How To Deal with Hateful Speech

By Ayaan Qayyum, Founder and CEO

“And let not their speech grieve you. Indeed, honor [due to power] belongs to Allah entirely. He is the Hearing, the Knowing” (Surah Yunus: 65).

You cannot be taken back by the words that they say, and if you think that it’s insulting to you, Islam, to even Allah (SWT), “No doubt, authority and respect, and honor and dignity, belong to Allah, all of it” (An-Nisa: 139). All dignity, all authority, all respect, belongs to Allah (SWT). Don’t ever think that Allah (SWT) can be disrespected. Allah owns it, so don’t worry about it. “It’s not like Allah didn’t hear what they said. Allah is All Hearing, All Knowing.” Allah (SWT) gave Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) advice on how to keep moving, despite hearing ugly speech.

We’re all online. Some of us are exposed to videos, blogs, comments, under YouTube videos, that are hurtful to Islam. They’re really upsetting; just reading them will make you feel disgusted inside. “How can people say things like that about Allah? About his Messenger (ﷺ)?” There’s one thing to not believe in them, but this aggressive animosity that’s spewing out of their mouth just makes you go “What kind of people are these? Why would anyone say something like that?” It’s disgusting. But Allah (SWT) is telling Muhammad (ﷺ) that if you are bothered, it’s because you have faith. Our faith can’t compare to the Messenger (ﷺ), and if he was told “don’t let it get to you,” he owns all the dignity. He heard what they said. It’s not like Allah doesn’t own them, just like he is your master; whether they recognize it or not, He is their master too.

“You had better known Allah owns whoever in the skies and whoever in the Earth.” This is something that’s not supposed to interfere with the work that you are supposed to do.

When we get influenced by these negative words and this hateful speech, we become reactionary, and all we do is respond to that hate, which means we’ve already not understood what we’re supposed to be doing. This kind of talk is entirely a distraction. Learning your religion properly and sharing the truth of this religion in a decent way with others is the mission you and I are on. We have to keep going on that mission, and we can’t let the aggressive, hateful, and distracting tactics of those who will hate us no matter what we do disrupt us.

We can’t let them distract us from our actual mission, just like the Prophet (ﷺ) was told to not be distracted from his mission. Allah (SWT) has promised that if we stay silent against the hate that we receive, He will send an angel to respond to every insult that our enemy hurls at us. The minute that we respond, that angel will be replaced by a devil and so sometimes the best thing to do is to stay silent. It may seem difficult, you may feel that you look cowardly, but it is the best thing to do because sometimes we worry if our response will be good enough and here, we have the angels responding to our insults and protecting our reputation.

So, we ask Allah (SWT) to give us the strength to stay silent in the face of hateful speech for surely Allah (SWT) says that it is better for us to stay silent than to aggravate the situation or risk worsening the image of Islam in the eyes of our enemies. We ask Allah (SWT) to give us the guidance to protect and stand up for Him, His Messenger (ﷺ), and His religion in a respectful manner which will help spread the way of Islam.

Sources

FreeQuranEducation. “How to Deal with Hateful Speech.” YouTube, uploaded by

FreeQuranEducation, 28 April 2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=blaXl_Q2iG0.