As a believer and trying each day to practice my faith , I will say this with a heavy heart and a disappointed sigh that the muslim world is not devoid of racism and hatred , xenophobia is spread like wildlife on lands where they took refugees. We might preach others , claim to be the custodian of high values or recite verses of Quran, proving our religious-ness, and quoting sayings of the Prophet PBUH, but the amount of hatred, prejudice, materialism that has crawled inside of us through conspicuous nationalism and the idea of identification based on our cultures and the colours of our skin is appalling.Actions speaks louder than words.
One can deny as much they want , but we are not the saints as we claim to be. One can hear the so called muslims swearing on the highest name of the creator of heaven and earth, and lying and spewing hatred right away with the same mouth.Unfortunately worldly desires,success and materialism is the only God left for many.Furthermore ,we want to create such an unachievable image of piety and religiousness , regardless of our own weaknesses , we expect to see the Sufi (saint) garbed in monks and nuns attires , an unattainable expectation from our ownselves and those around us. We have set our own standards of calculating others devotion to their faith.
We refuse to realise that our negativity and lack of knowledge regarding our religion is pushing people towards disbelief. As the youth is looking up to the elders ,following their examples, and all they can witness is extremism, lack of acceptance, if you are slightly different from others , you’re considered a persona non grata.Another irony is when the self appointed “saint muslims” point fingers at nonbelievers and their Injustices ,trying to blame others ,regardless of our shallow practices. The non Muslim west dislike us or treat us wrongly due to their ignorance,in present times they are brainwashed by the media and their politicians, how can we blame them ? When we are doing worst to each other. Travel from one part of eastern Muslim lands to another and if the colour of your skin, language, ethnicity or the way you offer prayer is different for them they’ll make you feel unwelcomed swiftly , at the rate of knots.
By Khuş Editor-at-large WEDA