Let's talk about race

A recent blog post that highlights a disturbing online trend where Israelis would post racists statements and horrifying fantasies about Palestinians started circulating in pro-Palestinian sites and social media pages. As a human being, I am horrified and disgusted by these statements. As someone who is part Palestinian, I am angry.

However, before we share this blog post along with an emotional rant on how all Israelis bigots, perhaps it is a good opportunity for us to look into our hearts and ask ourselves: "Am I any different than the people making these hateful statements?"

I find it amusing how many Arabs rush to highlight the racist acts performed by Israelis or how they are often misrepresented  in mainstream media while many citizens in Arab countries mistreat Filipinos, Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Blacks, and even people from other Arab countries. And yes, the occurrences of these mistreatments are not limited to only gulf countries. I am not suggesting that these hate crimes should not be brought into light, but it is certainly hypocritical of us to act like we are not guilty of it ourselves, at least to some extent. Perhaps we should first focus on what is in our control, our actions, before expecting other people to correct their actions.

This also brought me to another concern. The more I observe the reaction towards hate crimes, the more I realize how distorted our definition of justice can become. Now this is not a story about a hate crime but at one point in your life, you might have encountered the following scenario:

Person A of racial group X is upset because person B of racial group Y had done wrong taken person A's rights.

Swarms of people from racial minority group Y gather to proudly defend person B while choosing to be oblivious to the crime that was committed.

I know that this oversimplifies a story that may include racial group Y constantly being discriminated by some members from racial group X which causes a stir of emotions and resentment but that is never an excuse to do wrong. It just causes everyone to sink equally lower in terms of morality. I do believe in standing up for your brother in need and supporting him but maybe our definition of support needs revision. This is what I believe to be the correct definition of support:

Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) said, "Help your brother, whether he is an oppressor or he is an oppressed one." People asked, "O Prophet of Allah, it is all right to help him if he is oppressed, but how should we help him if he is an oppressor?" The Prophet said, "By preventing him from oppressing others." - (Bukhari)

 While this may seem like common sense to most of us, it is rarely acted upon. Maybe our pride gets in the way. Maybe its because love for our brother can sometimes blind us. But guess what? We are human beings before we are Canadians, Chinese, Palestinians, Indians, and so on. Be a proud human being and love your brother. It is time for us to reflect on our own actions before expecting anything from others.

"Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves." (Quran:13:11) 

It is also time for us to teach our children the true definition of justice and fairness and not to confuse it with racial or national pride. The road map to a better world requires to love one another as human beings and to stand up for the oppressed no matter who they are.

Living for a Purpose

March 16th, 2003, was the day the world lost a brave and inspiring activist. Rachel Corrie was killed while using her body as a human shield to protect a Palestinian family's home from being leveled to the ground by Israeli bulldozers. You may argue that it was Rachel's fault. Traveling from the safety of The Evergreen State College's suburban campus to the bullied city of Gaza was a risky trip to take (even though she spent the whole time in a residential zone). A risk that can potentially cost you your life. But to Rachel, becoming a spectator to the demolition of people's homes prompted a greater risk; the risk of losing her sense of purpose. For without a sense of purpose, we are sheep.

Now I'm not asking you to spin a globe and head to the first war torn country that your finger lands on à la The Last King of Scotland but I humbly suggest that we take a look at the skills and tools that God blessed us with and use them to find our calling. Whether it is through your knowledge, your art, your social skills or even through raising your children, each and everyone of us has the ability to leave a positive mark on this world if, and only if, the intention is there. Most of us might already be motivated by a goal in life such as earning that degree, working hard for that promotion or even trying to get married. But unless the intention and end goal is to serve God and benefit people, chances are those goals will not end up as fulfilling as you might have hoped.

If you think that "finding your purpose" is too cliché or that you have nothing to give to this world, I can assure you that you are wrong. In most cases, our purpose is not well defined at first but I do believe that our sense of purpose grows organically once the seed, our intentions, is planted inside of us. So much can happen once that seed is planted.

At her 5th grade speech, Rachel Corrie was advocating for the hungry in Africa. At the age of 10, she probably had a stronger sense of purpose than most people twice her age. We can also look at the story of Joinal Abedin, the humble rickshaw driver who has been saving money for 30 years to finally build a clinic in a remote village in Bangladesh at the age of 65. Or maybe we can look at the story of Master Ayoub who has been teaching thousands children in Pakistan for free for 25 years just to give them a chance to pursue a better quality of life. We can also look at the work of Salman Khan, a man who earned three degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA from Harvard. He quit his high paying job as a hedge fund analyst to teach math and science to thousands of people around the world for free through Youtube videos. After living off saved money and donations for a few years, he eventually established the Khan Academy which is now supported by Bill Gates.

There are plenty of other amazing stories of such heroes around the world and we probably will never hear about them through mainstream media. However, I am certain that those people are more fulfilled in their lives than most millionaires, celebrities and other so called "successful" people. And what is the one thing they all have in common? The intention to serve.

We are never too young, too old, too poor or too busy to renew our intentions, plant that seed and find our purpose. The farther we go with that intention the more doors God will open for us. Eventually, we will realize that the happy fulfilling life that we all dream of is a by-product of striving to serve God. And if you ever get derailed from your original intention, just renew it and start over.

The Power of Knowing

By now, you've probably seen the Invisible Children's (IC) attempt to make Joseph Kony one of the most recognized names around the world. The IC quickly got thousands of people sold on the Kony 2012 initiative by making a documentary, which runs for half an hour, go viral. When was the last time you saw a half hour long video go viral? And the most important thing about all of this is that the Kony video made thousands of people care.

 

The last video I recall to receive this much attention was about a 13 year old  girl trying to make the crucial decision between sitting in a car's front seat or sitting in the back seat while joyfully singing about Friday. A few days before the Kony video was uploaded, the most popular trends on Twitter involved Jeremy Lin puns and Justin Bieber’s 18^th birthday. Meanwhile, meme comics were flooding my Facebook news feed for weeks (I’ll admit I’m guilty of sharing memes too). Yet by asking for only 30 minutes, the Kony video was able to make thousands of people look into their hearts and find some space in there for the victimized children in Uganda.

Now the video did receive its fair share of criticism. In my opinion, the Kony 2012 project has a lot of holes in it. I feel that it did not do enough to educate us about the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) or the political history of the region. However, even though I was not sold on the Kony 2012 initiative (at least not yet), the video did remind me how important it is to educate each other about issues that matter. Before we can do anything about the children in Uganda, the hungry in Somalia or the oppressed in Syria and other countries around the world, we have to find a place for them in our hearts.

Albert Einstien once said about his passion for playing the violin, “love is a better teacher than a sense of duty.” And I agree. Love is probably the most powerful force that can drive us to fight against tough odds. It is also a sentiment that everyone can understand. But how can we love something we know nothing about?

A couple of weeks ago, I was debating with a friend on whether or not raising awareness on complicated issues made any difference.  

“At the end of the day, sharing videos and hanging posters do not solve anything.”  

“You can yell and scream as loud as you want in front of the Syrian embassy but that won’t change what’s going on in Syria.” 

In my opinion, these arguments stem from a lack of both foresight and knowledge in human history.

In the Quraan, Allah (swt) says:

(إنك لا تهدي من أحببت ولكن الله يهدي من يشاء وهو أعلم بالمهتدين)

or roughly translated: Almighty says: You cannot guide whomever you please: it is God who guides [according to His Law] whom He pleases and He best knows those who are guided. (28:56)

This tells us that the role of the Prophets (peace be upon them), and inherently our role in this world, was to convey the Message, raise awareness and educate people about the oneness of God. Da'wah after all is awareness. It is a practice that the most honorable people in history were doing for most of their lives.

Vincent van Gogh once said, "Great things do not just happen by impulse but are a succession of small things linked together." And the first small step here is learning. The more we learn about the oppressed, the more we realize they are just like us. We all want to go to school without worrying about being kidnapped. We all want to speak freely without worrying about being thrown into prison for 10 years. Suddenly I realize that we are the same. Suddenly I care for you because I realize that you are my brother, sister, father and mother. And we all know the lengths we would go to save family.

Still not convinced that sharing raw videos from Syria and protesting in front of Syrian embassies will do any good? Maybe you should step into the shoes of the people in Syria. If you are unaware of what the indoor atmosphere is like in Syria, then maybe you should read what Jacques Beres, co-founder and former member of the Medecins Sans Frontieres group, said about his time in Homs, Syria:

"They are always watching television. The TV is always on, the news flows and they communicate via Facebook and Twitter. They know what is going on."

They see us! They see what we share. They see us taking it to the streets and waving their flag. This gives them hope and wipes away their sense of loneliness. And hope, very much like love, can be the only thing that keeps us going in times of tribulation. The same applies for Gaza and many other regions around the world.

On the day of judgement, we will be asked what have we done with our freedom, what did we say with our voices, what did we do for the children in Uganda, the hungry in Somalia and the oppressed in Syria. In spreading the word, you've already taken the first step and I believe God guides whoever takes the first step.