Celebrating Death

Osama bin Laden has been dead for 4 days (maybe…depending on whether you believe the US’s story or not!) and in these 4 days, something has been bothering me. Why is everyone celebrating his death?

Being in the UK, I probably didn’t hear as much about the gaiety as I would have had I been in the US. But I think after reading about the celebrations from several news sources, I have a good idea what was happening. People seem giddy with joy over bin Laden’s death.

A few people I talked and/or communicated with immediately after bin Laden’s death stated their distaste of all the joy and happiness people were showing. They were all of the opinion that no one should celebrate death, no matter how terrible that person is.

My feelings mirror theirs. Death is death, no matter who it strikes. A life was lost; why are we celebrating this? As someone posted on Facebook, ‘I will mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy.’

Yes, Osama bin Laden might have been one of the US’s worst enemies of the time, but he was a fellow human being. He had a family; what will happen to them now that their husband/father is gone? We feel sad for children who lose their parents while fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan, but how many have considered bin Laden’s children? They were even there when he was shot and killed! Plus, he was fighting for something he believed in. In fact, the cause he was fighting for – pushing foreign forces which are killing many innocent Muslims out of Muslims countries – isn’t necessarily a bad cause. The problem is how he chose to go about fixing the problem, turning to violence instead of peace.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I am not saying I feel sympathy for bin Laden or anybody who supported him, nor am I trying to protect him or what al-Qaeda stands for. Bin Laden is directly responsible for the deaths of many Muslims. I read somewhere not too long that 98% of those he murdered in a certain time period were Muslims. I am not terribly fond of anyone who attacks Muslims for no reason, but when a fellow Muslim (or a so-called Muslim) murders their brothers and sisters in Islam, it really ruffles my feathers. And, as I mentioned above, while the cause bin Laden was fighting for isn’t a terrible cause, his choice to kill and maim was far from a good choice. As for al-Qaeda, that is probably the one group responsible for the bad rap the average Muslim has today. What they stand for and support is far from the true teachings of Islam.

Ultimately, I believe in peace, and I believe there’s always a peaceful way to end any bad situation. It’s just about discovering what that way is.

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Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

A Hadith Worth Remembering

Reading hadiths (traditions based on reports of the sayings and activities of Muhammad salallahu alayhi wassalam and his companions) is always an eye-opening experience for me. It is absolutely amazing what I learn. And I learn something every time I open a book of hadiths; it never fails. The hadiths are an excellent source of knowledge and reflection for Muslims. Allahu akbar!

In today’s post, I would like to share a hadith I came across lately, a hadith that, as the title says, is worth remembering. Now, this post is more for Muslims than non-Muslims, but I hope any non-Muslims reading this still enjoy it!

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The Prophet Muhammad salallahu alayhi wassalam said: ‘Be in the world as though a stranger or traveler on the road; and consider yourself one of the inhabitants of the graves.’

This hadith has two parts, so let me start with the first part. To begin, a question: what are some characteristics or qualities of a traveler or stranger on the road?

First, they don’t remain in one place for very long. They stay somewhere short-term before moving on to the next stage of their journey. Our life in this world is only a small part of our journey, a short stop before moving on to the next stage.

Second, they must adjust to the laws/rules of the place they are in. If they don’t, they may run into trouble. If we do not do as Allah subhana wa ta'ala has asked us to do while here on Earth, then we will suffer later on.

Third, they do not carry much with them, reducing their baggage so as travel is easier. We also should avoid weighing ourselves down with unnecessary physical belongings as none of it will be useful in the end.

Fourth, along the way, a traveler does not become attached to anything or anyone as they know they will leave soon. We should also try not to become too attached to our families, our friends, our wealth, or our physical belongings. When we die and leave this world, none of the will be of use to us. We will be left only with our good and bad deeds and our faith.

Fifth, a traveler is cautious. They may not know the rules of the place they are in and do not want to find themselves in trouble. They may not know what places are safe or which are unsafe. We should be cautious as well, avoiding that which might be haram even if we do not know for sure it is haram.

Lastly, a traveler has a destination and they work towards that destination. They focus on that goal and continue towards it. We as Muslims have a destination that we are working towards as well: Jannah. We spend our short time here working hard in the hopes that Allah will grant us paradise insha’Allah.

Alhamdulillah just the first part of this hadith contains so much advice and guidance for Muslims. All six of the ‘answers’ or points listed above are something Muslims should – nay, need – to keep in mind: 1) we should realize we will not be here forever and our time is short, 2) we have rules to abide by, and stepping outside those rules will be followed by punishment, 3) we should not spend our lives trying to amass large amounts of physical belongings as their usefulness is very short indeed, 4) we should not become attached to anything or anyone as they/it will not help us after our time to leave comes, 5) we should be cautious, avoiding anything that might be suspect or doubtful, and 6) we should keep in mind where we are going and focus on getting there.

If a Muslim keeps these six points in mind, focusing solely on them rather than the world, then insha’Allah Allah will reward them and they will reach Jannah.

The second part of the hadith is similar to point one of the first part but is not exactly the same. Muslims should think like one leg is already in the grave, like we are all inhabitants of the grave at this moment. Our time in this world before the afterlife is short.

But it also speaks to the fact that we do not know when our time will come. We do not know when death will strike us, whether it is many years from now, in a few months, or even tomorrow. Our actions should reflect this; we should not procrastinate, saying, ‘Oh, I can revise the Qur'an later; I'd rather play some cricket right now.’ or ‘I’m too lazy to start praying the sunnah prayers right now; I’ll start next month.’ Instead, we should challenge ourselves to be the best that we can be in our worship and remembrance of Allah subhana wa ta'ala!

Who Needs a Toothbrush?!

Assalamu alaykum!

Change is good! At least most of the time. Today I decided to do something a bit different; rather than publishing a plain, old written blog entry, I got with the times (because really, who in their right mind writes anymore?) and uploaded a video. Yay for vlogging!

Actually, I was just lazy today. I didn’t want to write anything, so I figured I’d stick with the laziness and just record a video.

First, sorry for the lighting – it’s probably not the best – and for the glare on my glasses; I would take them off, but I’m blind so I won’t do that. The video quality and sound quality aren’t the best either, but all I’m using is what’s built into my laptop; nothing fancy. And yes, I do have notes; you try and memorize all the benefits of using a miswak!

Second, I’m not sure if this is something I’m going to stick with. For one, I hate being in front of cameras; I’d much rather be behind them. And, most importantly, as a Muslim lady, I don’t necessarily believe I need to be ‘out there’ with videos all over YouTube and the Internet in general.

More than likely, even if I do post more entries like this, most of my posts will be written. Writing works better for some subjects and I enjoy writing far more than speaking to a camera!

But, I’d like your opinion. If you look in the left column, there will be two polls. The top one refers to this vlog post. Please answer and let me know if you think I should include more videos or keep to my general writing.

Lastly, there is another poll right underneath the first one. It would be great to know if the majority of my viewers are Muslim or non-Muslim. Such information would allow me to tweek my posts so they target the right audience. So please tell me if you are a Muslim or a non-Muslim!

Iman

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Justice?

Osama bin Laden is dead.

Etched into the minds of millions of Americans is the moment they first heard about the attacks of September 11, 2001. Since then, it is not uncommon to hear the question, ‘Where were you (or what were you doing) when you learned about the attacks of 9/11?’

And now, the moment President Barak Obama announced the death of bin Laden will be imprinted alongside that memory in the minds of millions of Americans. Now people will ask, ‘Where were you (or what were you doing) when you learned of Osama bin Laden’s death?’

I heard about it when I woke up, turned on my computer, and logged onto Facebook. The first words I see? ‘Osama bin Laden is dead!!!’ My interest certainly peaked, I went immediately to CNN and from there to several other news sites. Of course every site I visited proclaimed the downfall of al-Qaeda’s leader.

Returning to Facebook for a moment, I read everyone’s statues lauding President Obama and gushing about how great the US was (even though it took 10 years and over a trillion dollars) in finally hunting down bin Laden. Back on CNN, I read a bit about the celebrations around the country, namely New York. It seems Americans are completely overjoyed and besides themselves with bin Laden’s death.

And then there’s all this talk about justice. From a story on KARE11.com: ‘…ultimately, it's about justice.’ Some tweets from Twitter: ‘Justice!’ and ‘Don’t celebrate death, celebrate justice.’ and ‘Osama killed. Justice is done.’ and ‘Went to sleep last night with the sweet taste of justice. Woke up this morning with and even sweeter taste. This is what justice tastes like.’ and so on…I could go on for a very long time with Twitter. Lastly, the President himself: ‘Justice had been done.’

My question is, has justice really been served?

One particular tweet I saw this morning about sums up how I feel: ‘Approx. 4000 Americans died on 9/11. Afghan deaths number 24,000+ from US/NATO strikes. Think about that before saying justice was served.’

Maybe for the families and friends of those who lost their lives during 9/11 or those soldiers killed in battle, justice has been done. Maybe for the average American, justice has been done. The mastermind behind the murder of almost 4000 innocent Americans is now dead himself.

But what about all the innocent Muslims killed in the US’s hunt for bin Laden? Twenty-four thousand is a very, very modest estimate and does not even take into consideration the lives lost in other countries. I have seen stimates ranging from 600,000 to 1,000,000 civilians dead. For Muslims, especially those living in countries occupied by foreign forces, justice has certainly not been served. What about all the children whose parents are dead and now have to raise themselves and their siblings? What about all the parents who have lost children, never to feel their loving embrace again? What about all who have lost family and friends? The loss there is far, far greater than that of the Americans.

Even if bin Laden had managed to evade US forces and managed to pull off yearly attacks with loss of life equal to that of 9/11 for the rest of his life (assuming he lived until 67 years of age, the world life expectancy), 52,000 people would die. That is a big number, but it comes nowhere near the number of Muslims who have been killed by foreign forces.

I will agree that bin Laden’s death is good news. As President Obama said, ‘Bin Laden was not a Muslim leader; he was a mass murderer of Muslims. Indeed, al Qaeda has slaughtered scores of Muslims in many countries, including our own.’

Yet, should Americans really feel all that much satisfaction in bin Laden’s demise? In the 10 years or so since 9/11, there has not been an attack to rival 9/11, nowhere near so. Yes, there has been loss of innocent lives since then: the Madrid train bombing in 2004 and the London Underground bombings in 2005 to name two. Any life lost is terrible, there is no doubt about that.

But bin Laden’s death is absolutely no guarantee people will not still die at the hands of extremists. In fact, this event will only entice extremists to react with violence and attacks. Anjem Choudary, the topic of a recent post, said on bin Laden’s death, ‘I think Britain is more likely to face a 7/7 today than ever. Rather than dampening the spirits of those who are today engaged in jihad physically around the world... bin Laden's death will merely act as an incentive to prove to the world that the death of anyone will not affect them. Hence in the coming days and weeks, we will no doubt see increased activities from the mujahideen and more intense fighting in the battlefields of Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Chechnya.'

Ultimately, the US and other countries need to leave Muslims countries; I believe that might be the only way to stop the unfortunate and unnecessary killing. Why do most extremists plan and play out these attacks? It rarely has anything to do with converting the ‘infidels.’ Rather, it is in response to the deaths of their family members, their friends, and their innocent brothers and sisters in Islam. Even 9/11 was supposedly a reaction to the deaths of innocent Muslims at the hands of the West.

Americans scream justice, but Muslims have yet to see it.