The (A)pathetic Situation We're In

What is wrong with us?

We live in a society where we are free to live as we please, we can eat and dress as we like, say what we like, have a right to education and an opportunity to make something of our lives, in short, we are enjoying our God given rights.

Yet, when we hear of others who have had these freedoms forcibly taken, we do nothing. Can you see what is wrong with this mindset? It is not that we are physically restrained in helping them, so we must be prevented by something in our subconscious.

The event that prompted me to put these thoughts into words was a short conversation, no longer than a couple of minutes, with a madrassa student who was on work experience in the same office as I. It was sparked by a badge that I was wearing that was connected to Babar Ahmed and I told the teenager about how Babar had been imprisoned without trial, held in solitary confinement; that during his arrest he had been beaten up, knocked down, forced into sujood and mocked, "Where is your God now?"

I might as well have been telling him about the weather in Peru.

No interest. No concern. No sense of being part of the Ummah.

Can you see what is wrong with this mindset?

This isn't an attitude that is unique to this individual. The badge that sparked off this dialogue had come from the demonstration outside Downing Street on 23rd June (I was a steward patrolling the street side). After the event, I had a conversation with organisers of the 'We Are Babar Ahmed' campaign. They told me that over 20 mosques, maybe 25, had been contacted in the two weeks before the demo.

Imagine the numbers, just for a moment. 20 mosques giving a sermon, or at least a reminder to the congregation, about the injustices a fellow Muslim is facing. Easily over 10,000 Muslims heard about it.

How many turned up?

Not even 300. Not even 3%.

Over 10,000 Muslims were reminded about a brother in faith who needed help, they were reminded that the Ummah is one body, were reminded that a Muslim's imaan is not perfect until he desires for his brother what he desires for himself - and less than 3% turned up.

Can you see what is wrong with this mindset?

This mindset must be changed. If a community cannot unite to protect an individual from danger, then every individual in that community is in danger.

For me, this is the crux of MPACUK's Stop Islamophobia Week, SIW. SIW and the Muslim Advocacy Course, are not only about raising awareness and addressing the threat within our own society, but also of the greater threat within our own mind, the threat of apathy.