Protests II

This is the second part of a three part series, please find the first part here and the last part here.

If we look back at the last five years, there have been a number of such incidents where Muslims have been provoked by a seemingly harmless entity. Take for example, Nike’s new range of shoes in which the word “Air” was written to resemble “Allah” in Arabic; Burger king’s ice cream packaging where the cone was made to resemble “Allah” in Arabic; Wikipedia printing paintings depicting the Prophet (S.a.w.); Salman Rushdie being awarded British knighthood despite Muslim outrage. Muslims fail to understand the coincidence and the good intent behind these incidents. Apparently, the western corporate giants are trying to lure the huge Muslim population by putting the symbols known to them on their brands. It’s only that Muslims don’t see the friendly side of it at all. For them, fiddling with anything sacred to them is just blasphemy. Herein lies the problem of the west. If the west can bow to their Japanese guests saying “sayonara”, eat Chinese food with chop sticks, wear Hawaiian shirts on beaches - in short, respect and follow the traditions of other nations the way it’s recommended - then may be they can just know how to communicate with Muslims. But the question is who’ll show them the turn-ons and turn-offs of the Muslims. May be it’s the job of the Muslim administrations around the world.

Muslim governments on the other hand, are dealing with domestic violence and tension on borders. As these lines are being written, Turkey is at war against the Kurds, Iraq against the combating locals, Pakistan against the local Talibans, Afghanistan against the actual Talibans, The Fateh regime of Palestine against Hamas, Sudan dealing with the Darfur crisis, while other Muslim countries are also engaged in constant mind games from the rest of the world. With such problems at hand, Muslim rulers are not only already exhausted, the majority of them is not considered to be practicing Muslim by other Muslims. That, eventually – and quite rightly – becomes the job of the general Muslim population.

The plight of a common Muslim today is that he or she loves Islam but is not ready to follow it. People who don’t even offer Friday prayers still love Islam, but only as someone would love his birthplace. This is the same reason why we get to receive long email chains proclaiming Will Smith or Michael Jackson’s acceptance of Islam, there’s an inner desire in each and every one of the 1 billion strong Muslims to serve Islam, to preach its teachings, to show the world the correct side of Islam. However, we’re not inclined to first follow the same principles in our lives. We see someone with a beard and say “Masha ALLAH” and then step into the barber’s shop to fashion that goatee on our chin; we hear the Azaan and sit upright, and when it finishes, go back to the same reclining position. But the desire to do good doesn’t die, it may be dormant, but it’s there without argument. So when such an incident occurs, we feel extremely agitated, and with no knowledge of how to handle things, eventually end up following charlatans who convince them that killing any “Kafir” is the only way to salvation. Hence you see the suicide bombings, the beheadings of journalists and other instruments of terrorism. And unless we, the common Muslim, is educated enough, there’s no way we can convince the non-believers that for all the man-made problems created in this world today, Islam has the solutions for all of them.

This is the second part of a three part series, please find the first part here and the last part here.