Either it is a deep-rooted conspiracy to malign the image of Islam or the handiwork of those Muslims who are mentally still in the Stone Age but pretend to be in the Cyber Era. Within days of tsunami-cum-earthquake, which devastated north-east Japan, leading to the death of at least 20,000 people, internet and mobile phones are flooded with absurd messages, almost all sent by Muslim youths. They are as such: “Japan was first to ban Hijab (Burqa)”; “First country to stop teaching Holy Quran”; “First country to tear pages of Holy Quran”: “It is totally Anti-Muslim” and “It is Allah's Azaab on special Islamic day, Friday”. The truth is that nothing can be more removed from Islam than circulating such messages, which have nothing to do with the teachings of Quran and Prophet Mohammad's (PBUH) as well as the world history. Those who have absolutely no knowledge of Islam or the history can dare to propagate such views. In fact these are the guys who are knowingly or unknowingly playing into the hands of the enemies of Islam. The sad aspect is that the Muslim community leaders are too slow to react to these sinister campaigns. They think that it is futile to pay attention to such activities but the truth is that the leadership seems to have become too old for the upcoming generation. May one ask these youths how many pages of Quran were torn in Indonesia––a country with overwhelmingly Muslim population––before the tsunami of December 26, 2004, which killed around 2.75 lakh people all over South Asia? First let the history be put straight. Japan, with very small Muslim population, is not the “first country” to ban Burqa as is being made out. No young guys, even France and Belgium are not the first as you people are trying to propogate. This does not mean that one is justifying what these two European countries are doing. Over 80 years back Mustafa Kemal Pasha, the man who overthrew the Ottoman Empire and against whom Ali Brothers launched Khilafat Movement in India––it had the support of Mahatma Gandhi––abolished Hejab in his country. He banned even Fez cap, which became a part of old Turkish culture. In fact he tried to thrust mini-skirts in his country yet he did not die of earthquake. The spirit of Islam is that a man or woman would be punished or rewarded after the Day of Judgement. It is true natural calamities do remind the humankind of their fragility and Almightiness of Allah (God) yet such tragedies can never be interpreted in such a way. These youths should know that though Turkey has been Islamized under the rule of Justice and Development Party since 2002 its Army chief in October last year boycotted function organized to commemorate the making of the modern Turkey on the plea that President Abdullah Gul's wife, Hayrunnisa Gul, who wears headscarf, was supposed to attend it. The army organized a separate reception at the same time to give an excuse not to accept the President's invitation. The boycott was criticized by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose wife Emine Erdogan also wears the headscarf. The generals, who see themselves as custodians of the Turkish republic, regard the headscarf as a threat to the state's secular traditions and are against any relaxation of the ban on wearing them in schools and government buildings. Therefore, instead of indulging in such absurdities the young netizens should try to be more mature and engage themselves in the campaign to help the calamity-stricken people of Japan, who are badly in need of help and sympathy. After all the rich-Arab Sheikhdoms are always slow in providing help to the suffering lot of the world. Not to speak of Japan, they hardly had any money to help much poorer fellow Islamic country, Indonesia. The truth is that Islam does not discriminate between Muslims and non-Muslims in providing help and succour. In contrast to the response of Gulf Arabs other Muslim countries responded with much more alacrity. Turkey was among the countries to send help to Gujarat when earthquake hit the state on January 26, 2001 and on March 11, 2011, that is hours after the Japanese tsunami Iranian Red Cross was among the first to offer help to that country. On the other hand Saudi Arabia and Qatar donated just ten million dollars and Kuwait and UAE two million dollars to Indonesia. There were several individuals from other countries, who donated more than them. Mind it Saudi Arabia earned 286 billion dollar from oil exports in 2004. Young netizens must be aware that there is no dearth of people who want to distort the image of Islam and drive a wedge between Muslim world and Japan for ulterior motives. [Photo Courtesy: http://funandmania-amazing.blogspot.com] ** Published with permission from TwoCircles.net BM
