Muslims massacred in Myanmar

Nine Muslims were killed on a bus in the Rakhine province, Myanmar. A crowd attacked this bus, which was allegedly done by Buddhists as a form of revenge, due to a Buddhist girl being violated by a Muslim gang. An investigation is taking place and arrests have yet to be made.

Why are these Buddhists not referred to as terrorists? Had it been Muslims retaliating in Palestine, Afghanistan or Iraq, they most certainly would have been called terrorists, radicals, extremists, fanatics and every other unholy definition as per the RAND report. 

So it is clear that Muslims are being attacked left, right and centre in the world for their faith. These social tensions in Myanmar were not born yesterday which can be said for all anti-Muslim tensions in the world. Surely, the Imams should start to react towards this horrendous violent attitude, which has now become tolerable towards Muslims?

Sadly, reality shows the contrary. The Imams would rather spend forty minutes on a khutbah talking about why we should say “Assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu” (may peace, mercy and blessings of Allah be upon you), or why every Muslim should have a name which is not like George. If you are lucky enough (sarcasm alert), they’ll talk about how we should respond if a Christian or a Jew says “Assalamu alaykum” (peace be to you). I mean no offence here, but seriously, have the Imams thought about the issues that are actually impacting the Ummah now, or do they seriously think in non-Arabic speaking countries such as the UK, Denmark, Germany, France, Italy etc. a Christian or a Jewish person giving the greeting of assalaam has high certainty and therefore, an issue worth bringing up?

The burden is on the youth of this generation to revive and change the Mosques, which have turned into black holes. Some Muslims that often go to Mosques tend to get mentally destroyed, the way black holes destroy anything that goes into them. Black holes also have a strong sense of gravity, which is an attractive force; in exactly the same way, Muslims continue to uphold our destructive institutions due to the gravitational force they feel towards the Mosque. 

Education is our passport to freedom and it is for this reason Allah puts forth a rhetorical question in the Quran 39:9-

Furthermore, our Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said-

Henceforth, our generation which has the benefit of seeking knowledge and applying it, should rise above and rejuvenate the Islamic spirit which has now been lost. Unfortunately, the changes and the evolution that should have happened within our communities are not happening and Muslims, still to this day cannot prioritise their lives according to Islam but instead, reduce Islam to a bunch of rituals. 

Until we seek benefit from the knowledge available to us, we will continue to be an embarrassment to the legacy of Islam.