Muslims Suffer the Punishments of being ‘Almost a Criminal”

The BBC recently were invited to enter the reformation camps of the Chinese Government where hundreds of thousands of Muslims have been interned for re-programming of their religious beliefs. The BBC were heavily supervised in their visit to the camps which are referred to as “schools” to be attended by the willing. The film footage shows classes where Muslims are made to learn Chinese and repeat over and over their loyalty to the Chinese Communist government. They are told that religious affiliation and expression is a crime and has no place in their lives. Praying is forbidden as is the Islamic dress for the women. The so-called students are not allowed to go home and can be held in these camps for years at a time. The crime that has caused their loss of freedom is one that can be described as being “almost a criminal”. The crime is the political regimes attempt to label those following Islam as dangerous to society as they MAY commit violent act or anti-government expressions due to their affiliation with Islam.

This “guilty before committing a crime” attitude is not a unique feature to China only. Although it is a clear violation of International Human Rights Law, it is actually an active policy that thousands of other Muslims have suffered from outside of China. The knowledge of Islam being the Ideology that can replace the Capitalist Western system has by default made the followers of that belief public enemy number one. The wars started by the Western governments to take control of the wealth in the Muslim regions and to reassign the power dynamics of the globe have naturally resulted in millions of Muslims being forced to defend themselves against the violence in their lands. Often these legitimate actions to protect their families and lives are labeled as “terrorist” activities. Those incidents that contradict the Islamic values are publicized as the real face of Islam that the world must protect themselves against. All of these confusing propaganda and false flag accounts are by design made to cloud the public vision regarding what the Islamic Ideology is and who the Muslims are. As a result when hundreds of “potential Muslim criminals” are held in Guantanamo Bay for years, enduring horrific torture and more mind control experiments, there is little resistance from the general public to challenge what is happening. When Dr. Aafia Siddique was arrested and imprisoned after a shambolic show trial where no specific crime is actually proven, there is no will to question the basis upon why this studious mother is decaying in jail with no date of release. When tens of thousands of Royhingya face a horrific genocidal campaign and are displaced, the Burmese government conducts business as usual with no international consequences when they ignore the universal declaration of human rights. The official line is to cite ‘self defence’ against the potential of extremism to harm society. The government of the Jewish entity builds literal walls that have made Gaza the world's largest prison camp that has convicted every age group from babies to the elderly without regard to the International laws on the detention of minors. The strict control over food, medicines, fuel and limitation on the movements of Muslim citizens are all done under the guise of ‘defending the nation against potential threats”. How does a new born baby dying from the need of medical assistance count as a “threat” to a nation? The world is numb to the floating bodies of Syrian women and children drowned in the sea when they were successful in escaping the murderous regime of Assad and his American masters. How has the world reached this level of inhumanity? How can it be that those who have taken part in rescue missions have been charged with breaking the law? The answer again is that these innocent Muslims are perceived to be a potential threat to the security of the nation and it is better that they die in the sea before they enter the lands outside of Syria. Muslim women who cover in Hijab or Niqab face daily violence, abuse, limitation of freedom and criminal labels in democratic countries as they are seen to be representing the threat of 'terrorism' or 'Islamic extremism', when a moderate compromise of Islamic ideas is preferred and rewarded. Most people have never experienced any problems with Muslims they know and have found them highly moral and good mannered citizens that they can trust and turn to for help. This clear and real knowledge that people have is sometimes not enough to counteract that very rigorous Islamophobic attack that wages to diffuse support for Muslims and Islam, which is the fastest growing belief system in the West. Does not the world see that hypocrisy is in the extremist practice of making someone guilty of a crime by association? The usual principle of being innocent until proven guilty has long since been defunct in the case of Muslims. This global situation is made to create a sense of defeatism and low self-esteem in the Muslims globally. Fear to be obviously associated with Islam has been a consequence to the extent that some may feel shy using the Islamic greeting “Aslam o alai com!” The desire of Western governments is to have a weak Muslim identity in individuals who desire to conform to secular liberal values so that they remain disunited, confused and silent to abuses against their fellow brothers and sisters globally. There is a real need for governments to hide the history of Islam and how it was a world leader in international affairs. The Muslims of the past were fine role models of intellectual achievements, political management and solutions as well as being part of an undefeatable military force feared by all governments. These matters of Muslims being falsely labelled as dangerous criminals who were tortured and imprisoned is not a new phenomenon. The same happened to our beloved Prophet (saw), his family and the noble companions. There was never a single issue in the entire history of the Prophet's call in Mecca where he undertook any material action or physical fight, even when his followers were killed and he was verbally slandered and attacked himself! The message of Ideological change was clear from the method of establishing the Islamic authority to liberate humanity from falsehood. When the Pagan tribes of the Quraysh lost all hope of stalling the spread of the Islamic thoughts and support of it they arraigned a political plan to boycott those who aided the Prophet (saw). The rationale of the pagans was straightforward: “since the Muslims have boycotted our religion and social customs, we will boycott Banu Hashim and Banu Mutallib tribe economically and socially.” A document was written with these details by Ikrima bin Amir and signed by around forty leaders of Quraysh. In order to further increase the sanctity of the pact, they hung it on the Ka’ba. This also served the purpose of informing any visitors that came to Mecca about the boycott so that all forms of external help could also be blocked. It resulted in a group of the Muslims from Banu Muttalib and Banu Hashim, along with their children and women, being forced out of Mecca to a nearby place called Shib-e Abu Talib, a barren land which made the Muslims live as if they were in an open air prison, much like Gaza today. It was narrated that the hungry cries of the children could be heard all the way to Mecca. The intention of the pagans was to leave the Muslims to starve to death in the loneliness of the desert under the mercy of the scorching heat with no expectation of outside help to survive. However, with the power of Allah (swt) the Muslim not only survived these “years of tears” but came out stronger in their Deen. The Muslims who were not a part of the boycott did not use violence to revenge the injustice nor did they renounce their faith in Islam out of fear of being associated with the blacklisted in Mecca. They stood by the truth and used their means to support their Muslim brothers and sisters in sending help to aid their struggle by leaving camels with food and supplies by the valley where the Muslims were, never forgetting their relationship with Allah (swt). They exemplified the Hadith of the Prophet (saw) in which he stated,

«مثل المؤمنين في توادهم وتراحمهم وتعاطفهم مثل الجسد إذا اشتكى شيئا تداعى له سائر الجسد بالسهر والحمى»

“The parable of the believers in their affection, mercy, and compassion for each other is that of a body. When any limb aches, the whole body reacts with sleeplessness and fever.” Whenever some of the Prophet's (saw) companions wanted to fight the harsh oppression, he replied that the order from Allah (swt) was not given yet. These and many other examples give Muslims a clear understanding of how to respond to the oppressive labels of being “potential criminals”. We should not feel the need to hide our Islamic identity, rather we should be stronger to show how intellectually defeated the non-Islamic ideas are, so much so that they must invent lies and use force to tackle the rise of the Islamic thoughts and ideas. The fear of the truth that Islam is able and will conquer the false ideas of Capitalism is much greater in the global corrupt governments. We should not empower them more by our wrong assessment of the reality. Allah (swt) is the greatest of helpers and will never accept that the believers are abandoned. The victory of Islam was achieved in Medina and the Khilafah will return again with our good effort and following the Method of the Prophet (saw); we will see the reversal of these ‘years of tears” when Muslims will no longer be falsely labelled as “potential criminals” but will be seen as the leaders for the world in their excellent character and political guardianship over humanity. Allah (swt) has explained in the Quran;

﴿إِنَّا فَتَحْنَا لَكَ فَتْحًا مُّبِينًا * لِيَغْفِرَ لَكَ اللَّهُ مَا تَقَدَّمَ مِن ذَنبِكَ وَمَا تَأَخَّرَ وَيُتِمَّ نِعْمَتَهُ عَلَيْكَ وَيَهْدِيَكَ صِرَاطًا مُّسْتَقِيمًا * وَيَنصُرَكَ اللَّهُ نَصْرًا عَزِيزًا﴾

“Indeed, We have given you, [O Muhammad], a clear conquest* That Allah may forgive for you what preceded of your sin and what will follow and complete His favor upon you and guide you to a straight path* And [that] Allah may aid you with a mighty victory.”

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Imrana Mohammad