‘But Is There Anything I Can Really Do? I’m Just Going To Scroll Past This Post.’
Why you shouldn’t distance yourself from what’s happening in Palestine and how to take action instead.
As I scroll through my feed to see posts of blood, rubble and pain, I feel a sense of helplessness and pang of guilt rip through me. My first instinct is to close my app, ignore it all and carry on with my daily routines. It’s so easy to. It’s something happening so far away. You wonder, is there any reason to engulf myself in so much ‘negativity’.
—
Distance yourself or engage
It happens every time the Muslim world is shaken with a catastrophe, natural or man made. I scroll through feeds of blood and horror and there’s two ways I know I can deal with them. The first way is to distance myself from it, scroll past without a second look, and carry on with my daily routines. And the other way is to engage with it.
Distancing yourself is, for sure, the easier way. But, the fact is, that is not the way of a Muslim. Being Muslim is not restricted to the prayer mat and to the weekly halaqahs in the masjid. It’s so much more than that — it’s to stand up for injustice, to stop evil when we see it, to at least feel the pain our brothers feel across the world.
“The parable of the believers in their affection, mercy, and compassion for each other is that of a body. When any limb aches, the whole body reacts with sleeplessness and fever.” (Hadith)
Distancing yourself, and I’ve done this before, is to distance yourself from the ummah that you were blessed with when you embraced this faith. Being Muslim means being part of something bigger than yourself — you are part of a family of 2b around the world. And when your family suffers, you suffer too.
—
Is there anything I can really do?
It’s difficult though, how do you balance yourself from being present in the hurt and pain your family suffers across the world and feeling helpless from the inability to do anything.
Because is there really anything I can do?
Yes there is. And there’s 2 parts to it.
The first part is to be grateful for the guilt that you feel because that means that Allah has blessed you to be that limb that aches because of another broken limb. To be a complete part of the ummah.
And the second part is to channel that guilt into 2 things -
- Dua: We are never helpless because we have dua with us. There is no stronger action that a believer can take than to hold our hands up to the All Powerful, The Helper and ask for His help and justice.
- Take action: Every one of us have been given tools from Allah to allow us to do our part. It could be that you have money, so donate. It could be that you have a social media platform, so inform. It could be that you are a parent, so educate.
The people in Palestine are being tested but, the scary part is — so are we on the this side of the world, in the comforts of our homes. These days are a test for us too, a test to see which of us are going to do their part and which of us will just distance themselves and carry on like nothing is happening.
May Allah protect the people of Gaza and grant Palestine its freedom.
—
Thank you for reaching till the end of this post.
I hope we get to meet each other in my next post too. Until then, if you have any thoughts about what you’ve just read let me know (in the comments or any other way). I’d love to start a conversation!
And if you’d like to have my posts reach you directly, consider subscribing with your email below.
