were forced to fight against an
injustice, in self-defense, in championing the cause of a weak
person, or to free people from a tyrannical force that deprives them
of the freedom of faith guaranteed by Islam. "Therefore, fighting should cease the moment the enemy veers
towards peace so that all can embrace this peace. "For these purposes, Muslims fought many wars but they never
carried in their hearts the seed of genocide, nor did they justify
it with religion or practice it. Fighting for them ceased the moment
peace was sought. No injured person was finished off, no prisoner was executed and no harm was wrought
upon those who were uninvolved in the battle." At that point Idrissi, in his paper drew a line and compared
Muslim wars with those waged by the West. "In contrast, the West espoused the culture of genocide in
theory, formulation and religious justification through a horrendous
march that started with the inquisition and even before, and
continues today in Fallujah (Iraq), opening with no qualms the gates
of hell on the rest of the oppressed humanity. "To date, America has not apologized for the extermination of one
hundred and twenty million Indians. In fact, it dedicates museums to
the major slayers of this exterminated people and presents them to
their students as true historical heroes about whom documentaries
are made! "A large portion of the Zionist Puritan Protestant Christian
culture is used as a premise for the justification of genocide,
labeling it as a ‘moral necessity’ and a ‘divine will’. It has shown
that since its creation, America has based its religion on six
foundations of which the first one is the Israeli dimension of
America, and the last one is ‘the right to sacrifice the other’." The Moroccan lecturer then moved to the second part on the
universality of Islam. "The Holy Qur’an opens with the phrase: ‘Praise be to Allah, the
God of the Worlds’, and closes with the starting “I seek protection
from the God of all People’. "Between beginning and end stretch verses that propound a world
of universality that neither limits God to a people nor makes them
His chosen people. One of the most dangerous racist lapses committed
in the name of religion in the history of human religious conflict
was, regrettably, the monopoly placed on the relationship with God,
and therefore the fall in the trap of playing god over other people
and considering them ‘ignorant’ or ‘uncivilized people’, leading
them to believe that they were born to serve the
religiously-fortunate class. "There is no religion like Islam in its sensitivity and caution
not to fall in the trap of this racist monopoly, hence the opening
and the concluding of the revelation with the stress that Allah is
the God of the universe: ‘And your Allah is One Allah. There is no
god but He, Most Gracious, Most Merciful” (Al-Baqara, 163)." Idrissi then detailed how the Noble Qur'an made it crystal clear
Islam is a religion for all mankind, not limited to one Ummah
(nation) or to one race. The final part of the paper is dedicated to Prophet Muhammad
(SAW) and how he was sent as a mercy for all mankind, not just to
Arabs.
"He was the conferred mercy, the bestowed grace and the shining
light. He was born, raised and sent as mercy to the worlds, as a
bearer of good tidings and as a harbinger. "He was made of mercy, and baked from the clay of tenderness. It
was in his nature to be humble, pious and supplicant, and tearful to
present humanity in its last powerful and prosperous age with a
model of the perfect human being whom Allah had willed that it be an
example to mankind; one by whose light they would be guided so that
they could help one another in doing good and shunning evil, and in
building not destroying." "The Prophet’s Creator has given testimony to his mercy “We have
not sent you (The Prophet) but as a mercy for mankind). He has
blessed him with mercy and shared with him two of His Beautiful
Names" After Idrissi finished his presentation, a thirty-minute interval
was called. The morning session is to reconvene after the interval
for discussions of the paper.
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