Author: Muqtedar Khan
Publication: IJTIHAD - A Return
to Enlightenment
Date:
URL: http://www.ijtihad.org/memo.htm
In the name of Allah, the most Benevolent
and the Most Merciful. May this memo find you in the shade of Islam enjoying
the mercy, the protection and the grace of Allah.
I am writing this memo to you all
with the explicit purpose of inviting you to lead the American Muslim community
in soul searching, reflection and reassessment.
What happened on September 11th
in New York and Washington DC will forever remain a horrible scar on the
history of Islam and humanity. No matter how much we condemn it, and point
to the Quran and the Sunnah to argue that Islam forbids the killing of
innocent people, the fact remains that the perpetrators of this crime against
humanity have indicated that their actions are sanctioned by Islamic values.
The fact that even now several Muslim
scholars and thousands of Muslims defend the accused is indicative that
not all Muslims believe that the attacks are unIslamic. This is truly sad.
Even if it were true that Israel
and the US are enemies of the Muslim World, wonder what is preventing them
from unleashing their nuclear arsenal against Muslims, a response that
mercilessly murders thousands of innocent people, including hundreds of
Muslims is absolutely indefensible. If anywhere in your hearts there is
any sympathy or understanding with those who committed this act, I invite
you to ask yourself this question, would Muhammad (pbuh) sanction such
an act?
While encouraging Muslims to struggle
against injustice (Al Quran 4:135), Allah also imposes strict rules of
engagement. He says in unequivocal terms that to kill an innocent being
is like killing entire humanity (Al Quran 5:32). He also encourages Muslims
to forgive Jews and Christians if they have committed injustices against
us (Al Quran 2:109, 3:159, 5:85).
Muslims, including American Muslims
have been practicing hypocrisy on a grand scale. They protest against the
discriminatory practices of Israel but are silent against the discriminatory
practices in Muslim states. In the Gulf one can see how laws and even salaries
are based on ethnic origin. This is racism, but we never hear of Muslims
protesting against them at International fora.
The Israeli occupation of Palestine
is perhaps central to Muslim grievance against the West. While acknowledging
that, I must remind you that Israel treats its one million Arab citizens
with greater respect and dignity than most Arab nations treat their citizens.
Today Palestinian refugees can settle and become citizens of the United
States but in spite of all the tall rhetoric of the Arab world and Quranic
injunctions (24:22) no Muslim country except Jordan extends this support
to them.
While we loudly and consistently
condemn Israel for its ill treatment of Palestinians we are silent when
Muslim regimes abuse the rights of Muslims and slaughter thousands of them.
Remember Saddam and his use of chemical weapons against Muslims (Kurds)?.
Remember Pakistani army's excesses against Muslims (Bengalis)?. Remember
the Mujahideen of Afghanistan and their mutual slaughter? Have we ever
condemned them for their excesses? Have we demanded international intervention
or retribution against them? Do you know how the Saudis treat their minority
Shiis? Have we protested the violation of their rights? But we all are
eager to condemn Israel; not because we care for rights and lives of the
Palestinians, we don't. We condemn Israel because we hate them.
Muslims love to live in the US but
also love to hate it. Many openly claim that the US is a terrorist state
but they continue to live in it. Their decision to live here is testimony
that they would rather live here than anywhere else. As an Indian Muslim,
I know for sure that nowhere on earth, including India, will I get the
same sense of dignity and respect that I have received in the US. No Muslim
country will treat me as well as the US has. If what happened on september
11th had happened in India, the biggest democracy, thousands of Muslims
would have been slaughterred in riots on mere suspicion and there would
be another slaughter after confirmation. But in the US, bigotry and xenophobia
has been kept in check by media and leaders. In many places hundreds of
Americans have gathered around Islamic centers in symbolic gestures of
protection and embrace of American Muslims. In many cities Christian congregations
have started wearing hijab to identify with fellow Muslim women. In patience
and in tolerance ordinary Americans have demonstrated their extraordinary
virtues.
It is time that we acknowledge that
the freedoms we enjoy in the US are more desirable to us than superficial
solidarity with the Muslim World. If you disagree than prove it by packing
your bags and going to whichever Muslim country you identify with.
If you do not leave and do not acknowledge
that you would rather live here than anywhere else, know that you are being
hypocritical.
It is time that we faced these hypocritical
practices and struggled to transcend them. It is time that American Muslim
leaders fought to purify their own lot.
For over a decade we have watched
as Muslims in the name of Islam have committed violence against other Muslims
and other peoples. We have always found a way to reconcile the vast distance
between Islamic values and Muslim practices by pointing out to the injustices
committed upon Muslims by others. The point however is this our belief
in Islam and commitment to Islamic values is not contingent on the moral
conduct of the US or Israel. And as Muslims can we condone such inhuman
and senseless waste of life in the name of Islam?
The biggest victims of hate filled
politics as embodied in the actions of several Muslim militias all over
the world are Muslims themselves. Hate is the extreme form of intolerance
and when individuals and groups succumb to it they can do nothing constructive.
Militias like the Taliban have allowed their hate for the West to override
their obligation to pursue the welfare of their people and as a result
of their actions not only have thousands of innocent people died in America,
but thousands of people will die in the Muslim World.
Already, half a million Afghans
have had to leave their homes and their country. The war has not yet begun.
It will only get worst. Hamas and Islamic Jihad may kill a few Jews, women
and children included, with their suicide bombs and temporarily satisfy
their lust for Jewish blood, but thousands of Palestinians then pay the
price for their actions.
The culture of hate and killing
is tearing away at the moral fabric of the Muslim society. We are more
focused on the other and have completely forgotten our duty to Allah. In
pursuit of the inferior jihad we have sacrificed the superior jihad.
Islamic resurgence, the cherished
ideals of which pursued the ultimate goal of a universally just and moral
society has been hijacked by hate and call for murder and mayhem. If Binladen
were an individual then we would have no problem. But unfortunately Binladen
has become a phenomenon -- a cancer eating away at the morality of our
youth, and undermining the spiritual health of our future.
Today the century old Islamic revival
is in jeopardy because we have allowed insanity to prevail over our better
judgment. Yes, the US has played a hand in the creation of Binladen and
the Taliban, but it is we who have allowed them to grow and gain such a
foothold. It is our duty to police our world. It is our responsibility
to prevent people from abusing Islam. It is our job to ensure that Islam
is not misrepresented.
We should have made sure that what
happened on Sept. 11th should never have happened.
It is time the leaders of the American
Muslim community woke up and realized that there is more to life than competing
with the American Jewish lobby for power over US foreign policy. Islam
is not about defeating Jews or conquering Jerusalem. It is about mercy,
about virtue, about sacrifice and about duty. Above all it is the pursuit
of moral perfection. Nothing can be further away from moral perfection
than the wanton slaughter of thousands of unsuspecting innocent people.
I hope that we will now rededicate
our lives and our institutions to the search for harmony, peace and tolerance.
Let us be prepared to suffer injustice rather than commit injustices. After
all it is we who carry the divine burden of Islam and not others. We have
to be morally better, more forgiving, more sacrificing than others, if
we wish to convince the world about the truth of our message. We cannot
even be equal to others in virtue, we must excel.
It is time for soul searching. How
can the message of Muhammad (pbuh) who was sent as mercy to mankind become
a source of horror and fear? How can Islam inspire thousands of youth to
dedicate their lives to killing others? We are supposed to invite people
to Islam not murder them.
The worst exhibition of Islam happened
on our turf. We must take first responsibility to undo the evil it has
manifest. This is our mandate, our burden and also our opportunity.
----------------------------
Muqtedar Khan, Ph.D
Director of International Studies,
Adrian College, MI
Association of Muslim Social Scientists
Center for the Study of Islam and
Democracy
