The Global Moral Crisis, the Unsafe World & the Divine Prescription

 Dr. Firoz Mahboob Kamal

The evil of double standard

The world has never been a safe place for the powerless. It has always been the hunting ground for the wicked powerful. Hence, the lives of the weaker people remain persistently in danger. The people of Ukraine is testing that now. Millions of people in Ukraine had to leave their homes. Thousands are killed and raped. Hundreds of houses are razed to rubbles. The people of Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria also tested the same scale of brutality in the recent past. The people of Kashmir, Palestine, and Rakhine state in Myanmar suffer from the same brutalities for more than half a century. They still don’t see any ray of light in their dark tunnels. The perpetrators of such crimes carry different flags and identities, but their brutalities are the same.

The western and many eastern countries are now very quick condemning the Russian aggression in Ukraine. Every civilised man and woman must condemn this Russian aggression. But it raise other issues. Such Russian aggression is not new. The Russian aggression against Chechnya in 2000 was more brutal, more robust, more genocidal and more destructive. The whole historic city of Grozny was razed to the ground. At that moment, the western leaders kept their tongue-tied silence. They showed a deep moral slumber. Rather, Vladimir Putin was given the red carpet welcome in the White House and 10 Downing Street while the carnage was in its highest peak. The reason of the western silence is clear. Since the victims were Muslim, they thought Russia has the right to conduct such aggression. They thought: Muslims need to be punished for their urge for independence. Vladimir Putin was taken as a partner in fulfilling the Christian civilizational dream against Islam. Now, since the Ukrainians are white and blue eyed European, the western leaders show a different response. Such double standard only exposes the moral death of the western leaders.    

Moreover, Russia is not the only invader in the recent history. Invading the weaker states survives as an endemic phenomenon among all big powers. Therefore, why the western condemnation is so selective? In 1948, Israel is created illegally on the occupied land of Palestine. So Israel survives on the crime of occupation. Where was the western morality when that illegal act of occupation was committed by the Jews? All western countries supported the illicit creation of Israel. If the Russian occupation of eastern part of Ukraine is not acceptable, why the Israeli occupation of Palestine will be acceptable? Israel still continues to occupy the Palestinian land and dismantle the houses of the Palestinians. The unarmed Palestinians who protest against such brutal Israeli occupation get regularly killed. If the war of resistance by the Ukrainians deserves full military and economic support and appreciation, why the resistance of the Palestinians are labelled as terrorism? A few weeks ago, the Israeli Army killed Shirin Abu Akleh -an Al Jazeera Journalist of Palestinian descent, while she was performing his professional work. The Israeli Army is morally so blind that failed to acknowledge that blatant crime! Are these Israeli brutalities less brutal than Russian brutalities in Ukraine? It is a great shame that the countries that condemn Russian aggression continue to keep silence on Israeli atrocities. 

In 1949, China occupied Tibet and committed a huge genocide there. China destroyed hundreds of Tibetan monasteries. China still continued to occupy Tibet and hundreds of thousands of Tibetans still live as refugees in different countries. In 1948, India occupied Kashmir and more than 6 hundred thousands of Indian soldiers are still stationed there to continue the occupation. More than 100 thousand Kashmiris are killed by these soldiers and hundreds of women are raped. But the UN and the western countries didn’t do anything to end these illegal and brutal Indian occupation. The UN Security Council passed a resolution to conduct plebiscite to resolve the dispute. But the UN didn’t do anything to execute the resolution.

The western countries imposed harsh embargo on Russia. But they didn’t put any embargo on China and India for the same crimes of occupation. Rather, China is considered the most favourable economic investment destination for the US and other western countries. China has now become the second largest economy in the world; and it owes to huge western investment. On the other hand, Israel is awarded with 3.8 billion US dollar annually to finance the Israeli war of brutal occupation and settlement colonisation. India, too, is awarded for the occupation of Kashmir. This brutal occupying country is taken as a strategic partner by the US to fight against China.

 The way-out

 So, what is the way-out? In a jungle infested with man-eating tigers, one can’t survive on the mercy of the tiger. The world is currently infested with people much crueller and beastlier than the man-eating tigers. They killed more than 75 million people only in two World Wars and still continue to kill. They dropped nuclear bombs, barrel bombs, chemical bombs, missiles, drones and other deadly weapon on innocent people. In the midst of such killers, staying defenceless is deadly foolishness. Such docility is a sin in Islam.

 Such harsh reality of the geopolitics and the vulnerability of the weak is not unknown to the All-Knowing, All-Wise and All-Merciful Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’ala. So, in Islam, along with obligatory rituals of ibadah, staying united and getting all-time war-ready with the best type of weapons are the binding obligation on every Muslim –as revealed in Sura Anfal, verse 60. So, Muslims are required not only to build houses, businesses, mosques and madrasas but also to invent most advanced weapons and best defence strategy. In that verse, Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’la asks the believers to raise terror in the heart of the enemies of Allah and their own enemies by the highest possible war-readiness. Otherwise the enemies will terrorise and hunt them down. So the Divine prescription is clear and binding.

 Therefore, getting divided and staying weaker are the major violations of Divine decree –as revealed in the Holy Qur’an. Such violation only brings promised punishment. The punishment for staying divided is promised in the Holy Qur’an in Sura Al-Imran, verse 105. Hence, it doesn’t need to be an atheist, an idol-worshipper or a blasphemer to receive the Divine punishment. Division in the ummah is enough to receive that. Muslims started to be occupied, tortured and killed by the enemies when they ignored those Divine obligation on strong unity and defence. Instead of strong defence, they built palaces, amassed wealth and engaged in luxuries. Muslims’ debacle in Spain, Baghdad, Bengal, and Delhi owes to the same pathology. Such enemy occupation, subjugation and torture came as the part of the promised punishment. It is a great pity that Muslims pay little heed to the All-Wise Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’la’s prescription. So they continue to suffer. And the enemies continue to prevail. 14/06/2022