Thinking Muslims need to wake up

Where are the ‘moderate voices’ condemning the extremists? Headlines accompanied by pictures of all sorts of dangerous activities scream at you — and what is the commonality in all of them? The actors are Muslim. I can feel the pressure that keeps mounting on me, a normal Muslim woman, to explain what is going on — explain in the name of Islam. Because people who perpetrate the atrocities do it in the name of Islam. Those people forget that being a Muslim is being ‘moderate.’ The Qur’an tells you.

Sensationalism is the other name of reporting in the media. I seriously believe that the time has come for people like myself to take a stand and speak out. We want the people who are proud of their belief and culture, their obedience to God, their consciousness and their accountability, to be prepared to stand up and say, “Do what you want but leave religion (Islam, in this respect) out.”

To my fellow Muslims, I say, “It is time we owned up and stopped blaming and saying that these acts of violence are orchestrated by the enemies of Muslims.” Though in the past it has been proven that these (so called) enemies have had a hand in either staging an act of violence and laying it at the door of or aiding and abetting Muslims in committing hara-kiri of some sort, there are many incidents that continue to happen entirely at the effort of Muslims themselves. We could call them misguided, ignorant or extremists. They have no hesitation in making the most outrageous statements, all in the name of Allah (God) and His Messenger. There are many examples of interventions by outsiders that caused major upheavals in the social order in Muslim lands but it is equally true that unless a group is willing to be divided, nobody from outside can divide them. Unfortunately, the rulers of these lands have been put in place and are supported and kept in place by outside military strength and then people suffer under them. Fact remains that bursting bombs in airports, nightclubs and malls is not going to change anything. It will only strengthen the hands of the oppressors and give them more power to bring in more draconian laws and perpetrate more crimes in the name of ‘maintaining security.’ The case of Palestine is one in point where 60 years of armed struggle only seems to have resulted in a stronger, more heavily armed, Israel. One can well ask, “So what has been achieved?”

Muslim Ummah (community) needs to bring about some major changes in our cultural structure, our behaviour with others, our social fabric and our very thinking and mindset if we want our image to change. The solution? Non-violent struggle for truth. Create media events that show you in a good light and are interesting enough to draw attention, learn to collaborate, dialogue, differ and deal with conflict. Learn to focus on issues of common concern while agreeing to live with the differences. Identify important issues, deliberate, take expert advice and then create solutions. The solutions must be innovative, attractive and powerful and, with great media savvy, made public. It is time for the thinking ones to wake up and start thinking so that they don’t allow the mindless to hijack their belief or image. It is now time to come out of our living rooms and say loudly and clearly so that it is heard. Laziness is a sin, especially in today’s world. Especially where our very existence is threatened.

— Shaheen Ashraf, a Pointe Claire

resident, is a member of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women.