Lemkin had a choice on how to react to losing forty family members in the Holocaust: he could fall into despair, lose hope and worse, lose it and become a suicide bomber. We have witnessed such reactions from others. But Lemkin stayed hopeful - an essential trait of a Believer. He didn't resort to violence - which does not mean he did nothing about the tragedy that befell him. In fact, Lemkin embarked something very difficult and very courageous. He hit the agents of oppression with a hard and lasting blow when the United Nations adopted the Convention. The world is a better place that Lemkin directed the energy that comes from so much suffering down a constructive channel.
To repel evil with good, is a central Qur'anic command:
Good deed and the evil deed cannot be equal. Repel evil with that which is better... 41:34
8 comments:
AA-
"He hit the agents of oppression with a hard and lasting blow when the United Nations adopted the Convention."
U must be kidding me!! What agents of oppression are we talking about? How did this convention against genocide help the people of Rwanda, East Timor, Iraq, DR Congo, and so on??
The agents of oppression have laughed in the face of the UN time and again.
Sometimes, you need to fight power with more power. Nothing wrong with recognizing that simple fact... or is that not allowed for Muslims to say??
If real Muslims had the resources, I would hope they would do more for the oppressed than offer hollow statements of censure and toothless UN forces.
> How did this convention against genocide help
Naeem, nothing we do on this planet is ever going to be perfect. Islam abolished racism, but we still find plenty racism in Muslim societies. Doesn't make the Qur'an or its message a failure.
> The agents of oppression have laughed in the face of the UN time and again.
And Shaitan has laughed at all the good things our Prophet (pbuh) taught us but we as an ummah keep faltering on...
> Sometimes, you need to fight power with more power.
Only so long as it is consistent with rules of engagement laid down in the Qur'an. Random violence is fitnah. Fitnah is worse than death, it kills the fabric of society...
> If real Muslims had the resources, I would hope they would do more for the oppressed than offer hollow statements of censure and toothless UN forces.
Haha, the Utopia of "real Muslms" - you might find the 14 centuries of Islamic history instructional in how you can't be dismissive of anyone's good deeds, even if they bore no fruit. The trust stands clear from falsehood, as the Qur'an teaches us.
AA-
'Haha, the Utopia of "real Muslms"'
Not sure why you laugh at the 'utopia' of real Muslims while staunchly defending the utopia of the UN?
Clearly you can't deny that while the genocide conventions are a positive effort *on paper*, practically it has been used as a blunt instrument to hammer down on despots who don't play nice-nice as determined by the West (such as Bashir in Sudan and Milosevic in Bosnia).
Why wax poetically on the niceties of the UN and its utopic geneocide conventions while (deservedly, I admit) grill the Muslims for their idealistic approach?
"you might find the 14 centuries of Islamic history instructional in how you can't be dismissive of anyone's good deeds, even if they bore no fruit."
I'm not being dismissive, just pragmatic with a pinch of cynicism. I don't view the UN as an institution worthy of respect - that has to be earned. And their blatant hypocrisy in the cases I sited disqualifies them of any respect and throws into doubt any act that can possibly be deemed a 'good deed'.
Oh and Eid Mubarak my friend!
> Not sure why you laugh at the 'utopia' of real Muslims while staunchly defending the utopia of the UN?
I didn't evoke any utopia associated with the UN. In the real, imperfect world, anything good, no matter how miniscule, should be honored. Too many of my Muslim bretheren are so wrapped up in the idealism of what "real muslims" can do that they don't see any good anywhere else. And that I think is not cnosistent with the teachings of our Prophet (pbuh). Efforts like hilf al-fudul have existed at all times. They were never complete or perfect but worthy of recognition and support by Muslims.
The butchers of Muslims in Bosnia were stopped by the United Nations. I suspect you will not see any virtue in it coz it happened "late." It wasn't late for the millions of lives that were saved.
I think cynicism isn't a very "muslim" quality either ;-)
Eid Mubarak to you as well...
> Why wax poetically on the niceties of the UN and its utopic geneocide conventions while (deservedly, I admit) grill the Muslims for their idealistic approach?
The story was about a man who lost 40 members of his family to genocide. I was highlighting the fact that in response this man worked tirelessly to build institutions that would prevent such crimes from occurring again. I was CONTRASTING the fact that this man did not decide to wear a bomb on his body to become a suicide bomber and kill his enemies in the marketplace.
If you notice, I didn't say anything about anybody's idealism until you asserted how "real Muslims" can do a lot better. The fallacy in that argument is, Muslims have been around for 1400 years and we have had numerous successes and failures at making the world a better place. All constructuve efforts, irrespective of effectiveness, are to be recognized. All destructive efforts, irrespective of how great a loss someone suffered before they decided to take the law into their own hands, must be condemned.
BREAKING NEWS:
Former senior defence official Theoneste Bagosora has been convicted of instigating Rwanda's 1994 genocide and sentenced to life in prison.
Bagosora and two co-defendants were found by a UN tribunal to have led a committee that plotted the massacre of ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
It is the first time the Rwanda tribunal has convicted anyone of organising the killings.
More than 800,000 people were killed in Rwanda's genocide.
Along with Bagosora, former military commanders Anatole Nsegiyumva and Alloys Ntabakuze were also found guilty of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, and given life sentences.
More at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7789039.stm
AA- ATM,
This conviction doesn't provide any relief to the 800,000+ who died in the genocide. Where was the UN when the tragedy was taking place?
Where is the UN now that a similar tragedy is taking place in Congo? Waiting for the warring sides to finish their slaughtering and then take the surviving criminals to court?
Yeah, real effective.
Instead of policing after the fact, why not demand the UN to work on preventing such tragedies from occurring in the first place??
It is my belief that the UN's action serves as a deterrent - along the lines that the presence of a police force and state prosecutors serves as a deterrent for criminals in any society.
It's not perfect, but we can agree that no matter how little the value in this conviction, the world's a better place than if there were to be absolutely no accountability at all. Naeem, I still think we owe it to Lemkin, he did a great job :)
According to a well-known hadith, The lowest level of Iman is to regard evil as evil. The UN action at least helps us accomplish that. Can it do better? Yes.
What Lemkin did is heroic - he could have been another angry suicide bomber. Oh, or he could have taken a hotel hostage and killed people randomly.
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