What is happening in Yemen?

Pic from Pexels

By Anis Albasha

A few days ago, my wife and I were watching the news on the TV. There was a news story about Yemen saying that the forces of the so-called “Arab alliance” along with its allied local forces have 'regained' control of a directorate located in the west of Yemen called Altahita!   

Many news channel hosted strategic experts to talk about that ‘breaking news’ from Yemen. Some of those experts were talking about the significance of this event and considering it as a turning point in the course of the war against Yemen. Since my wife and I are both from Yemen, we could hardly believe what we heard. It was really provocative because the only progress this absurd war, that has been going on for more than three years, could achieve was a total destruction of Yemen as well as causing the deaths of thousands of civilians, including children. 

This devastated directorate which is called Altahita has been suffering for decades from poverty, ignorance and lack of basic services. I am sure that the inhabitants of Altahita would never have imagined that their very poor directorate would be one day a hot topic in the top news channels. They would never have imagined that Altahita would be the main topic of many discussions and analysis among different kinds of experts. So, the question here is, in light of the deliberate media blackout regarding the war in the entire Yemen, why has a conflict that takes place in a very small neglected area become the focus of the news media? And how can we link the answer to this question to what is going on in Yemen?

About two years ago, my wife and I gave presentations about Yemen. The audience was German and we were talking about our country from cultural/social perspective. We also talked about the political satiation in Yemen and , of course, about the fierce war there. When I spoke about the reasons behind the international ignorance of the horrific war in Yemen, I have identified three reasons. The first one is that Russia did not intervene in the war of Yemen as it did in Syria. The second reason is the very powerful media outlets owned by the party waging the war against Yemen. And the third reason is the huge arms deals carried out by Western countries such as the United States, Canada, Britain, France, Germany and other countries that sell and export weapons to Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other Gulf states.

This was more than two years ago. Now, the war in Yemen has entered its fourth year while the reasons behind the world’s ignorance of the devastating consequences of this war remain the same! On the other hand, this recent regional and international media's focus on the conflict of Altahita and portraying it as the most prominent event that could change the course of this absurd war is another proof of what I have said earlier. This focus is an example of the power of the money (Saudi/UAE) to steer the media and to buy affiliations. No body is talking about the massacres, about the famine that is taking place in the country or about the dozens of civilian deaths every day by the raids of this coalition. Now, it is all about the battle of "Altahita" and to hell with the suffering of the Yemeni people. 

Out of desperation, this ill-fated coalition is trying to distract the world's attention from the atrocities committed in Yemen by focusing on such news and battles. They have been doing this for a long time in a successful way. No wonder, both the Saudi Arabia and the UAE are paying huge sums of money to a number of public relations companies in the United States so that they can mislead the public opinion in the West and act innocently. In fact, without the services provided by those companies, they wouldn't be able to play this dirty game. Everybody knows, at least in the Arab region, that those who wage this war, Saudi Arabia and UAE, have no political, strategic or even logical objectives. This is the reality which, unfortunately, most people in America and in Europe do not realize. I think it is difficult for the western people to imagine that there is such foolishness among persons who are supposed to be leaders of their nations.

The problem is that those imprudent Arab leaders in Saudi Arabia and in the UAE are no more than dirty claws and paws used by other superior powers that have their own goals and agenda in the region. Actually, some of these goals have already been achieved, but at the expense of the blood and the suffering of the Yemeni people. So back to the issue of Altahita's battle, which seems to continue being the media’s focus for an unknown time, this fierce conflict to get control over this unfortunate directorate are moving up and down and seems to have no end. The Saudi-led coalition mobilizes and tries to make a progress while the opposing resisting Yemeni forces are mobilizing and fighting back. As a result of this absurd conflict, the humanitarian suffering of the people of Altahita, and of the rest of the population, is compounded.  

But the regional and international media have another point of view. They portray the fight in Altahita as a very important battle which could make a fatal turn in the course of the war against Yemen. The truth is that, over more than three years, those who launched this dirty war against Yemen have not been able to achieve any victory or to make any tangible progress in any of the fighting fronts. So, what is the difference the battle of Altahita could make? The only thing this battle is going to achieve is shedding the blood of innocent civilians and adding more suffering for the people of the area. Worse still, this destructive scenario could be repeated in other areas of the country. It is very likely to hear the media talking about a new battle in another small district of Yemen in the same way they are using now to talk about Altahita's one. 

This is not about taking control over an area in the south or in the north of Yemen. In fact, this war against Yemen has lost its compass and it is going beyond all limits. In the light of the media's silence and the complicity of the international community, this war turned into a terrible destructive tool.  There are no suitable words that can describe the very deteriorating humanitarian situations in Yemen.  The whole image there is so bleak in a way that makes it difficult for any human mind to imagine. I don’t want to sound pessimistic, but if this futile war does not stop, the country is going to hell in a handbasket. Yet, nobody cares about what is going on in Yemen. Both the media and the international community are very concerned about what is going on in Syria. And of course, this attitude towards Syria is not out of any humanitarian sympathy. Otherwise, Yemeni people would get at least a small portion of that concern.

To conclude, what is going on in Yemen cannot be described as a ‘war’ because even wars have certain limits or at least they have specific targets to achieve. But when very modern warplanes bombard cars and public buses that carry civilians and children , And when these warplanes target schools, wedding and funeral halls, then we are talking about something worse than wars. So, until Putin decides to intervene in Yemen or until Gulf countries run out of money, the Yemeni tragedy will continue. Today they are talking about Altahita's battle, tomorrow they are going to talk about another battle in another miserable and perverted area. And this is, unfortunately, the only reality of what is happening in Yemen!

Life without walls...!

By Anis Albasha

One of the most interesting things I have seen in Europe is the scene of schools with no walls surround them. This might be a normal scene for Europeans. But for a person who came from a different background in which ‘walls’ are in everywhere, such wall-less views were so unusual.

Since ancient times, walls and fences have been an important part of human’s life. People built walls to protect themselves from impending danger. Walls played a pivotal role in wars. Impregnable walls were the main obstacle which determines the victory or the defeat of a nation. Today, some countries build fences on their borders to prevent the flow of migrants or smugglers. Some people might establish mental walls in order to keep a distance between them and other people. When it comes to Arabic culture and societies, concrete walls play a major role in people’s lives.

In my country as an example, the view of walls is very common. There are walls that surround school buildings, there are walls that surround houses, and there are also walls that surround buildings, companies and government facilities. Moreover, we have walls that surround vast areas of uninhabited and barren lands! The main purpose of all these physical fences and walls is to maintain privacy as well as to protect against thieves and nosy people. As for schools fences, the walls are there to hold students and keep them within the premises until the end of the school day. Besides, schools fences prevent ‘foreign’ people from entering the school. And because of these high fences and the rigid system of our schools, students' attempts to flee the school building know no end.

Unfortunately, these attempts sometimes have tragic endings. I remember one time I was in the secondary school and one day we were setting in our classroom when we saw from the window a student who was trying to escape by climbing one of school’s high walls "at least four meters height." The boy managed to climb the fence successfully. But when he tried to get to the other side of the wall, he grabbed the power cables which were close to him and unfortunately he was shocked by the electric current and died instantly. I am sure that if people from Europe saw that horrifying scene, they would not have imagined for a moment that this "escapee" was just a student wanted to flee the school. Those people, who come from countries where there are no walls around schools, would think that this poor student is a dangerous criminal who is sentenced to death so he was trying to escape in order to save his life. 

I’ve never climbed a school wall. But that does not mean I loved staying inside the school. Like many of my peers at the time, we look at the school as a kind of prison which we were forced not to leave until the end of the school day.  Perhaps that feeling was due to schools’ high walls that surrounded us or because of the poor level of education we had. When it comes to the houses, the fences and walls in my country may exceed the height of five meters, especially those fences surrounding the houses of the rich people or high ranking officials. It is very common to see some luxurious houses and villas surrounded by very high walls which are extended along the sight. Usually, there is a direct correlation the height and length of the fences and the status and the wealth of the owners of these luxurious.

However, the fences that surround houses in many Arabic societies often fail to provide privacy to their owners. Sadly enough, in the societies in which we grew up, there is no respect for the privacy of the others. Therefore, many people tend to interfere in others' affairs, bug each other, and intrude into the privacy of the others. Those 'interferers' continue doing so even with the existence of all those walls and fences made by people in order to maintain some privacy. The bigger the height of the walls, the greater the desire to climb these walls in order to know what is going on behind them.

I do believe that the shape and the size of the walls in any society is a reflection of the nature of that society as well as its inhabitants. The lower the walls in the society, the greater the awareness and the urbanization of the people who live in that society. The high number of fences in a society is evidence of the low level of awareness and urbanization among members of that community. In contrast, the high number of walls and fences in a society is an indication of the low level of awareness and urbanization among the members of that society.  

So, as I mentioned at the beginning, the view of very low fences that surround the houses here or the view of the pupils' playing in the schoolyard without climbing the walls will continue to catch my eyes. It is said that “Walls don’t fall without efforts”. So, I hope that one day; walls in my country will get more shorter and the sense of self-control among people will get more bigger. 

What is happening in Ghouta?

Pic from Pixabay

By Anis Albasha

Mark Twain once said that “If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you're misinformed”. This saying is perfectly applicable when it comes to the pattern that is used by many western news media when covering the volatile events in the Middle East.

Few days ago, western news media, and also some regional media outlets, were so concerned with what was going on in Syria, particularly in Ghouta area. All of a sudden, news media started wailing and weeping about the ‘outrageous’ killing and destruction committed by the Syrian Army in Ghouta. Headlines in many western newspapers and magazines were very heartrending, such as ‘It is not a war. It is a massacre’ or ‘It’s raining rockets’!

Anyone follows the media coverage of Ghouta’s events would feel that they are talking about an apocalypse which is about to happen. For many days, Ghouta news has become the top news bulletins and headlines in the written and visual media. The question here is: is what really happened in Ghouta worth all this wailing? Of course, a terrible war is going on not only in Ghouta but in many parts of Syria.  But what is the reason behind the news media hysterical coverage of what was going on Ghouta, particularly in this timing? Do the media give us a true picture of what is going on there? Or there are certain agendas some players are trying to pass through this over-coverage of the Ghouta’s events? Posing these kinds of questions sounds very reasonable for the following reasons:

1- At a time when the media were wailing about the ‘horrible genocide’ against the people and the children in Ghouta, we have not heard or seen a quarter of this interest and sympathy about what is going on in Yemen. The country witnesses a vicious and a cruel war waged by dozens of neighboring countries with the support of superpower countries. This ongoing war against Yemen has claimed the lives of thousands of innocent civilians including children. According to the UNICEF, ‘Nearly all children in Yemen are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance. More than 5,000 children have been killed or injured in the violence – an average of five children every day since the conflict began’. So, for those who feel devastated about the children of Ghouta, why don’t they feel the same about the children of Yemen?

2- According to dozens of reports from international entities and organizations, Yemen’s war is one of the worst disasters in the world since the WW2. Reports state that Yemen is currently facing one of the worst hunger crises in the world. Stephen O’Brien, the UN under secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, stated that the largest humanitarian crisis was in Yemen where two-thirds of the population — 18.8 million people — need aid and more than seven million people are hungry and did not know where their next meal would come from. However, the same media that cries over Syria and Ghouta did not shed a single tear on what is happening in Yemen!

Some may argue that the Syrian regime is accused of killing children by using banned chemical weapons. This is something unacceptable by the ‘modern’ world and it was the reason behind that ‘feverish’ media coverage of Ghouta’s events. In fact, it is so strange that, before any biased investigations take place, and in the absence of any physical evidence, western news media insists that the culprit is the Syrian regime. I can’t help but wondering, is the Syrian regime so stupid to decide to use banned chemical weapons at the time when the Syrian army was winning the fight against the main opposition group in Ghouta? Let alone the fabricated footage that was broadcast from inside Ghouta after the alleged attack. We saw children who were said to have been subjected to chemical weapons being sprayed with water by ‘paramedics’ who did not wear the minimum protective clothing which are crucial in such situations!

However, let’s believe the news media this time. Let’s pretend that, all of a sudden, the mainstream media is so sympathetic about the atrocities committed against innocent civilians in Ghouta. If that is the case, why don’t we e see similar reaction towards what is going on in Yemen? According to many accredited reports, Saudi-led coalition used banned cluster bombs in Yemen. Human Rights Watch has accused the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen of using indiscriminate cluster bombs supplied by the United States. Human Rights Watch said it has evidence of the bombs being used at least five times, including an attack in that injured civilians. According to the Guardian, the British defense secretary Michael Fallon has seen government analysis indicating that UK-made cluster munitions were used by the Saudi-led coalition in the current conflict in Yemen.

So, if it is about using internationally banned weapons, why don’t we see the same media coverage when it comes to Yemen? For many days, Western news media was so busy with the ‘horrific’ scenes of the children of Ghouta, whom the media accuses the Syrian regime of killing them by bombs as well as by banned weapons. Why don’t we see a similar coverage about the children of Yemen who were also killed by banned weapons? Does news media need accredited reports about the outrageous situation in Yemen? According to the Save the Children, “More than 50,000 children in Yemen are expected to die by the end of the year as a result of disease and starvation caused by the stalemated war in the country, Save the Children has warned.” So, are not these miserable children in Yemen worth a little attention by the western media?

Do mainstream media need more accredited reports about Yemen? Well, according to the UNICEF “Nearly 2 million Yemeni children were out of school, a quarter of them since the conflict escalated when a Saudi-led coalition intervened in March 2015. More than 3 million children were born into the war, it said, adding they had been “scarred by years of violence, displacement, disease, poverty, undernutrition and a lack of access to basic services”. Based on that, it is so obvious that the news media coverage on Ghouta is not out of compassion and humanity. Otherwise, we would have seen the same concern when it comes to Yemen. This brings us back to the basic question: what exactly is happening in Syria and what are the reasons behind the recent exaggerated media interest of the events of Ghouta?

Actually, what is going on in Syria, whether in Ghouta or in the other areas of the country is a conflict of interests between different forces in order to achieve certain agendas. The people’s suffering because of these conflicts is exploited by the news media to achieve certain goals which are far from human sympathy with those people. If the news media deals with the events in the Middle East as credibly as it claims and if it really cares about the suffering of the innocents, they must stop this partial coverage which cries over certain alleged claims in Syria while completely ignoring the real tragedies that take place in other areas of the region like Yemen.

It is said that not only are things not what they seem, they are not even what they are called. In the digital media age in which we live, I may add that things are not also what they are ‘broadcast’. The events of Ghouta are an example which proves that the greatest wisdom when dealing with the news media is to see through appearances.

Stop being a ‘weltschmerz’ !

Pic from Pexabay

By Anis Albasha

Heal the World
Make It A Better Place
For You And For Me
And The Entire Human Race
There Are People Dying
If You Care Enough
For The Living
Make A Better Place
For You And For Me
**

We are the world,
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So, let's start giving
There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
It's true we'll make a better day
Just you and me

When I was young, I used to listen to such lyrics which triggered a burst of emotions inside me. At that time, like many other teenagers in my age, I was full of enthusiasm which was decorated with a number of promising imaginations about the future. I believed that it was my generation that could change the world and make it to a better place. Only when I grow up, I found out how foolish I was when I thought that I could change the world just because I have the passion within me.

At the beginning, I was one of those who look at this issue as a sacred duty that needs to be done no matter what. Inside me was that urgent desire to lessen the suffering for humans, animals and even plants. I do not know whether it was the atmosphere and the circumstances in which I grew up or the books I used to read, but I used to think positively and optimistically. I had the impression that one day everything would be reformed and changed to the best. As the American football coach Lou Holtz once said, “Nothing is impossible in this world if you just put your mind to it and maintain a positive attitude”. And I had both, the determination and the positive attitude. I am not sure of that, but I think that was the case for many of my own generation, at least in the society where I lived.

As I grew older, I started to look at this issue from a different perspective. I began to realize that the world around me was more complicated than I what I thought. The first interaction that shook my confidence encountered me right after the death of my father. At that critical period, I had to deal with the judicial system in my country for the first time in my life. To be honest, even at that time when I was a teenager, I didn’t have a full promising perception about the situations in an underdeveloped country like Yemen. However, I never expected the matter to be that bad. A respectable, independent and trust worthy judicial system is something crucial in any civilian society.  It is ‘the mechanism that upholds the rule of law’.  Unfortunately, the judicial system we have in Yemen was and still is faulty and corrupt. The experience I got by dealing with that system has badly affected me and diminished my hopes.

The second incident happened when I established my first private business. Full of aspirations and hopes, and after strenuous battles with the corrupt judicial system, I started a small business in my city. I wanted that business to thrive and I was dreaming of making it a very successful one. I started to regain my confidence and to forget about my bitter experience with the judicial system and with other parties. Sadly enough, after a short period of success, the second clash with the corrupt state institutions took place. At that time, I was still full of unbridled enthusiasm and I didn’t want to give up easily. Again, I thought that nothing would be impossible to a willing heart and to a determined mind. Napoleon Bonaparte believed that ‘impossible’ is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools. I wasn’t a fool. I was able to establish an independent business while I was 20 years old. So I tried to fight back but the world was bigger and stronger than me so I was defeated in the end. And again, I was wrong and my confidence was badly shaken this time.  

Later, during the different experiences I have gone through throughout various stages of my life, I came to realize that changing the world around me is a kind of bailing out the ocean with a bucket. I consider that realization I eventually came up with as the real beginning of an actual maturity in my personality. Being totally convinced and relieved about that conclusion, I started to see things from different perspectives. I told myself that perhaps it’s time to relegate this task. Eventually, I restructured my way of thinking and recognized that there is no need to hold high hopes or to be in a hurry. The best way to make a change is first to accept the fact that we are not living in utopia. As a matter of fact, the world we live in is far from perfect and far from ideal. So, the only thing we could do is to make the change within ourselves. As it is said, everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.

The crux of the issue of changing the world is to be realistic enough to realize that things like corruption, poverty, lack of justice and wealth inequality will always be part of our world. I still see many people who have strive hard thinking that they can fix the world on their own. I can understand this naïve enthusiasm for those who are still young. I myself was there and used to think the same. But for those who are mature, I just wonder when they will be able to understand the reality of the world in which we live. Let’s admit that it is ok to exert some efforts on this issue every once in a while, but to spend a lifetime on such a Sisyphean task is just senseless. Those who suffer from hyper-responsibility believe that they have more control over what happens in the world than they actually do. ‘Weltschmerz’ is an awesome German word that describes the state of those people. It describes the feeling of having the weight of world on one’s shoulders.  

To conclude, regardless of the society or the community we live in, we should understand that are not supposed to fix the world and make it a perfect one. Having an illusion of a perfect world would make it even worse. We must be able to see the reality of the world we live in. This is not a call to give up or to feel pessimistic, but to remain in a state of rationality in order to realize that we will not be able to turn our world into a utopian place. The wise thing we can do is to try to be part of the solution not the problem. Let’s not be part of the corruption and the injustice we see in this world. As Jalal al-Din Rumi once said, ‘Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself’. 

Accurate as a German!

Pic from Pexels

By Rasha Almaqaleh

There are hundreds of articles all over the internet about Germany and the German people. Some of these articles have titles such as “10 things you need to know before moving to Germany”, or ‘20 things you need to know about Germans’. And if the writer is really annoyed with Germans, and with the readers, the title could be something like: ‘50 things you need to know about Germans’. Even though the things you need to know about Germans cannot be narrowed down to a few points, even if they are 50 , I believe there is only one thing that you absolutely MUST know about Germans if you are to live in Germany, especially in the northern parts: they never leave things open to interpretation or speculation, on all levels: officially and socially.

When it comes to machine use instructions, this tendency to make things as clear as possible is really helpful. Try to buy a cup of coffee from the newest model of vending coffee machines which has many functions that offers a variety of coffee styles, and you will know what I mean. If you know some basic German, you can manage without asking anyone for help as the instructions are listed fully and distinctly. The same thing goes for subway ticket machines, supermarket self-checkout machines, the self-burrowing and returning machines in the libraries, and all the machines that exist on German territory.

However, on the social level, this attribute of making things clear as daylight which leaves no room for speculations or confusion isn’t at all times advantageous. It could be sometimes a very difficult thing to handle. As a foreigner, you need to learn how to survive this exhausting ‘quality’ which doesn’t allow even the tiniest, the silliest and the most trivial details pass.

For example, if you work with Germans,  remember that it’s always safer to say goodbye ( Tchüss)  to your colleagues at the end of your working day. Never ever use “see you tomorrow”  (bis morgen) as a group salutation, unless you know for SURE that everyone is going to be in the office tomorrow. Otherwise, get ready to hear some  serious clarification from the colleagues who aren’t going to be there tomorrow, even the co-workers who you don't actually share any workload with.  

Mostly, they will explain to you why they are not going to be in the office tomorrow and when they're coming back.  You may feel lost and confused and you’ll ask yourself "why does this have anything to do with me?” But remember, you are the one who started it by being unbearably inaccurate. Germans, by doing so, only mean to be decent and professional. 

However, this German hard-to-keep-up-with quality doesn’t only apply to workplace. It is something that exists on all levels and in all aspects of life in the country. For example, if you would like to wish a German person a happy Advent (schöne Adventszeit) , make sure that you’re not going to meet them again until after Christmas. If you tell someone happy Advent , say on the 3^th of December, while you are supposed to meet with them on the 15^th, they will assume that you’re not coming for the date!

And if you happen to clean your windows around Christmas time, everyone in the neighborhood will assume that it is Christmas cleaning (Weihnachtsputz), even if they know you’re a Muslim or a buddist and you don’t actually celebrate Christmas. So basically  any cleaning that takes place around Christmas, it has to do with celebrating Christmas. There can't be any other reason, say the windows are dirty and you have days off and nothing else to do. 

Another situation that shows how unnecessarily accurate a German can be is when they have an overwhelming urge to give accurate information in a very casual small talk. For example, you chat with  two Germans in a party or on the street and one of them asks you about something, say "when does your German course finish?" and you answer broadly : "in July." If the other German person knows when exactly your course comes to an end, he or she will burst out 'explaining' : " on the 10th of July!" 

Moreover, you need to be fully prepared to handle Germans's reaction when you say or do something that violets the German code of accuracy. I like to call that reaction on their faces ‘the German freezing mode’. This is the reaction which a German person typically gives when they are processing something that is not accurately said or done; they freeze up for a moment, their eyes slightly wide in astonishment, and they seem distracted and absent minded.

This mode normally takes just a couple of seconds and with time you’ll be very good at recognizing it and it’ll serve as a good indication that something you said or did wasn’t right. If the mode takes a longer time, that means the frozen up German is fighting a strong urge to address your lack of accuracy and would like to correct you, but most probably they find it inappropriate. This happens mostly in quick encounters, where there isn’t much time for elaboration. 

If you would like to see a German going into a freezing mode, try to wish a German parent whose kids go to school happy school holidays (it’s the holidays around Christmas which typically take two weeks). The parent would be frozen up for a moment because they don’t expect something like this. You are supposed to say happy school holidays ( schöne Ferien ) to the pupils and not to their parents. The parents expect you to say happy hollydays  (shcöne Feirtage) only before, or during, the public holidays of Christmas, which are normally the 24^th, 25^th, and 26^th of December. 

But if you don’t know a German with kids in school, that’s OK. All you have to do is invite a German person to your place and serve them some green tea in a coffee cup. And voila, enjoy the expression!

This tendency to be accurate is what makes planning a number-one priority for Germans. They like so much to plan things ahead.(Maybe a bit too much!) It is crucial for them to know exactly what they are going to do every minute of every hour of the day for five years ahead, at least. Otherwise, they would feel that life is a total mess.

If you come from a culture of ‘surprise and improvise’, like myself, where the best thing one can do to fit in is to be as spontaneous as possible, the German culture will be quite a shock, especially at the beginning. Then, with time, it’s either you learn how to cope with it or it just drives you crazy. 

All in all, I believe it’s important for anyone who would like to move to Germany to understand the way most Germans think in order to be able to properly communicate. On the flip side, wouldn't life be more fun if there is some room for speculation, interpretation and confusion?  Not everything in life should be clear as crystal. After all life is not a legal contract that must be written with unambiguous terms. Being spontaneous and stepping off the track now and then is what makes life enjoyable, to the fullest.

Yes, I am a Muslim...but it wasn't me!

Photo from Pexels

By Anis Albasha

For a long time, I used to listen to different religious sermons, including Friday’s sermons, in Arabic. When I travelled abroad, I started hearing sermons in different languages, English, Italian and German. Sermons in Islam serve as a chance to give people guidance in religious teachings or to talk about some concerning issues. During most of the sermons I attended in different languages, it was very likely for me to hear the preachers saying that Muslims should “maintain high moral standards so they can improve the image of Islam in front of others”. Though I totally agree with the first part of this commandment, I entirely disagree with the purpose that usually accompanies it. 

There are two main reasons behind this reiterated advice about 'improving the image of Islam'. The first reason is the conventional religious approach which is used by most Muslim preachers, even the contemporary ones.  According to this traditional approach, beautifying the image of Islam in front of non-Muslims is considered as a sacred responsibility. The second reason is that most Muslims do not differentiate between the personal responsibility and the social responsibility. Yet, they tie these two concepts to their mistaken perception of the Islamic doctrine.  

Besides its blind emulation of the traditional religious heritage, the traditional Islamic approach promotes the idea that the guidance of all the human beings is a communal responsibility for Muslims. This traditional way of thinking adopts the idea that Muslims are responsible for everything that is committed in the name of Islam. Worse still, the western media bears considerable responsibility for reinforcing this trend among Muslims and non-Muslims. Western media consistently attributes every terrorist act committed by few individuals to the whole nation of Islam. According to an academic study cited by the Independent Newspaper, terror attacks carried out by Muslims receive more than five times as much media coverage as those carried out by non-Muslims in the United States. Another recent study covered by the Washington Post stated that attacks by people claiming to be Muslims received 449% more coverage in recent years.

The result of both, the Islamic conventional approach and the negative media-perpetuated image of Islam is that a religion of 1.6 billion people is being presented in public discourse by the bad acts of some individuals who spread blood here and there. As a defensive reaction, Muslims are trying hard to defend their religion and to show how good Islam is. In doing so, Muslims think that this is the best way to absolve Islam from any notorious images attached to it because of the horrible acts committed by some radical and extremist groups ‘such as Al-Qaeda or ISIS’. On the other side, most Muslim preachers support and promote this attitude which is in line with their point of view that tends to believe that defending Islam is a kind of a collective duty.   

When it comes to the issue of bearing the responsibility, many Muslims do not differentiate between the personal responsibility and the social responsibility. In Muslim societies, the real meaning of these two kinds of responsibilities is missing while the borderline between the two terms is obscure. The social responsibility can be defined as the obligations to fulfill certain assigned duties, in a way, that would benefit the society as a whole, rather than as individuals. On the other hand, the personal responsibility is the duties assigned to ensure an overall image of the individuals concerning their moral code as perceived by the society. Sadly enough, most Muslims tend to neglect the moral code which should be applied when people deal with each other. Instead, they think that performing of certain religious rituals is more important than applying the moral code.

In fact, what many Muslims do, or what they are told to do with regard to improving the image of Islam, has nothing to do with both the social and the personal responsibilities. People who live in a society or in a community have to learn how to be responsible for their own actions. In other words, when people have the free will to cause their own actions, they can then be held accountable morally or legally. So, when some people choose to do something bad, they are the ones who should be blamed. If those people happen to be Muslims, it is not the responsibility of all Muslims to clean up the mess those people made. Besides, nobody is supposed to take the blame of others’ acts just because they ‘ideologically’ belong to the same group. Blaming a whole nation or an entire group of people for the behavior of some individuals is an act of folly which paves the way for stereotyping and prejudice.  

Surprising as it may seem, when it comes to the Islamic doctrine, there is nothing in the authentic teachings of Islam that tells Muslims to be responsible for improving the image of their religion in front of other people. Moreover, Islam doesn’t urge Muslims to exert efforts in order to convert non-Muslims to Islam. In Islam, the relationship between people and God is supposed to be private and it should go in a vertical line. Conversely, relations among people who share the same or different beliefs should not be based on religion. Relations among people should be defined within the moral principles and values which can be found throughout the world. That is to say, dealing with people is not supposed to be measured by embracing a doctrine or by practicing certain religious rites.   

This fact is stated clearly in many places of the holy Quran:

“O you who have believed, upon you is [responsibility for] yourselves. Those who have gone astray will not harm you when you have been guided. To God is the return of all of you, and He will make you understand all that you were doing (and call you to account for it)” 5:105

“Not upon you, [O Muhammad], is [responsibility for] their guidance, but God guides whom He wills” 2:272

“And if they belie you, say: For me are my deeds and for you are your deeds! You have no responsibility for what I do, and I have no responsibility for what you do” 10:41

“To you be your Way, and to me mine” 109:6

“Surely Allah enjoins the doing of justice and the doing of good (to others) and liberality to kith and kin, and He forbids obscenity, maleficence and iniquity. He admonishes you that possibly you would be mindful”16:90

As for the concepts of responsibility and accountability, Quran emphasizes the fact that everyone is responsible for their own actions: “And no bearer of burdens shall bear another’s burden.” 6:163

So, the issue of maintaining moral values as a means to ameliorate and promote the image of Islam has no actual base in the Quran, the primary and the authentic reference of the Islamic doctrine. It is true that Islam urges Muslims to maintain moral values and principles, but this is not for the sake of beautifying the religion or to persuade people to embrace Islam. Moral values are important to have fair relations and to establish healthy interactions among people. However, many Muslim preachers continue preaching the opposite and telling people something else about this issue. It seems to soothe them to find a reason for their own understanding of Islam. This is an indication that the misunderstanding of Islam is not confined to the non-Muslim world, but it can be found among Muslims themselves, especially those who can’t see the forest for the trees!

To conclude, we all should be aware of the importance of the moral values and principles in our life. It is also important for Muslims in particular to stop feeling susceptible because their religion is being put under a prejudiced microscope. They should also stop being defensive when it comes to attacking Islam and hold it accountable for every despicable actions committed in its name. We should understand that, to be responsible means first to be able to take care of yourself and then to have the courage to bear the consequences of your own actions.