Where Have All The Muslims Gone?

The days of Eid are fast approaching as the pilgrimage to Mecca will soon be underway and hundreds of people around the world will be celebrating this joyous event. Eid al-Adha seems to bring out the best in Muslims as people pour their hearts out (and their wallets) to donate to causes throughout the country to help our fellow Muslims. This year with Eid falling in the same season as Christmas, it looks as if we've got some healthy competition, as charity drives are pushing forth to help the homeless and poor people stay up on their feet with money and other handouts. Then we've got the talks in Annapolis, where there is another theatrical display of a feigned attempted push for peace. This show has been playing for the last 20 years, but it's amazing how people think this will be the year.

Which brings me to my point. Why is it that Muslims have to rely on the Western world to settle our conflicts? Why is it that we can't step in and solve our own problems anymore? People seem to like being lied to, it's become a drug that we can't resist. Throughout the years we've seen all sorts of these 'Push for Peace' conferences take place, and fall through, and yet year after year when a new one starts, we think it will be different. The Muslim world has the means to fix its own problems. Why haven't we implemented this?

The average Muslims likes to sit and tell the youth of stories about how great the Muslim empires of old used to be, about how against insurmountable odds, we were victorious. But they fall short of asking the question of why? Why were we able to accomplish such feats? Because we had a genuine caring for one another, because we wanted to help others succeed. We used what we had to help our fellow Muslims. But today there exists such a gulf between the rich and the poor in the Muslim world, with very little regard on either side for the other. We have countries that have huge amounts of resources, money, oil and then nations that are struggling to survive, living under occupation. Why aren't these two sides talking to each other? Is it greed, is it pride? One things for sure, it is a problem. Other nations don't care about us because we don't care anymore about us. Let's begin to redefine what the Muslim is, not give it a new meaning, but take back what it used to be.

This season, let's re-establish ourselves as what we want our kids to see, to become. Creative rhetoric may not be everyones strong point, but teaching each other about Islam is something we can all do.

Ignorance may be bliss, but being Muslim is something else entirely.