Tomorrow night, on the eve of the third anniversary of the 7/7 bombings, Channel 4's Dispatches returns to one of its favourite subjects - Muslims. The programme, called It Shouldn't Happen to a Muslim, looks at how life has changed for Muslim families in the UK since 9/11. It recounts vicious stories of horrific, racist brutality against Muslims, not the extremist ones, but the ordinary, law-abiding ones; stories that are rarely reported in the press.
I imagine this will annoy a hell of a lot of people. They'll probably post comments on websites of all political hues about how insensitive it is to focus on the so-called plight of Muslims, asking what right 'they' have to play the victim card and speak out about the attacks they've suffered when it was 'they' who started it in the first place.
When people start talking about 7/7, 9/11, terrorism and Osama, rationality is lost and prejudice and stereotype emerge. Most people are so (understandably) full of rage at what happened and what's still happening that they don't want to hear that not all Muslims are terrorists, illegal immigrants or uneducated illiterates that the rest of the nation has to 'respect'. Ultimately, it's far easier to lump us altogether.
Peter Oborne, the well-known right-wing columnist who is behind the Dispatches programme, pointed this out in two pieces published last week, one in the Daily Mail, the other in the Independent. He spoke out against Islamophobia and how the press is to blame for producing ridiculous stories about Muslims, like the one that appeared last week (funnily enough in the Mail) about how a police advert featuring a puppy sparked 'outrage' from Muslims who find dogs offensive.
For the record, I'm Muslim. Trust me, we don't have an issue with puppies.
Oborne says: 'We should all feel ashamed about the way we treat Muslims, in the media, in our politics and on our streets. We do not treat Muslims with the tolerance, decency and fairness that we often like to boast is the British way.'
He was brave to say this. It's obvious that many 'get-back-from-where-you-came-from' people will see him as some sort of 'sympathiser'.
Some of what he said rings true. If you're a Muslim, even a middle-of-the-road one, you don't have to have been a victim of an Islamophobic attack to realise that things have changed. Sometimes, it's subtle, like how my hijab-wearing mother had to justify to colleagues why she'd started wearing a headscarf. At other times it isn't. Every Muslim can probably tell you a story or two of how they got held for hours of interrogation by immigration on the way to the US for no apparent reason other than because they had a Muslim-sounding name or an Arab/Asian face.
My elder brother, an orthodontist, once told me that the best thing for us (for Muslims in general) to do right now was to 'keep our heads down; don't draw attention to yourself unnecessarily'. Even the open-minded, educated, Muslim contingent worries about the misperceptions people have of us, largely because of the fear factor people tend to use when talking about Muslims. 'If people know I'm Muslim, will they judge me differently because of it?' is something that worries me.
Every year, I fast for Ramadan, but (until now at least) probably only one of my colleagues actually knows. I'd rather not shout about it because then it saves the questions, the quizzical looks, the feeling you get from other people that you're different.
Pieces such as Oborne's and tomorrow's Dispatches programme will upset some who don't think Muslims deserve the sympathy. But this isn't about Muslims asking for pity. It's about asking for understanding and the recognition that it's a minority that has ruined our names - and that most of us really aren't that different.
My elder brother, an orthodontist, once told me that the best thing for us (for Muslims in general) to do right now was to 'keep our heads down; don't draw attention to yourself unnecessarily'.
This quote brings a Hadith Qudsi to mind;
Hadith Qudsi 22:
On the authority of Abu Sa'id (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said:
Let not any one of you belittle himself. They said: O Messenger of Allah, how can any one of us belittle himself? He said: He finds a matter concerning Allah about which he should say something, and he does not say [it], so Allah (mighty and sublime be He) says to him on the Day of Resurrection: What prevented you from saying something about such-and-such and such-and-such? He say: [It was] out of fear of people. Then He says: Rather it is I whom you should more properly fear.
It was related by Ibn Majah with a sound chain of authorities.
Peter Oborne, the well-known right-wing columnist who is behind the Dispatches programme, pointed this out in two pieces published last week, one in the Daily Mail, the other in the Independent. He spoke out against Islamophobia and how the press is to blame for producing ridiculous stories about Muslims, like the one that appeared last week (funnily enough in the Mail) about how a police advert featuring a puppy sparked 'outrage' from Muslims who find dogs offensive.
Peter Oborne's piece in the Independent can be found here.
Also, more information on the Dispatches programme to be broadcast on Monday can be found here.
"I spent thirty years learning manners, and I spent twenty years learning knowledge."
How many times aren't people discussing were to draw the line between fearing only Allah and not bothering about people and at the same time making a change rather than just sitting at your butt, taking all the nonsense by the ones spreading misunderstandings about our beatiful Deen?
We've got obligations, that's a fact. We can't just sit there, complaining how all the non-Muslims hate us and just don't get us and then expect an miracle. I always remind myself of the hadith of an bedouin and his camel. "Trust in Allah, but tie up your camel."
We should try through moderate ways, writing colums/articles ect to demolish misunderstandings about Islam. For a Muslim is not that roaring wacko who is swinging with the sword in one hand and having Qur'an on other hand, astagfirullah. Though moderate ways. You don't even push dawah on people, you do it moderately and humbly. Everything in a Muslim should be that. We are suppoused to have some level of hayaa atmosphere around us, innit.
But as Michael Jackson once sang about an 'Man in the Mirror' I heard once as an second grader and couldn't forget the words, I'm gonna.. Not sing it (you wish!), but write it down here: If You Wanna Make The World A Better Place Take A Look At Yourself, And Then Make A Change.
I'm not for big protests and outrage or crazy reactions.. As Muslims we firstly gotta change inside to be the good examples. I don't yell to the world 'I'M FASTING, take that you chicken-wings, I know you desired to be eaten by me!" on Ramadan. Few of my classmates know (we've been together since way before 7th grade, and I've fasted since I was 12, elhamdulillah), only when they ask me to come have lunch with them I kindly explain. They go 'Oh' and that's about it.
Yes, the ones who suffered from the terrorist attacks have a right to be angry. I have a right to be angry at Serbia, Russia, Germany, Saudi, Britain, Holland, Denmark, Finland... My neighbour's cat who wanted to eat that cute lil baby-bird. We all have anger at many people, things, happenings and so on. But I don't and won't take it in forever how some people just abuse this anger, continue for years with the same attitude and forget they themseleves are guilty of similiar crimes.
Peace, love, understanding, forgiveness, acceptance etc.
That's why writing an article, talking with your friends or colleagues and the likes, can help to change and move something, inshaAllah.
With an clear intention we do it and then place our trust in Allah. We want to clear the misunderstandings for the sake of Allah, so that He will be merciful with us all, inshaAllah.
[/rant]
If I've said anything wrong/false or offensive, may Allah forgive me and grant me knowledge! Amiin.
Sorry Osman for the long post.. Oh and everyone else too, sorrry.
Last edited by Al-Zaara; 07-06-2008 at 01:55 PM.
“If only I had checked myself”
—
Guy who wrecked himself
True leaders don't create followers...
.... They create new leaders.
JazakAllaahu Khayran Ukhti Al-Zaara for a beautiful post. I agree with you 100%. As Muslims, we need to be pro-active in clearing misconceptions about our deen and promoting the truth, rather than sitting down and complaining about it from behind our computer screen.
"I spent thirty years learning manners, and I spent twenty years learning knowledge."
After reading the first post a line came in my mind which is from the stand up comedian Preacher Moss
"If you haven't done any thing, act like you haven't done any thing"
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