Tag: muslims

Lifeline for Muslims

(O Prophet), We have surely bestowed upon you good in abundance.So offer Prayer and sacrifice to your Lord alone.Verily your enemy alone has been cut off from the roots. (Sura Al-Kosar: ch:108, v-1-3)

Love of Prophet  is indeed a matter of life and death for Muslims. Love of Prophet is something for which each and every Muslim is very emotional. Pseudo-liberals can never understand this because it’s about  love of Prophet. Not something to be measured with intellect but something to be felt with heart.

Many will not read beyond this line and will tag it as another piece preaching love of Prophet. I feel pity for those who are silent to keep their liberal attire intact, or are asking other Muslims not to show their sentiments. They have not only lost their own identity, they are pretty much confused about their very purpose of existence in this world. I don’t want to generalize but certainly those who have taken oath for defense of United States and other western countries will definitely have an inclination to keep their nationalities secured and hence keeping mum over the blasphemy.

Hazrat Omar Bin Khattab once said to the Prophet SAWW, O Prophet of Allah, I love you more than anything except my life, and the Prophet SAWW said, No one can be a true believer unless he loves me more than his life.

True, we should propagate love because our Prophet was Rahmatul lil alameen. It is also correct that we need to be peaceful in our reactions. But we need to ponder upon this question that why does this so called ‘freedom of speech’ always target Prophet Muhammad SAWW. The fact is that there are laws for statements against Jews, racism etc but when it comes to Prophet, every Tom, dick or Harry has freedom of speech. This is what is irritating Muslims.

The movie in question is not worth watching. It may be an utter failure in technical filmmaking terms. But I simply cannot buy the idea that the movie was made because of ‘lack of knowledge’ of the filmmaker. No, it was a planned effort to check whether Muslims will react or not. A cheap tactic to gain popularity may be, but a litmus test to check the commitment of Muslims.

For those who say that Prophet forgave a lot of blasphemers; I would like to quote the incident of Ka’ab Bin Ashraf, a Jew who was a blasphemous poet. He used to ridicule the Prophet of peace SAWW in his poetry and Prophet ordered his murder. This is reported in Sahi Bukhari by Hazrat Jabir Bin Abdullah (RA).

Prophet SAWW asked that who will tackle Ka’ab bin Ashraf? He is desecrating Allah and Prophet, so Muhammad Bin Muslimah (RA) stood up and asked, ‘O Prophet of Allah, May I kill him if you like’ and Prophet SAWW said, ‘Yes’… (Bukhari)

So it is evident that blasphemer shouldn’t be roaming around freely. All Muslims should unite to protect the sanctity of Prophet SAWW. In current scenario, the issue is USA is protecting the blasphemer as a state by calling his action as ‘freedom of speech’. This is a very grave situation. That’s why all the protests are logical and legitimate. Ambassadors and diplomats have immunity all around the world, but protesting in front of the diplomatic missions to record protest against a country is a democratic right. The solution is only one. Proper legislation against blasphemy of all Prophets. Thats how mobs and people can be contained. In the absence of laws and without their proper implementation, people will take laws into their hands; this is mob-mentality. We need to act sensibly to come out of this situation.

I am not in favour of burning public and private properties in protests, but I am certainly in favour of peaceful protests and proper legislation for blasphemy. These protests should be aimed to show our love for Prophet and not to destroy the property of innocent people. It is also a great chance for us to tell the world about teachings of Prophet Muhammad (SAWW).

Much can be written on this topic. Iqbal summarized it beautifully in his poem ‘Ibless ki Majlis-e-Shoora’ in which Satan tells his executive council

وہ فاقہ کش کے موت سےڈرتا نہیں زرا

روح محمدؐ اس کے بدن سے نکال دو

The target of satanic forces is very clear. They know that  it’s the love of Prophet Muhammad, which has kept Muslims bonded till now. If this bond is broken, Muslims will be no more different than others. Therefore, they attack this bond clearly. This is a lifeline for Muslims. It is a driving force which is keeping all of us in one direction. That’s why when anyone challenges this bond, entire Muslim community rise for the defense of this lifeline. And this is very evident in current protests. But the liberals and American slaves cannot understand.

And last but not least, true love of Prophet (SAWW) will be evident only when we follow his Sunnah in true letter and spirit in every walk of life. Allah says in Quran,

‘’Say, [O Muhammad], “If you love Allah, follow me, Allah will love you and forgive you your sins. And Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.” [Al-Qur’an 3:31]

Burma is Burning

Burma is burning and most of us are conveniently silent ….

Some believe that death toll is not high enough to condemn the killings because  few dozens have been murdered and few women have been raped; not a big deal because they were muslims. Some others say that we are far away from Burma, so leave them alone and try to solve our own problems first while some are confused to believe the atrocities did actually happen or not.

Media (international and local)  is silent because it has not received the dictation from its real masters to show ethnic cleansing of Muslims as a breaking news. Media didn’t even recognize the problem unless Amnesty International reported it. And all of those who want to keep mum are blaming social media for raising voice for the oppressed. Those who are against any check and balance on their own ‘freedom of expression’ want to have checks on social media, so that the issues like Burma are never highlighted anywhere. They are blaming the social media networks like facebook and twitter for propagating fake pictures, while forgetting their own fake stories and fake programs. The problem with electronic media is their capital influx, which they get from multinationals and governments and due to which they cannot go beyond a certain limit set by their sponsors.

Social media on the other hand has given voice to general public.  Common people can use  twitter, facebook and youtube to express their views and get their views across. Although in countries like Pakistan, internet access and social media usage is still limited, it is good enough to send a few shockwaves across the country. True that social media doesn’t have the access to reliable information some times and anything can get viral without authentication; the problem is not as severe as traditional media which feeds in sponsored news and deliberately corrupt the mindsets. Anything wrong if gets viral on social media, immediately a rebuttal is launched and most of the time people correct themselves.

But why do we need to speak against Muslim genocide in Mayanmar (Burma). The reason is simple, we need to speak up against all oppression, or we can be the next target. If I don’t speak against drones today, a drone can bomb my house tomorrow. Its not a matter of choice now, its an obligation.

Will merely highlighting the issue stop these atrocities? Of course not!  But raising our voice is the first and least we can do, so let’s do it. It may not be enough to stop the genocide, but surely its enough to gain the momentum, pile up the courage and cry halt. It will give us strength to do more and definitely will weaken the oppressor.

It is a legitimate question that we should not be silent over the problems prevailing in our own country. We have lawlessness, bombings and target-killings coupled with economic crisis in our country. Therefore when people say that lets sort out our own mess first, it sounds logical. But my take on this is that we need to have a collective approach. We cannot address issues one by one because a long list of issues will pop up when one is resolved. This is a continuous battle, between the oppressed and the oppressor. We have to choose on which side we are standing and then continuously play our role in a collective manner. Cherry picking selective items won’t serve the purpose.

Another question which is asked by our liberal elite in same context is ‘what’s this fuss called Muslim Ummah’ ? Well Muslim Ummah doesn’t mean a bunch of rulers or a few traitors. It’s about the masses of Muslims whose hearts beat together. If any Muslim anywhere in the world is suffering, all Muslims feel the pain and if someone claims to be Muslim but not feeling the pain he should recheck his belief.

So, if Bangladeshi government led by Haseena Wajid is not feeling the pain of displaced muslims of Burma, it doesn’t mean that Muslims of Bangladesh or the world are not concerned. If OIC is silent, it is because most of the people sitting in OIC are not true representatives of Muslim Ummah. The role of UNO is also shameful. It has multiple standards for different religions and regions.  Muslims being killed never get their attraction unless ‘oil’ is involved.

So in short, Buddhists, who are known to be peaceful so much so that they won’t crush an ant, are killing muslims, raping women burning villages. Thousands have been displaced so far and forced to live in concentration camps.  The military of Burma is fully involved in ethnic cleansing of Muslims. The numbers are not important, what’s important is that Muslims are being oppressed and we should raise our voice at least; therefore, raise it now as its already too late.

The misleading labels

Ignorance is no bliss and its captives are unknowingly in a sorry state of affairs. In my opinion, stereotypes are a form of ignorance defined by a restricted and conventional set of perceptions about a thing, a place or a people. Most of us rely on them because we don’t know any better and unconsciously our belief in them becomes so stringent that often the boundary between what is real and what is merely a ubiquitous opinion becomes blurred . We cloud our own minds with mumbo jumbo that hasn’t an inkling of objectivity and proudly stick up for these nonsensical perceptions.

I think a larger part of the problem lies in the fact that we are too quick to judge, consequently forming set opinions. A prudent approach would be to just observe for a while, analyze and digest the concept that experience is the best teacher. Joining the bandwagon because everyone is doing it makes one prone to harbouring prejudices. Stereotypes need not always have negative connotations; they can be positive too but the point to note is that they are generated through the media and get literally ingrained in our thought processes.  More often than not, these stereotypes propagated by the media have covert agendas. For instance, the meaning of Taliban which is plural for talib means a group of students, but now the term is akin to a terrorist organization; courtesy the western media. In newspapers, magazines, editorials, television news, entertainment, documentaries, popular fiction and textbooks, the general consensus points towards the fact that Arabs and more generally Muslims are being portrayed in a racist, stereotypical and negative fashion.l. A lot of news channels admit to not being able to report fairly about Islam and as a result they report on and talk about Islam based on their limited and often misconstrued knowledge. For instance, reporters often define ‘Jihad’ as a holy war when it’s real meaning is struggle against an unjust cause. Another term that is often misused is fundamentalism which is almost always used to mean Islamic fanaticism.

Another prime example is that of the African Americans who are generally considered to be hustlers and potentially dangerous. However, research proves otherwise, disclosing that most serious crimes (homicide, rape, robbery, and assault) in inner cities are committed by a very small proportion of African-American youth estimated at around 8% but despite that, the tendency to characterize all African-American males as criminals has an unnerving prevalence in the American society. I think Walter Lippman, journalistic critic and author was absolutely right in saying,

‘The subtlest and most pervasive of influences are those which create and maintain the repertory of stereotypes. We are told about the world before we see it. We imagine most things before we experience them. And, those preoccupations, unless education has made us acutely aware, govern deeply the whole process of perception.’

It is sad to see even the most educated of people having very constricted notions and speaking out of utter ignorance. If anything, an educated mind focuses on rationale, objectivity and common sense. It is a fact that no two people are alike, so the very idea that entire races are categorized never fails to bewilder me. Media is no God and what it portrays is not always accurate, sometimes it is better to delve into a quest for knowledge about different cultures, their social fabric, their beliefs etc. rather than blindly following it.

I feel social interaction can really change your mind about a lot of things you thought were true about people from different parts of the world. It certainly helped me broaden my spectrum of thought. I have to be honest, when I first decided to move to Australia for higher studies, I too had preconceived notions of what people would be like, although I did not openly profess them. I anticipated supreme white attitude and was mentally prepared to face it. Now, having been living in Sydney for six months and travelling daily on public transport, I can safely say that I was mistaken. So far I have not encountered even a single case of racial discrimination. If anything, I was pleasantly surprised at how affable some of the Australians I cut paths with were. I won’t say that all Australians are forthcoming and open to foreigners simply because I have not met all of them, but I will say that there is potential for good and bad amidst every society. Traits just cannot be generic.

So for me, if there is one thing that holds true, it is the notion that you just cannot believe it until you see it!