|
06 August 2012 By El-Hajj Mauri'
Saalakhan Assalaamu Alaikum (Greetings
of Peace): I am about to leave Ohio, after
visits this past weekend to the Grand Mosque
of Cleveland (and beautifully grand it is),
and the First Cleveland Mosque - an
African American-led institution about to celebrate 75
YEARS of Islamic service to the community! Insha'Allah,
I am scheduled to serve as guest khatib for the 2nd
jumah at Dar Al-Taqwa (Columbia, MD)
this coming Friday. What follows are three reports on
gross human rights violations taking place in the
world today; regrettably these are just three of
many. The first report touches upon the
unrelenting human rights abuses the Chinese government
has been perpetrating against its Muslim population
for decades. China's current policy of monitoring the
"collective eating" habits of Muslim populated areas
during the month of Ramadan, in an attempt to impose a
collective violation of this mandatory fast (for able
bodied Muslims), is but the latest manifestation of
the atheist government's attempt to stamp out Islam
from the hearts and minds of its Muslim citizens a
policy objective that is doomed to fail. The second report concerns the
ongoing genocide being perpetrated against Burma's
Muslim population. When this writer received a photo
display of the carnage taking place in Burma a couple
of weeks ago, I couldn't get beyond the first few
photos. I began to cry and set the photo display
aside, with the intent of going through it later and
then forwarding it out to our listserve. This I have
not yet been able to do. Instead, I am forwarding an
eye-opening report from the Muslim Research and
Development Foundation. The final forwarded brief is a
CAIR report announcing the call for "A Day of
Solidarity with the Syrian People." In the spirit of
the Qur'anic ayah: "Stand firmly for justice as
witnesses to ALLAH, even if it is against yourselves,
your parents, or your kin
" I am compelled (as a
matter of conscience) to take issue with the way the
ongoing Syrian crisis has been playing out in the
western media, and within much of America's Muslim
population. I begin my critique with the
following position statement. I have been a critic of
the Assad government(s) for many years (going
back to the days of the current president's father)
from the time that I first learned of the Baathist
government's persecution of committed Muslim citizens
who hungered and struggled for the establishment
of Islamic government. My aversion deepened (post
9/11) when I learned that Syria served as one of the
U.S. government's unconscionable way-stations for the
rendition and torture of secretly held Muslim
prisoners. That being said, the FACT cannot
be ignored that the heart-rendering humanitarian
crisis in Syria has resulted primarily from the
so-called "rebels" decision to mount a campaign of
militarized resistance (in an attempt to overthrow the
Syrian government by force), and to invite openly
anti-Islam, anti-Muslim, belligerents within the
international community to join into the shamefully
destructive carnage. ALLAH states clearly in the
Qur'an: "Do not become an advocate for those who
betray their trusts." And further, "ALLAH will
not change the condition of a people until they change
what it within themselves." Given the fundamentally
un-Islamic, self-serving, reactionary
and tribalistic decision-making going on in
parts of the "Muslim world" today, may God help us.
I'm going
to be brief, because I don't want to distract any
recipient of this message from the very important
video contained in the link below - video
footage that I consider a God-send!
(And I thank my friend Andy in Houston, Texas, for
bringing it to my attention right after it was
brought to his.)
I've been
asked the question (on more than one occasion),
"What makes Aafia Siddiqui so special, when there
are a large [and growing] number of Muslims unjustly
imprisoned?" After you watch the video below,
not only will you have the answer to that question,
you will also have a better understanding of why
this case has touched Br. Saalakhan so deeply.
I will have
much more to say about the video and its
significance later, insha'Allah. Until then, I ask
ALL of our readers to first watch the
video themselves (it's not that long), and
then please share the link with everyone within your
respective networks.
Special Announcement re:
September 2nd - Washington, DC |
Add Comments