By the Martyr Imam, Dr. Mohammed Said Ramadan al-Buti
Translated by Naseemalsham
Ignorance of Islam is the source of all enmity towards it because ignorance of it will show it to be nothing but a pointless set of restrictions, or in other words, it makes it appear in the eyes of the ignorant to be a set of barriers that stands in the face of one’s interests and desires. Therefore, the more ignorant people are of Islam, the stronger their enmity will be towards it, and maybe this is applicable to many Muslims themselves…for the Muslim who never had a choice with regards to being affiliated with the religion feels the same way about it as he does about anything else he has inherited, without any decision on his part, from his parents and grandparents. In other words, the only thing he will know about Islam is that portion that has reached him from his parents and grandparents. I say that this Muslim will most likely feel constricted by all the principles and rulings that have been conveyed to him, especially if his desires and its rulings are at great variance with each other. Indeed, ignorance of Islam is the only way to disparage it and attack it, and it is the only climate in which lies and false claims about Islam can grow and spread…these lies, which increase in this climate and are attached to Islam while the Muslims, or most of them, are completely unaware of their Islam and its reality because of the barrier of ignorance, it is these lies which create the factors of aversion and enmity towards it. This is what explains the abundance of speculative books that are written and published today that are stuffed with lies and fabrications and full of frivolity with regards to its texts and full of deceit with regards to its contents and rulings. Indeed that which motivates these authors to commit such deceit is the fact that most Muslims are ignorant of the reality of their Islam, and that they have lost the criteria of knowledge that they are supposed to adhere to and with which they are to judge and distinguish between truth and falsehood. It is a huge mistake for us to constantly call for refutations to be written against every person who makes a false claim about Islam and plays around with its realities and its texts. To go after these people with refutations and investigations will bring about no benefit whatsoever as longs as Muslims know nothing about the reality of their Islam apart from the fact that they are affiliated with it, and that it is something they have inherited from their parents and grandparents. This fabricated deceit will spread amongst them and infiltrate those minds that are devoid of the realities of Islam…and it is inevitable that intellectual confusion and disturbance will spread therein, regardless of how many knowledgeable refutations are written that attack this deceit and expose its reality as well as the people behind it. This is because if there are germs and insects climbing out of a swamp there is no point in killing one after the other and it will not mitigate their harms as long as the swamp is there. Rather, one should drain the swamp and purify the soil and the surrounding area, and then one will be able to see the atmosphere rid of all other infections and diseases.