Following the brutal killing of African American George Floyd in Minneapolis in Minnesota, United States, large scale protests have erupted across the country. But soon the protests descended into violence, rioting, arson, looting in various parts of the country, which is very similar to the violent protests spearheaded by the far-left group Antifa. Videos have emerged showing the ‘protestors’ vandalising and looting retail stores across the country.
Now, in another video of the riots, one protestor was heard chanting the Islamic prayer claiming that Allah is the only god. In a video posted by a Twitter user with the account ID @diorIucas, a man can be reciting the entire Iqama, the second call to Islamic prayer, including the Shahada. Surrounded by cops in riot gear, the man chants ‘ashadu an la ilaha illa llahu, ashadu anna Muḥammadan rasulu llahi, ashadu anna Aliyan waliyu llah, hayya ala ssalahti, hayya ala lfalahi, hayya ala khayri lamali, qad qamati ssalaht, Allahu akbar, la ilaha illa llah’.
The translation of this verse is, “God is greater than everything, I bear witness that there is no deity but God, I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of God, I bear witness that Ali is the Vicegerent of God, Hasten to the prayer (Salah), Hasten to the salvation, Hasten to the best of deeds, The prayer (Salah) has been established, God is greater than everything, There is no deity but God”.
After reciting the Islamic prayer, the man did a backflip and did a little dance. This shows how much he was enjoying the ‘protests’ against the killing of George Floyd.
The line God is greater than everything, there no deity but God in this verse is known as Shahada, which basically means that Islam rejects the existence of any other God other than Allah. Although it is just a prayer, it has been used by Islamists repeatedly to intimidate non-Muslims in various occasions. Chanting of this slogan in a protest also indicates that the protest is taking an Islamist turn.
This slogan was widely used during the anti-CAA protests in India last year. Students in Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Millia Islamia University were heard chanting La Ilaha Illalaha, Muhammadan rasul ullah during the protests, which had descended into widescale violence and rioting.
A Facebook page founded by a group of students from Jamia Milia Islamia has declared that Nationalism is against the chant “La ilaha illallah Muhammadur Rasulullah”. They had argued that as La ilaaha illallaah’ translates to “There is no God and sovereign except Allah”, the idea of nationalism goes against it. “The concept of nationalism is against the concept of AL-WALA WAL-BARA (love and hate for the sake of Allah) which is the very fundamental of Tawheed which Islam gave to its people,” the group had written.
