Muslims cannot claim a monopoly on anger over the suffering in Gaza
Much has been been written about the Gaza conflict and several pieces concern the impact that events are having on British Muslims – whether it's alienating them from the political process or driving them to radicalisation.
More than a few commenters, such as Johnton, have claimed that the UK's Muslim communities have largely remained silent on the other catastrophes and atrocities to have affected their brethren in recent times. Two years ago, at a press conference, I asked Fareena Alam of the Muslim magazine Q News why Muslims were so quick to condemn western governments for their involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, yet appeared to show little heartbreak or anger over suffering in Darfur.
She replied that it was "shameful" the way British Muslims had responded to the humanitarian crisis in Sudan: "We can get hot and bothered about Iraq. There is a lot of information about Darfur. There is no doubt this is Muslim-on-Muslim violence. In this situation where are these values we talk about, that killing one life is about killing humanity? It is a huge embarrassment to us. We need to have a very big conversation about this."
Read more @ The Guardian.
Muslims have criticised extremists in Iran, Saudi Arabia AND all around the world. All injustices need to be challenged regardless of the religion or race of the people, but Darfur is less likely to come up in the media, whereas Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan come up most of the time.
“Before death takes away what you are given, give away whatever there is to give.”
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