There has been a lot of things happening lately around the world since my last email. The abuse of young white girls by Muslims in Britain, the division of Sudan, and the trouble in Tunisia. Indeed the troubles like the one in Tunisia are brewing all over the Middle East which includes Algeria, Jordan, Egypt and Kuwait.(http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/patrick-cockburn-troubles-like-these-are-brewing-all-over-the-middle-east-2185147.html)
Lastly I've also included an article on the Rohingya Muslims. The articles exposes their plight and how they have been forgotten by the rest of Mankind. The Prophet (saw) said that whosoever does not care for the affairs of the Ummah is not one of us. So we must be aware of each and every single muslim around the world, make dua for them, help them if we can and ultimately work for the only solution revealed by Allah swt which will help the whole of Mankind.
It will be interesting to know your points of view regarding what our own brothers are doing in this country (ie. the abuse of girls in Derby), how did our own community in the UK get this low? And is Jack Straw correct in what he said regarding Pakistani men abuse of white English girls because they are 'easy meat'?
Look at how easily the brutal dictator of Tunisia was deposed from his throne by a popular uprising. His army abandoned him and he was forced to flee to Saudi Arabia (who were only too happy to receive him and his family). Indeed all the rulers in the Muslim world can be easily removed like this. This proves that the 'defeatist' mentality of many Muslims does not hold up at all. If we are to remove the corrupt system in the Muslim world and replace it with the Khilafah Rashidah, then all it requires for the Ummah is to raise their voices. The Prophet Muhammad (saw) did not use any physical actions but peaceful means to establish the Khilafah State and this method is an obligation for us to follow as well. We can easily influence the armies of the Muslim world to align with us, support us, and help us to take the power for Islam.
Wasalaam mu aleikum,
Imran
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Abuse of girls in Derby : Cameron and Straw need to look at Britain’s broken values rather than attack the Pakistani community
Last week two men were sentenced for being ringleaders of a gang that ‘groomed’, then abused teenage girls in Derby. Politicians and commentators were quick to exploit the issue. Prime Minister David Cameron said such investigations should not be hindered by ‘cultural sensitivities’ (even though the trial judge said there was no racial link) – and soon after, the media were reporting that the gang were mainly ‘Pakistani’, ‘Muslim’ or ‘Asian’.
Then former minister Jack Straw MP, using language usually from the BNP said “there is a specific problem which involves Pakistani heritage men…who target vulnerable young white girls”.
After this, the anti-Muslim western media had a field day in attacking and accusing Muslims and Pakistanis. Some anti-Muslim commentators argued that this meant there needs to be more effort to ‘integrate’ Muslims because their values seem to encourage such crimes.
We would like to make the following points:
1. Such crimes against women are sadly common in the UK, and are perpetrated by men from all backgrounds.
According to government figures, over 900 women are raped each week across Britain. Only this week a man from Rochdale and four women were sentenced as part of a paedophile ring. Yet we did not hear Mr Straw or any politician say that this is a problem affecting men of British heritage!
The fact that it was decided to smear Muslims and people from Pakistan implies a deliberate attack, in part to score political points in an area where the racist BNP are looking for support.
2. The cause of such crimes against women is western culture, which treats them like commodities for profit and the pleasure of men.
Despite what Straw and others have said, this has NOTHING to do with the values of Muslims or people from Pakistan.
The fact that criminals run an illegal ‘trade’ in women is because they are supplying something that is in demand in this society. This demand is created by a culture that glamorises the exploitation of women for their looks and their bodies.
From television advertising to lap dancing clubs and top-shelf magazines; from fashion models to ‘gangster rap’ that refers to women in the most insulting terms; western culture encourages the debasement, abuse and exploitation of women. Yet, no one addresses this in the media and no politician would act to stop it.
3. This attack is part of the drive to force Muslims to become ‘westernised’ – to leave their values and adopt secular liberal values.
Time and again we have seen Islam and Muslims smeared in the media, and each time the pressure is on them to adopt western values. In this case, their argument is that Muslims isolate themselves and look down on non-Muslims and if Muslims adopted the free mixing values of the west, like others in this country, they would not abuse ‘white women’ like this.
This analysis is perverse and twisted because the values that they want Muslims to adopt are the very ones that encourage such crimes against women. The gang ringleaders who were convicted were fully integrated with Britain’s sex, drugs and alcohol culture. What they did was not from Islam but as a result of the freedom culture in this society.
With such values prevalent in society, no woman feels safe – white, black or brown; Muslim or non-Muslim. Similarly, no one who adopts such values – Muslim or non-Muslim – is immune from becoming a criminal like those sentenced last week, for they are a product of this society. As Jack Straw himself put it “These young men are in a western society, in any event, they act like any other young men, they’re fizzing and popping with testosterone, they want some outlet for that…”.
4. Politicians like Jack Straw make a complete mockery and humiliate those Muslims who have supported them in the past.
Jack Straw has a track record when it comes to Muslims. He was the Foreign Secretary who argued for a war on Iraq and Afghanistan. He was the one who launched an attack on Muslim women for wearing niqab.
Yet despite his attacks on Muslims over the years, this man has been promoted by some Muslim leaders as a ‘friend’!
It is sad that some Muslim leaders encourage others to vote for politicians who may well flatter them to their faces, and who may support and promote them, whilst at the same time ‘slap’ the ordinary Muslims with their words and propaganda.
Dear Muslims – The best way men of any background can be immunised from sexually exploiting women – of any colour or background – is through adopting Islamic values, NOT by adopting the dominant permissive values in society, indoctrinated in the media, in the playground, through movies, music and TV.
Islam promotes values that oblige men to treat all women – Muslim or non-Muslim – with respect, always viewing her dignity as sacrosanct.
On the other hand, Britain’s capitalist liberal values have sanctioned the sexualisation of women in advertising, entertainment and the sex industry for profit; treating them like objects; cheapening their status in society and hence grooming a mindset amongst many men, regardless of race and background that they can use and abuse women as they like.
Our duty is to understand and educate our communities with Islam. The Muslim community has a duty to demonstrate the higher values of Islam in her actions and deeds so that the wider non-Muslim society can see the beauty of Islam.
“O you who believe! Save yourselves and your families from a Fire whose fuel is men and stones!” [TMQ At-Tahrim 66:6]
Hizb ut-Tahrir
Britain
8th Safar 1432
12th January 2011
www.hizb.org.uk
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Tunisia needs the Khilafah system, not just a change of ruler
بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ
Tunisia needs the Khilafah system, not just a change of ruler
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اسْتَجِيبُوا لِلَّهِ وَلِلرَّسُولِ إِذَا دَعَاكُمْ لِمَا يُحْيِيكُمْ
"O you who believe! Obey Allah and the Messenger when he calls you to that which gives you life." [Anfal, 8:24]
The spark of the current crisis was triggered on 17th December 2010 in the town of Sidi Bouzid, one of the forgotten provinces at the center of the country. Its flames spread to cover the remaining cities of the province, and then the outcries of protest reverberated from the most important cities in Tunisia, besides the events of Al-awdh Al-manjami in 2008 and the events of Bin Firdan in 2010. All of these reveal the negligence of the regime in looking after the people's affairs in the way Islam requires, namely with justice and perfection.
We still witness the injustice of the regime imposed upon the people's necks with repression, oppression and false promises. After twelve days the regime popped up its head reminding the people of its gratitude to them in serving some of their needs, adding nothing more than promises of a decent life and wishes of prosperity that it claims will come - but will not come through measures it applied throughout twenty three years, producing nothing good.
Then it threatened anybody who is tempted to protest or account it. It had before launched its media trumpets to praise its "good achievements," and curse whoever objected or accounted "the patron of graces."
This regime has placed Islam behind its back and threw itself into the arms of the West, the colonialist unbeliever, accepted its dictates, and adopted its recipes as an approach which it did not deviate from, claiming these are its own ideal choices that will take us to the ranks of the advanced nations, boasting that Tunis has been praised by the international organizations and European countries. He forgot to remember that those organizations and countries only praised their own system and what they transcribed to our country for serving the interests of their companies. They only came to our country and other Muslim countries to take advantage of our wealth and sap the energies of our sons whom this criminal regime prepared by a corrupt and failing educational system stipulated by the International Monetary Fund through a loan that burdened our shoulders.
Dear Muslims,
The unemployment, hardship, ill-care, corruption of the regime officials, gagging the people, preventing livelihood, domination on the necks of people, bribery, nepotism and opportunism, and others, are only manifestations of a malignant disease and ugly faces of a terrible latent outcast devil, clever in changing its colour and shape. What happened to our country and our people and our young people (since the French colonized us till today), was not except the malicious fruit of the application of the wrong and corrupt capitalist system that contradicts with the doctrine of Islam. And Allah Almighty says:
وَمَنْ أَعْرَضَ عَنْ ذِكْرِي فَإِنَّ لَهُ مَعِيشَةً ضَنْكًا وَنَحْشُرُهُ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ أَعْمَىٰ
"And whoever turns away from My Reminder, he will have a life of hardship, and We shall raise him on the Resurrection day as blind." [Ta Ha, 20:124]
So, do not be tempted with the patched crumbs solutions presented to you, for they are only alleviators and distractions. If it succeeded by any means, it will only ease some of your pain for some time, but the crises will soon return as before.
Dear Muslims,
You have a Gentle Lord Who knows that which is good for you:
أَلَا يَعْلَمُ مَنْ خَلَقَ وَهُوَ اللَّطِيفُ الْخَبِيرُ
"Does not the One Who creates know, and He is The Gentle and All-Knowing." [Mulk, 67:14]
You have a Merciful Lord who did not leave you ignored or lost; so He revealed to your Prophet Mohammed صلى الله عليه وسلم as a mercy and guidance, a system from Him to follow so that you do not go astray or suffer. Allah says in His Holy Book:
فَمَنِ اتَّبَعَ هُدَايَ فَلَا يَضِلُّ وَلَا يَشْقَىٰ
"And whoever follows My guidance will neither go astray and nor will suffer." [Ta Ha, 20:123]
It is no longer a secret to anybody that the unjust and rotten capitalist system generates, by its nature, acute crises and poverty through the accumulation of wealth in the hands of a few of the powerful. It is now obvious that the World Bank and its recipes and its delegates who hardly leave our country, and the stipulations and dictates of the European Union are the source of the crises and destruction wherever they settled, and they bring rancour to the country and the people wherever they went.
It is only Islam the greatest, with its just divine rulings that emanate from its pure and clear doctrine that guarantees the basic needs of individuals and the community. It is it alone that guarantees the eradication of poverty, unemployment and corruption by a state that applies it, where its ruler is the real caretaker of the affairs of the people, without being distracted from this caring by anything. He would not feel satisfied while the Muslim sons are hungry. May Allah have mercy upon Al-Farooq, Omar bin al-Khattab when he swore in the year of Ramadah (Year of Famine) that he will not taste the food till the young Muslims are satisfied!
He will not feel happy while the Muslim children are screaming of the oppression and suppression by Muslim rulers and officials. He will not sleep in his palace while Muslim sons throw themselves in the sea to escape, and one of them sets fire to his body because of suppression, while the rest are beaten or killed at the hands of his henchmen.
The solution is in the great Islamic State, where there is no immunity to a President or a subordinate. In the Khilafah state, the Khaleefah of the Muslims is held accountable and tried before the Court of the Unjust Acts, the same as any of his governors or his assistants, if they wronged the people or violated the divine rulings or neglected their affairs. It is a state in which the rule of Allah is above everyone.
Allah the Almighty said:
إِنَّا أَنْزَلْنَا إِلَيْكَ الْكِتَابَ بِالْحَقِّ لِتَحْكُمَ بَيْنَ النَّاسِ بِمَا أَرَاكَ اللَّهُ ۚ وَلَا تَكُنْ لِلْخَائِنِينَ خَصِيمًا
"Verily We have revealed to you the Book in truth to judge between people with that which Allah showed you, and do not be defendant of the renegades." [Nisaa, 4:105]
We in Hizb ut-Tahrir call upon you and invite you; it is time to stand for Allah, where we worship Him without associating any partners with Him, and do not obey other than Him, and do not follow except that which He decreed for us, and remove the corrupt capitalist colonialism and its agents from our country by force such that they never return back. It is time for anyone of you that has sight to understand that the radical solution to the situation which this system brought us to is to work with us to establish the guided Khilafah state, in which our land lives beside other Muslim lands under the banner of Uqab.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اسْتَجِيبُوا لِلَّهِ وَلِلرَّسُولِ إِذَا دَعَاكُمْ لِمَا يُحْيِيكُمْ ۖ وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ يَحُولُ بَيْنَ الْمَرْءِ وَقَلْبِهِ وَأَنَّهُ إِلَيْهِ تُحْشَرُونَ
"O you who believe, obey Allah and the Messenger when he calls you to that which gives you life, and know that Allah comes between a man and his heart and that you will return to Him." [Anfal, 8:24]
Hizb ut-Tahrir Tunisia
28 Muharram 1432
03/01/2011
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Tunisia: The end of oppressive rulers
16 January 2011
by Adnan Khan
Tunisia has now become a long list of nations where a popular uprising has led to the removal of a dictator that long oppressed its own people.
The catalyst the this popular up rise was when 26-year-old unemployed graduate Mohammed Bouazizi was brutally beaten by Tunisian police and the produce on his market stall confiscated, because of his crime for not having the correct permit needed to sell produce. In a country with a 14% unemployment rate, this was the last straw and pushed him over the edge. He doused himself in gasoline and set himself on fire outside government offices, he eventually died of his injuries on the 5th January 2011.
From December 2010 demonstrations only grew in size as the economic situation of the country never improved as Ben Ali, the president long promised. The death of Mohammed Bouazizi led to the masses to take to the streets due to corruption, inflation and unemployment, since then nearly a hundred people have been killed by security forces.
The government of Ben Ali, which initially responded with defiance, it was stunned by the scale of public disquiet. Ben Ali, an absolute dictator, has left no opposition within the country. Ben Ali came to power 23 years ago in 1987 in a similar situation. Then, president Habib Bourgiba, a similarly unpopular president who had ruled for over 30 years was forced out, and replaced by one of his inner circle - Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.
It appears the month long popular uprising led to a coup reportedly by Gen. Rachid Ammar, who previously was fired by Ben Ali for refusing to use deadly force against the protesters demonstrating across the country.
With this in mind we make the following observations:
1. Tunisia has shown that change can evolve very quickly with the overthrow of ruler no matter how strong the regime may appear. Many regimes in the Muslim world make use of the army and the secret service to maintain order and their positions of power. With the masses on the streets no amount of state apparatus can stop thousands of people wanting change. The Muslim rulers have coined an image that the status quo requires submission with change impossible due to poverty and a system that is non-operational. They have constructed this so any movement is crippled and unable to sustain the momentum for change as they lack resources and have different classes of people within their ranks leading to differences. The West have added to this through calls of reform and democratic change which only ensures the status quo remains. Tunisia contradicts all this as there was no organised movement to lead the demonstrators as the president had for long clamped down upon them. All of this shows that change is not just easy but inevitable, when the rulers do not represent their people.
2. It is important those calling for change do not take help from foreigners, however desperate the group may be. There are numerous examples of foreign nations supporting groups that called for change, which led to foreign interference once the existing regime was otherthrown. Also such change is weak and not sustainable. The colour revolutions in Eurasia are a case in point. The West supported, funded and aided the otherthrow of pro-Russian leaders in Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine and Georgia, using the sentiment for change to take such nations out of Russia's orbit. However Russia has managed to reverse such changes. In the case of Ukraine Russia even brought the ruler who was over thrown in the Orange revolution back to power. It is important that the call for change remains pure and it remains indigenous, in such a case the change is for the people rather then for the interests of another power.
3. Those calling for and leading the call for change must ensure there is a post-regime strategy. There is no point over throwing the regime when someone from the existing rulers circle will take over. Similarly the establishment of elections after the removal of a dictator does not constitute change as elections are the simplest exercise that can be manipulated to ensure the pre-revolution infrastructure remains. Pakistan and Bangladesh are good examples of this. In Iran in 1979 after years of oppressive rule by the Shah supported by the West events reached boiling point when protesters were fired upon under orders by the Shah. This situation led to the emergence of communist, Marxist groups with academics, secularists and Islamic groups, all coming together to overthrow the Shah with no plan for the post-Shah government or system. Ayatollah Raholla Khomeini filled the void, once in power he worked to remove all those who could challenge his grip on power - which were all those groups who worked to otherthrow the Shah, many were assassinated, imprisoned or sent into exile. The details of the post - revolution architecture needs to be outlined first and on this basis groups and individuals should come together, without this the movement for change is destined to fail, even if it gains power.
4. In the last decade the position of the Muslims rulers has become untenable. It should be remembered the post WW1 structure of the Muslim world was constructed to ensure they would never be independent. David Fromkin, Professor and expert on Economic History at the University of Chicago highlighted this: "Massive amounts of the wealth of the old Ottoman Empire were now claimed by the victors. But one must remember that the Islamic empire had tried for centuries to conquer Christian Europe and the power brokers deciding the fate of those defeated people were naturally determined that these countries should never be able to organize and threaten Western interests again. With centuries of mercantilist experience, Britain and France created small, unstable states whose rulers needed their support to stay in power. The development and trade of these states were controlled and they were meant never again to be a threat to the West. These external powers then made contracts with their puppets to buy Arab resources cheaply, making the feudal elite enormously wealthy while leaving most citizens in poverty." This system is now falling apart as the Muslim world has seen that the rulers are the gatekeepers of Western interests. The secret services across the Muslim world, poverty, sectarianism, nationalism and corruption have also failed to stem the tied for change the Muslims desire. The Muslim rulers have struggled to thwart the mobilisation of the Ummah in an age where communication technology has advanced tremendously. With the explosion of satellite television, the Internet and mobile phones, people have found it much easier to communicate and to mobilise. Tunisia has shown that the Muslim rulers are on their last legs, all the Ummah needs is for the call for change to spread across the Muslim world.
Conclusions
The Muslim world should take inspiration from Tunisia in bringing change to the Muslim world. As one commentator wrote recently in the Washington Post, the US's greatest threat in the Middle East is not war, it is revolution. Since the floods in Pakistan the call for change is slowly gaining momentum, In Egypt many are looking at the possibility of a system not inspired form the Wes as Hosni Mubarak is nearing his end. The Ummah globally needs to ensure the sentiment for change is not high jacked by the West or their agents. The Ummah needs to show the armies in the Muslim world nothing less then Khilafah will do.
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The Division of Sudan: A Continuation of Sykes-Picot
The referendum on secession in southern Sudan on January 9th 2011 was monumental in nature and devastating in its consequences.
It has set a dangerous precedent and constitutes a fundamental breach in the status quo for a number of reasons:
1. First the Muslim world requires more unity, not more secession.
Divided into over fifty states has led the Muslim world to become weak, ineffective and powerless. Notwithstanding the clear Islamic texts on the obligation of political unity, dividing Sudan into two weaker states makes no geopolitical sense in a world growing ever more dependent. Sudan was once part of Egypt, and there is no guarantee its current division will be its last. It is the largest country in Africa, and one of the largest countries in the world, with the vast Nile River water basin, large oil and mineral reserves, luxuriant soils and enormous wild game herds.
In today’s world, scale is critical which is why countries like China, Brazil and India have such huge potential. Sudan has become sub-scale; and while states today should be breaking down walls between them, secession just builds them up higher and higher. It makes no strategic sense to divide a country, when we know from the examples of India, Palestine, Cyprus and Ireland, division only encourages future wars and instability further down the road.
2. Secondly the hypocrisy of the international community is breathtaking when it comes to secession and unity.
Barack Obama, an admirer of Abraham Lincoln, cannot have failed to see the irony that the President he so admired took his nation to war to prevent his country from splitting into two. Yet today he and others supports another country’s secession and call it a historic step.
If secession is so historic for Sudan why did Lincoln fight a civil war at such cost in lives and treasure to maintain the United States of America?
If secession in Sudan is so historic, why won’t the United Kingdom allow it for Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland?
Why doesn’t Spain allow it for the Basque region; or Canada for Quebec; or India for Kashmir?
Why is it that in the Muslim world that people are encouraged to secede whether it is Bangladesh, East Timor or now southern Sudan; yet for East and West Germany political unity was good and eventual Korean unity is still considered a laudable political goal?
3. Independence for the south of Sudan is a charade.
Many of the issues that need to be addressed have not been resolved, such as how would the oil revenues be shared, or what happens to Sudan’s $35 billion debt or the future of Abyei. Outside the capital city Juba there is no development and if people believe that independence will give the southern rural areas much benefit, they will be hugely disappointed. 80% of services in the south (health, education, water and sanitation) are provided by nongovernmental organisations. A state that cannot meet its people’s basic needs isn’t a viable country. A state that is dependent on foreign aid and organisations to function isn’t a sovereign country. A state that has oil in its jurisdiction but which relies exclusively on northern pipelines, refineries and ports is hardly credible.
Moreover, the south of Sudan is hardly homogenous or at peace with itself. Most of the civilians that have died over the last two decades have done so as a result of fighting between warring southern tribes.
4. Supporting unity for Sudan doesn’t mean you don’t acknowledge that people, whether they are in the south, or in Darfur, or even outside the privileged class in the north, have been oppressed by the regime.
Successive governments have let the whole of the people of Sudan down and terrible atrocities have taken place against both Muslims and Christians. However the solution to this is not secession, as today’s freedom fighter will simply become tomorrow’s oppressor.
The solution is not a new state in Juba but a change in governance and leadership for the whole country. A sincere leadership who can implement a system that will mange people’s affairs justly regardless of their creed, tribe or colour. The south has not been oppressed because of too much Islamic law, but too little. The history of Africa, the Middle East and the Balkans have largely demonstrated with some aberrations that when Islamic rule was implemented properly, non Muslims were treated humanely as citizens and their rights were always protected.
Sudan’s current predicament shows us is that there is no letup in the west’s ongoing crusade against the Muslim world and propaganda against the return of the Islamic system.
Not content with occupations in Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan, they continue to treat the Muslim world as their private chessboard. Egged on by the international community with reports of over 500 cheering news organisations being in the future capital of south Sudan Juba, it is clear that the west continues to promote division and fragmentation in the Muslim world. Whether it be in Sudan, in Palestine, in Iraq or Afghanistan it is clear that many would like further fragmentation and division.
In Iraq the current US Vice President is on record on calling for the country to be divided into three. In Afghanistan the former US Ambassador to India amongst others is calling for division of the country. In Palestine the west continues to support Israeli occupation of Muslim land. Ever since the infamous Sykes-Pikot agreement where Britain and France sought to dismember the Ottoman state, the major powers have sought to continue with their policy of divide and rule in the Muslim world. Sudan is just the latest litany of this corrosive foreign policy.
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The Forgotten Ummah: The Rohingya Muslims
23 December 2010
by Amad Uddin
A survey of the Muslim world does not show a happy picture. When we look at Palestine, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Chechnya, all we can see is the oppression of the Ummah. Whilst these countries have been in the media and are well known amongst the Ummah, there are many other Muslims living under oppression that we may not even know of. The Rohingya Muslims do not get the publicity and are not as well known as the oppression in places such as Palestine or Kashmir.
The Rohingya Muslims live in western Burma (now Myanmar) in the Arakan State which borders Bangladesh. Their ancestry can be traced to Arabs, Moors, Persian, Turks, Mughals, Pathans, and Bengalis. The spread of Islam in the Arakan (and along the southern coastal areas of Bangladesh) mostly occurred through the sea-borne Sufis and merchants. The Rohingya Muslims are known to be one of the world's last great stateless people. Nearly 30% of the total population of the Arakan State are Bengali and this population is growing.
1.5 million Rohingya Muslims live in Myanmar and another 1.5. Rohingya Muslims live abroad in countries such as Bangladesh, UAE, and Saudi Arabia due to oppression and persecution. The Rohingya Muslims are mainly employed as farmers.
The people of Myanmar are ruled by a brutal and oppressive military Junta called the State Peace & Development Council (SPDC). The military Junta regularly detains, tortures, and kills its citizens to maintain an iron grip on the country. The Junta oppress and abuse many ethnic minorities within Myanmar like the Rohingya Muslims. The Rohingya Muslims face much abuse.
Some of these abuses the Rohingya Muslim include the prohibition of marriage without state permission[1], this only applies to the Muslims and not the Buddhist people that live in Arakan, many face torture, rape, and forced slavery on roads and in camps. The Rohingya Muslims have been denied citizenship, land confiscation, forced eviction and extrajudicial killings. They need permission to travel from one part of the country to another. In 1997 over 40 mosques were destroyed by the military. The military destroys shrines, archaeological remains and graveyards to wipe out the Islamic cultural heritage of the Rohingya Muslims.
Taxation is another method of oppression. A tax is due when Muslims want to marry and taxes are due on the collection of firewood and bamboo, taxes to register deaths and births, livestock, even taxes on football matches[2]. Rohingya pregnant women have to register and show their faces and abdomens to the authorities. Because of travel restrictions Rohingya students face a life without education and learning.
Rohingya religious leaders are harassed and tortured and sometimes their beards are forcefully shaved and forced to issue un-Islamic decrees.
The situation for Rohingya Muslims abroad that flee is not so great either. In Bangladesh the Rohingya Muslims live in camps and are viewed with hatred and not with love as the Ummah of Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم. In Bangladesh the Rohingya Muslims are tortured by the police, beaten, locals snatch their firewood and abuse them as worthless people[3]. In Bangladesh the Rohingya Muslims are denied the right to work or receive aid. In Bangladesh around 28,000 Rohingya Muslims live in officially recognised camps and around 200,000 Rohingya Muslims live outside the camps illegally. In recent times a boatload of Rohingya Muslims were intercepted by the Thai army out in sea, after a few days in detention they were put back onto the boat with food, water and motors to power their boats many men, women, and children died[4].
In a hadith of an-Nu'man bin Basheer (ra) it is narrated that the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم said:
"The example of the believers in their mutual love, compassion and empathy is like that of a body. If one part of the body is hurt then the rest of the body calls out in sleeplessness and fever"
Even after the oppression the Rohingya Muslims hold on to the rope of Allah سبحانه وتعالى and Islam strongly. We the Ummah of Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم must be aware of every Muslims plight and oppression around the world. Not only should we be aware, we need to work for their plight and oppression to be lifted as Allah سبحانه وتعالى will ask us what we did for the Ummah who were less fortunate.
Countries like China continue to support the military regime in Myanmar, we as Muslims need to ask why this regime has been allowed to flourish for this many years. We need to ask why countries like Bangladesh continue to remain silent and in many cases treat the Muslims in a manner no different than Myanmar in treating the Rohingya Muslims as parasites that need to be moved elsewhere. The military of Bangladesh are quick to support UN missions around the World (Bangladesh is one of the largest contributors to UN missions[5]) but lacks the will and drive and compassion to help the Rohingya Muslims.
A sincere Muslim leadership (Khilafah) needs to emerge in South Asia who InshAllah represents the Muslims all around the world like the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, the Philippine Muslims in the Philippines, and the Muslims of Thailand. Without this leadership the Muslims will continue to suffer like the Rohingya Muslims and we will be powerless to stop the oppression meted out on them.
"O people, Truly Allah says enjoin the good and forbid the evil before you call upon me which means that I don't answer you and you ask me and I don't give to you and you seek Victory from me and I do not give you that Victory (because you did not enjoin the good and forbid the evil first)"
(Ahmed, ibn Hibban, Bayhaqi)
[1] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4793924.stm
[2] http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ASA16/005/2004/en/a565434b-d5d5-11dd-bb24-1fb85fe8fa05/asa160052004en.html
[3] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8521280.stm
[4] http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2009/01/2009129752552708.html
[5] http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/contributors/2010/sept10_2.pdf
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