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January/February 2002
A Memo To American
Muslims
by M.A. Muqtedar Khan
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 Qur’an 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 un-Islamic.
This is truly sad.
Even if it were true that Israel
and the US are enemies of the
Muslim world, I wonder what is preventing them from unleashing their
nuclear arsenal against Muslims. The attacks of September 11, acts that
mercilessly murdered thousands of innocent people, including hundreds
of Muslims, are 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 sanction
such an act? While encouraging Muslims to struggle against injustice
(Qur’an 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 (Qur’an 5:32).
He also encourages Muslims to forgive Jews and
Christians if they have committed injustices against us (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 in and become citizens of the United
States, but in spite of all the tall rhetoric of
the Arab world and Qur’anic 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 the 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 Shiites? Have we protested
the violation of their rights? But we all are eager to condemn Israel:
not because we care for the 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 slaughtered
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, then 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 the injustices committed upon Muslims by others. The
point, however, is that 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. 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. Before the new war on Afghanistan,
under Taliban rule, half a million Afghans had to leave their homes
and their country. 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 Muslim society. We are so focused on “the other”
that we 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 calls for murder
and mayhem. If bin Laden were an individual then we would have no problem.
But unfortunately bin Laden 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 bin Laden 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 September 11 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, 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, PhD, is the director of International
Studies at Adrian College
in Michigan, and active in the Association of
Muslim Social Scientists and the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy.
©2001 Fellowship of Reconciliation
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