[47:19]: “They wait not but for the Hour that it
should come upon them suddenly. The signs thereof have already come…”
Several verses in the Qur’an and the sacred
traditions of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa) indicate, in subtle language and in
different ways, the signs of the Later Days. Among these Signs, is the unmistakeable sign of
mass killings that are to take place in the
world. This sign has been mentioned in almost all authentic Ahadith
collections, including Sahih al Bukhari
and Sahih al Muslim, and one can thus
read:
Abdullah said, “The Prophet said,
‘Just before the Hour, there will be days in which knowledge
will disappear and ignorance will appear, and there will be
much killing.’”
- - [Ibn Majah; also narrated by al-Bukhari and
Muslim, from the Hadith of
al-A’mash]
According
to the Qur’an, unity and peace in society are among the Divine blessings,
whereas dissension, discord, internal strife and civil war are among the ways
in which nations come under a trial. The Holy Prophet of Islam (a) described
many of these signs of the Later Days in a context indicating the times of a
Massih raised by Allah.
Warnings by Divine Messengers
In
the previous era, the Promised Massih Hadhrat Ahmad (as) through his writings,
including in Tajalliyat-e-Illahiya (Divine Manifestations), repeatedly warned
the world about the horrendous events waiting to unfold on the human condition
as a consequence of its lack of appreciation for the Divine guidance for
ethical and sustainable living. In our own times, the Muhyi-ud-Din Hadhrat
Munir Ahmad Azim Sahib (atba) of Mauritius repeatedly warns us that humanity is
on the brink of disaster.
Reflecting on the ongoing situation in Central African Republic and also in Myanmar and elsehwere, where the Muslim minorities are living under severe threats to their fundamental rights and freedoms of life and libaerty, in a recent series of Friday Sermons, Hadhrat Sahib (atba) had called the attention of the world to pure Islamic teachings that recognize the diversity of races, religions and languages and the need to respect and accord these rights to all groups in every humane society. In a world driven by the powerful vested interests of the developed world, principles of absolute justice and equal application of the laws in all circumstances that protect the integrity of the international system and human rights cannot be ensured. The Divine Messenger of our times has clearly identified the faultlines of diverging interests and the consequent absence of strong enforcement mechansims at the inter-State level as the apparent weaknesses of the existing world system, leading to the present crisis in world governance.
It
is not unknown to the Muslims that natural and man-made disasters strike the
world when Divine sayings are ignored and reformers are insulted and humiliated,
rather than respected and listened to. Instead of showing attention and concern
for what the Divine message contain, the ungrateful and the rebellious seek to
shoot the Messenger, leading invariably to various modes of Divine wrath and
punishment. Believers who reflect would invariably be struck by the remarkable
similarity of the Divinely-inspired sermons and sayings with the course of events
in our times. Those who free themselves from the sins of hubris and prejudice
can easily discern the proliferation of a series of events that point to the
fulfilment of the grand Divine prophecies in the world affairs.
Natural and Man-made Disasters
By
the close of the Fourteenth century of Islamic calendar, the world became
increasingly concerned with what is happening to the ecology as the capitalist
mode of development virtually began to consume the very environment that makes
life possible in our small world. As
a direct consequence of the imperial onslaught on natural resources
or the human intervention in the natural order and the unsustainable
exploitation practices, great damage and loss has been caused to the global
environment, leading to the phenomena of global warming and climate change and severe disastersin our times. As
a corollary to all these corruption of the humans, a situation has indeed arose, like the Qur'an says:
[30:42] Corruption
has appeared on land and sea because of what men’s hands have wrought, that He
may make them taste the fruit of some of their doings, so that
they may turn back from evil.
The
Muslim world entered a new era in the year 1980, starting the Fifteenth Century
of the Islamic Calendar. The events in Iraq and Iran (1980-1988); the invasion
and occupation of Kuwait by Iraq and the subsequent economic sanctions on, and
the destruction of, Iraq (1990-2003), the US imperial control over much of the Arab
world and the Jewish occupation of Palestine and domination over the Arab lands
of Lebanon and Jordan, Syria and Egypt; the containment of Libya and Iran, the
radicalization of the Muslim youth in Pakistan and Afghanistan in recent decades,
the despotic administrations in the Arab world- all these point to the dismal fortunes
of the Muslims, civil war in the Ummah with the brothers killing brothers in
Lebanon, Syria, Libya and Egypt, leading to the loss of hundreds of thousands
of innocent lives all over the Muslim world.
Even
outside the Muslim world, mass killings in countless ‘civil’ wars, crimes
against humanity, war crimes, ethnic cleansings and genocidal killings have
created “rivers of blood” in nation after nation in our times. The brutal atrocities
in Bosnia, Rwanda, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Burma, Kashmir, Sierra Leone, Central
African Republic, Congo, etc. have permanently scarred and bruised the memories
of generations of people. According to the UN estimates, the ongoing
civil war in Syria has already killed over 1, 50,000 while hundreds of
thousands have become refugees in neighbouring lands.
Genocide in Rwanda (1994)
April 7th marks
the twentieth anniversary of the horrendous Rwandan genocide of 1994, which
consumed in its wake about 800,000 people within a period of three months. It
is an occasion to remember the dead, to reflect on the state of our world that
facilitated the killing spree to continue unabated for months altogether and to
introspect on what progress we could make as a global community to protect and
sustain our shared humanity.
For the benefit of our readers, we
reproduce below an Op-Ed written by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon to
mark the twentieth anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda:
Today in the Central African Republic,
government and community leaders are struggling to help the country find the
path of peace.
On Monday in Kigali, I will join the
people of Rwanda in commemorating the 20th anniversary of the genocide, the
reverberations of which are still being felt across an arc of uncertainty in
Africa’s Great Lakes region — and in the collective conscience of the
international community.
Each situation has its own dynamics. So
does the Syrian conflict, which each day claims new victims. But each has posed
a complex life-and-death challenge: what can the international community do
when innocent populations are being slaughtered in large numbers and the
government is unable or unwilling to protect its people — or is among the very
agents of the violence? And what can we do to prevent these atrocities from
occurring in the first place?
The genocides in Rwanda and Srebrenica
were emblematic failures of the international community. The scale of the
brutality in Rwanda still shocks: an average of 10,000 deaths per day, day
after day, for three months, with hateful radio broadcasts inflaming and inciting
Rwandans to kill Rwandans.
The international community has since
made important strides in acting on the lessons of these awful events. We are
now united against impunity, epitomised by the establishment of the
International Criminal Court. International and UN-assisted tribunals,
including the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, are pursuing
accountability and having a discernible deterrent effect on would-be violators
of basic international norms. In a landmark judgement, a former head of state
has been convicted of war crimes.
The international community has endorsed
the “responsibility to protect”; States can no longer claim that atrocity
crimes are a domestic matter beyond the realm of international concern. Growing
numbers of governments and regional organisations are creating mechanisms
dedicated to genocide prevention. The United Nations and its partners are more
frequently deploying human rights monitors to trouble-spots — “eyes and ears”
that show governments and non-state actors alike the world is watching. And
since such crimes take planning, we are targeting the key risk factors, from
the lack of institutions to grievances left unaddressed.
We are also acting more robustly to
protect civilians, including from rampant sexual violence. Assertive
peacekeeping approaches have defeated one of the most brutal militias in the
eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. The United Nations opened the gates
of its peacekeeping installations in South Sudan to shelter tens of thousands
of people from deadly threats. Twenty years ago, such steps would have been
unthinkable. Today, this is deliberate policy, an example of our new “Rights Up
Front” initiative in action — a lesson of Rwanda made real. These situations
remain fragile, but the thrust is clear: more protection, not less.
Setbacks
However, this work has faced regular
setbacks. The end of the civil war in Sri Lanka in 2009 led to tens of
thousands of deaths and a systemic failure by the United Nations to speak up
and act. For more than three years, the international community has remained
divided over the response to the situation in Syria, providing only a fraction
of the necessary humanitarian funding while fuelling the fire with arms to both
sides in the mistaken belief in a military solution.
The world needs to overcome these moral
blind spots. Member States may have rival definitions of national interest, or
be unwilling to take on new financial or military commitments. They may be
daunted by complexity and risk, or concerned that discussions about an imminent
crisis in other countries might one day focus on their own situations. But the
results of this indifference and indecisiveness are clear: the bloodshed of
innocents, shattered societies, and leaders left to utter the words “never again,”
again and again — in itself, a sign of continuing failure.
Over the past decade, the Central
African Republic has struggled for global awareness of its plight, and over the
past year has suffered the collapse of the state, a descent into lawlessness,
and gruesome mass killing that has instilled widespread terror and sparked an
exodus. People are exploiting religious identity in the fight for political
objectives, threatening a longstanding tradition of peaceful coexistence
between Muslims and Christians.
I appeal to the international community
to provide the military support urgently needed to save lives, get police back
on the streets and enable people to return to their communities. The African
Union and France have deployed troops, but efforts by the European Union to
launch a force have so far come to naught. There is an equally pressing need to
start a political process in which reconciliation figures prominently. Any
further spread of violence may engulf the wider region.
Healing after violence
When the collapse of a country is this
profound, the challenge may seem insurmountable. Yet history proves otherwise.
The sustained support of the international community has helped Sierra Leone
and Timor-Leste make dramatic transformations. Rwanda has registered notable
gains in development, and other countries have healed after unspeakable
violence. The Central African Republic can walk the same path. I will continue
to stand with the government in charting a course that can build the stable and
prosperous country its resources and traditions can make possible.
In Rwanda, I will visit the genocide
memorial and pay tribute to the victims — as I have for other tragedies that
have challenged the world, from Auschwitz and Cambodia decades ago, to others
in our time. The international community cannot claim to care about atrocity
crimes and then shrink from the commitment of resources and will be required to
actually prevent them. Global leaders should do more to prevent the
preventable, and to counter the cruelty taking place before our eyes. People
everywhere should place themselves in the shoes of the vulnerable, from Syria
to the Central African Republic, and ask themselves what more they can do to
build a world of human rights and dignity for all. Let us show people facing
dire threats that they are not alone or abandoned — and that the lifeline they
need is on its way.