9/11

I've seen a lot of posts about this and felt I should put my two cents in (or one cent, whatever really) on my blog. This is a day late for Australia but matches in the US so here we go.

I remember exactly where I was when we found out about the events of 9/11, which is weird, given that I was 10 years old and I seriously cannot remember many things from my childhood at all. My mum and I were glued to the TV and I went to school that day telling everyone that the next World War was coming. Which was a bit silly but understandable, given that I hadn't been exposed to the idea of non-state actors before. My husband remembers where he was as well, he heard it from his friends and they all laughed because they couldn't believe it - it was only until they saw it on TV that they realised it was true.

I don't think that remembering 9/11 makes me any less of a Muslim, or any less of a believer in the rights of Muslims. As Muslims, we spend a lot of time reminding people that governments take action, not people (e.g. when discussing dictators, oppressive laws on women, etc) - so why is it hard for us to apply that in this context? We need to remember that this was a tragic event. There is nothing wrong with remembering 9/11, there is also nothing wrong with remembering the millions of citizens around the world that died as a result, there is nothing wrong with remembering tsunami victims, or earthquake victims, or fire victims. We shouldn't use one to cancel out the other. All deaths are tragedies, the scales may be different but don't forget that Allah subhana wa ta'ala says to us in the Qur'an that taking a life is like taking the life of all mankind. We should be remembering the unfortunate every day, whether they be in Iraq, Afghanistan, America, Australia, Japan... do you see a pattern? Don't get caught in the idea that it's us vs. them, it's not and that is not how our beloved and final Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him and his pure family, instructed us to be.

I guess I'm trying to say that I get the people that don't want to give importance to 9/11 as a reaction to the deaths in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere in the Middle East - I get it, but in the end I just think we need to open our hearts more and accept that every single innocent death is a tragedy, let's not dehumanise things and just focus on numbers. Let's focus on following the steps of our Prophet and try to emulate his love, kindness and acceptance.