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Leaders in Muslim
countries, in their quest for power have become greedy. They feed their pockets
whilst safely tucked away in their golden empires.
The clerics dish out fatwas
like its naan bread. We get ridiculed for fatwas passed. They cause more
confusion than anything else.
If you question their stances on issues – when they
condone certain actions, yet condemn others - you get labelled as a sell-out.
Many of us may
take it as an insult to be labelled but the reality is that it is how we are
labelled by others – "how they see us, is how they perceive us to be".
The
labels Sunni, Shia, Wahhabi, Sufi, etc. etc. etc. divide us and that is what
causes non-Muslims to criticise us, ostracise us and paint us all with the same
brush.
Then you get the liberals, the moderates, the radicals, the
fundamentalist, those who behave like barbarians.
Who is right?
Contrary to the
happenings to date, the teachings of Islam has clearly laid down the foundation
to unite humanity in one social fabric
irrespective of race, national or tribal origin and colour.
Unfortunately, the
situation today is that the Muslim Ummah is at odds with itself at all levels.
We see the disdain
shown about the shootings in Paris, again I reiterate, a dead innocent is a
dead innocent, and no matter how bitter a pill this is to swallow for some.
From
Saudi Arabia, to Qatar, UAE, Egypt, Turkey and list continues, there was a
collective voice on how wrong this act was.
However we are mum about Boko Haram
massacres, ethnic cleansing in CAR, which happened in the same week. Where
their lives less important?
Islam is not about
extremism, fundamentalism, and the other –ism’s people create. It’s about being
on the "straight path" as
defined by Quran and the Prophet, when we try to carve out different paths we
stray away from the "oneness".
Instead of showing unity … we are allowing a percentage of those "who
proclaim" to be the custodians of our religion; to butcher its doctrines; in
the name of "Allah".
The rest of us are
still fixated on whether he or she is a hardliner, liberal, Sunni, Shia, Hijabi, Tablighi,
or Sufi. A large chasm
separates all these groups.
When
will the Muslims stand together united, cut the divides, put our differences
aside and fight those who claim to be Muslims yet are doing everything contrary
to what our Quran states.
Right now I am
stepping on a minefield. I will have non-Muslims taking every opportunity to
criticise, defame, ridicule, and ostracise everything I believe in and what I
stand for, and I will have my fellow Muslims, saying "how dare she?". Bottom
line is that I am a Muslim, my philosophy is "love all and hate none".
Our aim should be to tear down the walls of
separation, to be on a journey of self-discovery, to unveil the hidden
treasures which lie within us in order to fuse a union with our Creator.
Instead we fight each other.
To listen to the plight of the oppressed, to help the needy, and to fill
the stomachs of the hungry. The man who does these three things may consider
himself a friend of Allah.
First he should have generosity like a river;
secondly, kindness like the sun and, thirdly, humility like the earth. The man
who is blessed is the man who is generous. - Moinuddin Christi
We engage in
endless and senseless debates of trying to make haram as halal and halal as
haram.
We are pulled in discussions, because of all that’s happening around us
in the name of our faith, in our heads we know the answers, but we still refuse
to say it out loud. We feed the islamophobics.
Our priorities obviously have
become lopsided.
We are allowing
this to happen. We are allowing people to take Quranic verses out of context,
we allow radicals to deny women the right to education they need.
We are
allowing the kidnapping and rape of young girls in Nigeria. We are allowing the
massacre of Rohingya Muslims.
We are allowing the butchering of Muslims in CAR,
We are allowing a leader to get away with slaughtering innocents in Syria.
The
fact that Guantanamo Bay is still in existence, says a lot about us all. Crooked
cultural norms have been made people overvalue the worldly rewards, with the
thrill for more power and money.
The biggest
failure of our time will be that we fail to understand each other. We are
entrusting our lives, our children and grandchildren lives to a percentage who
claim to have a better understanding of our religion.
We are entrusting radical,
fundamentalists, terrorists, backward thinking people with our lives.
Why?
Just as we wouldn’t trust our health with doctors who possess little knowledge, or a pilot who has 100 flying hours with a limited knowledge of flying and leave him to interpret the "dummies guide to flying".
How are we then entrusting everything we are and we believe to those who twist verses to suit themselves.
The Glorious Qur’an says:
"And hold fast, all together, by the rope
Which Allah (stretches out for you), and be not divided among yourselves;"
[Al-Qur'an 3:103]
The Glorious Qur’an says:
"As for those who divide their religion and break up into sects, thou hast no part in them in the least: Their affair is with Allah: He will in the end tell them the truth of all that they did."
[Al-Qur'an 6:159]
It is a
fact that Muslims today, are divided amongst themselves. The tragedy is that
such divisions only fuels those who can use it against us.
When will we realise that enough is enough hold them
responsible and pull together to help cultivate an environment full of unity.
We live in a world peopled by 'man' – a world full of chaos,
destruction, war, ethnic passions and naked greed. But, in the midst of all
this, a powerful force beckons each of us to become more than man. ~ Dr Ali
Ansari.
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