6 May 2009

By Babandi Gumel

If we carefully analyze the various conflicts bedevilling the World you will find majority of these conflicts are one way or the other affect the Islam and the Muslims either directly or indirectly.

Without necessarily being too parochial or sentimental it is all our collective responsibility to devise means of doing away with prejudice injustice and religious sentiments directed mainly against Muslims and favouring other Religious groups with a view to solving them once and for all.

As they say if there is a will there is a way as most of these problems affect the Muslim Ummah individually or collectively. We must put aside all our differences and sit under the canopy of global village with a view to ironing out these problems that are becoming pandemic in nature.

It is high time we all sat down and reflected with a view to coming with tentative solutions to these inherited sometimes artificial created problems from nuclear crisis affecting Iran and other Muslim Countries to the other major problems seen in Afghanistan Iraq Palestine or Kashmir or the Darfur in Sudan .

These and many other problems bind together the problems of the Muslim Ummah seen as major obstacles confronting them. While Muslims viewed these problems as major others see it as minor giving no much importance to them.

Typical examples such as that in Kosovo the Albanians Muslims wanting to be independent sharing common destiny with their relatives in Albania of the Balkans right to the Moro Liberations Movement in Southern Mindanao fighting rebellion in the Southern Philippines.

Similarly the Chechen crisis who suffered unfortunate discrimination and violation of their rights in the hands of the Russians for ages needed to be addressed.

Despite all these atrocities and other feelings the people were not cowed and they continued to demand their rights paving the way to similar demands in other parts of the former Soviet Empire.

The Karen Guerrillas mainly Muslims on the border between Burma and Southern Thailand and the Rohinga Refugees originally from Bangledesh also in Burma are examples of unnecessary untold hardship experienced by refugees which is only known to those affected by the current conflict.

Unfortunately the world is not aware of these problems.

Take for example Somali crisis partly human in nature partly created artificially for vested interest is allowed to continue deliberately in the Eastern Horn of Africa without much good result.

Without delving much into the details of these insurmountable conflicts which go round the same circle affecting the world, unfortunately the whole world is sitting and watching helplessly unable to do anything.

It has neither reflected nor found solution to these intractable problems analysing the causes of such conflicts with a view to moving forward.

Another example is the nuclear crisis of North Korea and that of the Muslim Nation of Iran which in its views has the right to possess the nuclear like any other countries have become an issue generating controversy for nothing.

The whole world especially the West is fully aware of these problems which is causing security concern and is yet to be resolved.

Using force in the form of invasion as seen in other Countries cannot work or force Iran to change its mind.

Therefore using diplomacy or finding diplomatic solution is the best alternative rather than using force which could be counter- productive.

Hopefully with Dr Muhammed El Baradei a Muslim as Director General at the helm of Affairs of the Atomic Energy probably solution could easily be found to persuade Iran to acquire peaceful nuclear as it suspects Israel as having the same.

Afghan people considered as brave and undefeated who checked out the Russians invaders in the early nineties with the help of Muslim warriors Mujahedeen who were at the time considered as Nationalists by the West are now unfortunately considered outcast or terrorists.

The same group of people who forced the Soviet invaders out of their country are now labelled Militants and terrorists considered persona non-grata unwanted elements even in their own countries.

It is an irony seeing the same Mujahedeen who helped caused the disintegration of the former Communist Empire which led to the formation of new Muslim States such as Kazakhstan Uzbekistan and the beginning of the freedom and the formation of new democracy in Eastern Europe is seen as another dilemma facing the Muslim Ummah and the whole World.

All the new Federations considered still as Russian Satellite States are still regarded as safe and fully tamed except of course the Afghanistan which is seen as cancerous contagious with the remnants and elements of Mujahedeen still present.

The only way to tame this new Democratic Islamic Nation and overcome the problem is to put in place a combined European and American forces together who are still battling with remnants of insurgency run by the Talibans determined to re-establish Islamic Rule in Afghanistan.

The religion of Islam as noticed by Malcolm X restores one’s human feelings ,human rights human incentives, his talent bringing out of the individual all his dormant potentials giving him the incentives to develop which has some psychological effect ”observation made more than 45 years ago and now becoming true.

The Allies are concerned about the situation which is getting out of hand has now crossed the border to Swat in Pakistan an ally of the Western Power which has seen the forceful introduction of Sharia in the Region.

Unlike the Sharia which was introduced by democratic means in Northern Nigeria when Democracy was introduced in 1999 the one in the Swat Valley is enforced strictly by the insurgents who are still being fought by the combined Pakistani forces sometimes with the help of the Americans. Without going into details these and many other problems are some of the major obstacles and challenges facing the World.

The controversial Iraq seen as formerly unified and united under Saddam Hussein is unfortunately now being disintegrating by day.

The Country has been much in history from time immemorial to the present situation of continued suicide bombing run by different groups from Al-Qaeeda to the secular groups in the Country causing serious havoc and pausing serious security challenges if not menace for the newly so called free- democratic Nation yet to be fully democratise causing much concern.

Although the democracy was imposed and so called freedom restored yet people are not free to go about their usual business as they used to do during the time of the Late Dictator due to spate of insurgency never seen in history of the modern times of the Country.

There is no security as witnessed under the Late President Saddam Hussein although seen as dictatorial hanged more than 3 years ago after the trial in which he was found guilty of committing genocide and crime against humanity .

Similar charges are hanging on President Omar Al Bashir another Muslim and the only sitting Head of State ever charged with that crime as a Muslim. The Prosecutor of the International Court has issued with the arrest warrant of Omar Al Bashir disregarding his rights and immunity now seen as unnecessary and unfair treatment meted to unfortunate Muslim culprits .

The opponents to the charges see Bashir as innocent simply because he has no control on what is going on the ground between his forces and the Rebel Darfur forces.

Worse genocide or at least similar took place in Rwanda or the Lord Resistance Forces in Uganda and many other Nations but no any current President was ever indicted not to talk of the arrest warrant issued by the Court seen as extraordinarily exceptional fugitive.

So going back to the Iraqi problem at least the Americans have decided to withdraw their troupes as to focus and concentrate fully on another Muslim insurgency in Afghanistan which had earlier been mentioned. After the September 11 in 2001 when the American forces deposed the Islamic Regime of Afghanistan the militants that dispersed and metamophosised were rounded captured and sent Guantanamo Bay the notorious detention Camp in Cuba by the former Administration of George Bush.

Although majority of those captured as AlQaeeda followers were still in detention many were released without charges and the new Obama Administration has bowed to close the notorious Detention Camp as a sign or restoring good relations with Muslim World.

The Palestinian problem is yet another major problem which the whole world is aware and the Muslim Ummah in particular is very much concerned about it.

Without going into details almost everyone knows this problem has been running for more than half a Century and is yet to be resolved.

Similarly the Kashmiri problem although it affects only two Nuclear States Pakistan the Muslim Nation and India basically a secular with majority Hindu population is a serious problem causing concern for the Security Council and the United Nations.

Of course Somalia’s problem is another challenge not only for the Somalis but the entire Muslim Ummah. Somalia has been without any stable government since after the fall of Late Siad Barre’s Government in 1991.

For more 15 years kind of anarchy was reigning supreme with different clans ruling their small entities until the appearance of the Islamic Courts that unified the Country once again.

They seized control of Mogadishu and slowly started spreading their influence to more than two thirds of the Country thereby unifying various clans and for the first time laws and order was fully established and the people started to enjoy peace and security pushing the members of the Interim Government to their small enclave the Headquarters in Baidoa.

Concerned with the success of the Islamic Courts and the spread of Islamic fundamentalism the Ethiopian Armed Forces intervened on behalf of the weak Interim Government thereby checking out the members of the Islamic Courts who fled the Country.

The insurgency continued unabated with combination of attacks and suicide bombing aimed at forcing the Ethiopians forces to leave. In the end they capitulated forcing them to vacate leaving the Interim Government in disarray forcing the President to resign.

However a new Interim Government under a former Islamic Court Leader was reconstituted with a view to bringing sanity yet the situation remained unclear.

The insurgency took another serious dimension which saw the beginning of piracy in the Red sea and coast of Somalia.

This is causing serious problem to the stability of the Horn of Africa and the Region in general.

Bosnia is one example of a Muslim Country whose people were ethnically cleansed in the mid ninetieth.

The Serbians who relished torturing the mainly Muslims populations and the minority Croats were forced to stop the tyranny by the American Forces under President Clinton who intervened on their behalf sign of justice needed for all humanity.

The Palestinians have equally suffered and are still suffering in the hands of different Zionist Regimes of Israel that have been inflicting tyranny atrocities and all kinds of injustices to the Palestinians a well known fact documented for more than sixty years.

In the Far East the Southern Philippines the Government was about to struck a deal but was persuaded by the Christian group against such deal that saw the Moro Muslim Liberation Movement waging insurgency in the South for decades and no one really bothers except of course those involved in this conflict.

Chechen affair is another area which poses serious threat to the stability of Russia and the neighbouring Territories of the former Soviet .

The Russians used all the available resources at their disposal to crush the Islamic insurgency once and for all although dust regarding the matter is yet to be settled.

Similar problems have cropped up in some parts of the former Soviet Empire including the insurgency supported by the Russians in Abkhazia against Georgia in South Ossetia a Territory claimed by the Georgians that led to a battle between the Russians and the Georgians earlier this year. Rohinga the Boat people from Bangledesh is another Muslim Population that has been suffering suppression and oppression as well as persecutions in Burma.

Equally the Sri Lankan Conflict involves the Muslim population either directly or indirectly. Although the fighting is between the majority Sinhalese and the Tamil Tigers in the South but many of the Tamils caught in the fighting are Muslims therefore closely linked or connected with the problem.

Karen is another ethnic group living between the border of Burma and Thailand and many of these groups are Muslims therefore equally engaged with one of the current conflicts bedevilling the world. All these and many more other conflicts involving Muslims directly or indirectly in the Muslim Lands or Foreign Countries could easily be resolved if there is a real will.

Most of these groups are either fighting for their rights or survival therefore enforcing justice and showing fairness may help alleviate the suffering of these ethnic groups involved in the struggle.

As Malcolm X the Late Al Hajj Malik Shabazz clearly observed in April 1964, “The Quran compels the Muslim World to take stand on the side of those whose human rights are being violated, no matter what the religious persuasion of the victim is. Islam is a religion which concerns itself with the human rights of all mankind, despite race, colour or creed. It recognises all as part of one human family”.

The Muslims see the West and its Christian allies as imposing their wills on the Muslims and interfering with the religious conviction of individuals, commitment that gives them the freedom of choice to practice their Religion without fear of being persecuted.

Unfortunately what is seen all over the world is the opposite favouring the non-Muslims against the Muslims. Even in some Muslim Countries the Muslims are daily persecuted and many times interrogated by the security apparatus for coming out openly to practice their Religion.

Sometimes mere criticism which differs with the opinions of the secular oriented leaders land our brothers and sisters in trouble which need to be addressed as everyone is free to practice whatever Religion he/she wishes to follow as enshrined in the Constitution and guaranteed by the Charter of the United Nations.

The West should be fair and just allowing everyone to practice his religion without any kind of fear or prejudice labelling people unnecessary as terrorists and the so called militants must show good example especially to the non Muslims to enable them understand the proper teaching of our Deen .

At the same time our leaders should fear Allah and show good example by following the teachings of the Quran and the Sunnah Ways of our beloved Prophet (S.A.W) that would bring peace and prosperity for both leaders and followers thus maintaining peace security thereby bringing peaceful co-existence among the humanity like one family which is all our collective desires.

May Allah give us taufiq to act on what has been said.

Wa Akhiri Daawana Anil Hamdu Lillahi Rabbil Alameen