Okay, so Yassin is dead. Another so-called religious leader espousing humanist values of tolerance, peace, and the brotherhood of man is gone. I, for one, will not grieve for him. He chose violence as a solution and he died by the very actions of the words he preached. What I will grieve for is the end of any hope for stability and peace in Palestine and Israel. Lets call this what it is, the assassination of one terrorist by another. Israel is complicity in the formation of Hamas to further its own aims by creating instability and a power struggle to the Palestinian Authority. They spawned Hamas and now the son wants the father’s power. The Arabs are either too blind or too stupid to realise that they, once again, have been manipulated in believing their salvation lay with a corrupt and ineffective leader or with a killer in sheikhs clothing.
The Muslim world is up in arms and indignant at the assassination of one man. His death does not cause me to lose sleep. I am, however, sad that the rule of law was subverted, that targeted killings stray off target, and that violence begets violence. Yes, once again, we Muslims raise our voices for the killing of one man. We want justice. We are in the right. Fine. But where were our voices when hundreds of Shia Muslims were massacred in Iraq and Pakistan not by Sharon and his evil henchmen, but by our fellow righteous Muslims. Where were the demonstrations in Muslim countries against the horror in Madrid? We will come out in droves to protect a piece of cloth on a women’s head, but bury our heads when it comes to calling for equal justice when we ourselves are the perpetrators.
We as an Ummah cannot call for justice when we are blind to it if we not the victims but the criminals. This hypocrisy is a wound in Muslim societies. We are so defensive about any criticism that we are silent. And when we are silent, there is no shortage of voices willing to speak for us. Be it the media, hostile governments, or policy wonks. What I would love to see is major demonstrations in places like Cairo, Karachi, and Beirut against militant Islam and leaders of these factions that use violence to kill people and, in so doing, kill the very spirit of Islam. If that hostility was harnessed towards a more positive enterprise, perhaps I would be less afraid of flying or taking the train. I am not saying that Muslims are only to blame, but I would like to clean up my own house first before tearing down others.
I know, I know, you will raise the issue of Palestinians rights, and the injustices done to Chechnians, and Kashmiris and Muslims worldwide. What do you propose? Lets all strap on belts with TNT and walk into the nearest Pizza Hut. That will make things better. Your logic is insane. And in the mean time, people are dying and Islam is under siege, and not by the usual suspects such as the Americans, Jews, or JLo. Remember the lines from Pogo Possum when recalling the Vietnam War ” I have seen the enemy, and he is us”.
Bury Yassin. Bury him in the rubble of other morally corrupt and decaying ideologies. Lay him besides Zionism, Nationalism, and Fascism, and hopefully one day Cuba Gooding Jr. His movies are crap.
My reaction to the assassination of Yassin was anger — because I think it was incredibly foolish on Israel’s part. All it will do is make Yassin into a martyr; anger Palestinian extremists; and energize Hamas to keep up the work they’re already doing. How could they possibly think this would help? (The answer: the same way Bush and his people think getting Saddam Hussein or Osama bin Laden will help. And they’re wrong in all cases. These battles aren’t about capturing or killing figureheads — there are serious conflicts needing to be addressed. Of course, try telling that to Bush or Sharon…)
Anyway. Thank you for this post. Bravo.
Rachel, you might find this article entitled “Hamas Violence: Not In My Name” and the accompanying comments interesting. It was posted on Muslim WakeUp.
Interesting posting. But hopeless. People use religion to show why they are better than others, not to criticize themselves. Yeah, a few people are different but they’re the exception that proves the rule. In any community the critics are considered traitors not the loyal opposition. Religion gives this God’s endorsement. By the way, you forgot to mention Sudan. Can you imagine what would happen if the Muslim world rose up and protested the events associated with the civil war in that country. But when a black slave escaped to the US, the Canadian Ambassador said his stories were just an attempt to smear Islam.
I agree, that unfortunately, people do use religion to reinscribe their own world-views and the myth of self-perfection. However, as I’ve posted previously, religion is the systematic recognition that there is something greater than humanity out there, and that we need some way to strive to understanding it. Islam, at its earliest moment, was incredibly culturally self-critical. We as Musllims have lost the tradition, much as we have allowed our intellectual tradition to be forgotten and buried. There is a growing consciousness that we need to start reclaiming that heritage, but it will be a slow process. I would still take a billion individual voices trying to figure out what Islam is, than 100 unified voices trying to say what Islam is.