I was watching Riz Khan on youtube. For those who don’t know about Riz Khan, he is a talk host on Al-Jazeera who talks to people about issues in the world whatever they may be. This time they were talking about Islamophobia. Here is the link if you should in interested:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ipkXAqZnyQ&NR=1&feature=fvwp
I could go on here discussing about the existence of Islamophobia in the west and so forth but I will talk about something else: Christianity groups being persecuted in the Muslim world because of their beliefs. Although I believe in the truthfulness of Islam as the religion, it is true that in this day and age, there exist severe alienation of non-Muslims in major Muslim states such as Egypt, Morocco etc. So is it right that Muslims should have such a loud voice in condemning the western politicians for a lack of dialogue?
Muslims in the west enjoy much freedom. Much more than even moderate Muslims in the Muslim world. For example, Women rights in Afghanistan - the appalling ways women are treated in some parts of the Muslim world is scary. I was just in the mosque praying my Tawarih prayers and an uncle next to me started talking to me in Urdu. Realising that I couldn’t speak Urdu, he said something in English I barely understood but I suspected it was to do with the way I prayed. In this mosque - remember High Wycombe was where 2 of the men convicted of conspiracy to blow up transatlantic planes using liquid explosives came from - people have a very unique mix of culture and religion. It is not an English speaking mosque and the Friday sermons or Khutbas are delivered in Urdu (sometimes I forget I am in England and think I’m in some rural part of Pakistan). I could understand from just these months of practicing Islam in High Wycombe that sometimes it could be difficult for me even to practice Islam in the Muslim world. So imagine what it would be like for the Christians living in Egypt for example. Some Muslims, according to my ex-colleague from Nigeria, would go out to kill because they are Christians.
This is by no means correct way in which Muslims should conduct. Have a watch of this emotional speech by Yasir Qadhi - he was the Sheik who talk me Tawhid (oneness of God) and Aqeeda (Islamic Theology) a few months back:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0kqmaxWQ_8
Don’t be put off by his display of emotions and perhaps there would be things you should not totally agree with. However, I want to point out a few points he made which I found to be essence in understanding the social message of Islam. Mercy was always practiced in the Muslim world for 1000s of years even in war. There is a very strict code of conduct in war and treating prisoners of war in Islam, one perhaps the blockbuster The Kingdom of Heaven has demonstrated shows the mercy of Muslims towards other faiths. Even in the Ottoman empire, Jews and Christians were free to practice. Taking for example the Ashkenazim Jews (who lived in the Northern Christian world) and the Sephardi Jews (living in the Islamic Empire), the Sephardi Jews had enjoyed much more freedom and wealth than their counterparts in the North. So the questions I always ask is, is there still a Muslim country - a true Muslim country who condones a diversity in faith especially those who are considers the people of the book (Jews and Christians)? I think Malaysia is very close to being ideal. Although there are still some problems, the way Malaysia is run, its the closest in my opinion to a Muslim state.
However, having acknowledged this fact, does it give us the rights as Muslims in the west to speak out against Islamophobia? I’m reading a book by Tariq Ramadan from what I have read so far, it reminds me of hint of Jewish enlightenment scholars such as Abraham Geiger who sought to integrate Jews into the wider German society back in the 1800s. (Bare in mind this was around 100-150 years before Hitler’s Germany) Of course Ramadan is much less extreme, but I have yet to finish the book to be able to comment on it further. I am just afraid with the rise of Islamophobia in the west and the need for Muslims to integrate into this society will give rise to another outbreak of world war 3. Well, for me it doesn’t matter because I believe in the antichrist and the messiah so it will probably all come to the end very very soon anyway. If antisemitism and Islamophobia are on the rise perhaps this shift to atheism shall signal the last few days of our world. Have a read on Islam Eschatology.