A man will die, but not his ideas.

Thursday, August 25, 2005

No One to Blame But Ourselves

Since I first had access to the Internet back in 1999, my main interests were to sites related to science and technology. By nature, I'm not a person who spends most of his time chatting and talking to others online. Recently, while surfing the Web and visiting forums and sites concerned with various topics and events we see daily in the news and affects how the world changes around us, I realized how very far away and how unaware I was of what is going on elsewhere. Yes, I knew that during the past 5 years or so a very bad, and fake, image of Islam and Muslims was painted in the minds of many westerners. But I never realized it reached this extent. Everywhere you go online you'll find people attacking Islam with many hard and mean words and wanting to through Muslims in the sea and things like that! What has become of the world today?! What's really sad is that these people are doing so blindly without even knowing anything about Islam, or just knowing a thing or two which they got from an untrustful source.

The worst phrase I've read was "It is true that not all Muslims are terrorists. However, all terrorists are Muslims". What a big, fat, deceptive lie. Terrorism was there long before the late events that fired a massive propaganda from the media which managed to capture the minds of many Americans and Europeans. And those terrorists were not related to Islam in anyway. Some were Christians, some were Jews, some were unblievers, etc. In every religion you'll find those who are on the right path and those who have deviated. And terrorism has neither a nationality nor a religion.

In my opinion, one cause that helped paint this illusive picture of Islam is that the western society is too lazy to search for the truth on its own. People there just sit back in their seats and deliver their minds to whatever kind of media they prefer to be brainwashed and filled with whatever it sees fit. Be it the TV or the Internet or a newspaper, it is all the same. They just hear/read it, and believe it. I really thought they would be more intellectual than that. But it seems they've created and watched too many fictuous movies, until they've reached a point where they started to believe in everything they see/hear without considering whether it was true or false. Has anyone of them tried to read any book about Islam written by a respectful and well-known Islamic thinker? (Not just any book that talks about Islam they find in their libraries, which might be filled with corrupted ideas not relating to Islam by any chance) Instead of having a constructive debate and trying to reach for the other side and understand it more, they start to attack it on basis they have no proof of.

However, I don't completely blame them. You know why? Because during the past years, Muslims have always stood aside and watched. They just closed a shell they built around themselves and never tried effectively to reach for the western society and educate it about the true meaning of Islam and all what it stands for. They should know that Islam does not permit killing innocent people even during wars (history proves this too). They should know that blowing yourself up in the face of civillians from the other side does not mean in Islam that you will go to heaven. Doing this when you have no weapon to fight your enemy with and in the face of the enemy's armed forces can be justified. But against innocent civillians, it is never justified. And they should also know that all Allah's orders and the teachings of his prophet are only for the good of the human race. And that we are tought and ordered to respect even those who are non-Muslims and respond with kindness to those who might treat us in a different manner. This, however, does not mean that we won't fight for our rights if someone took them away from us. Even tolerance has its limits.

This brings me to another subject that has been publicized heavily in the news lately. Namely, Israel's pullout from Gaza. I can't believe how many people in the western society feel really sad for the Israili settlers who are being evacuated! Come on people! And what about all the Palestinians who were forced to leave their homes and roam the world as refugees since 1948, even though they were the original inhabitants and owners of the land? It's even clear from the description of those Israelis, settlers. Why weren't you sorry for those Palestinians?! It is very sad to see such double-sided judgment and treatment. And what's worse, they have the gutts to call them terrorists. So, fighting for your freedom and for your rights is terrorism nowadays?! If someone took over your home and, out of generousity (oh, how generous), wants to give you a room in your own home, would you just stand and watch? My God, how they got everything so confused.

Here's a joke that gets repeated everytime you get into a debate with someone who is taking Israel's side without thinking: "Israel is the only democratic country in the region". Do they really believe that? And the number of times I've heard this phrase proves that these people are not even trying to think. They just follow those great, shiny words that get thrown every now and then like "democracy" and "freedom" and "human rights". While in reality, some of their countries are destroying every meaning of these words everyday. These words have become camoflages, something to hide the governments' dirty work behind. Look at how African Jews and Arab Israelis are treated in Israel. They are 3rd class citizens overthere.

However, feeling sad for what the westerners think or what they say or do and feeling sad for where we stand today will not solve anything. I think the time has come to take actions and start opening conversational channels with whom we ignored for a long time. They should know the real truth about us. And they should know that we are not terrorists. They must remove this image from their minds. It is very unjust to judge a whole nation by the acts of a few that has gone astray.

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Posted by A :: 12:44 PM :: 5 Comments:

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