The Extremist in the East and the West

The Extremist in East and the West

By Wasi Siddiqui

It is early in  the morning and a light is lit in a room and a father wakes up look at the clock and goes in another room to have his son wake up too, so that he can take him to mosque as, it is fajr time (morning prayer.) Both father and son prepare for prayer and left for mosque, which is located not far from their home.

As soon as they reached the mosque, they were lucky to find a place in the front line as azan is given and prayers begin, and just after 5 minutes, a bomb exploded, which killed so many people on the spot and leaving many injured as chaos spread in the mosque and people start running out of the premises. The bystander on the street called the police and ambulance as debris of the mosque begins to fall.

Within a half an hour, a Shia mosque also targeted killing many Shia worshippers and causing wide scale of damage and destruction to the mosque, the people gathered in the area to see what happened to their love ones. As soon as the news of attacks on the two mosque reached in the city, a mob start attacking shops, burning of cars and buses, and blocking the roads and thus creating a chaos in the city as the transportation and all the businesses comes to stand still. Religious Leaders declared 3 days of strike which paralyzed the whole city with all the businesses shut down.

Soon the police went to hunt those involved in attacks on mosque, and not after a long search that police took some suspects into custody, but according to the families of those arrested demand to release their loves ones, as they were just the bystander not the attackers. The real killers remain on loose and never were caught.

This is one of the most horrific event happened in the city of Karachi, Pakistan , and like this more tragedies happened  but never ever the real culprits are caught , and this has been a long un-solved cases , which goes cold in the police files as well.

The officials says that some extremist don�t want to see peace in the country and always ready to create this kind of war like situation to accomplish their evil ambitions of creating hate between Sunni and Shia population. No matter how much we condemn this barbaric act, it is far from over, and tension remains between in two Muslim factions.

The tension between Shia and Sunni begins when Hazrat Imam Hussein were brutally assassinated in Karbala by Yazid army in 900A.D, now Shia believes that Sunni were responsible for the tragedy while Sunni factions denies this theory.  

Whether Sunni or Shia they feel same sorrow as it a very unfortunate event to have happened in the Islamic history. Even if we say that Hazrat Ali was to lead the Muslims after the death of Prophet Mohammed (pbuh), Prophet Mohammad( pbuh) could have said so, but since he chooses Hazrat Abu Baker to be leader then why there is a dispute? If we believe in Prophet Mohammad as our leader then there should be no disagreement at all, when we listen to his all teachings and accept him as last messenger of Allah, then why we are creating this unnecessary issue that who should have been the leader after Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) ?.

There is always a denial from both Sunni and Shia factions that their followers did not attacked each other mosque, and then if they did not attacked the mosque, then who is doing this? And why? There must be a third party which may be involved in attacking the Suuni and Shia mosques, thus creating tension between these two factions.

As I sat in a mosque ( the name of mosque and location ) will not be disclosed here, I saw a man came in and start praying , as there was some time before actual prayer to start , he stand up , took his hand towards ear , as all Muslims do, but then he leave his hand down instead of holding together , he then raise his hands again and then went into Sajda ( bent down) , he repeat this second time and then sit in a position with his legs bent under him and then to my surprise , he never say Salam , and only took his both hand and hit against his legs three times and prayers comes to an end after that he pick up his rock and put it into his pocket and walked away.  But this gives me an opportunity to see closely, how one prayer is different of a Muslim to another Muslim.

If we are Muslims then why and how come our prayers are so different? Our Allah is one our Quran is one; our Prophet Mohammad is one, and then why we are two factions.

Extremist in the West:

When Danish newspaper draws the picture of Prophet Mohammad ( pbuh) , showing him  asking the suicide bombers to stop the attacks, as no more ( Hoor) girls available in the heaven , it causes strong condemnation and anger in the Muslim world , and yes why not this kind of reaction , it is indeed  was a biggest insult on Prophet Mohammad ( pbuh) and Islam, which ignited a huge protest around the world , and  in Pakistan situation went out of control, as many foreign businesses were targeted and burned down , while in many Muslim countries some protester burn down the Danish embassy.

This extremist act in the west was not the first time, as Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) has been often called with insulting remarks, and Islam has been called a religion which teaches terrorism and continuously been criticized in the media, soon after the 9/11 events, Islam again come under attack and Muslims were in total confused as why they are blamed for this barbaric act? According to the media some so called �Muslim terrorist� were behind the attacks, while some believe this is not true, even thought they have not come out publicly but says they believe otherwise.

In the west , this protest and violence seen as a �Extremist acts of Muslims� while their own deeds go unnoticed which is indeed is also extremist act, like I said before, drawing of cartoons of Prophet Mohammad has been called as �freedom of expression� while they did not realized that they have no right to insult others religion. Now because of this situation many Muslims face hate and discrimination from their co-workers and often called as �Muslim terrorist� or being watched with suspicious and hate. ,they are being target in the media as �Terrorist�, �Fundamentalist�, and �Extremist�. The only word which has not been given to Muslims is �separatist�.

Such cases, which has ignited hate among the Muslims against western is as follows:

1-     Danish newspaper insult on Prophet Mohammad by drawing his cartoons.

2-     Building a Makkah style, wine pub in the New York with the black cover as, in Holy city of Saudi Arabia which is Muslim�s holy prayer site.

3-     Encouraging women in the name of �women right� to lead the prayers in Muslim mosques, while Islam denounces this practice.

4-     Calling Muslims as Terrorists and denouncing Islam.

5-     Insulting comments against Prophet Mohammad (pbuh).

6-     After the 9/11 events, Muslims mosque were vandalized.

7-     Criticizing Muslim women veil, which is an unnecessary issue just to harass the Muslims women and make fun of Islam.

8-     Watching Muslims with hate and suspicious.

9-     Removing Muslims passengers from Aircrafts and detaining and harassing them                

Based on suspicious.

The Problem with the Muslims:

If we see the western countries how they are progressing in every field, their basic thing is unity and backing each other in all the issue and finding solutions, while Muslims show unity in defending Islam and Prophet Mohammad (pbuh), and doesn�t go beyond this point at all. The Muslims should know that Quran also asked to go out for education and study and explore this universe. Is there any forum and treaty Muslims have like the Europeans have like, G7 summit, environment summit, economic summit, health summit, science forums and technology, Muslims have nothing, Although GCC ( Gulf Corporation Council ) exist in the Middle East , but it does not have all the Middle East countries as it�s member. Muslim only does protest over the issues and which they believe is an important part of their life.

Well, this is not a life of only protests, and causing damage to foreign properties and feeling good, Muslims never realized that in the way of protest how much damage they have inflicted on themselves by burning down their own Muslims houses, and poor man looses his long � hard earning property, Now who is going to compensate his loss, did Muslims ever realize this?

Muslims have never united on any issue except violent protest in the name of Islam. It is so shameful that when the deadly earthquake strike Pakistan, the first rescue team which came was from United Kingdom, followed by US, Germany and so many European countries and Muslim countries responded very late.

If Muslim countries could have unity, they can help each other in contributing funds to each other countries like Somalia, and grave situation like Dafur. They can set up a fund bank from where they can help financially to less develop Muslim countries. There is no

Science technology exist in the Muslim world, there is no plan and no efforts as well. The Muslims cannot just exist because they are Muslims, there should be a mechanism of practical approach as well.  If they work with sincerity they can solved so many of their own problems, eradicate poverty, develop new programs for youth, set up science and technology center and take advantages from each other work and experience and work closely with each other .

The time has come for Muslims countries to follow some suggestions which are as listed.

1-     A Muslim country that is rich and resourceful must be called as super-power state in the Muslim world.

2-     That country must provide a leadership role to all the other Muslim state affairs including international issues.

3-     One Muslims country must have a main science center and research center, where other countries must sent their people to work and learn new technology.

4-     There should be an Islamic bank set-up to fund any Muslim country who is facing financial difficulties, which will target under-develop countries and poverty and AIDS/HIV crisis including natural disasters.

5-     Muslim leaders must divide the Muslim region into 4 category, first will be the richest country, then followed by less �develop country, third will be poor countries and forth will be Muslim countries, which need a start from the scratch such as Somalia, Nigeria, Sudan, where there is no living standard exists and top priority must be given to these countries.

6-     Make all efforts to have people of this region to easy travel between their countries and learn Islamic values just like the easy traveling exist between European countries.

7-     Share defense technology among the Muslim countries.

8-      Make defense equipment with the help of Muslim scientists, provide fund to them to that they can develop new and modern defense weapons as the Europeans

9-     Islam teaches the basic things like giving of charity to needy people in the society but Muslims are busy in amassing money and poor Muslims countries keeps suffering.

The Western concept of Muslims

The people in the west believe that they are superior to Muslims since they don�t have fanatic Mullahs, no attacks, and no divisions among themselves .Yes this is true, but what about the Muslims who are modern and want to live in peace. It is a good that some western people have this knowledge and do believe that all Muslims are not fanatics, what I have seen in the west is that people are very courteous and love giving people. But there are some people who really hate the Muslims up to the extend that they ready to say racist remarks openly, giving bad names, and feel stink while standing next to them. This hate is also due to the events of 11 September, 2001 which brought a bad name to Islam and Muslims, before these events there was not that much hate against the Muslims and Islam as compare to 60s 70�s and 80�s .

The East concept of Western  

When ever there is an Israeli aggression against the Palestinians and US speaks in favor of Israeli attacks, there is a huge anger occurred in the Muslim world against the US and its support which they always provide to aggressors. This action fuels high tension among the Muslims and usually responded by violent protest and burning down of the US and Israeli flags to show Muslims anger. It is most sad thing to see whenever, UN Council adopts a resolution to condemn the Israeli aggressions, US uses its veto power to kill the resolution.

Islam in the West

Islam is the fastest growing religion in the west, and despite the 11 September, 2001 events , there is a strong feeling for religion Islam , in the USA ,one family embraces Islam who were the victims of 9/11 tragedy. I wrote a poem called �Me and my Creator� which I like to share with all.

Me and My Creator

From not being I came into being
If I have not, where could I have been
Someone who follows me is my shadow
I could have never know if I have not been so keen
Who is my creator where is he
He is not here this is not what I mean
How wonderful world the God has created
He is everywhere even when we have never seen
He is near to everybody he watches everyone
Though it is true that we cannot feel
How long can we ignore him
He is always there when we are in need

Copyright �2006 Wasi Siddiqui

Islam has been welcome by many people, as a religion of peace and tolerance which has the entire humanity solutions, Quran provide all necessities of human life, problems and solutions. The Quran which was revealed upon Prophet Mohammad (pbuh), some 1400 years ago, today continue to grow with dignity, and honor and enlighten many people lives. All the prayers and credits to Prophet Mohammad (pbuh), who faced many difficult moments in his life but never give up, his preaching of Islam. As compare to today�s problems Muslims faces, like 11 September, 2001, and after math of hate and nasty treatment. Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) faced more severe situations, but he has gone through many of these blaming and criticism issues with boldness and courage. Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) always asked to forgive and treat other with love and dignity.

The Islam teaches peace, tolerance and forgiveness and that teaching is reflecting in all the Muslims, while they face hate and bad looks of the other people. Like I said the 11 September, 2001, must be investigated to know who is responsible for this heartless acts of terrorism without blindfold blaming on Muslims.

There are five pillars of Islam.

1-Prayers

2-Fasting

3-Charity

4-Haj (pilgrimage)

5-Faith in Allah

Militancy in Islam

There is no such militancy in Islam, since it rejects any form of terrorism. The Islam teaches peace and always asked to forgive the enemies. The militancy related to political instability in the region, those groups who are fighting the occupiers to free their land from aggression are called as militants of Islam, to be honest these groups will not end there campaign, until there is peace and no conflicts remain in the world. It is the situation which creates these militant groups, but these groups have no direct link to Islam.

The Conclusion

In this conclusion, now the question is how to bridge the gap between west and the east, and remove mistrust with the religion without such violent occurrence. The answer lies in 2 ways, first, where all the world leaders sit together, discuss the world hot spots where, the political problems is happening, such as Palestinian and Israeli conflict, which is a core issue in the Muslim world and efforts must be done, and solution must be found in order to have this issue solved.

Some issues of the world are as follows:

1-     Palestinian � Israeli Conflict

2-     Pakistan �India Conflict over Kashmir.

3-     Russia �Chechnya Conflict

4-     US invasion of Iraq.

5-     US invasion of Afghanistan.

Secondly, all the religious leaders should call a world religious summit, in which all the religion people should participate, Islam, Christian, Jewish, and Hinduism. Inter-faith dialogue is a good start but the event of 11 September, 2001 has created the biggest gap between the East and the West which has been taken, in the west ,as an act of Muslims hate towards west. A complete investigation is required to know who really was behind the attacks; this blame game on Muslims and Islam must be stopped. This 9/11 events has greatly damaged the name of Islam, creating hate among the people in west.

I would like to dedicate my poem called �The Religion and the Peace� to world peace which is as follows:

The Religion and the peace

We are all the children of Adam and Eve

Whether Muslims, Christians Hindu or Jewish

We are all the creation of Almighty God

We understand this, and respect what we believe

Then why there is so much religion feud

Why we cannot live with love and peace

Why there is so much hate against each other

It is time to bridge the gap between west and the east

We must forget our differences based on religion

Religion spiritually keeps ones away from evil deeds

It�s purify ones mind and heart from all evils

Religion makes all of us a good human-being

Prophet Mohammad or Prophet Jesus carried the message of tolerance

They conveyed the entire God�s message they received

Mosque, Church or Temple, where ever you go

You will find God, from every passage that leads

God who is most merciful and forgiver to man-kind

He forgives our sins; accept our prayers that we seek

We must stay united for the sake of humanity

The religion war must end as only way to succeed

Let�s make this world a peaceful place to live

Let�s give each other the love and care that all we need.

Copy right (2006) Wasi Siddiqui