Sacrificing Palestine for the Love of this World
[Illustration by Carlos Latuff from The Ships that Launched a Nation, Palestine Think Tank]
I'm sure most of you have heard about the cruel Israeli military attacks on the Freedom Flotilla ships that brought much needed humanitarian and developmental for Palestinians. These ships carried almost 700 passengers from 40 different countries who joined the flotilla: human rights workers, humanitarian aid workers, Members of Parliament, doctors, nurses, teachers, community leaders, and international journalists. Tell me, how were these people a threat to Israel? As explained here:
"All ships were thoroughly searched by local port authorities in Greece and Turkey prior to their departure. Additionally, the coalition hired an independent security firm to search the ships and certify that no weapons were on board. All passengers went through nonviolence training and were likewise searched for weapons prior to boarding. The Turkish government, a member-state of the NATO alliance, vetted all the Turkish passengers to insure there was no one with ties to extremist groups. These precautionary steps were deliberately taken to prevent Israeli propaganda officials from ever being able to claim that the Freedom Flotilla posed any 'security risk' to Israel."
It's crystal clear that Zionists will stop at nothing to make sure their plan succeeds. They've taken over the media, multinational corporations and people's lands. They've taken away dreams, hopes, lives and human rights.
Let this be a lesson for all of us.
The love of this world is what drives them to commit acts of cruelty and injustice, and what's worse is that they've managed to make us love this world as much as they do. They've successfully convinced people that there is nothing else to live for but ad-dunya (this life and its pleasures). When in truth, it is the furtherest thing away from us. How and why? It's simple. Human beings are insatiable. We will never feel truly contented by chasing only material wealth and worldly pleasures.
"Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said, "If Adam's son had a valley full of gold, he would like to have two valleys, for nothing fills his mouth except dust. And Allah forgives him who repents to Him."
(Hadeeth narrated by Anas bin Malik - Volume 8, Book 76, Number 447)
I have friends and loved ones who spend hundreds on alcohol only to spend hundreds more the next week on the same thing. I've shed so many tears knowing this but in the past I couldn't understand why. All I could feel was that they were hurting themselves by doing so. God knows how much I've spent on material things only to find myself buying more not long after. I've learned recently that there is no true satisfaction in this life until we discover what our true purpose is as human beings - to know and love the Almighty.
Allah (SWT) says: "I was a hidden treasure; I loved to be known. Hence I created the world so that I would be known.
Change isn't easy and I say this from personal experience. However, once you discover the truth about life you must do something about it. To lie to yourself and deny it would be the biggest mistake you could ever make. My personal aim is to find a balance in my life. There is nothing wrong with appreciating the bounties of this world but I know there is so much more to life than what it seems.
To my Palestinian brothers and sisters and to those who have fought for your cause, and to all who have been wronged by heartless leaders and dictators (Iraqis, Bosnians, Kurds, Zimbabweans and so on), I can't begin to imagine what it feels like to be in your shoes. You've been trampled on, shot down and even murdered yet your spirit lives on. I regret this distance between us and I feel so helpless. But please know that you inspire me and the rest of the world to stand up for the truth, help those in need and persevere through hardship. For now, all I can do is write what seems like a meaningless and trivial post but I promise you this... you will always be in my prayers and I will do what I can to help make this world a better place.
For the latest news about Gaza, Palestine please visit:
Sabbah Report
Palestine Think Tank
Gaza Mom
Viva Palestina
Tell me what has become of my rights
Am I invisible because you ignore me?
Your proclamation promised me free liberty, now
I'm tired of bein' the victim of shame
They're throwing me in a class with a bad name
I can't believe this is the land from which I came
You know I do really hate to say it
The government don't wanna see
But if Roosevelt was livin'
He wouldn't let this be
Comments
Long ago, I was made to understand that Palestine was not Palestine;
I was also informed that Palestinians were not Palestinians;
They also explained to me that ethnic cleansing was not ethnic cleansing.
And when naive old me saw freedom fighters
they patiently showed me that they were not freedom fighters,
and that resistance was not resistance.
And when, stupidly, I noticed arrogance, oppression and humiliation
they benevolently enlightened me so I can see that arrogance was not arrogance,
oppression was not oppression, and humiliation was not humiliation.
I saw misery, racism, inhumanity and a concentration camp.
But they told me that they were experts
in misery, racism, inhumanity and concentrations camps
and I have to take their word for it:
this was not misery, racism, inhumanity and a concentrations camp.
Over the years they’ve taught me so many things:
invasion was not invasion, occupation was not occupation,
colonialism was not colonialism and apartheid was not apartheid…
They opened my simple mind to even more complex truths
that my poor brain could not on its own compute like:
‘having nuclear weapons’ was not ‘having nuclear weapons’,
‘not having weapons of mass destruction’ was ‘having weapons of mass destruction’.
And, democracy (in the Gaza strip) was not democracy.
Having second class citizens (in Israel) was democracy.
So you’ll excuse me if I am not surprised to learn today
that there were more things that I thought were evident that are not:
peace activists are not peace activists, piracy is not piracy,
the massacre of unarmed people is not the massacre of unarmed people.
I have such a limited brain and my ignorance is unlimited.
And they’re so fucking intelligent. Really.
Ghassan Hage
The world is now starting to see the true intentions of Israel. They can no longer defend themselves and act like the victim. muslims and non muslims have woken up and are now seeing the zionist state of Israel as it really is. Its only a matter of time before Israel will fall inshaAllah.
just something that i have wanted to remind you, but afraid that it might get misunderstood. but i just want to say that its good if u start boycotting some of the "boycott israel" products. you are inspirational and you definitely can influence others.
its something you can do for the palestinians. :)
may Allah bless you for all your efforts towards the betterment of the Muslims..
Yezmin, assalamualaikum, thanks for following my blog and for the heart-warming comment. I will have a think about your suggestion =)