You Are A Slave

How would you react, if for no reason, the police stormed into your local Masjid late at night during Ramadan, attacked innocent worshippers, forcing them out and arrested two of them?

Would you stay silent? Would you fail to react at all? On two separate occasions last week, Israeli security officials stormed the holy site of Masjid Al-Aqsa and did exactly that. The first incident involved approximately 20 worshippers being thrown out of the Mosque and the Imam arrested and detained at an unknown location.

To add insult to injury, it was reported that over 20 Israeli extremists were escorted by heavily armed Israeli army forces into the holy site. A few days later, a similar invasion of the Mosque occurred where worshippers were again forcefully removed from the Mosque, of which two were arrested and detained.

The reaction from the Ummah: there was none. Around 50 Muslim majority states and there has been no significant reaction. Only a few groups such as Hezbollah have condemned the actions, but no reaction from the wider Muslim community.

Imagine if the tables were turned and one of the holiest Jewish sites was compromised by army officials. How do you think the Jewish community across the world would react? There would be absolute uproar. Under no circumstances would they allow an act like this to occur, without worldwide condemnation. They would not hesitate for a second to speak out against any injustice committed against them and they would do everything in their power to ensure nothing of the sort happens again. They would constantly remind the world that they will never put up with such acts committed against them. So why is it that the Muslim Ummah fail to react in any way when one of the holiest sites is repeatedly attacked? The focus is not on the Masjid being stormed, but rather the silence of the Ummah.

After all, the Prophet (peace be upon him) did say: “The Blood of a Muslim is worth more than the Ka’aba.” (Sunan Ibn Majah; Silsilah El Saheehah: hadith #3420)

The silence of the Muslim Ummah in the face of oppression is merely a symptom of the mental slavery that we are under. Only a slave would allow such injustices to be committed against them without reaction. When a slave’s rights are taken away from him, he doesn’t react. He accepts this is how he is supposed to be treated and so remains quiet and subservient to his master. His master can give and take whatever right he likes at his will and the slave does not say a word.

The free man however, fights for his rights. He never accepts any type of injustice to be perpetrated against him. The free man would react with immense ardour if any of his human rights were to be violated. However, we are not free. So when our brothers and sisters are slaughtered, when we are forced out of our Mosques for merely praying throughout the night, when we are attacked on the streets, we do nothing. We accept that this is what we deserve. This is how we are supposed to be treated. Why would we react? Surely, this is how slaves are supposed to be treated? Who has placed these shackles on our minds? We have. Our 'colonial' masters want nothing more than for us to reduce the potent and the just religion of Islam, to nothing but mindless rituals and passive submissive behaviour. This is exactly what we have done; we are not taught how to defend the Ummah, nor are we taught how to defend Islam.

How can a religion that came to free the world from oppression be reduced to a religion that sees its followers keep quiet, when their own brothers and sisters are being wiped out? It’s time we shatter the mental shackles that are so severely debilitating us from defending ourselves.

The first step in achieving this is to wake up the Ummah, to become conscious of the existence of this state of mental slavery. MPACUK conduct free Muslim Advocacy courses, which teach you to do just that. Attending will teach you how to defend the Ummah and how to wake up other Muslims to the truth. You will learn what every single Mosque should be teaching every single Muslim. If you are interested in attending then contact us via a facebook message on our page.