Around the World
Immigration reform rally in Alabama
Competing Causes What can Muslim Americans do to be equal opportunity activists? By Kiran Ansari
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very television channel, radio station, email, snail mail and even your Facebook newsfeed space is like a war zone of sorts. Everyone is competing to raise awareness for their cause. It could be a local issue, like running for the library board, or domestic, like raising funds for the victims of Hurricane Sandy. It could even be international, like rallying against the massacre in Syria. Running, raising, rallying … the list goes on. While there is so much destruction and misery in the world around us? Have we tuned out from all the mayhem or are we seeing an increase in the “my cause is more important than your cause” mantra? Crises wake people up, according to Shatha Barbour. The Scottsdale, Ariz. mother
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of two is also a part of the Arizona State University SOS (Save Our Syrian) Freedom organization. Unlike metropolitan cities, smaller towns don’t hold as many activism events. However, she is still concerned to see that only some segments of the community are represented at events when such issues actually have the power to unite. Growing up, she felt very American. She used to visit Syria in the summer, but now when she sees blatant destruction, she can’t just tsk-tsk and flip to another TV channel. “During the Bosnia massacre, so many of us thought, ‘Thank God it wasn’t us,’” Barbour says. “But today everyone feels that ‘it could happen to me.’ Now the atrocities in Somalia or Burma hit closer to home.” She believes such events bring the Quran
to life for her, such as the verse: “Or do you think that you will enter Paradise while such [trial] has not yet come to you as came to those who passed on before you? They were touched by poverty and hardship and were shaken until [even their] messenger and those who believed with him said, ‘When is the help of God?’ Unquestionably, the help of God is near” (Quran 2:214).
While it can be easier for techsavvy youth to raise awareness via social media, they should not end up as “armchair activists” just clicking buttons.
Islamic Horizons January/February 2013