Muslims Must Speak Out An Open Letter
THERE is no doubt that the most obvious psychological associations and public perceptions that most people in the world have of Muslims and Islam today, are that of violence, terrorism, fanaticism and extremism!
How has this situation come about? Is it ALL the blame of the cruel and ignorant enemies of Islam?
In all honesty, how do we Muslims seriously expect others to love us when we tend to generally show hatred for others, killing and murdering the innocent in the name of God and still have the audacity to take credit for it, even in the case of openly heinous crimes? The recent terrorist attack in Uganda is such one such example! Innocent people were murdered while watching a game of soccer, and yet we have so-called Muslims taking credit for such acts of murder of the innocent, as an act of justifiable revenge and righteous anger?
Many people have also been criticising Muslims for generally keeping quiet when such ugly events have taken place, who can blame them, how often do we do that? Much closer to home, despite our small number, so many social evils have been taking place in this very country of ours. We generally live our lives as if nothing wrong is taking place, we hardly take a public stand or condemn such evil acts, maybe it could be because those who are victims are not Muslims? But, are they not fellow human beings? Why are we generally silent, even if we privately condemn such evils?
Take the social violence and murders that have been committed against women and children in Namibia, how many times, have we as a Muslim community took a public moral stand?
Are we not affected by the very same social violence even if none of us are affected? Sometimes I feel, we as the Muslim community, have become merciless and seem to have lost our sense of compassion and basic human solidarity, no wonder most of the world has come to hate us, rightly or wrongly! It is about time we take some responsibility for the wrong perceptions that Muslims do not care about what is happening to fellow human beings!
Take the recent case of the tragic and barbaric murder of the school girl in Khomasdal that seems not to have sufficiently offended our morals to a point where we would take a public moral stand, though it isn’t the first such case, but the shock waves that have been sent through the entire Namibian society, ought to not have left us still in our moral slumber, indifference and apparent lack of moral concern!
I, therefore, call on the small Namibian Muslim community to start publicly showing that we are not just some kind of a silent minority. After all, the Holy Quran teaches Muslims that anyone who kills one human being it is as if he has killed the entire humankind! Our silence and apparent condonation of evils acts are seriously undermining the very essence of our religion, which is peace, justice, love for humanity and service to God Almighty.
Armas Abdul Malik Shikongo,
Muslim activist, Windhoek