The Darfur
Tragedy and the Apathy of the Muslim World
By Abubakr G. Shaikh
Westerville ,Ohio
The blood-thirsty and the much feared Sudanese
militia, known as Janjawed, has been trained by
the Sudanese army with the explicit purpose of
ridding Darfur villages of black Muslims. They
race their camels and machinegun- mounted trucks
through the villages, shooting indiscriminately
at the helpless and unarmed villagers. These barbaric
butchers are aided by helicopter gun ships to
maximize the terror and mayhem so that none could
dare to return. Men, women and children are virtually
mowed down without mercy. When the mayhem is complete,
the victims’ bodies are dismembered, sprayed
with oil and burnt alongside their huts. The livestock
and young women are spared to be taken away as
the war booty. The women are routinely kidnapped,
raped and enslaved as serfs and domestic servants.
They tend the farms and cattle of the brown skinned
Arabs and satisfy their lust and give birth to
the Arab progeny to replace the black population.
Slavery is an ugly blot on the Islamic faith.
Despite the immense compassion shown by the holy
Prophet, peace be upon him, for the oppressed,
poor and children, it is an irony that slavery
is still part of the Sharia. The glorious Qur’an
says: “O mankind We have created you from
a single male and a female and made you into nations
and tribes that you may know one another. Verily
the most honorable in you in the sight of Allah
is that who has At-Taqwa (pious and righteous
person) who fear Allah much and love Allah much.”(49.13).
Color, creed or caste, does not distinguish a
person from the other in Islam and given that
all people are born equal how could slavery be
justified?
The Darfurians have a valid claim on their sacred
lands from where they are being consistently and
systematically uprooted. They are the original
natives, not the Arabs whose forefathers came
to the region with a noble cause: delivering the
message of peace and not to rule or drive the
Darfurians away from their homelands .They were
received well by their hosts and they in turn
served them well. However, their descendents have
followed a path of savagery, prejudice and hate,
breaking every rule of civility, all principles
of humanity, and the basic tenets of Islam.
The merciless genocide has gone on unchecked for
the past two years and while the actual death
toll is difficult to estimate, close to 200,000
innocent people have been butchered in this worst
scenario of ethnic cleansing according to some
sources - the biggest carnage after Rwanda and
Bosnia. More than two million have been rendered
homeless. Milovesic must have been wondering in
his grave what did he do to deserve the Hague
trial! The United Nations’ duplicity and
double standards are also evident from the fact
that it actively got involved in East Timur and
Sudan’s other conflict based on religion
with its southern region whereas in this conflict
based on color prejudice there are no signs of
urgency on the part of the world body. The world
remains cool and impassive because of global oil
interests tainted with the blood of the innocent
Darfurians.
In their quest to complete the annihilation of
black Muslims, Sudan’s army supported by
its notorious militia, continues to chase and
attack refugee camps inside the neighboring country
Chad. Sudan is also accused by the president of
Chad to be actively involved in its nefarious
activities to destabilize his regime by providing
aid to rebels to instigate a revolt in Chad. The
aim is to install a proxy government, which in
collaboration with Sudan, will wipe out the entire
black Muslim population of Darfur. The only crime
of these unfortunate and helpless people is the
color of their skin and their Islamic faith, Islam,
whose basic tenets call for eradication of all
kind of prejudices. How much longer can they endure
and keep their faith in Islam? Perhaps they must
already be thinking of other options for their
survival while the Islamic world remains unmoved.
Its silence and indifference is staggering. The
catastrophe is of a colossal nature, but it has
not moved the hearts of the 1.2 billion Muslims
of the world who only recently reacted violently
to the much less critical issue of the cartoon
controversy. The entire Muslim community from
one end of the globe to the other, erupted in
furor, over-reacting to the controversy in a manner
that seemed to suggest that Islam was in eminent
danger. The irrational behavior led to many deaths
of innocent citizens, loss of property and revenue,
and contra-productive results in the form of severe
criticism on the conduct of Muslims by the international
press. However, not a single protest march took
place on the massacre and carnage of 200,000 Muslims
at the hand of fellow Muslims in Darfur.
One wonders about the priorities of the Ummah.
The Qur’an is very specific on resolving
disputes and making reconciliation between two
Islamic factions. Allah has ordained: “And
if two parties or groups among the believers fall
into fighting ,then make peace between them both
and if one of them rebels against the other then
fight you against the one that which rebels till
it complies with the command of Allah then if
it complies then make reconciliation between them
justly and be equitable”(49: 9,10)
Every big fire starts with a small spark, each
movement is the brainchild of an individual and
eventually transforms into a revolution, every
hurricane develops from the buildup of winds and
waves. Nicholas Kristof, a New York Times columnist
and champion of the oppressed people around the
world, has tirelessly raised awareness on the
Darfur genocide in the past two years. The spark
now seems to have developed into a sizeable flame.
Here in the United States, with the steady involvement
of the common people, religious leaders, organizations,
human rights activists, college and universities
students - the flame is getting larger every day.
In contrast to the Muslim world’s apathy,
the Jewish, Evangelical, Armenian and human rights
organizations are in the forefront of building
alliances, pressure and lobbying groups to get
the administration involved in ending the genocide
in Darfur. I had counted more than 60 nationwide
Jewish organizations’ names which sponsored
a full-page protest in the Columbus Dispatch,
the leading newspaper of Ohio on the insensitivity
of the Bush administration to the Darfur genocide.
I am sure similar protest ads must have appeared
in all major newspapers nationwide. The Jews’
sensitivity reflects their having suffered the
worst genocide in human history. This movement
is gathering momentum and now has reached colleges
and universities, churches and synagogues. These
groups also arranged a million march to Capital
Hill. No name of any Muslim organization appeared
in the protest march nor any public statements
appeared on the subject in any newspaper.
Some hopes have started to build as there are
indications that president Bush might take an
initiative to involve UN troops in Darfur yet
nothing concrete has emerged so far. Meanwhile,
Sudan has successfully persuaded South Africa
to stay for six more months in Darfur and delay
in handing over charge to the UN. What sinister
motive is behind this move is not clear yet.
One regrets the snail-pace response of the UN
and the confounding apathy of the Muslim world
to the unfolding tragedy.
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