It’s very clear to me that for the past many entries, I have
degenerated into writing about sports, music and movies and nothing
else, when once upon a time I had the mind and passion to write about this or like this. Even rereading these posts gave me shivers; not because they were good, but because I feel like I’m fast losing the person who once wrote them, if I haven’t lost her already.
The fact that Benazir Bhutto’s death has not moved me enough to write
or at least to acknowledge here that we have lost one of the prominent woman
figures in the Muslim world does not mean I do not care, or that I have
been driven up the wall to the point of being fed up. But I am tired.I am tired. All the outrage and anger I pour into these pages about world politics in Muslim countries feel all too redundant, and I need to breathe, because its terribly deadening. This news hit and left me with the exact same reaction I had when the Annapolis talks were revealed - none. I doubt I am even capable of reacting in any way anymore. But make no mistake, it isn’t apathy that’s the culprit.
The way the international press has been covering the issue has made me all the more skeptical, because I am beginning to see an emerging pattern here. There’s a central theme on how the reporters tell the news, and it goes something like this: “Benazir Bhutto…battling Islamic extremism…a symbol of democracy…”. This is what I see in between the lines though: Islam bad, Western democracy good. I oppose this on both notions.
If I hear the words “Islamic extremism” one more time, I might just scream. The term is an oxymoron; it is true that there are extremists who use religion as their justifying factor, but they are certainly not Islamic in any way. Beheading a man willfully while bellowing “Allahu Akbar” does not make it a holier act than plain cold-blooded murder. Let me be clear on that point.
But when that term is taken, exploited and used on a world wide stage where there is extensive coverage, what you have left is the general impression that Islam is to blame for producing such bloodthirsty barbarians. It isn’t too much of a stretch, because the long standing psychological methods of the media is that they can tell you what they want you to hear, without actually saying it directly. What we’ll have left is the rest of the world being drummed with the idea that all Muslims should be viewed with suspicion and fear. This is not the Islam I want the world to know. This is not the Islam I was born into, the Islam I learned and the Islam I fell in love with growing up. Remember when this happened? It shamed me no end because it was yet another reason to demean and misconstrue what Islam really is all about.
My anger is two-fold - at my fellow Believers who make it so easy for others to tarnish our faith by being driven by emotions so easily, by acting with a complete absence of logic or common sense, by being overly sensitive and irrationally rigid, and also at the Western media who feed on this very disease by projecting ”those crazy Muslims” for the world to laugh at and ridicule, when they are exactly the ones responsible for sparking off anger in the first place. You can see this culture trickling down to television, what with shows like NCIS and F.B.Eye going all out to throw Hamas (of Palestine) in a negative light, portraying them as terrorists, when that is purely a subjective matter. No one should be told who the bad guys are, that is for the individual thinker to decide. Most viewers however do not know that. They take in what they are fed, no questions asked, and that is where the danger lies.
“Islamic extremism” should go. I don’t remember the KKK or the IRA ever being called Christian extremists, so why the double standards? It may just be a term, but there is power in small things that go unnoticed, and this term has become too entrenched in today’s civilisation that it’s already too late to reverse the damage. This is already how the world sees us; “Islamic extremism” is the coined term that defines the 21st century.
Another thing I’ve been against is the fact that the media is so concerned about how they want democracy imposed in Pakistan. I am not against democracy per se, but my question is what type of democracy exactly are we talking about here? The democracy based on Western principles? The talks and forums that I have been to all have shown that democracy as understood and accepted by the world actually goes against some things already established in Islam. I can’t recall what exactly (and for this I apologise) but as I remember it, extreme secularism was one of the major factors. Pakistan is a Muslim country; that fact is as clear as England being a Christian country (the Church still plays a vital role there), so I hope what the West isn’t trying to imply is that their kind of democracy is what they want in Pakistan. It isn’t as simple as that. This isn’t a fairy tale where they swoop down as heroes, bringing along with them their saviour philosophies and idealogies. Due regards must be given. I know it seems as though I’m generalising the West as evil on a whole, but what I say here is purely what I see from my viewpoint, what I’ve observed for the past 6 years, what I’ve collected and gathered and understood. I abhor this Us Against Them thinking, but I am running out of ideas for any other valid conclusion when all evidence points to this.
And so back to my question again: what type of democracy are we talking about here? The type of democracy they forced onto the Palestinian people last year? Wait, what happened last year? That’s right, this happened. They weren’t expecting a Hamas win, and when that happened through free and fair elections (which was the very thing they had demanded of the Palestinians, mind you), they balked and turned around when the results didn’t swing their way. It’s still happening today - look at the Annapolis talks and how the US deliberately invited all members of the Arab League except Hamas, the very legit Palestinian government being holed up in Gaza! Democracy? In this era baby, it ain’t democracy unless it fits all aspirations of the superpowers. So don’t talk to me about democracy when all I see is hypocritical bullshit.
Contrary to what you might think, I am saddened by Mrs. Bhutto’s death (Allah have mercy on her soul). She was a mother, a wife, a patriot. I could see she loved her country very much, and wished to bring about changes for the betterment of her people, and I admire her unwavering courage and dauntless spirit. It is how I see her image being used by certain quarters as a medium to bring forth the message mentioned above, that’s what I have a problem with.
Maybe I speak in ignorance. Maybe as it’s been months since the last time I had a political discourse with anyone I’ve lost my touch on the real issues here. I admit the possibility, and I’d be humbled by a proper explanation. More so, I’d be honoured if my thoughts and opinions here would be weighed properly before you come at me with your pitchforks and label me a Muslim fanatic.
Now that would be what I’d call Irony. =)
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One last thing.
I wrote the below a long long time ago to a friend of mine when he asked me what I meant when I said Muslims should rewrite the script. I gave him my explanation, and he told me to post it here because he agreed wholeheartedly and felt it should be shared. I never did though…but I find it befitting to end on this note, as a reminder to my brothers and sisters to discard the stereotype against us, to stay strong in the face of oppression and degradation, to stay strong in your faiths, to stay strong for the Ummah, and to continue efforts towards the proper education of Islam. Please, no more of this senseless violence.
He asked me, what script?
I answered:
What script?
The script that has been written for us, and the script from which its lines we spew.
We take the script of the aggressors, of the violent, of the close-minded.
We take the script of the victims, of the oppressed, of the poor.
We take the script of everything we should work to be against in the first place.
We put on the costumes, took the stage and acted our hearts and soul to the script written by those who are waging a war against Islam.
Because in reality (friend), there is a war against Islam and its done in the most subtle of ways.
There is a cultural war brewing and its happening right now.
The worst thing is we’re being projected wrongly because we fall in the trap so easily.
Like the trap of reacting the way we did during the Danish caricature publications.
If we’re to spew lines from the script, let it be OUR own script and not someone else’s.
Muslims, rewrite the script!
Enough said here.
