Yesterday, Edna and I met to discuss our project and she commented on how I find the time to write in this blog. Well, I guess this blog is one of my outlet for expressing myself, ramblings...I used to write journals and articles on ideas that struck me; first it was on paper, then in electronic form, and now blogs, I guess.

Anyway, Shariffa commented on my earlier blog regarding what peace means to me. It got me thinking about things. I spoke of the meaning of Islam = peace through submission to God by upholding justice, rights of all creations of God.

She said, "It seems there are not enough Muslims portraying the true picture. A smear campaign will run out of steam if there is nothing adding fire to the pot. It would be difficult to convince our Muslim brothers and sisters in many parts of the world that it is useless to respond to their misfortunes by preaching hatred of others and useless fighting against oppression with endless bloodshed. So many Muslims are beign pushed against the wall, how do we tell them that maybe passive resistance may work better this time round since violence has failed."

Have you ever watch an animal being cornered and really threatened? Have you seen a mother cat protecting its kittens from a snake? When things get so desperate and the person or animal is at the bottom with nothing else to lose, that creature become the most dangerous thing there ever is. He or it will strike out like there's no tomorrow - after all, there is no tomorrow for the person or animal. Sense of morality, right or wrong, and all that jazz no longer applies to him or it, so he or it feels.

And like it or not, look at the demographics of the world today - the number of people who live below the poverty line are just staggering and most of these people are Muslims. When you, your people, are starving, dying by the thousands, what do you cry out for? Justice! Fairness! You ask the question, why are there countries so rich that they're wasting their resources and taking yours away from your people who need them. Remember the legend of Zorro, Robin Hood - the setting is always when there is oppression and injustice...people are likely to rise to correct that imbalance, injustice...but sometimes, the road they take is the violent road, the road of hatred, the road of destruction; the wrong road.

I'm not justifying anything, just understanding how things might happen. People say that those Muslims who are roped into terrorism are not underprivelaged; they are well to do, educated and so on. But then again, those who are poor and oppressed, aren't likely to be able to get out of the viscious cycle. Again, as in Robin Hood, Zorro, it is the upper class who emphathise that rose to "fight" for them. Similarly, I think this is the case here.

But back to Shariffa's lament that there aren't enough Muslims portraying the true spirit of Islam and her question as to how we can persuade the Muslims that passive resistance is the best way out...

Not an easy thing to address; but let's look at the example of our Nobel Peace Laureate - his work on the micro-finance. Muslims, especially those of us who are privelaged, need to look deeper to see how best we can do to alleviate the conditions of our brothers and sisters through upgrading their economy, for example, - that at least, they must have the basic neccesities of life. We need to find a way to give people and animals back their rights. Only through this, we take away power from those who preach hatred and violence - for they have no more arguements to support the mission of terrorism.

Therefore, unlike Shariffa, I don't think passive resistance is the way out. God said in the Qur'an that He will not change our fates unless we make an effort to do likewise. So, we must actively participate to uphold justice in anyway we can. Therefore I was impressed by Nobel Laureate, Muhammad Yunus. But how do we get more Muslims to portray the true Islamic spirit? As an educator, I truly believe it is through education (not just formal, of course).

Islam has always been a proponent of education. How many times in the Qur'an does God challenge us to use our reason, to search for truth, to study the world around us, etc. The Muslim scholars of the past were numerous and their legacy are still around today; for example, algebra was named after the mathematician, Al-Jabir and in medicine, the well-known "Avecina," Abu Sina. We need to educate our young about Islam, the issues the world and Muslims are facing - they are the ones who will be our future leaders. We need to engage them to think of new and innovative ways to solve these problems.

It is not easy, but nothing worthwhile ever is. If we want easy, then sit back and do nothing. I used to tell my brother when he was young and stepped on the grass, "you're a grass murderer," highlighting to him that even grass has their rights and that we should always respect those rights. It's the least we can do.

Peace,

Sid