Daily Times

Even those among us who do not offer prayers five times a day find the Friday congregation spiritually reinvigorating, a powerful reminder for everyone to be more introspective and less judgmental. We do not completely understand how it works but we realise that our soul feels lighter afterwards, refreshed and polished, as if a layer of dust accumulated over a week has been wiped clean.

Maybe the message of equality and justice — as conveyed when standing next to a complete stranger regardless of his age, race or financial status — revives our human spirit and connects us through a mysterious bond with other Muslims across the world like the beads of a rosary. When they hurt we flinch, when they ache we cry. That is why when the imam pleads to Allah for His benevolence, for peace, for guidance, for health and for prosperity, he also implores a decisive victory for Pakistan in Kashmir and for the triumph of Muslims in Palestine over Israel, his hands cupped, eyes closed, tears streaming down his face.

Do we not all grow up like that? A strong sense of responsibility washing over us to take care of all the Muslims who have been subjected to torture or exploitation by non-Muslims, a sweeping desire twirling in our hearts to lead the ummah, a dream to revive the old glory of Islam? Unfortunately, the list of Muslims entangled in international conflicts keeps on growing, which makes it impossible for any single nation to pull each one of them out of their quagmire, no matter how much wealth that state possess. But the absence of resources is not enough to thwart our ambitions, offering help and manpower.

Notwithstanding their suffering, there exists another list of Muslims, equally long and requiring equal attention, whom we almost always fail to mention in our prayers, ignored and dejected as if they were the creatures of a lesser God who does not hold as much sway. This list consists of Muslims being humiliated, exploited, kidnapped, killed and tortured by their Muslim rulers in the same way non-Muslims have treated the people of Palestine or Kashmir, if not worse.

So the question becomes: why should we pray for the Muslims of the West Bank while ignoring Bahrain or Balochistan and why do tears not sting our eyes for Egyptians when they keep rolling down for the Kashmiris? Have Muslim regimes been granted some kind of divine immunity to kill their own people? Are we missing the basic lesson of justice? Once ignited, the debate about whether to blame ourselves or put the responsibility on others gets very heated and pointed, curse words are hurled at one another and insulting names shouted. The brunt of the attack falls, like an avalanche, on those who are self-critical instead of condemning others, a small but vocal group of people who introspect, following the real message of the Friday prayers.

In Pakistan, the argument takes the shape of one group supporting the Kashmiris and censuring the atrocities of Indian forces while the other group focuses on Balochistan, the assassination of Akbar Bugti and the rights of the Baloch to demand political freedom. The former talks about the US invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan while the latter discusses the responsibility of the Taliban, Islamic State (IS) and al Qaeda for wreaking havoc in their own countries, targeting minorities, decapitating abductees and killing innocent journalists, physicians and engineers.

When all this is being discussed, the role of Saudi Arabia comes under scrutiny too, which as a state attacked Yemen, another Muslim country that did not pose a threat to the regime. According to the panel of the United Nations investigating the Saudi attack on Yemen, “The coalition had conducted airstrikes targeting civilians and civilian objects, in violation of international humanitarian law, including camps for internally displaced persons and refugees, civilian gatherings, including weddings, civilian vehicles, including buses, civilian residential areas, medical facilities, schools, mosques, markets, factories and food storage warehouses, and other essential civilian infrastructure, such as the airport in Sana’a, the port in Hudaydah and domestic transit routes” (The Guardian, January 27, 2016).

Did you notice the attack on mosques and hospitals, wedding ceremonies and schools in the report? How do these assaults differ from the atrocities conducted by IS, which follows the same laws of Islam bent by the Saudi regime for its own benefit? They do not. You may want to give them the benefit of the doubt and consider it a mistake but let us be clear that the attacks on civilians were no mere accidents; the collateral damage was deliberate, an act of hatred towards Yemenis because of their darker skin tone and their association with Shias. “The panel also documented three alleged cases of civilians fleeing residential bombings and being chased and shot at by helicopters,” the reports says.

To further add insult to injury, the investigators clarify any ambiguity rolling through the minds of Pakistanis: “The coalition’s targeting of civilians through airstrikes, either by bombing residential neighbourhoods or by treating the entire cities of Sa’dah and Maran as military targets, is a grave violation of the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution. In certain cases, the panel found such violations to have been conducted in a widespread and systematic manner.”

We have always suspected that the aggression of Saudi Arabia towards Yemen was unwarranted but never thought that Saudi abomination would reach the level of near-genocide. We assumed it was tribal warfare, a local affair, but what we are finding out through the report is that it might have been a “violation of international humanitarian law and international human rights law”, an act against the teachings of the Quran, a revolt.

The writer is a US-based freelance columnist. He tweets at @KaamranHashmi and can be reached at skamranhashmi@gmail.com