Post 80—Oppression of Muslims

It is claimed by Christian experts that Christians are the most persecuted people in the world. Now those who study Christian persecution may be experts in Christian persecution, but are they also experts in persecution in general? Do they know as much about persecution of Muslims? 

My universe of discourse here is persecution because of their faith, not because of political circumstances.  How many of the Muslims streaming into the West these days are Muslims persecuted for their faith rather than victims of politics or immigrants seeking better economic circumstances?  

In the case of African Muslims crossing the Mediterranean, it is fairly safe to regard most of them as economic immigrants. In the case of Syrians Muslims, I expect that many are victims of their civil war in the same way as are many Christians—in other words economic and political victims, not victims of religious persecution. But many Christians among them have also been persecuted for their faith by the same Muslims who now are their fellow refugees. Remember the story in Sweden a few posts ago?  So, many of them are these three types all rolled into one. 

Syrian affairs are complicated these days. These refugees are not all victims of the Syrian civil war. Many of them, both Christian and Muslim, are also victims of ISIS violence. That is above all a religious war with serious economic and political consequences. Those who are dislodged because of ISIS can be considered persecuted Christians and Muslims.  The same thing is true with Boko Haram in northern Nigeria.  They persecute fellow Muslims as much as Christians. In fact, more, for Muslims outnumber Christians in that far north east of the country. I do not know whether these persecution “experts” study that aspect of persecution. Neither do I know whether there are Muslims who are experts in persecution of Muslims. I guess I could go online and check it out. Perhaps you would find them mostly among human rights advocates.

But one thing is sure, namely that in most Muslim countries in general, Christians are the most numerous among those persecuted, for there is hardly a Muslim-majority country where Christians are not persecuted, whether by government or by the people, whether officially or unofficially, whether by pure violence or various forms of discrimination.   

And yet, in a country like Nigeria, Muslims have for decades complained about persecution. Not the violent kind that kills or maims, though that also occurs during times of demonstrations, but in terms of discrimination in cultural, political, legal and educational forms, persecution by colonialists and by Christians. When the British established the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria, the colonial Governor, Lord Lugard, a secular man, promised that the British would not touch their Muslim religion. This is known as the "Lugard promise." There would be freedom of religion for the Muslims. In fact, for many decades Christian missionaries had less freedom to spread the Gospel than Muslims had for theirs. So, why did northern Muslims complain so bitterly about persecution, while Christians suffered at their hands? 

The reason is to be found in the Lugard promise.  He made his promise from his secular perspective on religion, which is a reduced version of religion that is restricted to church/mosque and private life, but not to affect public life, for that is supposedly secular and neutral. His promise was that Muslims were free to attend mosque and practice their religion privately. 

But to Muslims, religion is a wholistic affair that touches on and influences all of life, not just private or mosque life. Without either party being aware of it, they misunderstood each other. Muslims thought they would be free to practice their religion wholistically in all spheres of culture. 

The British proceded to secularize the Muslim community. Though they left sharia (Muslim law) in tact at the level of mosque, the private and family levels, in other spheres secularism became the dominant worldview on basis of which public life was organized. A major tool was education. Another was switching the Hausa language from Arabic script to Western so as to reduce the influence of Arabic ideas.  Ever so slowly the secular spirit took hold among Muslims—until the revolution of Khomeini woke them up. Suddenly they realized they “had been had.”  Suddenly they began to realize what had happened to them and they burst out in anger. They had been fooled, slipped a poison pill and put to sleep, while an antithesis had developed between the two systems. Everything public had gone secular, something that most Muslims reject with a passion, especially in northern Nigeria. Before long, the demand for the revival of sharia came to the surface with a vengeance. They felt discriminated against and, yes, persecuted--and justifiably so.

If you wish to pursue the topic of Muslim persecution, I urge you to read both volumes 4 and 6 in my series Studies in Christian-Muslim Relations. That series opens the Islamica page of my website < www.SocialTheology.com/Islamica.htm. >  You will find a strong sense on the part of Muslims of being persecuted by colonial secular forces, the antithesis to Islam. Boko Haram is an extremist reaction to that secular force. Its central tenet is buried in its Hausa name, which means “Western education (secularism) is forbidden.”  

Post 73—Refugees—Surprising, Interesting and Important Facts

Since the current world situation imposes that very difficult issue of refugees on all countries and, yes, all individuals—and that means you and me--, I devoted Post 72 to the subject. Today, more of the same, because it is such a critical issue that refuses to go away out of our consciousness and because it is such an interesting subject.

Did I say “interesting”? Yes, I did, but is that an appropriate way of reacting to this immense human tragedy? I doubt you’ll find even one genuine refugee who thinks of her situation as “interesting.”  Perhaps the terrorists hiding among them and using the tragedy for their own purposes will think of it as an interesting adventure. That there are those, I have no doubt, though I would not venture a guess as to their number.

The Vancouver Sun (VS) featured an extensive sidebar under the title “Eight things to know about the Syrian refugee crisis” by Ali Dharssi (26/10/2015, p. A10). Yes, these “eight things” are interesting as well as vital for us to develop a realistic perspective.  “Interesting” does not have to be trivial or emotionally distant.  Here are the “eight things:”

1           “More than half of Syria’s prewar population of 22 million has been displaced.”  Imagine that: over 50% of a nation!

2           “Tens of thousands of Syrian babies have been born as refugees.” Estimates range from 60,000 to 150,000 born just to refugees in Turkey!  All these are at risk of becoming stateless.

3           “More than half of the Syrian refugees are children.”  Over 1.6 million are under 12 years old, all in danger of losing out on education.

4           “More than three-quarters are women and children.”  A very high percentage of these women are widows struggling to feed their children. The fathers and men are absent and in many cases killed. 

5           “Terrorism does not have deep roots in Syria” according to experts. Terrorism source groups have been effectively suppressed by King Assad.

6           “Religious strife in Syria was not as bad as you might think.” Religious relationships were marked by “relative harmony,” though under an oppressive regime.

7           Syrian refugees are relatively well-educated. Prewar Syria had a literacy rate of 96%. 

8           “Syrians from all socio-economic backgrounds are fleeing.”

If your church or other organization is considering sponsoring a refugee, these facts are important to remember not only, but they might just be interesting enough to convince the members to act.

Another interesting cluster of refugee facts is that the West is not the only continent to house Syrians, though we would like to think we are. It strokes our moral pride. But, according to Frank Elbers, “the Saudis and Qataris may be playing a more constructive role than their critics give them credit for.”  

Though Saudi has allowed few to enter as refugees, it “has allowed hundreds of thousands to enter as migrant workers”—nearly 2.5 million since 2011.  They also have issued 100,000 residence permits and provided $700 million (US) in aid.  An estimated 400,000 well educated and skilled Syrians are in Saudi on temporary visas for foreign workers. “The United Arab Emirates have welcomed more than 100,000 Syrians, who have joined another 140,000 already living in the country.”  True, few classified formally as refugees will be found in those countries, but the Syrians are there in large numbers (“A Gulf in Compassion?” VS, 26 Oct/2015, p. A10).  Honour to whom honour is due.

One final point related to Saudi, though not about refugees. The Western press often berates Arab countries for not pulling their weight in helping poor countries. However, I just read that the Saudi king has signed a contract with the UN to help war-ravaged Yemen with $244 worth of aid. Though only in a side column as a filler, at least the VS reports this. It is something we do not often hear about. I have no particular need to defend Saudi, but it does not help us if we hear only negative news about Muslim countries. Again, honour to whom it is due.