More than just anti-Zionists

By Shagufta Yaqoob [Editor, Q-News]

from Q-News: Issue 341-342 - March-April 2002 - Safar 1423
More than just anti-zionists
http://www.q-news.com
A few weeks ago I received an e-mail from a reader who began by congratulating the Q-News team for "doing a great job on your magazine". He then went on to request that we interview leaders from the Arab world and ask them why they are not uniting against the "kafirs". 
Okay, I thought, his tone is a little harsh, but I guess Muslims have a lot to be angry about these days. His next sentence horrified me: "What is happening in the Muslim world today... the fault squarely lies with our F****** B****** leaders." He went on to explain, "Now to give you an example, Pakistan does not get on well with India, right! so Qatar and other Mother-F****** Arab leaders are making friends with India and making new business deals. Is there any justice in that?" 

The unmentionable vulgarity continued for a few more paragraphs, and then the letter was signed: Ali (servant of Allah). 

Perhaps what worried me most of all was that this brother clearly felt he was doing a service to the ummah - or a duty to Allah - by being so angry about the suffering of other Muslims. Even more worrying, is the fact that unleashing this kind of political rage onto others has become somewhat of a trend among some young, hot-blooded Muslims these days. 

I am not the first to notice that there is a growing tendency among Muslim youth to become so obsessed with the oppression of the ummah that they reduce Islam to a political ideology that gives legitimacy to their aggressive means of activism. Their inability to place these events within a wider Islamic framework is a severe handicap that ends up misguiding what are potentially great efforts. Whilst the concerns of such individuals and groups are certainly valid - and their intentions usually very noble - some have become so caught up in expressing emotional outrage that in the process they have become political zealots, willing to disregard almost anything - including basic good manners and human decency - to get their point across. 

A common tactic of this group (which extends beyond any one organisation) is the use of what I can only describe as spiritual blackmail. Many an e-mail has told me that anyone who doesn’t picket outside Selfridges next Saturday morning doesn’t care about the murder of innocent Palestinian children. And in case the equation doesn’t add up, pictures of babies with bullets through their chests are attached to increase the guilt factor. The question then arises; do we really need such graphic reminders to motivate ourselves, or will the circulation of this imagery work against us by de-sensitising the world to the horrors of the situation? 

A friend told me last week that having read the e-mails of one particular Muslim lobby group, she had nightmares because she had been made to feel personally responsible for the escalation of the situation in Palestine. Having read some of the e-mails myself, I couldn’t blame her for feeling the guilt: "Muslims are the lowest most pathetic nation on earth.... The reason why people in the UK don’t know about the Palestinians is, because 3,000,000 so called Muslim a******* can’t be bothered to... stand up for them. It isn’t anyone’s fault but our own, yes reader, your fault." 

My friend has since been unable to read the e-mails, let alone take up any of the recommended actions. It makes me wonder if the sender has any idea of the e-mails’ psychological impact on those whose emotions have not yet become immune to such crudity. The intention here is clearly to fuel the reader into action, but who, in all honesty, having read the above will be inspired to act with the hikmah (wisdom) of the Prophetic (pbuh) example, to which Muslims should aspire? Surely such inflammatory language, blatant spiritual blackmail, and sweeping judgements about fellow Muslims and will only cause the reader to act hastily, out of anger and outrage. As a people who should be constantly reviewing our intentions, we need to be wary of anything that inclines us to act from the whims and desires of our egos rather than for the sake of God. 

The temptation to adopt the crude, and sometimes immoral methods of other apparently ‘successful’ groups is one that Muslims should be struggling to resist. For all their hatred of Zionism, some Muslims involved in lobby groups constantly measure their efforts against the ‘achievements’ of Zionists. This rather unhealthy obsession with Zionism exposes the irony of those who, strangely, would love to become that which they hate the most. The cause of Islam is seen to be in competition with the forces of Zionism to the extent that one would think that there is nothing more to being a Muslim these days than being an anti-Zionist. 

Whilst we need to know our enemy, we cannot resort to using their tactics when we are bound, religiously, to act differently. It seems that somewhere amidst the efforts to liberate Palestine, the religious significance of the struggle seems to have become overlooked. Palestine, above all else, should be desirable to the Muslim because of its divinely bestowed blessings. A Shaykh once said, "Our emotional attachment to Palestine should be a yearning for what we have been told is a blessed land, not for nationalism or patriotism." 

The spiritual significance of Palestine is something that is rarely reflected on amidst all the political dimensions of the conflict. As one tradition relates, "Having a tiny piece of land from where Bait al Maqdis can be seen is better than all the world and what it contains." According to the Shaykh, Palestine is a blessed land given to those who worship Allah, and its loss is not due to the lack of arms or political strategy - it is because we have deviated from the path of Allah. 

The Shaykh described how Palestine, over time, has lost its native memorisers of Quran and its teachers of sacred Islamic knowledge. As others have commented, the calibre of Muslims today is such that it is a blessing that we have not been granted power - for we are told that it is better to be the oppressed than the oppressor. 

To explain the gravity of the situation, the Shaykh gave the example, It is better to live in New York than to live in Madinah and disrespect it by putting up a satellite dish.” Likewise, he implied, it is better to yearn for Palestine, than to have it and not honour it. 

Recently, the internal politics of some Muslim lobby groups have indicated that the anti-Zionist movement is in danger of becoming something of a competitive industry devoid of spiritual dimension. The horrors of daily existence renders it almost impossible for the Palestinians to think beyond their immediate condition, but those of us claiming to work strategically have to keep our intentions pure and our religious beliefs firm. The manner in which we conduct ourselves when fighting for the rights of the Palestinian people cannot be one that disregards our essential spiritual connection to the holy land and the sanctity of our mission. Becoming bitter, angry, and abusive people will not invite the sympathies of those whose assistance is desperately needed in our endeavours; nor will it incline anyone towards Islam if we resort to such undignified modes of behaviour. 

Our conduct, as Muslims, should not only be distinct, but exemplary. Our character, modelled on the Best of creation (pbuh), should be one of our greatest assets, not one of our most embarrassing drawbacks. Only then, when we acquire the character of true Muslims, will we be deserving of the divine gift that is Palestine. 

By Shagufta Yaqub 

This article appeared in issue 341-342 of Q-News (March-April 2002 - Safar 1423). To be reproduced or distributed if in full and with full referance to www.q-news.com 

© Copyright Q News 2001- All rights reserved 

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