Let there be no doubt: Islam is a part of America. And I believe that America holds within her the truth that regardless of race, religion, or station in life, all of us share common aspirations – to live in peace and prosperity; to get an education and to work with dignity; to love our families, our communities, and our God. These things we share. This is the hope of all humanity.” These words were spoken by American President Barack Obama in Cairo on June 4, 2009.
Islam pays due respect to the rights and dignity of mankind. It was long before the Magna Carta and Geneva resolutions came into being that Islam had set human rights in its teachings. Unmindful that the sacred messages will reach every corner of the world, media and false thinkers tried to blur these ever-shining facts of the Islam with the aim of alienating people. Men’s rights and dignity are violated to a great extent in every part of the world - in Islamic and non-Islamic communities. The current violence and bloodshed, which target the innocent civilians, outrage the collective conscience and stain religious values and ethical codes.
There is no doubt that men are born with a set of natural rights and dignity – which are bestowed by God – to live a free, peaceful and honorable life. Men’s rights to life, liberty and property are considered inalienable and beyond transgression. The state is not supposed to deprive one of their basic rights but on the basis of law. Regarding men’s rights to life, the Holy Koran asserts, “Whoever kills a person [unjustly]…it is as though he has killed all mankind. And whoever saves a life, it is as though he had saved all mankind.”
However, Islamic tenets – which aim to safeguard men’s rights and dignity – have been interpreted and presented against the spirit of this religion – especially when political interests were involved. Historically, a number of rulers imposed themselves on the public under the aegis of caliphate or sultanate – this was a flagrant misuse of religious texts which still holds sway. As a result, the Taliban’s high-profile leader Mullah Muhammad Omar led a regime under the name of religion and introduced himself an Islamic caliph – his position and practices had no religious basis at all. Currently, the self-style Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) also claims religious legitimacy under the caliphate of Abu-Bakr al-Baghdadi and perpetrate horrendous crimes. Their violent acts of terror and bloodshed and violation of human rights and humanitarian law are cursed in Islam.
Islam never fought nations but fought only despotic authorities. Islamic war was one of liberation and not of compulsion. Muslims are prohibited from opening hostilities without properly declaring war against the enemy, unless the adversary has already started aggression against them.
Generalizing the practices of religious extremists to all Muslims – which has led to Islamophobia – is really unfair. The U.S. President rightly pointed out in his speech in Cairo as, “Indeed, none of us should tolerate these extremists. They have killed in many countries. They have killed people of different faiths - more than any other, they have killed Muslims. Their actions are irreconcilable with the rights of human beings, the progress of nations, and with Islam….” In fact, a large number of civilians have lost their lives in terrorist attacks and suicide bombings and still do in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Somalia, etc. Similarly, scores of men, women and children were tortured and killed in the country during the Taliban’s regime in Afghanistan on the grounds of their creed, sex and race.
Ill-fatedly, Muslims suffer in America and France following the Paris attacks and the shooting in California by a couple believed to have turned extremists. Muslim Americans say they are afraid. They talk about women wearing the hijab being spat on, a Muslim taxi driver being shot in the back on Thanksgiving and a pig’s head found outside a Philadelphia mosque. Just hours before the Republican frontrunner’s call for an end to Muslim immigration, community leaders from New Jersey met prosecutors asking them to take seriously alleged hate crimes against Muslims. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest Muslim civil liberties group in that country, says it has documented a wave of abuse, vandalism and acts of discrimination in the last month. “It is reckless and simply un-American. Donald Trump sounds more like a leader of a lynch mob than a great nation like ours,” CAIR executive director Nihad Awad is quoted as saying.
Moreover, the fresh horror of November’s massacre, which took 130 lives, has darkened the picture further for French Muslims. In the 10 days that followed it, official sources reported 35 attacks, ranging from the stabbing of a woman wearing a hijab in Marseille to the painting of red crosses on a mosque in the Parisian suburb of Creteil.
It’s an improvement on the 116 attacks on Muslims registered by Dilcra, the government body in charge of collecting data, in the fortnight following Charlie Hebdo.
It is said that Muslims face a triple onslaught of threats – from those who conduct the attacks, from citizens who blame them for the attacks and, now, from the government.
“People are scared of us now. The perpetrators of the attacks have sullied us Muslims. And the public does not know how to differentiate. They generalize,” a café runner Mohammed Ben Salem is cited as saying. Reports say that the French government has shut down three mosques and four informal Muslim prayer rooms out of concern that they were contributing to Islamic radicalization. It is hoped that the mistrust will end in both the countries and one’s rights and dignity will not be infringed on the grounds of their race, beliefs, etc. Prayerfully, Muslim men and women will be allowed to practice their religious rituals freely in both America and France and their governments will have to protect their rights on the basis of Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).