بسم
الله الرحمن
الرحيم
A belated Muslim response to the humanitarian crisis in
By Imam
A. Rashied Omar, Islamic Society of Michiana (
http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/interreligious/cd43-05.html
“It is crystal clear now that the
situation in
In this khutbha/sermon
I would like to share some guidelines as to how we should be
responding to the current crisis in
“How then can we operationalize
these guiding Islamic principles?
Using the Islamic principles outlined
above as their beacon, I would like to propose four strategies that may be
useful in helping Muslims respond to the current crisis in the Darfur. First,
as Muslims and members of the larger human family, we should add our voices to
the calls on the Sudanese Government to establish an immediate cessation of
hostilities by; (a) disarming and disbanding the Janjawid
militia operating in Darfur; (b) ensuring full access for humanitarian efforts
to assist and repatriate the displaced people of Darfur and (c) ensuring full
access for international human rights monitors… continued, next page
Second, we should raise funds to
support the
Third, in light of the recent claim by
Human Rights Watch that it has obtained official Sudanese government documents
that “illustrate the involvement, at the highest levels, of the state
bureaucracy in the recruitment and
arming of militia and the authorization of their activities that have resulted
in crimes against humanity and war crimes,” we should call for the United
Nations to establish a high-level
Last but not least, while it would be
simplistic to attribute the carnage in Darfur purely to motives of racism as
has been implied in much of the media reporting of Arabs against Africans, we
need to acknowledge that Northern Sudanese, who ironically themselves have
African roots often display paternalistic attitudes towards their fellow
compatriots residing in the Southern and Western Sudan.
… We need to purify and heal our souls and rid our communities from the scourge
of racism through a vigorous education campaign.
But the first stage of purification of our souls (tazkiyat-unnafs)
and reform of our community/islah al- ummah is acknowledgement.”