Jerusalem Killings

When an event like the shooting in Jerusalem happens, Muslims are always being asked to show that they, too are horrified and disgusted and saddened by the killings. I find it very difficult to do so. Islam teaches that the killing of innocents is a heinous crime, and there will be no refuge for the murderer on the day of judgement. Self defence is allowed, as long as the attacker is attacking you, but as soon as they stop then your defensive fighting has to stop too.

So why do I find it difficult to condemn at attack on 'students at a Seminary'?. The first reason is that the last few weeks (just the last few weeks, don't even ask about the last 60 years) have seen many innocent Palestinians killed, including babies, including children shot by Israeli snipers while in their own homes. And no-one said anything. Not a word. Now that 8 Israelis have been killed by a Palestinian gunman however, the whole world is screaminig from the rooftops about it, the American President and the British Prime Minister have issued statements
along with other world leaders.

News footage of Palestinians in refuge camps 'celebrating' the killings has been shown (sometimes several times in the same news bulletin). Meanwhile, there was absolutely ZERO coverage of the Israeli mob that gathered to chant 'Death to Arabs', as was reliably reported by other news outlets. Instead we were told by our 'esteemed' TV news bulletins that an Israeli rabbi called for no revenge attacks. In the sure and certain hope, I believe, that for every one of the 8 Israelis killed, at least 50 Palestinians will be slaughtered.

Also, surprisingly, the Daily Mail gave a very good account of itself in reporting the incident, and actually mentioned that far from being a stronghold of peaceful scholarly pursuits, the seminary where the students were killed is actually at the heart of the violent, vicious and racist 'settler movement' in Israel.

The Myth of the Self-Hating Jew

This book looks like a gripping read insha'Allah, excerpt in the Grauniad today:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/04/israelandthepalestinians.bookextracts

While it's true that any criticism of Israeli atrocities brings a deluge of hate-mail to anyone brave enough to swim against the tide of pro-Israeli world media, the most bitter response is reserved for the so-called 'self-hating jew'.

If anyone wonders why should Israel be criticised (and unless they make an effort to look for unbiased media sources, they may not know why) read here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/03/israelandthepalestinians.usa1

I find myself unable to comment on recent Israeli atrocities, it just hurts too much. Suffice to say, that if Muslims were responsible for even a fraction of the kind of horror that is routinely inflicted upon Palestinians, the whole world would be screaming about it. Instead, there is a deafening silence from 99% of the world.

Scouts

So here we are in London. It's a while since Zeno went to Scouts, so I took him yesterday . When we got there the leaders hadn't arrived to open the doors, so there were lots of boys standing around. Of course Zeno just dived in, waving 'hello' and launching into a high speed monologue which left the boys gaping. I really hate seeing them laughing and nudging each other, and asking each other 'what's he saying? can you understand what he's saying?' etc. etc. Thanks be to God Zeno is oblivious to most of it. I don't know whether his high self-esteem is a feature of his condition (sometimes I have to rein it in a bit, very gently) but thank God for it anyway, because you never want to see your child with hurt feelings or feeling rejected or humiliated.

The scout leaders arrived eventually (half an hour late which is kind of usual for them, must remember not to bother being on time in future) and straight away Zeno and the other boys (and some girls) were running round the hall like lunatics. The scout leaders are all really nice girls masha'Allah, very good with Zeno actually. There is another Muslim scout group in East London which one of the brothers from the revert group helps run - I am thinking of taking Zeno there as well as our one is only every 2 weeks. It's a long way but at least it's a straight run on the central line, and I could while away the time at the East London Islamic Centre. I know some people don't agree with having separate scout groups for Muslims, but the opportunity to get together with so many other Muslim children is really important for me. We live in a society which is not only non-Muslim but actually anti-Muslim, and I know Zeno is very aware of the underlying hostility (he's very into newspapers and news websites and we often have to discuss anti-Islamic articles or hostility to Muslims on tv - talkshows etc.). So being surrounded by like-minded Muslims can feel like - wow we can relax, no-one's giving us dirty looks or making assumptions about us cos we're Muslims.

Met up with one of the sisters from the home edders group, both her boys are ASD as well and Zeno gets on really well with them. I will have to make the effort to get to Scouts more often, cos Zeno really enjoyed it, alhamdulillah.