IQRA

We Will Not Go Down

Re-thinking our approach

BY MUNEEB NASIR

Palestine, Bosnia, Kosova, 9/11, Sharia courts, 7/11, Toronto 18, Gaza ……

Every time there is a major incident or crisis that affects Canadian Muslims there is a flurry of ad-hoc meetings hastily called by mosques, organizations, leaders, and activists to discuss the issue and to develop a strategy for the community.

These meetings usually result in well-intentioned coalitions, coordinating councils and umbrella organizations being formed.

Such initiatives are driven by the urgency of the issue and the desire to ‘speak with one voice’.

All of these efforts start with a number of assumptions: that we know who we are, what we are facing and what we want.

Time is then spent on strategy and operational matters.

The success of these initiatives has been limited and the survival rate of coalitions has been abysmal.

Transition and Transformation

By  Muna Ali, Muslim Presence

Living rushed lives juggling demands and deadlines, we are always thinking of the next moment; neither living in the present one, nor reflecting on the one that just passed. Few among us are those who lead a life of self-conscious purpose; the rest of us sleepwalk through the trance that is our unexamined lives.

As we busy ourselves with climbing career ladders, obtaining the latest gadget we “need,” or complaining of ills of the world and waiting for others to cure them, the days of our lives pass by. We are left often dissatisfied and in search for something we cannot even name. It is no wonder that depression and loneliness are pandemic.

Our relationships with family, friends, self, and God are often not what we hope them to be.  Try as we might, we can’t seem to have them work. Family members try our patience and the limits of love…the many friends we think we have disappear in difficult times…we fall short of the self-improvement plans and goals we set for ourselves. (READ MORE)

Looking for Anne

By Shelina Merani

One of the fondest memories of my youth was curling up in bed at night reading the magical words of Anne Frank. I would pore through pages of her diary, knowing that she had no close friends to confide in. Her words spoke directly to me. I was entrusted with her innermost thoughts.

She shared her poignant friendship with Peter, her fears, pain and moments of happiness; the latter helping to lighten the daily uncertainty upstairs in the attic, the Secret Annex where her parents and sister were hiding from the Nazis.

I too was a teenage girl struggling with my own personal attic. Not knowing where I was coming from and trying to determine who I was. I was not alone in my struggles. Anne was with me. On March 16, 1944, she writes, “The nicest part is being able to write down all my thoughts and feelings, otherwise I’d absolutely suffocate.” (CONTINUE READING)

Time for a Non-Violent Global Resistance Movement to End Israeli Occupation

By Muneeb Nasir

Enough!

This single word captures the growing revulsion developing around the world at the bloody Israeli military action unleashed on the people of Gaza.

Gaza has become the world’s largest open air prison.

People of conscience are speaking out and calling for a global movement to put an end to the occupation and oppression of the Palestinians.(CONTINUE READING)

An Appeal For a Non-Violent Global Resistance Movement

The crisis in Gaza today underlines once more the horror—and the impasse—that the Palestinians face. We cannot simply wish a plague on both their houses; cannot hope for a negotiated settlement in the absence of direct, forceful outside involvement and intervention.

To adopt a stance of false neutrality, to pretend to be powerless onlookers means letting events take their course; it means concluding, after every massacre, after every crisis, that the “peace process” has lead nowhere, that the situation grows more desperate with every passing day.

A significant number of organizations around the world, and particularly in the West support the Palestinian cause.

But these organizations are seemingly unable to agree on a common vision and strategies.

In their discussions, they often confuse analysis of causes with the principles of resistance, or with the most effective methods of seeking support and the solutions to be put forward.

In such circumstances, it is difficult to articulate a clear and coherent platform from which we can address the issues, engage in multi-dimensional action and build a solid united front. We must begin with a minimum program of principles we can all agree upon:
 
1. The Israel-Palestine conflict is primarily a political one (even though it has a religious dimension that implies the obligation to respect religious freedom for all—Jews, Christians and Muslims—and freedom of conscience for all, irrespective of religious or non-religious persuasion.

2. There is an oppressor (State of Israel) and oppressed population (the Palestinian people).

3. The Palestinian resistance is, de facto, legitimate.

4. The Palestinians have the right to their own state, and to full freedom within it.

5. The equal dignity of the Palestinians requires full equality of rights and treatment, no matter the proposed solution.

6. Palestinians expelled from their lands have a natural right of return.

7. Our commitment is based on an unconditional and equal rejection of racism of any kind, be it anti-Jewish, anti-Arab, anti-Christian or anti-Muslim. (READ MORE)

An alliance of values

Listening to the feelings expressed by Muslims around the world one gets a sentiment of anger and revolt mixed with a deep sense of helplessness. The current massacres are but a confirmation of the well-known: the "international community" does not really care about the Palestinians, and it is as if the state of Israel, with the support of the US and some European countries, has imposed a state of intellectual terror. Among the presidents and kings, nobody dares to speak out; nobody is ready to say the truth. All are paralysed by fear.

While the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is sometimes perceived, and experienced, as critical to the relationship between the west and Islam, many Muslims no longer know how to react. Is it a pure political conflict? What does Islam have to do with it? Should we make it an Islamic concern to call upon the ummah? (READ MORE)