My friend and I had an argument a few days ago about destroying idols
Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,
As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa
Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)
One of our brothers/sisters has asked
this question:
Assalaamualaikum,
My friend and I had an argument a few days ago about destroying idols. I said
that a few years ago, the taliban destroyed the Buddha Idols in Afghanistan and
there is nothing wrong with it as the Prophet P.B.U.H also did the same when he
entered makkah although he could have saved them and given them to the idol
worshippers to carry home and do their own worship. My argument being that
Shirk is the biggest Zulm in Islam and hence the practise of idol worship
cannot be tolerated as it is unIslamic to tolerate zulm. But he said that Islam
allows other religions to practise their own religions and gives them rights.
Please
help solve the confusion.
(There may be some grammatical and spelling
errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from
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Answer:
Budha and destroy
Idols
In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask
for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever
He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that
there is no one (no idol, no person, no
grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai,
nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that
Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.
Dear and Beloved Brother, the Holy Precincts of Makkah and
its surroundings were Declared sanctified by Allah Subhanah, and Allah Subhanah
specifically commanded the Prophet (saws) to strive to cleanse this Holy
Precinct not only from the idols which desecrated its sanctity, but also to
disallow and forbid anyone who associates another god with Allah from entering
this most sacred of sacred sites.
Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 9 Surah
Taubah verse 28:
28 O ye who believe! Truly the pagans are unclean; so let them not
after this year of theirs approach the Sacred Mosque. And if ye fear poverty soon will Allah enrich
you if He wills out of his Bounty, for Allah is All-Knowing All-Wise.
Thus when the believers won control over the city of
Makkah, the Prophet (saws) cleansed the Sacred House of Allah from the idols
and upon receipt of the above Command of Surah Taubah, the Messenger of Allah
(saws) declared it forbidden for any ‘mushrik’ (idolator) to approach the
Sacred Mosque, and Alhamdolillah, the believers after him and until this day
strove to fulfill this commandment of Allah Subhanah.
After the death of the Noble Messenger (saws), when the
noble companions and those who followed them conquered pagan lands and territories,
they did not break nor destroyed the ‘idols’ or the ‘gods’ of the pagans and
idolators, nor even touched their places of worship! The inhabitants of these conquered nations
were invited to Islam, and every individual was given a choice to accept Islam
or follow his own religion. If the
individual chose to follow Islam he became their brother in faith; and for
those who refused to accept Islam, they were allowed to worship whomever they
wished to worship, however they wished to worship in their homes or in their
dedicated places of worship like churches, temples, etc. The Muslim rulers of the land respected and
honored the right of every individual to choose whichever religion they wished
to follow and recorded history is proof of this fact!
Coming to the specific issue of the Buddha statues in
What instigated the Talebaan rulers to destroy these
idols, when neither the noble companions and rulers of the stature of Hadrat
Uthmaan (r.a.) and Hadrat Ali (r.a.) nor the muslim rulers after them destroyed
them, is best known to Allah Subhanah!
Almost all the good scholars who are well-versed in the
laws of Islam are unanimous in their opinion that it was wrong of the Taleban
to destroy those Buddha statues under Islamic rules of governing.
Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to
Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only
Source of Strength.
Your brother and well wisher in
Islam,
Burhan
Wister