The honor of the month of Ramadan, keenly awaited by the entire Muslim world, is upon us. All believers will discharge the obligation imposed by our Lord in the Qur’an by fasting during this blessed month. Ramadan, each day of which has a festive air, and which bestows health and ease on believers, is an important means of earning Allah’s approval.
In this month of Ramadan, however, our Muslim brothers need to think differently and see the terrible nature of the time we are in. As Muslim sheds the blood of Muslim in the Middle East and strife has raised its head, our Muslim brothers need to act in unity and union. It is essential to lay aside transitory, day-to-day problems and for there to be a divine awakening to resolve the problems of the world and stop the bloodshed. Simply to speak of the beauty of the month of Ramadan and to emphasize the importance of giving alms and helping neighbors is not, of course, enough to put an end to the climate of strife in which Muslims find themselves. Of course, these are obligations imposed on Allah by Muslims but the most pressing and important issue is that of spreading the Islamic moral values imposed by Him in the Qur’an throughout the world, and spreading love in parallel to those values. All believers must therefore step outside their own tiny worlds and look at the big picture.
Some 200,000 people have been slaughtered in the civil war in Syria, and more than three million have had to flee to other countries. Neighboring countries, and particularly Turkey, have welcomed the fleeing refugees. Yet millions of Muslim women and children are still in the grip of hunger and poverty in the shadow of war.
ISIS, which appeared in recent months and claims to act in the name of Islam, has started a horrific slaughter in parts of Iraq and Syria. New strife has been added to the sectarian conflicts that have persisted in the region for years. ISIS has captured Mosul and Tikrit and is moving on Baghdad. Ethnic groups fleeing the fighting are trying to reach safe havens throughout the region. Turkmen and Shiite leaders in the country issuing fatwas of war against ISIS is encouraging strife still more, and this is resulting in endless war.
The climate of injustice and strife in the Muslim world is not limited to this. Blood and tears prevail in the Central African Republic, Nigeria, Sudan and Somalia; Muslims are fighting hunger and living in fear of civil war. Acts of terror by radical organizations, junta regimes’ policies of violence and oppression and the exploitative system of imperialist countries have ruined these nations. Muslims are abandoning their homes because of civil war and living under harsh conditions in other countries’ refugee camps.
Hatred of Muslims has also begun rearing its head in Central and Southeast Asia. Since the Chinese occupation of East Turkestan, 60 million Muslims have been burned or tortured to death or executed. The Uighur Turks are horribly repressed. Hundreds of Uighurs have been beaten to death by gangs in the middle of the street or executed simply for discharging their Islamic observances.
Things are no better in Myanmar: Hundreds of Muslim women, children and elderly people have been ruthlessly slaughtered as a result of lovelessness and hatred. Buddhist gangs burning mosques and homes have forced hundreds of thousands of Rakhine Muslims to become refugees. Hundreds of thousands of Muslims are living in hunger, poverty and fear in refugee camps.
Muslims and our brothers from other faiths across the world need to recognize this ruthless slaughter of Muslims, and rational and permanent solutions need to be found. Military and financial aid for these countries has failed to extinguish the flames of strife. The most important cause of this strife and killing is that a vast lovelessness has enfolded the world. Perverse ideologies and philosophies’ teaching of hatred are drowning the world in lovelessness. As a result of this lovelessness, people are encouraged to hate and to be selfish and irresponsible, and to try to resolve problems with violence.
Lovelessness has led to mindsets that encourage hatred, such as enmity toward Jews, Christians, Buddhists, Shiites or Sunnis. Yet it is Allah Who creates these differences as an act of great wisdom. Our Muslim brothers need to know that everyone is equal in the Sight of Allah and avoid discrimination.
There needs to be an outpouring of love if all these problems are to be solved. When intense love linked to a fear of displeasing Allah prevails, this strife and suffering will come to an end. In this month of Ramadan, our Muslim brothers must call upon all Islamic countries to be united, and must summon all mankind to love and brotherhood.
Adnan Oktar's piece on Harakah Daily & Diplomacy Pakistan:
