Ayoon Wa Azan (No to remaining silent to abuse)

I wrote two articles about the relationship between Islam and the Muslims, and the People of the Book, specifically Christians, as Jews have left Egypt and Syria. In the first article, I quoted the Quran, and in the second, I cited the Covenant given by the Messenger of Allah to the Christians of Najran and Umar’s Covenant to the Christians of Jerusalem, both references that all Muslims agree are reliable. The two articles were in defense of Islam and Muslims, before the Christians or Jews, because the Book of Allah told Muslims to consult with the People of the Book, never to murder them. Since it is part of what I do to monitor the positions of the enemies of Arabs and Muslims, I return to them from time to time to respond to what they write in distortion of the past and the present. Days after my two articles were published, the mainstream media in the United States, along with the neocon and Likudnik media there, ran with new lies or exaggerations. I choose only headlines: “A Middle East Without Christians”; “Syrian Rebels Kill Another Priest”; “Inside Egypt’s Terrorist Camps: Torture, Rape, Mass Murder”; “Churches Burned in Egypt”; “Egypt’s Christians Made Scapegoats for Coup”; “Exploiting Egypt’s Rape Culture for Political Gain”; “In Egyptian Village, Christian Shops Marked Ahead of Church Attack”; and “Where 99.3 % of Women Report Having Been Sexually Harassed and Rape Is Epidemic – Egypt – Natural to Inquire: What’s the Predominant Religion?” From the above, I limit my commentary to the last two headlines. First, leaving marks on shops or homes is what the Nazis did to the Jews who were then subjected to the Holocaust, so perhaps the headline was suggesting that the Christians in Egypt will be subjected to a holocaust, or that they are suffering like Jews did under Nazism. The second headline is somewhere between brazen lies and projection of guilt onto others. Indeed, there is no country in the world where 99.3 percent of women are harassed or raped. Moreover, alluding to the predominant religion, Islam, as the guilty party, is tantamount to slapping the truth in the face, as Islam encourages decency and is against adultery, a punishable offense under Islam, and is completely devoid of stories about prostitutes like the ones that litter the Torah. The above makes me insist that Muslims should thwart their enemies’ bid to exploit terror attacks or deviant acts to portray all Muslims as being partners in the crime, and I have a clear example in a news story published by an American Likudnik website titled “Acid Attack in Zanzibar.” I had read about the incident in London’s newspapers, and felt sorry for the two young British women who went as volunteers to teach at a Catholic school, only to be assaulted with acid. The Likudnik story said that the two women were Jewish, adding that Tanganyika, which is the largest part of Tanzania, is predominantly Christian, yet incidents of rape or murder against women are increasing there year after year. However, the story claimed that this was nothing compared to similar crimes in Zanzibar, where Islam is the religion of the majority. If an extremist, who is ignorant of the essence of his religion, is inciting murder, then why would this be the fault of the rest of the Muslims around the world? I do not need to ask to know the answer, so all I say is that it is my duty to stand up to the enemies, and that it is the duty of Muslims not to provide these enemies, who are many, with any ammunition to be used against them. Since many of the headlines I selected for today involve Egypt, I will continue with the Muslim Brotherhood and some messages from the readers commenting on events in Egypt. The messages reflected the deep divisions in Egyptian society after the ouster of the Muslim Brotherhood-led administration. The messages were two types: One that supported what I wrote and added to it in the campaign against the Brotherhood; and another that opposed me to the extent of accusing me of attacking Islam, when I spent a lifetime defending it, and also defended the Brotherhood on many occasions. In the clearest possible words, the Muslim Brotherhood failed in power on every level. A popular uprising against the Brotherhood bigger than that of the 2011 revolution erupted, and the army intervened to protect the Egyptians from civil war. But in the same clarity, I say that the Muslim Brotherhood are very popular among many Egyptians, and the promised democratic order must accommodate them, so that they can have an active political role in parliament and outside without fear of persecution. I know that this talk will not satisfy the enemies and supporters of the Brotherhood, but this is my opinion, and I hope to be objective. Finally, I read an email from a reader saying that political news by itself is daily disaster. She wanted me to focus on light topics to relieve the reader. In the evening, a family friend told me the same thing over dinner. I prefer lighthearted topics and find them to be more popular among readers, and easier work for me without contacting officials and researching in references. For this reason, I slip in such topics from time to time. However, the problem is that I write a lighthearted article one day only to find on the same day that a hundred people perished in this or that Arab country, and such articles end up appearing as disregarding people’s lives. Lighthearted writing is one of the victims of the incidents in the Arab world, and I wait for civil peace to return to give it priority again. The views expressed by the author do not necessarily represent or reflect the editorial policy of Arab Today.