THE Chairman Mao’s inspired Great March of 1934-35 reminds me of a dialogue between the Angels and the disbelievers which isbeautifully narrated in the Qur’an. The Red Army under the tutelage of Chairman Mao (his real name: Mao Zedong 1893-1976) relocated to another region with a view to escaping the brutality of the regime of the day in China. The move that was in consonance with the Qur’anic injunction which stipulates relocation from one’s current domicile to another in a case of real or perceived oppression” (Q.
4: 97). The dialogue mentioned above is about the event of the day of resurrection when the disbelievers will be queried by the Angels for coming to the arena empty-handed. In their response, the disbelievers will blame their coming without any provision on incessant harassment and intimidation by their oppressors.
“But you should have taken the advantage of the vast expanse of land provided by God to migrate away from the oppressors,” the Angels will reason (Q.4: 97). I am using the brief anecdote to prove both the beauty of Islam and the ever-currency/relevance of the Qur’an regarding any issue under the sun.
The simple deduction from this anecdote is that more often than not, the outsiders and the arm-chair critics have found it convenient to see the behavioural pattern of a Muslim as representative of what Islam stands for, thereby blaming any inadequacies of a Muslim on Islam. Without any iota of doubt, the situation will be different should th.