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Bullies, Dogs, Rats and the Muslim Ummah by Dr. M. Amir Ali, Ph.D. The twentieth century has been very rough on Muslims all over the world. It began with the rise of two enemy camps of Islam, zionism and communism; both movements established a good foothold early in the century. The First World War brought the final downfall of the Khilafah in Turkey and with it the beheading of the Muslim Ummah was rendered. Since the end of the Khilafah there has been one calamity after another with no end in sight. In reality the downfall of the Muslim Ummah began with the downfall of Muslim Spain (Andulus) and continued throughout the period of colonial expansion of the European powers. Muslim countries either came under the direct rule of European colonial powers or some of these countries were ruled indirectly by the same powers through puppet regimes. With the exception of changing their religion, Muslims succumbed to the West and compromised their culture and modified their 'aqeedah to live under the kafir rulers. The Muslim Ummah exchanged jihad for peace and security, with a few rare exceptions where the enemies of Islam and Muslims easily defeated Muslim armies due to the lack of support of the Muslim masses for the mujahideen. In 1947 a wave of independence began with the independence of India and Pakistan but the same countries were subjected to neo-colonialism, that is, indirect rule tainted with economic, educational and cultural submission to the colonial powers. This was possible because the colonial powers left these countries only in the hands of their own puppets who were born as Muslims but had acquired the same mind of their colonial masters. None of the so called "independent" countries of the Muslim majority have been able to establish a truly Islamic identity. The foot of the western colonial powers, joined by the United States of America and the Soviet Union after World War II, continued to bear heavily on the body of Muslim Ummah. The situation may be understood through a parable. At the dawn of European colonialism the body of the Muslim Ummah may be seen as the body of a sick man who was suffering from cancer or some deep organic disease, making him frail, weak and hardly able to move. Here came the bully of the West (colonial powers), pushed the sick man causing him to fall down and put his heavy foot on top, making the sick man unable to move. There was no one around to listen to his screams or come to his aid. The bully and his gangsters were the only ones around who collectively helped each other to keep the sick man on the ground. After lying for sometime on the ground the sick man developed more sores all over his body and many infections internally. The bully's foot was there and the sick man was unable to move while his body continued to rot from the inside and outside. The bully continued to have his foot on the sick man's body and threw some more infectious material on him and fed him dirty infectious food which the sick and hungry sick man considered to be humanitarian help from the bully. Under the auspices of the bully, dogs and rats were brought into play and began to nibble various parts of the sick man's body. The sick man screamed "My toes! My toes!", "My arm! My arm!" or what ever hurt him most at a given time without realizing that his whole body was rotting. The bully, whom sick man mistook to be his friend, was not allowing him to move, get food, medicine and be able to regain health. Whenever the sick man screamed, "My toes" a few Muslims went to place a Band Aid on the toe whereas it needed stitching, joining bones and plaster. Other Muslims mumbled foul and a few words of sympathy with the sick man, cursed the dogs but would do nothing more. No one would recognize the presence of the bully on top of the sick man nor his sponsorship of dogs and rats, nor the internal sickness of the sick man himself. The bully was doing everything within his control to let the dogs and rats eat the sick man, provided poison and germs to make the body more sick and help the sick man die from internal and external wounds and infections while himself remained to appear friendly and a well wisher. What is the solution? What can be done to save the sick man? Those who analyze the problem and offer solutions may be divided into five broad groups: (1) There are some who do not see the internal sickness of the sick man and all they see is the bully, dogs and rats. They blame the bully, dogs and rats only for the downfall of the sick man. They fail to recognize that even if the bully removes his foot, dogs and rats stop eating, the sick man will still be unable to get up and walk. The sick man needs diagnosis and treatment. (2) There are others who do not see the bully, dogs and rats who are nibbling the sick man but they see only the the sick man without recognizing his ailments and call him just a lazy bum who does not want to get up on his own. They fail to see the necessity of removing the heavy foot of the bully and driving away of dogs and rats from the sick man. (3) Then there are those who see neither the bully nor the internal sickness but see only dogs and rats nibbling on the body. They think that it is enough to drive away the dogs and rats from the sick man for him to be able to get up and start walking. (4) There are those who see only dogs but they do not see rats nor the bully nor the ailments of the sick man. Such people look at rats and bullies as friends and well-wishers. (5) There are realists who see the whole problem in a comprehensive way, that is, the sickness requiring diagnosis and full treatment, the problem of removing the bully from the top and removing dogs and rats who are nibbling all parts of the body of the sick man, the Ummah. However, the dogs and rats are under the protection of the bully and the bully is too strong to be removed from top of the body of the sick man by force. The only process left is to convince the bully that the sick man is not dangerous; in fact, the sick man is a friend of the bully and his dogs and rats. Education is the key to the external solution. This education can take place only through persistent, untiring and innovative da'wah efforts. The internal solution is to bring the Ummah back to the Qur'an and Sunnah and to remove opinion and innovation-based cultural Islam from the body. There are two thousand Islamic organizations in North America which are supposed to be working to educate and reform Muslims (internal solution), whereas there are hardly any Islamic organizations dedicated to the external solution. The Institute of Islamic Information & Education (III&E) has taken up the project of educating the North American population about Islam and Muslims. Muslim majority countries must have reform groups and they have to operate somehow despite the presence of the heavy hand (or foot) of the bully and his sponsored dogs and rats. The governments of the West who have their heavy foot on the body of Muslim Ummah and meddle in the affairs of Muslim countries, can do so only with the tacit approval of their populations as expressed in their elected bodies. In the West, members of the legislatures and administrations are accountable to the population and have to stand up for reelection, providing an opportunity for the population to express their approval or disapproval of policies. If administrations adopt unpopular policies and legislators approve them, the population will bring them down in an election. Also, the elected representatives find out ahead of time whether a policy is popular or unpopular through polls conducted by the media periodically. If the policy of meddling in the affairs of Muslim countries become unpopular then government bodies would not follow them for fear of losing an election. This means Muslims living in the Western countries have a duty to educate the populations so that meddling in Muslim countries' affairs becomes unpopular and helping them in a way Muslim countries desire becomes popular. It can be done only through education (da'wah) of the people. How effective can Muslims be? And what is the price? If "Carter who?" can become President Jimmy Carter in three to four years of planning and hard work; and if Bill Clinton can become President Bill Clinton within two years of planning and work, there is no reason why Islam and Muslims cannot become a popular religion and an acceptable people in ten years of planning and hard work. Naturally, Muslims have to pay for the cost which should not be considered as too much. Any cost should not be considered too much for Islam to become a popular household word and Muslims to be respected and revered throughout the world. Just look at the cost Muslims are paying in Bosnia, Afghanistan, oppression and persecutions in Palestine, the Gulf war, pogroms of Muslims in India, Kashmir occupation by India, Somalia, Eritrea, Philippines, and numerous other places which are the handiwork of bullies, their dogs and rats. Resistance to and hurdles placed in high technology transfer to Muslim countries is a form of discrimination and persecution of Muslims, while India, Israel, Taiwan, South Korea and many other non-Muslim countries are helped. It is worth noting that the C.I.A. has an annual budget of $30 billion; and what portion of $30 billion is spent to suppress Islamic movements around the world is anybody's guess. Education of the West about Islam and the Muslims is indispensable. We have to take the message of Islam to the people in the West in general, and the American people in particular. Learn from Taiwan, Korea and Hong Kong. These countries became independent after Pakistan and today they are technological, industrial and economic giants in the Far East after Japan. Pakistan was denied help and hurdles were placed in its way of economic progress by the West, particularly the U.S., only because Pakistan was carved out of India to establish Islamic rule in the country. Always, the West keeps finding excuses to suppress scientific, technological and industrial advancement in all Muslim countries, in general, Pakistan, in particular. The latest excuse being the Islamic bomb. Pakistan's internal ailments share a partial burden of her backwardness but not all of it. Iraq was destroyed and brought back to the stone age in a few days of bombing causing 500,000 deaths and property damage worth 619 billion dollars and is subject to the cancer of U.N. teams bent on destroying everything in Iraq under the guise of arms destruction. The above words should not be interpreted as support of Saddam Hussein, who himself is a rat appointed by the bully to destroy the Islamic movement in his country and in the region, which he did very effectively. However, in pursuit of his personal grandeur and to find a place in the history of Arabs he gave some technological base to Iraq without the approval of his bosses which they then had to destroy. Simply lobbying in the capitals of the West is not enough. People, the bosses of the elected politicians, have to be educated (da'wah). The III&E has taken up the project of removing bullies from the back of the Muslim Ummah and driving away their dogs and rats from the body of the Muslim Ummah through education of the population and its leadership. The more money we put into this work and the more people join this mission, the faster the Muslims will succeed. Won't you join the Institute's mission and work with your money, your time and your talents? Call or write to III&E to find how you can be involved in the work to restore dignity and respect to the Muslim Ummah. Ask yourself, "Am I a part of the problem or a part of the solution?", "Am I a doer or only a talker?"
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