I came across the following anecdote in my reading of Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon. It may help the police and the government more generally speaking to maintain communal harmony whenever the Muslim community is offended because of insults to their faith and to the prophet.
The anecdote involves not Prophet Muhammad but his paternal grandfather. Regarding him Gibbon says:
The grandfather of Muhammad was Abdol Motalleb, the son of Hashem, a wealthy and generous citizen who relieved the distress of famine with the supplies of commerce … The kingdom of Yemen was subject to the Christian princes of Abyssinia; their vassal Abrahah was provoked by an insult to avenge the honor of the cross; and the holy city (of Mecca) was invested by a train of elephants and an army of Africans. A treaty was proposed and in the first audience, the grandfather of Muhammad demanded the restitution of his cattle.
“And why,” said Abrahah, “do you not rather implore my clemency in favor of your temple which I have threatened to destroy?”
“Because,” replied the intrepid chief, “the cattle is my own; the Caaba belongs to the gods and they will defend their house from injury and sacrilege.”
I have emailed the link to this blog post to the Commissioner of Police, Mumbai at cp.mumbai@mahapolice.gov.in . I hope they will find it useful.
This text above has been sourced from the abridged version of Gibbon’s history (link to the book is below).
I will again urge the authorities (as I have done in previous articles) to avail themselves of an expert on Gibbon’s history so that they can consult and get his advice when needed. There should be many such experts in Universities in India and abroad.
If the police personnel want to refer to Gibbon themselves it is better they get a Kindle edition in addition to a paper copy. In Kindle there is a facility of Search which you cannot do with a physical copy of the book. The book itself is more than a thousand pages and that is only the abridged version.
I’ll end here. Please explore this site for more articles that will interest you and let me have your comments. Feedback from my readers keeps me going.
The Mumbai Police Commissioner forwarded my email to the Joint Commissioner (Law and Order) and he in turn forwarded it to the Application Desk. I received an acknowledgment. Nice to know I have been of some help.
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