How Much Longer the Cowardly Indifference?
| Khatib : | Sadullah Khan |
| Khutbah No: | 262 |
| Khutbah Date: | 01/25/08 |
Yesterday (January 25th 2008) during an emergency session of the 47-member U.N. Human Rights Council; the U.N.'s top human rights body, condemned Israeli military action in Gaza and the West Bank. The resolution is the third to explicitly condemn Israel — and the 10th to address Israeli actions in the region — since the council was created two years ago. Appreciated as it is, this is nothing new. There has been 65 resolutions by the UN itself against Israeli aggression and occupation from 1955 – 1992, and that does not include the last 16 years.
The Body Pains
Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said,
المؤمنون كجسد واحد ، اذ اشتكى منه عضو تداعا له سائر الجسد بالسهر و الحمى
the believing community is like one body; if any part of the body is afflicted then the rest of the body suffers discomfort. Are any of us feeing any pain or discomfort today? If so, then it may be the feeling for our Palestinian brothers and sisters who are suffering an increased degree of affliction.
History of Repression
Since the establishment of the state of Israel (in 1948), people of conscience all over the world recall the mass deportation of a million Palestinians from their cities and villages, massacres of civilians, and the razing to the ground of hundreds of Palestinian villages. More than 60 percent of the total Palestinian population was expelled. More than 530 Palestinian villages were depopulated and completely destroyed. To date, Israel has prevented the return of approximately six million Palestinian refugees, who have either been expelled or displaced. Approximately 250,000 internally displaced Palestinian second-class citizens of Israel are prevented from returning to their homes and villages. The land is still occupied and the atrocities continue leading to the deaths of many innocent people; this at the hand of some who claim to follow the Torah and yet behave like Hitler.
Nobel Laureate, Archbishop Desmond Tutu who has been at the forefront of the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, speaking in Boston at a conference called Ending the Oppression, Tutu addressed Jewish delegates,
And said he was "very deeply distressed" by a visit to the Holy Land, adding that "it reminded me so much of what happened to us black people in South Africa"; and asked, “Have our Jewish sisters and brothers forgotten their humiliation? Have they forgotten the collective punishment, the home demolitions, in their own history so soon?” Allah revealed …
إِنَّا أَنزَلْنَا التَّوْرَاةَ فِيهَا هُدًى وَنُورٌ يَحْكُمُ بِهَا النَّبِيُّونَ الَّذِينَ أَسْلَمُواْ لِلَّذِينَ هَادُواْ وَالرَّبَّانِيُّونَ وَالأَحْبَارُ
بِمَا اسْتُحْفِظُواْ مِن كِتَابِ اللّهِ وَكَانُواْ عَلَيْهِ شُهَدَاء فَلاَ تَخْشَوُاْ النَّاسَ وَاخْشَوْنِ
Verily, it is We who bestowed from on high the Torah, wherein there was guidance and light. On its strength did the prophets, who had surrendered themselves unto God, deliver judgment unto those who followed the Jewish faith; and so did the [early] men of God and the rabbis, inasmuch as some of God's writ had been entrusted to their care; and they bore witness to its truth. Therefore, [O children of Israel] hold not people in awe, but stand in awe of the Almighty. [Qur’an 5:44]
Latest Atrocities
Palestinians and human rights organizations operating in the Occupied Palestinian territories have accused Israel of effecting a real holocaust against Gaza Strip's estimated 1.5 million inhabitants following a decision by Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak to sever fuel and electricity supplies to the coastal territory. The European Union slammed what it termed as “collective punishment” of impoverished Gaza's 1.5 million residents, while the United Nations called on Israel to open the territory's crossings to ease a "desperate" situation in a zone where most people depend on foreign aid. More than 80% of Gaza's 1.5 million inhabitants were surviving with the help of food aid from international organizations such as URWA
(United Nations Relief and Works Agency), and UNRWA spokesman Christopher Gunness said that they had to stop food distribution to 860,000 people. More than 80% of Gazans spent the week in total darkness as Israel decided to halt vital fuel supplies, ostensibly to coerce the masses to rise up against Hamas which refuses to lend legitimacy to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian land. TV cameras showed hair-raising scenes of dying Palestinian children whose survival depends on certain electricity-powered medical machines, babies dying in incubators due to the cut in electricity.
Slow, Painful Death
By reducing 1.5million people to a state of abject destitution, it seems that the oppressors and their allies are waiting for Gaza to die. Adding insult to injury, Israel has launched an open-ended military aggression on the Strip, killing up to 36 people, including children and women, over the past week. Gaza Strip is already reeling under a crippling US-led Western economic boycott that left its economy on the verge of collapse. People of conscience should act, speak out; or at least find this disgusting.
For those who can do more than merely having a dislike for the wrong , what are they effectively doing to halt this in-going oppression? Resolutions and the occasional condemnation of atrocities is a good step but what means are they using at their disposal to put a halt to this injustice?
Where is the Condemnation?
Since 2001, Muslims especially have been going out of their way to condemn the 9/11 attacks. Despite our best efforts, it seems that we are still considered guilty by association and are constantly asked to distance ourselves from every atrocity committed by any Muslim anywhere. Now we rightfully ask; where are the overwhelming voices of the rabbis and priests? Why are all the governments, the senate, the congress so conspicuously silent.
Silence in the Face of Oppression
Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Ohlmert, publicly praised U.S. President George W. Bush in Tel Aviv for increasing U.S. military aid to Israel by 25%, amounting now to an increase to $30 billion. A week after that announcement Gaza is cut off. Spineless “Muslim governments” are not only impotently helpless, but cowardly silent. Have we all forgotten that both Western and Islamic Law share the essential principle .. Silence is consent السكوت علامة الرضى How angered are people of conscience by the arrogance of the Zionist occupiers, how disgusted by the unashamed bias of much of the Western world towards Israel, how disappointed at the impotence of the Arab and Muslim rulers of the world.
These are the so-called “leaders” of the Middle East; Yazid-like self-appointed self-serving usurpers; hopeless cowards, and spineless puppets. There is not a bone of courage nor bravery in them and they must have forgotten the advice of the Prophet;
أفضل الجهاد كلمة حق عند سلطان جائر
the best jihad is to speak a word of truth in the face of an oppressor.
The Prophet also warned us…
من مشي مع ظالم ليقويه و هو يعلم أنه ظالم فقد خرج من الاسلام
Whoever associates with an oppressor strengthening him by such association despite knowing him to be an oppressor has forfeited his faith.
Help!
CAIR (America's largest Islamic civil liberties group) has requested that each citizen write to elected officials (one U.S. Representative and 2 US senators) to voice protest and demand an end to the humanitarian crisis in the Holy Land. Islamic Relief, the largest Muslim relief organization will be collecting cash donations to assist the suppressed and denied people of Gaza. Let us not gorget the words of the Prophet (pbuh)
من سمع مناديا ينادي للمسلام فلم يجبه فليس بمؤمن
whoever hears the cry of an oppressed person calling upon the Muslim for help, and he does not respond then he should not consider himself a Muslim.