How did we forget? How did we become distant and disconnected? We focus on Palestinians, Libyans and mostly Syrians. Yet we remain aloof about our brothers and sisters in Myanmar. We rush to gather funds and blankets for Syrian refugees yet no word about them. Them: the distant dark-skinned people of the Far East.
The situation can almost be comparable if not worse to the time when Rasool Allah (saw) first started his Dawah. Buddhists are threatened by Myanmar Muslims simply because of their belief in Allah and His Messenger. They are set to fire, thrown into the sea or forced to suffer at the hands of enraged Buddhists. Where is the peace so-called Buddhists follow?
((يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَتَّخِذُوا بِطَانَةً مِّن دُونِكُمْ لَا يَأْلُونَكُمْ خَبَالًا وَدُّوا مَا عَنِتُّمْ قَدْ بَدَتِ الْبَغْضَاءُ مِنْ أَفْوَاهِهِمْ وَمَا تُخْفِي صُدُورُهُمْ أَكْبَرُ ۚ قَدْ بَيَّنَّا لَكُمُ الْآيَاتِ ۖ إِن كُنتُمْ تَعْقِلُونَ))
"O you who believe! Take not as (your) Bitanah (advisors, consultants, protectors, helpers, friends, etc.) those outside your religion (pagans, Jews, Christians, and hypocrites) since they will not fail to do their best to corrupt you. They desire to harm you severely. Hatred has already appeared from their mouths, but what their breasts conceal is far worse. Indeed We have made plain to you the Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses) if you understand. Lo! You are the ones who love them but they love you not, and you believe in all the Scriptures [i.e. you believe in the Taurat (Torah) and the Injeel (Gospel), while they disbelieve in your Book, the Qur'an]. And when they meet you, they say, "We believe". But when they are alone, they bite the tips of their fingers at you in rage. Say: "Perish in your rage. Certainly, Allah knows what is in the breasts (all the secrets)." [TMQ Ali-Imran: 118]
The scenes appear to be part of a grotesque Hollywood-style horror movie. Yet this situation has no near end in sight. We are to be one Ummah, to be one body. Yet we are severed so ruthlessly, we no longer recognize our body parts. However Muslims can recite the Hadeeths and Ayat of this without effect on them. We are one Ummah from the North to the South to the West to the East. To keep reiterating this slogan will have no impact on the plight of Myanmar Muslims from the Far Eastern corner of the globe.
Even more importantly, where is the Muslim Army rescue? During the Mecca stage, a group of Muslims fled to the Habasha (Ethiopia) to escape persecution from the tribes of Quraish. They were accepted into Ethiopia by the Christian king. Yet it is disgraceful that Myanmar Muslims are rejected by their Muslim Bangladesh brothers who are then vulnerable to slaughter and rape by the Buddhists. Where is the action of the Muslim Bangladesh Generals and soldiers who possess the might and knowledge of warfare? You must race to their rescue instead of barring them at the Western imposed borders. Would we remain numb if our blood brother ached in pain and turmoil? Or would we rush to the immediate rescue to alleviate his pain and distress? Brotherhood is not by blood alone; it is the bond of our Aqeedah that truly connects us to the entire Ummah like our blood brother.
Mashallah our dear brothers and sisters in Myanmar. You are the core of this hadeeth, "The one who holds to his deen during that period will be like the one who holds his hand on a live coal, and the one who holds to his deen will have the reward of fifty men who act as he does. They asked: will they be like fifty of them or us? He said: They are rather fifty of you," said the Prophet (saw). You are attacked because of your firm belief in this Aqeedah and Allah swt has promised you His Heavens.
أَمْ حَسِبْتُمْ أَن تَدْخُلُوا الْجَنَّةَ وَلَمَّا يَأْتِكُم مَّثَلُ الَّذِينَ خَلَوْا مِن قَبْلِكُم ۖ مَّسَّتْهُمُ الْبَأْسَاءُ وَالضَّرَّاءُ وَزُلْزِلُوا حَتَّىٰ يَقُولَ الرَّسُولُ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مَعَهُ مَتَىٰ نَصْرُاللَّـهِ ۗ أَلَا إِنَّ نَصْرَ اللَّـهِ قَرِيبٌ
"Or think you that you will enter Paradise without such (trials) as came to those who passed away before you? They were afflicted with severe poverty and ailments and were so shaken that even the Messenger and those who believed along with him said, "When (will come) the Help of Allah?" Yes! Certainly, the Help of Allah is near!" [TMQ Al-Baqarah: 214]
How do you sleep in your warm beds while your Myanmar brothers and sisters bloated floating bodies are left to decay in the sea? How can you look at yourselves in the mirror, while in Myanmar Muslims look decrepit and battered? They are left with malaria-infested water and rotting food to fill their stomachs. While you on the contrary swallow fancy foods compliments of the depraved Hasina regime.
Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! Where is your sense of humanity! What good will your shiny medals proudly displayed across your chests bring?
Rather these same medals will sear deep into your chest on the Day of Judgment for not answering the Muslim cries.
We need to clearly take into consideration the role we are to assume. More specifically those in position to make a difference in the lives of the Myanmar Muslims who have faced a lifetime of rejection and disappointment in our Muslim Armies. It is time to implement the concept of one Ummah. These are clear reminders of your responsibility to them transforming their bleak present into a secure tranquil future.
"A Muslim is the brother of a Muslim. He neither oppresses him nor deserts him. Whoever helps to remove the hardship of his brother, will have his difficulties removed by Allah in this world and in the Hereafter."
(( وَإِنِ اسْتَنصَرُوكُمْ فِي الدِّينِ فَعَلَيْكُمُ النَّصْرُ إِلَّا عَلَىٰ قَوْمٍ بَيْنَكُمْ وَبَيْنَهُم مِّيثَاقٌ))
"And if they seek help of you for the religion, then you must help." [TMQ 8:72]
To conclude this reminder of the ongoing plight of the Forgotten People of Myanmar, we end with the Prophet's (saw) famous duaa, "Oh Allah, I seek refuge in You from worry and grief, from helplessness and laziness, from cowardice and stinginess, and from overpowering of debt and from oppression of men."
Manal Bader
