Tag: Libya

Responding to Profanity

It was indeed shocking news of what happened as the aftermath of a released preview of a profane film which has left the Muslims in a state of sadness and shock across the world. As horrific and offensive as the video might be, nothing justifies the sort of violent acts we have seen in Egypt, Libya and Yemen. Nothing is worth the cost of a human life and as a Muslim, I firmly believe that there is no honour or faith in committing such violence, and we all unequivocally oppose the senseless violence in different parts of Muslim world.

This video also gives a glimpse of the fragile relationship and misunderstandings between the Muslim world and West/United States. It is evident from this film that to create further rifts and misunderstandings between different cultures, it is not necessary to commit an act of violence. Films like these, unfortunately, may have a much more negative effect in bringing any positive change in common understanding and further deepen the gulf.

As a Muslim, I would like to remind Muslims of the character of Prophet Muhammad. He was a man of peace and mercy, and thus engaging in such violence and senseless killing is truly mismatched with his legacy and teachings.  It is high time that Muslim should not only remember his teachings, but also follow them in the face of hostility. It is imperative for Muslims to ignore cheap attempts for publicity by hateful bigots. While they have every right to protest this profanity by resorting to violent reactions Muslims are not only harming innocent lives but also falling in the traps set by bigots.  It must be crystal clear that in order to defend and promote the personality of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him), one should not resort to those means which the Prophet himself never approved of or allowed.

To move in a positive direction and avoid further backlash, it is necessary that the West and U.S should take some concrete steps in terms of introducing certain regulations. There are already laws in place in many western countries, which legally punish Holocaust denial, anti-Semitic expressions, hate speeches, homophobic statements, racial slurs and even blasphemy against Christianity. Looking at the negative potential of such acts, is it not time to come up with such legislation? Beyond legislation or regulations, such unfortunate events really bring forth the need for constructive dialogue between religions, cultures and civilizations.

The movie is very offensive, but Muslims should be offended in a positive way. We should speak up against this evil in a rational way. We should always keep in mind the right way of dealing with evil in all situations:

“Good and evil cannot be equal. Repel evil with what is better and your enemy will become as close as an old and valued friend, but only those who are steadfast in patience, only those who are blessed with great righteousness, will attain to such goodness.” (Quran 41:34-35)

Balkanization of Sudan

As balkanization of big empires and large states began in 19th century following the decolonization of Western powers in Asian and African region, it still continues to occur in 21st century but with different tactics and through indirect interference.

In 19th century Mughal Empire in South Asia and Ottoman Empire, spread over Middle East, West Asia and South Eastern Europe were considered invincible powers so they were divided into small nation-states through exploitation of their internal indifferences and cultural diversity. In Eastern Europe when Russia or former Soviet Union was uncontainable so its power was also minimized by its disintegration through the exploitation of its over-stretched Army and lack of competition which was leading Soviet Empire to abject poverty.

In contemporary world politics, imperialism through direct use of force is, to an extent, impossible so colonization has taken shape of Neo-imperialism. To legalize neo-imperialism, there are some International organizations that allow use of force by only “Western powers” to enforce “Freedom and democracy” by stopping violation of Human rights in different countries.

Not surprisingly, these countries are only Muslim countries where the same western powers support their puppets and stooges for their vested interests. And when they see those puppets are expiring and are of no more use so  they replace those puppets by waging war against them, sometimes directly (in case of Libya and Iraq) and sometimes indirectly( incase of Tunisia and Egypt and now Syria) for the crime these puppets did under the supervision of the same Western powers. And where they can’t dare to attack or mobilize countries own people so use soft power to slander respective regimes just like Iran. For Pakistan they are using all techniques to curtail its influence in the region but still not conceiving any success as their success lies in rolling back of Pakistan’s nuclear program which is yet to be done.
In Africa, Sudan was the largest state which has also become a target of Neo-imperialism and it has faced the same fate as other large Muslim states had. It has been balkanized through external interference in its very internal matters, hence it has been forced to split into two states.

Sudan was having decades of civil war between its northern and southern parts. Northern Sudan is Muslim majority area with state power and Southern Sudan comprise of Christian population with abundance of crude Oil which have its refineries and ports in North. Here internal clashes drew international attention. As victims were the Christian so their problem was resolved too on the same footing as people of East Timor in Indonesia. These conflicts or civil wars were not resolved through negotiations or peace treaties but met with partitions of sovereign states. But partitions or two states is the solution that people of Palestine are also demanding for decades. Although partition was preceded by referendum that pretends as if Omer-al Bashir (Sudan’s president) himself let the country to break up. He was pressurized by America and European countries who even issued arrest warrant of Omer Al Bashir on terrorism account otherwise he tried hard to save his country from partition as he flew to Juba, the capital of South Sudan, to the last moments when referendum was taking place.

Following the referendum in January 2011, South Sudan has declared its independence on Saturday 2, 2011. Partition never goes in favor of impoverished people especially for Muslims whose power is further reduced and become subject of more brutality by large countries.
As south Sudan is full of Oil reserves and it is assisted by the industrialized countries of the West so it will definitely give their reward in turn of their assistance.  And that is what they wanted from Iraq and Libya and that is why they helped South Sudan.