Bigotry: The Dark Danger

Chapter 4: The Fanatics’ Hatred of Art

The main reason why Islamic communities soon began to degenerate after the time of our Prophet (pbuh) is that they abandoned the Qur'an.

As we saw in the preceding section, fanatics who reject the Qur’an, the essence of the faith, and recognize only their own superstitions or their dark and sinister mindsets, have invented thousands of fabrications to keep women in particular away from the Qur’an, worship, intellectual struggle and preaching. The main reasons why Islamic communities soon became corrupted after the time of the Prophet (pbuh) is that these communities turned away from the Qur’an, and their defamation of women is a manifestation of that. Due to that way of thinking, Islamic communities became backward; however, a second factor was always involved in that retardation – the fanatics’ hatred of art.

Before describing the fanatics’ hatred of art, let us remind ourselves of the fact that constitutes the basis of the fanatic mindset. In one verse our Lord speaks of “...people who make lawful things forbidden.” Today there are of course people who, in their own eyes, disregard what is forbidden, who regard such things as lawful and whose main criterion is certainly not fear of God. However, people who make forbidden “in the name of religion” what God has made lawful are in an entirely different category altogether. These people make it impossible to do what the Qur’an says is permissible, restrict freedoms and ban what is otherwise perfectly legitimate. As we have been seeing from the beginning of this book, with supporting evidence, they actually dislike the religion in the Qur’an (surely the Qur’an is beyond that) and are striving to invent a faith of their own.

These people have prohibited concepts such as joy, humor and art, which are praised in the Qur’an and created as a blessing.