It's High Time We
Muslims Confronted Our Own Hypocrisy
"What
really boggles my mind is when I think of what would happen if Christians were
involved in a terrorist attack on one of our holy cities: would we ever, ever
contemplate allowing Christians to build a church next to the attack
site?"
Feisal Abdul Rauf, executive director of the Cordoba Initiative, has traveled the world to talk to moderate Muslims on behalf of the U.S. State Department. He now finds himself ensconsed in a fierce battle to prevent his initiative from being completed.
We huff and puff in a
self-righteous rage over the refusal of a few in the US of A to allow the
building of a mosque near Ground Zero. Particularly for the bigots on either
side, the issue has become so all-consuming that it's hard to distinguish their
collective voice from one continuous, high-pitched, piercing blare.
Quite a few on my mailing
list enthusiastically forwarded me an amazing article written by Michael Moore
(yes, of Fahrenheit
9/11 fame) titled as, If
This Mosque isn’t Built, This is no Longer America. In this stunning
piece, Michael Moore wants the mosque built "not two blocks from Ground Zero"
but "on Ground Zero." He goes on to give a long list of reasons for this.
What really stumped me in Michael’s write-up was that since the beginning,
according to him, it has been the Jewish
Community Center in Manhattan whose rabbi has been helping the New York Muslim
community in their quest.
And I thought the Jews were
our worst enemies.
Bang in the middle of this
controversy, other dazzling news was almost drowned out. According to a Christian
Science Monitor report, the
hundred thousand strong Muslim community of the Italian city of Milan are
pushing for building the first-ever mosque in that city. And who is their most steadfast
ally in this quest? Lo and behold, it's none other than the Vatican itself. Says
Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi, the Catholic Church’s highest authority in Milan,
“Milan civil institutions must guarantee everyone religious freedom,” and
“Muslims have the right to practice their faith.”
All power to the Muslim
communities in New York and Milan - and Michael Moore and Cardinal Dionigi
Tettamanzi, but where does that leave ordinary Muslims like me? I'm all
confused. I thought these people could never be friends with Muslims. That, as
a matter fact, is an article of faith with us Muslims. I appeal to the paragons
of moral consistency to now come to my aid. And pronto please. What's
happening? Someone please reassure me that these friendly gestures are actually
more "Judeo-Christian conspiracies" against us Muslims. And if they are,
what exactly are we going to do about them? Refuse the help or refuse building
the mosques?
But that's not all I'm
puzzled over. I also need to understand why in our holy land [Saudi Arabia], a
country that is a role model for the Muslim world, a kind of apartheid against
non-Muslims is practiced. Christians and other non-Muslims are prohibited from
even entering the two holy cities [Mecca and Madina] where there are signs that
Muslims must go to certain areas and non-Muslims others. There are more than a
million Roman Catholics in that country without a single church for any Christian
denomination. Not allowed to practice their faith openly, these Christians are
forced to worship secretly in private homes. Even articles and symbols like
Bibles, crucifixes, statues, carvings, items with religious icons, etc. are prohibited.
The government doesn't permit non-Muslim clergy to enter the country for the
purpose of conducting religious services. In that country, blood money for the accidental
death of a Christian male is half as much as that for a Muslim (lucky, one
would say, because all others i.e. Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs etc. are valued
at 1/16th the amount).
But above all, what really
boggles my mind is when I think of what would happen if Christians were
involved in a terrorist attack on one of our holy cities: would we ever, ever
contemplate allowing Christians to build a church next to the attack site? Not
that there are any, even without such attacks. Whether Muslims were or weren’t
involved in the 9/11 attacks is beside the point. Rightly or wrongly, they are
perceived to have been.
Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US
Not only that, people [in
Muslim lands] are actually killed for having differing beliefs. In a country
like Pakistan, Christians, along with other minorities of course, are routinely
persecuted, their churches burned and their homes and communities vandalized,
while we stand by like helpless bystanders. Even the ancient Bamyan Statues [of
the Buddha] in Afghanistan, an international heritage site, weren't spared. Yet
when we go and reside in the West we foam at the mouths with self- righteousness
demanding equal rights in matters of worship and daily living. We are the
rowdiest, loudest and most violent protesters when we protest a seeming
injustice.
WHY?
Why do we all forget the
aforesaid facts when we cry out for equal rights and freedom of speech, thought
and action in the West? Why don’t we demand the same in our own countries? Why
do we lapse into collective silence at the persecution of minorities in our
countries? Why don’t we believe in giving to others what we claim for
ourselves? Why don’t we see the heartrending injustice of it all?
Why are we inured to these
basic human values? When will we understand that fear freezes the mind, keeping
it forever at the mercy of ignorance? That superstition is a dagger that
slaughters the intellect?
And if it isn't the case of a
callous indifference to basic human values or of fear or superstition, then what
is it?
Is it ignorance? Is it
duplicity? Is it dread of the unknown? Is it the lethal mix of all three that
keeps us from being honest? Or is it plain old hypocrisy?
Anyone care to answer?
*Anwaar Hussain is a former Pakistan Air Force F-16 fighter pilot. With
a Masters in Defense and Strategic Studies from Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamaba,
he now resides in United Arab Emirates. He has published a series of articles
in Defense Journal, South Asia Tribune and a host of other web portals. Other
than international affairs, Anwaar Hussain has written extensively on the
religious and political issues that plague Pakistan.
