Was it a test of faith? It looks to me more like a test of obedience, and a very sick one at that. If it’s a test of faith and Abraham passed, then faith is very evil. Also, Abraham’s murder of his child wouldn’t be “the ultimate sacrifice” for him, but rather for the child. Or for both, yes, but the point is that Abraham’s murder of Isaac wouldn’t be something that happened just to Abraham; it would first of all be something that happened to Isaac. A rape is first of all something that happens to the person who is raped, and only then something that happens to her (or his) relatives and friends. In short the story of Abraham is a very horrible story indeed, and it should be forgotten instead of remembered with a festival.
Imams have denounced the killers with real feeling, so has the umbrella body, the Muslim Council of Britain, which, before this, tended to equivocate and was a bit unreliable. Young Muslims have started a #notinmyname campaign; Inspire, an impressively effective counter-extremism organisation, has launched #makingastand to get Muslims to “pledge allegiance to their country and to respect human rights”. These responses are encouraging. But it isn’t enough. It absolutely isn’t enough.
Henning’s untimely death must be a watershed, a defining moment for Western Muslims. We must change. Or rather, those devout Muslims who have been taking up Wahhabi practices and others who feel only anger for the West must change.
First, do no harm.
