The recent Boston Bombing has gripped headlines throughout the world. Outrage against the bombing and condolences for the afflicted have poured in from all four corners of the globe. The loss of innocent life is ever a tragedy and outrage against the same is expected and warranted.
However amidst this ensuing drama, a very serious question needs to be addressed, "Is American life more valuable than Afghani, Iraqi or Palestinian life?"
As one journalist very poignantly tweeted, "I'm up for us "All Being Bostonians Today". But then can we all be Yemenis tomorrow & Pakistanis the day after? That's how empathy works."
The Boston bomb blasts claimed 3 lives with a reported 170 people injured. Strangely enough on the very same day, Iraq was rocked with multiple car bombs with over 55 people dead and over 200 hundred injured. Yet the only response we hear to this terrorism is a deafening silence, if we have heard of the Iraqi bombings at all.
This situation is simply untenable. Is sympathy only due for countries of power and standing, while the lives of others are worth as much consideration as the splat of a bug on a windscreen? What world are we living in that so easily practices selective humanitarianism?
It is high time that we become pro-active about such issues. The voices of justice must rise if the status quo is to be remedied and it starts with every one of us taking responsibility for the Ummah. It starts with us taking out our time and flooding newspaper editors with intelligent and unemotional responses. It starts with responsible journalists and columnists taking the courage to address these issues in local and international media. And it starts with parents grooming their children to be those who will be guided by justice and will stand up for it wherever they may be.
We ask Allah to come to the aid of the suffering throughout the world and to relieve the world of those bent on terrorism and war, Ameen.
Jamiatul Ulama (KZN)
Council of Muslim Theologians
223 Alpine Road, Overport, Durban
This cannot be undone and I am sure it will be greatly appreciated.
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