Peace and Love.

Firstly, happy new year! May all your desires become reality.  There, short and sweet.  None of this 4 page texts that I received on new years day wishing that even my pets had a great year! I don’t even have pets!  Anyway, I would like to apologise for my lack of commitment to this blog.  I have recently been away back to visit my parents and friends in X.  It was a really very good trip.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Despite my dislike for the place, I was left feeling slightly somber when I left to come back home.  Though I think that had more to do with having to detach myself from my friends and family again for another few months. 

Anyways, while I was away I found that I had to really set the record straight, a lot, about the same issues.  I thought this was more tragically mundane than constantly saying to random people ‘Merry Christmas’ or ‘Happy New Year’.  For example on Christmas eve, I went out with my Rugby boys in the west end and in my town and, with no word of a lie, saw about 400 people that I knew.  I must have said those phrases around 2000 times that night alone.  I didn’t mind.  I am generally a well mannered individual as I find that manners do not cost, however, the repetition is obscenely irritating.  I love socializing but it really made it cumbersome and exasperating.  I digress. 

The issues in which I had to constantly found myself having to defend against, and still do, has been due to the fluctuation of these activities occurring around the globe in the last few weeks.  These were the two terrorist attacks that happened in Stockholm, Sweden at the beginning of December (11/12/2010) and one in the Bajaur region, Pakistan just before the turn of the new year, more precisely on Christmas day ((25/12/2010) ….as if I needed to tell you that!). 

The first incident was both a car bombing and a suicide bomber.  This left one innocent person dead and injured a further two in the process.  It was thought that these were carried out because of Sweden’s involvement in the war in Afghanistan and the on-going controversy surrounding the cartoons of the blessed prophet Mohammed Peace Be Upon Him (PBUH).   The incident which came to pass in Pakistan was carried out by a female radical who decided to cause havoc by blowing herself up in a UN food centre in the Bajaur region.  Her intentions were unknown but she took the lives of 46 innocent people (men, women and children) and injured over 100 people, the elderly included. 

Just as a side note: As if Pakistan had not seen enough misery this last year with the floods and earth quakes.  Not to mention the death toll that came with that.  There is still a clean up project which is costing in the realms of hundreds of millions of pounds. 

As a Muslim individual living in the UK I find it very frustrating trying to live without the stigma that comes with being a Muslim and without having to constantly justify our ways to those who do not understand it or worse yet, refuse to understand it and, for some reason, feel irrationally threatened by it.  It is only exacerbated by these people who commit these atrocities in the name of religion or in the name of Allah/God. 

Although it may not seem this way, and it may seem as if it is way off the truth Islam is a religion of peace.  An example of this is in the Quran.  A quote which sticks out for me is ‘Whoever kills another one without justifiable cause, surely he is killing all of humanity. And whoever saves the life of another one, surely he saves the lives of all of humanity.’

A justifiable cause is in defense. 

This can only mean that those who end the lives of the innocent are to face punishment for it in the afterlife.  This goes without saying, and therefore, those who do all these acts in the name of their ‘religion’ are facing Allah’s harshest judgment.  Ironic, isn’t it?  It is safe to say that the violence which occurs is not of Islamic faith and belief.  It will not give them eternal bliss in the afterlife with more virgins than you can count! 

So a typical conversation with people would be:

FRIEND: I do believe that Islam is a very aggressive, vulgar and unfriendly religion and I feel uncomfortable around Muslims. 

ME: I resent that.  I am a Muslim and you seem comfortable around me.  Apart from these stupid people who attack the helpless ‘in the name of Allah’ what other evidence of Islam being aggressive do you have?  Because I can tell you now that these are not the actions of a true Muslim. 

FRIEND: No you are different.

ME: ……I think you will find the vast, VAST majority of Muslims are like me (list mutual friends). 

FRIEND: Hmm…well even in history.  Your religion and your prophet spread Islam by the sword. 

ME: Well I can see your point to certain extend there.  But, there are some things that may not be common knowledge which I will get to in a moment.  I just want to raise this as a point first.  When we were under threat by the Nazis did we go to war?

FRIEND: Yes.

ME: Ok and I am sure there are many other threats in history such as the threat of Communism spreading in the likes of Vietnam which caused war to breakout as well. 

FRIEND: Ok, so what’s your point?

ME: My point is that when there is something that threatens what you believe in, to the point of termination, of course you are going to take to arms to defend it.  Right?  You would be stupid not to. 

FRIEND: But, I have heard that it is not all in defense. 

ME: Well I am telling you it is.  It was decreed by our prophet PBUH that in a war conflict we should cause no harm to the elderly, the women, the children, the walls of any building in any city, even plants and animals.  We are to defend ourselves only. 

Also, when our prophet or ANY Muslim army back then was sent to spread the word of Islam they would not do it by threatening an entire established city by marching an army to their gates.  They would send emissaries.  If they would agree to house Muslims then they would.  They would also work together to make the city as prosperous as possible.  For example, there was a small village in Iran who used to be fire worshippers.  The prophet PBUH himself went to them and asked to convert their settlement to a Muslim settlement.  He reassured them that no harm would come their way.  He asked only that they would pay taxes.  He of course explained the background of Islam and he explained to them that they need not worry about the Muslims pressurizing them to become Muslim. 

FRIEND: They had to pay taxes for following a different faith? That’s a little unfair, no?

ME: Well no.  It isn’t considering we all have to pay taxes.  In Islam we have to contribute 2.5% of all our savings every year. 

FRIEND: Oh.  So what was the catch then?

ME: To settle the Muslims.  And eventually, the more and more the fire worshippers learned the ways of Islam, some, not all, began to follow this faith. 

I know this will not necessarily convince you but all this is true.  We do not look for conflict.  We do not look to waste the lives of the innocent, our own or anybody. 

FRIEND: If I didn’t know you I would feel much more threatened by Muslims. 

ME: After all that has happened I do not blame you or anybody else. 

It is very paradoxical that those religious fanatics who take it upon themselves to ‘defend’ the name of Allah/God.  They should, or more appropriately MUST know that God does not need a bunch of morons to defend his name.  Especially in the ways they so relentlessly intend on doing!

The likes of Al Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden, Abu Hamza etc, have brought it upon Islam.  Islamophobia is something which is on the rise due to these people hate mongering and I do not blame those who fear Muslims. 

Even though Islam is viewed by many who follow it a perfected way of life – it does not mean everybody who follows it is perfect.  However, to not have a pious public figure head that one looks to, an ambassador to truly represent the true values of Islam is just shameful.

 

I guess religion has a lot to answer for. 

Much love,

Jackson L.