Sit and Do Nothing

Yes, I'm talking about Israels' offences in Gaza & Lebanon

Yes, I'm talking about how Zidane's headbutt incident is a reflection of being muslims these days

Yes, I'm pissed that even 'Assalamulaykum' cannot be said on National TV anymore (sg)

Wow. How did Israel manage to do all that in one go? Just for a small piece of land in the heart of the middle east, they have managed to turn the lives of overseas muslims upside down, and they have also managed to make local muslims feel bad about themselves- by not being able to use 'expressions' that they have been using since ages.

Yes. I am sitting and blogging about this because I cannot think of anything else I should do. Sure for those who are not Arabs and live far away from this hiatus, this problem seems far and unrelated to your life. I used to think that too. Read the 3rd line again. Now, my colleagues in the TV Industry in my own small homeland so far away is about to succumb to pressure and accept this humiliation that the world insists on us.

I have tasted that humiliation. It was when habibi cannot enter my country because of his passport. It was until he proved that he could be an asset, that they offered him a PR. Allah has planned it such that, my own children, my flesh and blood, are nationalities of a muslim country situated right beside Palestine. Their neighbours are suffering, homeless, killed, tortured, raped everyday. Here in Europe, we have even made friends with these neighbours, whom otherwise we rather not know, as we sit comfortably in our own homes, praying that this won't happen to us instead.

However, my children will be different. They are born with a Free mind, and this need to be Free will be taught to them by me. The Freedom to do what is right, to fight for what is right. Their father saw that in me. My qualities he said. Free. Brave. Strong. All his life, he had people telling him, You shouldn't say that - you'll go to jail, you'll get caught, etc etc. They were taught that to live, is to put your head down and keep it there. I grew up fighting all fronts just to find out who I was. He was taught that to learn something, you have to repeat it 100 times. I learn by wanting to know how that something happens.

Scared? Of course I am. Especially when habibi dreams of the day his son will be fighting in a Battle to free Jerusalem. I replied with a joke, 'He will need an umbrella, it's too hot in the dessert'. At the same time, I want to support him. I want my children to see how we are being bullied, wherever we are.


(End the War Crimes in Palestine & Lebanon)

An acquantaince here, an educated moderate Muslim, who's passion is also to Integrate Muslims into the German community. He had organised talks and dialogues between Christians and Muslims. He set up booths in the middle of town to explain abt Islam after 9-11. Recently, he was told that his living permit will not be extended. Because? Nobody knows for sure, but it must have been his answers to questions like-

1.If your neighbour is having a party, but he broke his arm..would you help him carry the beers?

2.If your wife gets beaten, will she go to the police?

3. What do you think of Christian missionaries in Muslim countries.

The first question shows how much tolerance they require from the muslims - without having to show it themselves! The 2nd question, is too stupid to discuss. Why do they have the impression that Professors would be beating each other...and that she wouldn't do anything if being threatened this way? Duh. He answered the 3rd question by saying 'If the missionaries come in peace, and spread the religion, they have every right to do so. But not if they take advantage of poor situations and poverty.' For that he was given a half an hour lecture about Christian Churches which deleted every letter in history over the past few centuries.

The most talked-about World Cup incident, being the headbutt Zidane gave to Matterazi, just goes to show that, no matter how successful a muslim can be here, he will never be accepted. I have felt insults thrown at me in a very demeaning tone just because I am wearing a headscarf. You cannot be Muslim and be accepted. You have to adopt their culture, their way of thinking, their style of living - practically live away from your Islamic callings, then perhaps, you will be accepted. But I doubt.

Why, do we as Muslims accept it without any fight? Why did the TV station accept those rulings of not expressing Islamic expressions, eventhough, they are as good as our mother language. (Mashaallah, Astarafighullah, etc). Hell-o! Even the Arab-Christians use these expressions for heaven's sake! I thought we are free. I thought wrong. We are free, but we don't care. Or maybe, we are free to do what THEY want. But what they don't understand is that, the more they try to cut us off from our religion, the more we learn, the more we hold on to it. I believe its the only way to save our youths from straying - they cannot live a life of contradictions that is offered to them. The govt. knew that. That's why they wanted religion out of our lives. But we have a choice - I can choose to put away what they offer out of my life. Let's put religion back into our lives, the lives of our family, our children.

Meanwhile, I'll let Al Jazeera & BBC newscasters tell me what they see, what they hear. I want to know. I didn't care before, but now I do.

I just want to leave this world with dignity.



If you can stomach it, see more pics here