By: Faliku K. Konneh, II
During some real furious exchanges on these listservs a while back when Emmanuel Monluo and some of his Gio compatriots were trying to justify their murderous misadventures in Liberia that saw the wanton decimation of hundreds of thousands of innocent Liberians, especially thousands of Mandingos, a very respectable brother called me and asked me this question: "Brother Faliku, what is the end-game?" I was a bit confused at first; and then he said, "I see that you are putting up some very good defenses for your tribesmen, but what do you really hope to achieve at the end of these heated exchanges?" I said to him that I am hoping that, by intellectually taking them on, those who are trying to rationalize their callous attacks on my tribesmen will desist. Then he said, "Do you think, with all these insults you guys are raining on each other, these guys will eventually reason with you and stop their actions?" I told him I did not know and that I really didn't care. I said to him that all I cared about now was fighting fire with fire...so to speak. He wished me good luck, but before he hung up the phone, he said, "Brother Faliku, you know something?" I said, "No". He said, "I don't know why, but I just like you." I thanked him and he hung up, but I thought that was an interesting way to end a very interesting conversation. And that brings me to what is happening in our world today.
What is the end-game to all these terroristic acts we keep seeing all around the world today? People blowing up buildings, blowing themselves up along with others, engaging in shooting rampages at crowded malls, attacking worship centers, gunning down young schoolchildren in cold blood, abducting hundreds of female students, bombing trains, firebombing newspaper offices, setting bombs off at marathons, beheading humanitarian workers, killing journalists, and the list goes on and on and on. What actually is the end-game? I wish someone could give me some real tangible reasons for all of these acts, but, I guess, there aren't any. All I hear some say is that they are doing these things because someone is killing Muslims somewhere. I hear some say they are doing them in the name of Islam. I still hear others say they are doing them in defense of Prophet Muhammad (SAW). But can those actions really achieve any desirable results? I really don't think so. For instance, can your blowing up yourself and/or buildings really stop the killing of Muslims somewhere? Has it? How can gunning down young schoolchildren help to promote Islam? How are you defending Prophet Muhammad by firebombing newspaper offices and killing journalists? The Prophet (SAW) suffered worst physical humiliations than someone drawing a caricature of him, and yet he did not as much as condemn those that did those things to him, let alone punish them or kill them. And not only that he had the power to do so, but Almighty Allah (SAW) was ready to exact instant punishment on the perpetrators if the Prophet (SAW) had just asked Him to do so; and yet the Prophet (SAW) pleaded for mercy for those who humiliated him. He only fought those who tried to stop him and his followers from worshiping the One True God—Almighty Allah. One can clearly see that the prophet’s mission was not about himself; so, why are some present-day Muslims trying to make the religion of Islam about Prophet Muhammad (SAW)? Obviously, I, as a Muslim, unequivocally condemn the ridiculing of any of Allah’s (SAW’s) prophets and/or messengers, but I will never support the killing of anyone just because of that reason…in fact, I will never support the unjustifiable killing of anyone for that matter.
I believe one thinker once said that the height of foolishness is to continue to do the same thing, the same way, over and over again, and expect different results. You fly planes into the twin towers and an even more beautiful and imposing structure is built in its place; you fly a plane into the Pentagon, and it is restored as if to say nothing ever happened to it; you kill at least three thousand people in those acts and then more than thirty thousand of your people lose their lives in your country; you firebomb one newspaper office, and the newspaper staff relocate to an even bigger space with better equipment; you shoot a young female student and millions around the world show solidarity with her by telling you that they are in fact the girl you tried to kill and she goes on to win a Nobel Peace Prize; you kill four journalist and four shoppers, and more than a million people march in solidarity for them; etc., etc., etc., then when will you learn that your efforts are not in fact paying off? And, can you convince me that the governments of those that you are attacking are in fact killing Muslims in other places only because they are Muslims? I doubt it. Ironically, it is Muslims that are killing other Muslims for not being “Muslim enough". What a shame?
Few months ago, I watched a Youtube video that was quite disturbing to me. It was purportedly a video uploaded by ISIS. In the video, two gun-carrying men ask two men in a truck to disembark; and when they do, one of the gunmen asks them whether they are Muslims; and they say yes. Then he asks them: “How many kneelings are there in the Maghrib prayer?” One of the men says, “six”; and the other one says, “five”. The gunman then turns to his colleague and, interestingly, asks him if any of the men answered correctly. His colleague says both of them are wrong; and the men are subsequently gunned down while they are trying to run away as if they had any means of escaping from the gunmen. I thought that was a callous disregard for life. As I thought about it, I realized that, although I have been praying, as a Muslim, for well over forty years, I have never paid any mind to the number of kneelings or prostrations I make in each of the five daily prayers. So, if I had come across those gunmen and I was asked those questions, I would not had been able to give them the correct answer, which could have been fatal for me despite the fact that I try very hard to perform my five daily prayers regularly.
I really do believe that some Muslims have legitimate grievances, but there are better ways of addressing those grievances in order to obtain productive results. If Muslims decided to behead, or bomb, or shoot everyone who disagrees with them, they have to realize that they will not succeed, because it is just impossible to get rid of everyone who disagrees with you. Most of the times, a lot can be achieved through dialogue and negotiations than through attempts at coercion, because both parties could end up digging in their heels. May Almighty Allah (SWT) show us the best way out of these nightmares so that all of us can peacefully coexist on this Earth. Ameen!
Our guest blogger today is a rather private individual; he rarely blogs and prefers to sparingly use social media. However, he is open to contact for productive reasons. Faliku K. Konneh, II,
A. Sc., BSW, MSW
Pennsylvania, USA
