THE other day, someone posted a video depicting a ten-year-old Muslim girl being surrounded by some policemen on the road. She is being kicked like a football, beaten with gun butts, handcuffed and blindfolded, and then shot dead. The man writes that most probably, they are the policemen of Burma and some civilians who are anti-Muslim and are brutally killing an innocent small girl. In a gust of rage, he writes: “The Muslims are being killed and we are celebrating Eid and exchanging Eid greetings with each other.”
Actually, he is sharing his deeply felt anguish and wrath toward Muslims who are more ritualistic and have no sense of Islamic jihad against the oppressors. This video has torn my heart into pieces. Most probably it is in Burma, where a Muslim girl is the victim of brutality in the middle of the road. People are moving, looking at this brutality, but are so scared that no one stops to intervene. I wanted to share this video on my WhatsApp and Facebook but dropped the idea, lest any person with a soft heart suffer a heart attack. I remained in a state of trauma for hours with tearful eyes, and my blood pressure went high.
It is such an inhumane act that I find no words to express my grief and resentment. The thing that disappoints me is the indifferent attitude and silence of the champions of peace and humanity worldwide. It is not a question of being Muslim or non-Muslim; it is a question of humanity. Will any sane and sober person kill a small girl with such bestiality? Does a girl of ten years know what racial discrimination and religious extremism are? A few years ago, in Serbia and in Burma (Myanmar), Muslim women and children were burned alive.
Today, the Zionist regime of Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel has crossed all limits, and uncouthly, he is involved in the genocide of the innocent civilians of Gaza Strip/Palestine. The Holy Book of the Jews, “The Torah,” in the Exodus gives Ten Commandments. The first commandment is: “You shall not murder.” What are the Jews/Zionists doing in Gaza? Are they acting upon the commandment of God? Are they followers of Prophet Moses? If they are, they should immediately end the war, stop the genocide of the Palestinians and resolve the issue amicably according to UN resolutions and the Two-State Formula.
The way Muslims were killed in Myanmar by the Buddhists is unprecedented in recent history. Buddha preached peace, but his followers in Myanmar acted worse than beasts. Who is to be blamed? Moses and Buddha, or their followers who act against their teachings? Muslims have become a dead nation because of kingships, secularism, and dictatorships. We don’t have democratic governments. We should be ashamed of greeting each other on the festivity of Eid while forty thousand innocent civilians of Gaza have been brutally killed and are being killed daily.
The Zionists quote verses from the Old Testament and the New Testament and regard their right to Jerusalem as a divine right. They have made this war a sacred war against Muslims. No war is a sacred war, and no genocide of civilians has sacred or religious sanction. We must save humanity. Islam preaches peace but also ordains fighting against aggressors. It is the time for jihad against aggressors. Hell with Muslim rulers. They are criminals. Islam is a religion of peace, justice, and humanity. Islam has laid down the principles of war. It says do not kill the elderly, the children, the women, the patients, the people who drop their arms and seek peace.
Fight only those who fight you. Islamic principles of war even bind us not to kill the animals of the enemy or destroy their crops and fruit trees. Can any religion show us better humanistic principles of war than Islam? Living nations do not let their people die at the hands of others as Muslims are mercilessly dying. If an American, a Russian, or a Chinese person is killed anywhere in the world, their governments take action and do not leave the matter without inquiry. Muslims have no power to stop the aggressors. Their governments are the touts of world powers. Under the situation, I strongly appeal to the OIC to take immediate notice of the brutal killing of the innocent ten-year-old Muslim girl by the police of Myanmar. Being a Pakistani, I appeal to the press of Pakistan to take notice of this tragedy, and I also appeal to the government of Pakistan to protest against this brutality and register a protest to the government of Myanmar. No killings of Muslims will be tolerated.
—The writer is a contributing columnist, based in New York.
