When A Picture Is Worth A Million Words, Not A Thousand

Category: Faith & Spirituality, Life & Society Topics: Jerusalem Views: 3616
3616

Not every Palestinian has been fortunate enough to have his photograph taken while being brutally killed by the hateful Israeli soldiers. But if a picture is worth a thousand words, then the thousands of pictures already captured during the past 50 years of the suffering Palestinians would only be worth a million words, and unquestionably, depicts their tragic condition under Israel's fascistic rule.

Consequently, as much as the horrifying videotape of 12-year-old Muhammad being shot by the "Israeli Defense Army" and dying on his weeping father's laps should raise every human being's anger, a much greater rage must conquer our hearts when we realize that hundreds of thousands more "Muhammads" and "Fatimas" were in the past and are still in the present being humiliated, insulted, tortured, mutilated, and killed, on a daily basis without being heard or photographed.

While every effort should be done to stop this ongoing oppression and establish a comprehensive peace in the region, the latest developments clearly show that those who are in charge of the "Peace Negotiations" on all sides are doing an extremely pitiable job. But nobody should be surprised at the results when Islam teaches us to rule by the Divine Law while the current negotiations are everything but Divine. Furthermore, ignoring the historical, cultural, political, socio-economic, and religious dimensions of the problem will only aggravate the current status and add to the guaranteed failure outcome of the Peace Process. It is no wonder then why the Israeli and Egyptian Camp David "Peace Accord" signed almost a quarter century ago has led to nothing but pictorial handshakes and superficial relationships, since Israelis and Egyptians today reject each other more than they did two decades ago!

Islam holds the entire humanity responsible for an unjust end to the life of even one human being. We learn from the life of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) that humanity would be deemed at best when it attempts to save the life of a fellow human being and worse if it chooses to become a spectator. Painfully frightening it is to find us as silent spectators to the barbaric behavior taking place for more than half a century against the Palestinian people.

The Islamic perspective is to seek and establish adl (Justice), mizaan (balance), and ihsan (virtue). These values demand reflection between the Secular and the Islamic conceptions of society, and the position of individuals and groups within it. Perhaps, the most important aspect in Islam is huqooq (rights) that belong first to Allah, and then to the community and then to the individual. This principal contrasts the secular ideals wherein the individual is given precedence with due right to be as permissive as possible, without  the society having any collective right to be moral.

We ask Allah to make the Muslim Ummah and its leaders abide by the Divine teachings. We ask Him to support the oppressed and establish peace and justice in Palestine and all over the world. Ameen


  Category: Faith & Spirituality, Life & Society
  Topics: Jerusalem
Views: 3616

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