“International Organization to Support the Prophet of Islam” was inaugurated on Tuesday with a ceremony in Istanbul, Turkey's most populous city as well as its cultural and financial hub.

Many prominent Islamic scholars, politicians, and academicians across the world, including Khaled Mishal, the head of Hamas' political bureau abroad, Enver Kılıçarsan, the head of İTTİHADUL ULEMA, Abdulvahap Ekinci, the president of the International Islamic Scholars Organization, and Mehmet Görmez, the head of Institute of Islamic Thought, attended the event, which was held in the Bağcılar district.

Speaking at the event, Ali Ali Qaradaghi, the Secretary-General of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, in particular, drew attention to the role of the media in fighting the smear campaign against Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

“We are talking about Prophet Muhammad's great personality at this event. He is such a great personality that Allah describes him with different attributes in many verses of Holy Quran. In one verse, Allah describes him with absolute mercy, by saying: ‘We sent you only as a mercy to the worlds'.’ In another verse, Allah gives Prophet Muhammed the attributes that belong to Him and says, ‘Surely, a Messenger has come unto you from among yourselves; grievous to him is it that you should fall into trouble; he is ardently desirous of your welfare, and to the believers, he is especially compassionate and merciful.’ Allah also bears witness to his excellent morality by saying: ‘And you are truly a man of outstanding character’. Allah describes the superior virtues of our Prophet and his compassion towards the ummah with many verses of the Holy Quran like these. His name is glorified by chanting after the name of Allah 5 times a day through the adhan. The adhan is recited in different places around the world at any time,” Qaradaghi said.

“We make a promise to Allah that we will follow the path of our Prophet Muhammed (PBUH)”

Qaradaghi went on to say: “So, O our Master! O Messenger of Allah! How can I describe you? By Allah, my heart is shaking, I get goosebumps. When I stand in your presence and I am asked to speak in support of you, all I can say is that ‘O Messenger of Allah! May my father and mother be sacrificed for you!’. We make a promise to Allah that we will follow your path. We will always speak the truth and not fear the blame of a critic.

O our Master! O Messenger of Allah! Surely, Allah has conferred a great favor on the believers by sending a prophet from among themselves who tells them about you, recites the verses of Allah to them, purifies them, and teaches them the Book and wisdom. I get goosebumps every time I read the verse that says ‘However, they were in manifest error before.’

O our Master! O Messenger of Allah! Allah showed us the right path with you. We were divided, Allah united our hearts through you. We promise you today. We were stuck between the Persian and Roman empires and were oppressed. Allah has elevated this Ummah among the best of people through you.

O our Master! O Messenger of Allah! As far as I have observed, as the Ummah, we all love you. We ask Allah to give us what you have given the good news of it. We wish Him put us among the other prophets, truthful individuals, martyrs and righteous people, and to resurrect us with you.”

“We are neglecting our brothers too much”

Reminding that Muslims do not do their part to protect their prophet and to explain him, Qaradaghi continued his remarks as follows: “O our Master! O Messenger of Allah! We failed to convey your good morals, character, and pure image to others as desired. I met Arnoud van Doorn, who had produced the film ‘Fitna’ that denigrated the Prophet Muhammad, while I was visiting the Prophet's mosque in Medina after he converted to Islam., I had never seen another person who cried as much as this man in the mosque. When I saw him, I started crying, too. The brothers around me asked me that 'What makes you cry?' I said to them that it is because we had not been able to do enough of our tabligh, dawah, and admonishment that made me cry. This man you see is the screenwriter of the movie which denigrated the Messenger of Allah. However, later, when he got to know the Messenger of Allah, he became a Muslim. By Allah, my brothers, we are neglecting our brothers too much. And I can see this neglection.”

Qaradadaghi listed what Muslims should do in fighting the smear campaign against Prophet Muhammed as follows:

First: We all should support the organization (International Organization to Support the Prophet of Islam) as long as it exists. If Allah will, I will be the first person standing by the organization. I will support them insofar as possible.

Second: To love the Prophet is to do what he did. We have to plan what we are going to do and act strategically. We can do that in two ways. Firstly, we must be able to represent the Prophet with what we will do. Therefore, when people look at us, they can see the excellent morality of the Prophet in us. Today, most people today describe us as terrorists, disobeying, backward people.

In order to break down these misconceptions, we must imitate the morality of the Messenger of Allah. We need to study his life in terms of da'wah, tabligh and other aspects. In order for the plans made not to be random, it is necessary to take the opinion of everyone who is an expert on this subject and act accordingly. These works cannot be approached emotionally.”

We can nicely promote Islam and Prophet Muhammed to the world through media”

“We can only achieve what we want if we make our plans with knowledge, good advice, discernment, and appropriate methods,” Qaradaghi said.

“When we say method we mean planning, when we say discernment we mean tendencies, when we say wisdom, we mean benefiting from an expert, and when we say admonishment, we mean ability to affect people emotionally. The admonishment constitutes only 25 percent of it. The other is media. The media will promote what we are doing and break down the misconceptions made against us. Allah the Almighty has considered the works in the media sector as jihad. Most of the intrigues that have been plotted by zionists in Palestine are described in the Qur'an. Holy Quran says that ‘Then when the promise of the second came, We raised up a people that they may disgrace your faces and may enter the Mosque even as they entered it the first time, and that they may destroy with utter destruction whatsoever may fall under their power’. This verse addresses the zionist occupation. So, how we can disgrace their faces? We can do it through media outlets. Today, western societies cannot see the brutalities of the zionists. We need media outlets to make widely known the massacres and persecution of the zionist regime in Palestine. We also need the media outlets to show the innocence of Muslims.”

“Third: ‘Those who believe in him, honor him, and help him and follow the light that has been sent down with him, they are felicitous.’ According to Abu Hayyan and other commentators, what is meant by help in this verse is intense love that requires action and help. It is not enough to just love. Neither I nor anyone else can be worthy of our Prophet's love with what we do. However, we can do as much as we can. Finally, we ask Allah to grant us paradise along with our Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). May Allah unite us with the prophets, the Siddiqs, the martyrs, and the righteous in the hereafter. What wonderful friends they are,” Qaradaghi concluded.