Darfur Issue #1
by Dr. Mazeni Alwi

I have to say that I am very disturbed by what is happening in Darfur.I have been trying to get an alternative narrative to challenge the mainstream bbc world/cnn reporting on the issue but so far nothing substantial has emerged.The response by the Sudanese general that I saw on bbcworld last weekend and on this posting the claim by gen Omar bashir that darfur is an excuse to target islam are not convincing. Other than saying that the west is targetting islam,they made no attempt to answer the charges of complicity in genocide.Has anyone got a more reliable alternative report to rely on?If not,then we should call a changkul a changkul,that what is happening is genocide on a black civilian population by arab militias backed by the govt.The footage I saw sometime back of militias on camel-backs looting and burning African huts did not seem irrefutable.So are the accounts of survivors(all civilians) which so far have remained unchallenged.Genocide and systematic expulsion of a people from their homeland come under crimes against humanity in international law.I hope the Sudanese muslims did not commit this, but if they do,we should not cover up their crimes in the name of Islamic brotherhood.

By the way,some of those black African refugees do look like muslims by the way they dress.Is this a racist crime arabs against blacks? I hope not.

It is true that western govts and Christian NGOs have been supporting the SPLA rebels in the south,and bill Clinton bombed a pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum,but in matters of justice muslims have to be very objective even if it is not in favour of our brethren.

Just being a spoilsport.
mazeni

Darfur Issue #2
by Dr. Fauzi

“you will not find the jews as well as the christians being completely at ease with you the muslims, untill you become the followers of their paganistic beliefs” the meaning of a verse of the Quran, this thing about the non muslims (jews and christians) against us is not a fantasy, there are views that the muslims’ overreactions are partly to blame, our ways in dealing with the non muslims, the over zealotness of the muslims, failure to comprehend the changing circumstances, the western sensibility is a potent force, well these half truths are there but the story of darfor yet again illustrates that muslims are the targets of the western machinations especially if they choose to profess the rules of Allah SWT as supreme,

“do you think that you will left at ease after you have professed to the truth of Allah SWT, have you not seen what have been afflicted to those who believed before you untill HE discerned ……..”

interesting read:

Darfur an excuse to ‘target Islam’
By AFP and AP correspondents in London
July 26, 2004

SUDANESE President Omar al-Beshir has brushed off mounting international concern over the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, accusing the West of using the issue to “target Islam”.

As Australia joined Britain in considering a possible troop commitment to Sudan, and the US and European Union warned of economic sanctions, Mr Beshir said the “real aim” of such moves was to stop the spread of Islam in the northeast African nation.

Pro-government newspaper Al-Anbaa reported that Mr Beshir made the remarks to supporters in the central region of Gezira following evening prayers on Friday. “The international concern about the Darfur issue is targeting the status of Islam in Sudan,” the paper quoted him as saying.

He said his national “salvation” Government, as its supporters refer to it, would continue to adhere to Islamic law, “set an example for social cohesion and bring humanity out of darkness to the light of Islam”.

Sudan, the largest country in Africa, is 70 per cent Muslim. Mr Beshir seized power in a bloodless Islamist coup in 1989.

The UN estimates that 50,000 people have died in Darfur and about 1.2 million have been driven from their homes since a revolt against Mr Beshir’s Arab-dominated Government broke out among indigenous black African ethnic minorities in February 2003.

In response, an Arab militia known as the Janjaweed, widely believed to be backed by Mr Beshir’s regime, launched a campaign of violence against black African villagers that the US Congress has declared to be attempted genocide.

The US has presented a draft UN Security Council resolution authorising sanctions against Sudan should it fail to prosecute leaders of the Janjaweed.

“They must stop Janjaweed violence, they must provide access to humanitarian relief for the people who suffer,” US President George W.Bush said last week.

Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot warned yesterday that “if the situation doesn’t improve quickly, sanctions by the international community will inevitably follow”. The Netherlands currently holds the EU presidency.

However, the chairman of the Sudanese parliament’s foreign relations committee, Al-Tigani Mustafa, warned yesterday that sanctions would “escalate and complicate, rather than solve, the Darfur crisis”. He won support from Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit, who said Sudan should be given time to implement its commitments to the UN and the US.

Arguing that the Darfur situation was complex, Mr Abul Gheit said the Sudanese Government, with the support of the African Union, had begun taking steps to address it. “We cannot tell Sudanese officials … ‘Tomorrow you should immediately achieve complete calm’,” he said.

Britain has said it could send thousands of troops to the region if required. British army chief General Sir Michael Jackson told the BBC that “we could put a brigade together very quickly indeed”. Asked how many troops that would entail, he replied: “Five thousand.”

Darfur Issue #3
by Dr. Musa

asm
Like most of you i am disturbed by the crisis in darfur. I am however similarly disturbed by the responses of some of us towards the issues. Whilst admitting naivety at most of the ovewhelming issues at play there, we’ve made insinuations or displayed nuances which are in my mind lacking at the very lowest level of ukhuwah islamiah. And this my dear bros/sis is the adab/culture of husnuzzan (harbouring good thoughts of your fellow muslim bros/sis). And this concept as alluded to by al-Ghazali (may Allah bless his soul) is the least that a bro can expect of another ; especially so in the midst of uncertainty, vagueness and raging disinformation which is waged by the forces of disbelief.

I make no pretense of my unflinching and deep fraternity with the muslim bros in the Sudanese govt since the early 70s becos many of them were my teachers and friends during our formative years in the UK. Let there be no 2 ways about this – this is a govt which is committed to the upholding of the shariah. Her shortfalls in this holy endeavour is for another deliberation. It bleeds my heart reading Mazeni’s mail ( the hurt is more so following his alternative view of the syahid bombers and the Malaysiakini caption says it all ). Despite all that has been written and the various argumentations the other equally pivotal concept of “almautufisabilillah hi asma amanina – allahu akbar walillahil hamd” (and to die in the path of jihad fisabilillah is our greatest ambition) is inadvertently thrashed ; and thrown out of the window by the likes of malaysiakini.

My first intro to maqasid as shariah was by the likes of Zubair Taha, a minister in the Sudanese Islamic govt ( our father Prof. Malik Badri will testify personally that this psychology student of his has never been part of this savage, irreprehensibe and inhumane treatment of their citizenry) Despite being a minister; he personally travelled south and took up arms to lead the charge of the Sudanese soldiers against the treacherous SPLM (Sudanese Peoples Liberation Movement) led by the American Proxy, John Garang. He was in the twilight of near death in one of the battles having been severely injured but a “dream” woke him up and he survived to fight the next battle.

The foreign minister, Dr. Mustafa was once my colleague in the FOSIS (Fed of Student Islamic Societies in the UK & Eire) executive committee. He remains one of the most articulate in the cabinet and is most able to counter the barrage of diplomatic animosity.

Dr. Hasan Turabi (in the late 70s with a few friends/reporters we had a close session with him on the Sudanese experience) who I much admired in the early days of the Sudanese Islamic Project; has unfortunately changed his Islamic ways – yes even prominent islamist do change hence the celebrated dua. Considered one of the most versatile and progressive Muslim leaders his fatwa of late has been “quetsionable” and in some instances “wayward”. His alienation from mainstream islamic politics was evidenced from his collusion with the American sponsored rebels; SPLM when his party PNC (Popular National Congress) signed the MOU with Garang in feb 2001.

So bros, Sudanese politics which you only just heard over the past week or so is webbed in a complexity of sorts. The other regions seeing the “gains” acquired by Garang are toying with cessionist ideas – like penang getting ideas of the succesful s’pore project in 1969! The least our bros expect from us is husnuzzan – is that too much to ask …

wallahualam

musa

Darfur Issue #4
by Dr. Azhar

ASM and greetings from the Gulf,

I have had the opportunity to speak to a representative of a national relief organization who just got back from Darfur 2 days ago. I have also taken the liberty to speak to a number of Sudanese doctors, who are aplenty in our hospital, to get some more inside views of the real situation in Sudan. In brief, this is my summary:

What is happening in Darfur is not a new and isolated event, and not divorced from the country’s recent history of the past couple of decades. Sudan’s vastness coupled with poverty and low living standards make uprising by villages / rebel groups a no surprise by international standards. The media-painted accounts of Govt-backed arab Janjawids killing the African Sudanese are too complicated for even the locals to conclude, and we are in no better position to judge. What is apparent, if not obvious, is a series of events one cannot ignore.the troubles with western-backed Christian, John Garang, making the South of Sudan almost separated, if not independent from the main state; resurfacing of previous conflicts in the East, bordering Eriteria; and now the current problems in the Western province of Darfur. One can only guess that the North and Central are ‘left to be dealt with’ by forces interested to interfere with affairs in this strongly Muslim-ruled African civilization. A Sudanese physician whom I’ve just spoken to minutes ago, described this simply as the west’s plan to invade, akin to what happened in Iraq.

I found it also interesting to note accounts of my contact and that of a number of Egyptian doctors who spent a stint in Darfur. Accordingly, there is but an ongoing problem there, but nowhere near the hyper inflated reports by the western media. Yes, there were skirmishes and killings (mind you, by all sides) but a magnitude of “genocide” or “the worst humanitarian crisis of this century” as reported by the west is simply a bull.. by local standards and foreign humanitarian workers and observers. There is reportedly ample policing by non-military security forces and even foreign women workers are almost guaranteed safety, hence MERCY Malaysia’s decision to send out a female non-Muslim. What’s also interesting is that UN and many western NGOs were found to prevent the many thousands of Internally Displaced People (IDPs; unlike refugees, they’re still within the borders of their own country) from returning to their villages, as though trying to maintain status quo of a very volatile and insecure crisis situation. This, unless due to security or valid reasons, is very much against the spirit of humanitarian relief where you assist and get people back to their independent live styles in their respective kampungs. Hasten to add their usual uncooperative behaviour especially towards Muslim NGOs (reminding me of the snobbish attitudes of some European NGOs and intimidatingly-arrogant Canadian military personnel, we bumped into in the Dreniza villages of Kosova in 1999). In the weekly humanitarian NGOs’ meet in Khartoum, these UN and western NGOs are now being criticized by the Sudanese Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs for their lack of relief achievements, despite being allocated and given various tasks and assistance. Reports from independent sources and observers also confirmed the safe and secure return of many IDPs back to their villages (100,000 in North Darfur, hundreds daily in South Darfur, but no info on West Darfur), and government assistance, though inadequate (hence required + + + from all of us) by way of food, maize, oil, plastic shelters etc.

While we rely heavily on news channels like the CNN, BBC and others, I remind myself and all of our obligatory duty to vet reports, especially of such nature. Allah’s reminder in Al-Hujurat 49:6 in the verification of news brought by the faasiqun should apply even with a heavier weightage when dealing with those from the kaafirun. Our MERCY experience in the Moluccas Islands of Indonesia was an unforgettable lesson. ‘Religious’ conflicts, which started on Eid ul Fitri in Jan 2000 (when numerous Muslims were killed by the Christians in the streets of Ambon, followed by clashes in the villages of Ternate and elsewhere), were only reported by the BBC in Mar 2001 as a recently Muslim-initiated war. The heavily biased BBC & CNN footages, interviews and video clips that we saw in our Jakarta hotel, showed nothing but some victims from Christian villages and few damaged Churches. Absolutely nothing about the charred remains of men, women and children in a burnt-out masjid in Galela, the literally butchered bodies of many other villages in Northern Maluku, the seriously injured that we met and spoke to (one abdominal gun shot who later succumbed in Ternate, a few fractured tib-fibs and explosion-burnt patients in a maternity-turned-trauma center) in Ambon city.

While MERCY remains apolitical and neutral on humanitarian grounds, I feel duty bound as a responsible Muslim physician to relate these findings to the rest. Agreeably, we need alternatives to mainstream media and Al-Jazeera may be a promising potential. When Washington officially protested to the Qatar government against this Doha-based news station for being biased, anti-US and detrimental to the liberation of Iraq, one only needs to be reminded yet again by the Almighty’s declaration of their sinister agendas in Al-Baqarah 2:120.

On a more personal note, a number of key people in the Sudanese government were notable Muslim scholars during our UK days in the 70s & 80s. Old guards of Newcastle (in the early 80s) will remember a Sudanese brother called Al-Haj Adam Yusuf, now a governor/wakil rakyat back home, not only as an Imam and Khatib but also as an exemplary Muslim scholar to whom, many in Geordieland and throughout the UK turned to for opinion and advice.

In short, it’s a real world out there, maybe cruel to some, for us Muslims to face. And in these trying days of continuous fitnah on the ummah, returning to basic guidelines and consolidating our efforts are but a demand on every believing brother/sister. To those who feel that they should see and hear for themselves, on top of physically contributing to assist, a mission out with MERCY Malaysia, or perhaps Islamic Relief UK, to Darfur would insya allah prove beneficial, in this world and the hereafter. Allahu a’lam.

Azhar Abdul Aziz
Hamad General Hospital
Doha, Qatar

Darfur Issue #5
by Dr. Fauzi

news that filter thru with regards darfur are sketchy to say the least, i have heard many excerpts both from the christian missionaries (oxfam, aid watch so forth) and the main stream british and world news (bbc, cnn afp so on) and also from official sudanese gov positions, the uk sudanese ambassador, the latter would disagree all western assertions few facts, the war has been going on for at least 10 years yet they require settlement and remedial actions in weeks and days, reports of genocides, totures and rapes (same has been labelled to mugabe, the actual situation in zimbabwe is actually not that bad) are based on a few human accounts of refugees these are not to be taken as truths, at best suspicions or just mere accusations, they must be tested before they can become facts, ministers, aid workers so forth go to one camp and make massive infalted claims on sudanese governments as collaborators to janjaweed, these people have been beligerent for years!! comments that i have heard in the news make your blood boils as they are half truths and accusations, there is no chance that these assertions can be substantiated. lets not make qualms that people do commit excesses, but there is a huge difference in saying sudanese government coconspire to genocides, totures and rapes!! there is a question of faith here, when a muslim comes to you with a piece of news, you must believe the muslim (especially when they profess to withold syariah) and mistrust should be given to news form the west, this is not a question of being a spoilsport!

Darfur Issue #6
by Dr. Mazeni Alwi

Thank you Musa and fauzi for your responses.I think none of us need to be reminded that many people don’t like islam and muslims. Wether or not this translates into conspiracy theories,opinions differ.

If you read my posting carefully,I do still have husnul-zann towards the Sudanese muslims.However I would not allow that to cloud my objectivity – as the prophetic tradition that says ‘help your brother wether he is the oppressed or oppressor’.In a situation as grave as this,I think objectivity is paramount.

The responses to my posting so far have failed to answer my queries and assuage my anxieties,much like the official statements from the govt.All I want is a credible alternative account to challenge those of the bbc & cnn to help me make an independent judgement.Also,Fauzi, we cannot simply brush aside accounts of survivors as unreliable without offering a credible rebuttal.Maybe they lied to embarrass the govt, but maybe they spoke the truth.

Well, back to husnul-zann and objectivity.I can recall 2 specific situations in the past.Many muslim students hailed the Islamic revolution in iran,and thought that this is the model for the Islamic world to follow.Not long after, it was odd that the Islamic republic was very supportive of hafez assad,who was at that time killing the muslim brotherhood supporters in Aleppo and hamas.I asked the more knowledgable brothers – the answer given was something along the line of husnul-zann.

Then the revolution started turning on its own children – bani sadr, mehdi bazargan,ibrahim yazdi… again the same answer.Maybe the shia have their way of doing things.

Then Afghanistan.We were all happy that mujahideen drove the soviets out.At last the sunni world can do it too.The most well known among Malaysians was hizbi islami led by gulbuddin hekmatyar because of its close association with jamaat islami. But not long after, they started to turn on each other,very brutal ,so much so that more afghan civilians died under them than under the russians,and later the Taliban stepped in to restore order(and the rest is history).Again I asked the knowledgable brothers,and the answer given was similar.Too many people have died because we dared not be objective and make criticisms where they are due.

Back to sudan,I never had the same privilege as musa of personally knowing important Sudanese Islamic activists.Even if Hassan turabi has gone wayward, there was no need for physically assaulting him at a Canadian airport.Again the charges of govt complicity have not been satisfactorily answered.

Shariah at all costs as state laws- too many politicians/govt have used it to maintain polpularity and remain in power among muslims – one day they were stauch secularists, the next day strictly applying the shariah.jaafar numeiri of sudan was one example,then the state govts in northern Nigeria, Pakistan. In its present state, shariah only applies to the poor and uneducated.The corrupt and power abusing elite of Saudi Arabia,Pakistan,Nigeria etc escape them.I don’t know enough about sudan but I hope it is not like that.What is really the priority for muslims?

mazeni

Darfur Issue #7
by Ainullotfi

I forwarded the mail from akh Dr Azhar for us to have an alternative perspective of what happened in Sudan.

Personally I do not know what really happened there. But I am cautioning against taking what the West told us about it wholesomely. This does not mean denial. This only means that we are cautious, so that we do not be unjust to ourselves.

The experiences in the last few years showed us that what they say aren’t always the truth. Dr Azhar has pointed out manifestly about the Ambon/Maluku case… every single media in the world told us that the perpetrators of the crimes there were the Muslims and the victims were the Christians. Only after we (our own brothers and sisters) went there and looked at the facts of the ground that we knew what really happened, and how the events there were started off by the massacre of Muslims during the Eid (yes, the Eid day!). Did any of the “neutral”, “unbiased” press record or report these? Until now the West’s perspective of things in Maluku are unchallenged officially, and on official record of everyone, the Muslims are the wrong, not the wronged.

The case of Iraq is another glaring example. Before the war everyone accepted it as fact that the Iraqis had WMD. Those opposed did not say for sure the Iraqis didn’t have, only they say they require more evidence. Some prefer to solve it not by war, but by other means. Furthermore, some have their own agenda vis-a-vis the Americans. But no one actually believed that the Iraqis didn’t have the weapons. Now, after all the destruction and killings, we know.

Remember the bombings of the “WMD factory” in Khartoum by Bill Clinton? How many innocent civilians (yes, civilians, and innocent too — Arabs have civialians, and they can be innocent too, not just the West!) were killed? Did anyone give a hoot? Okay… many would say later that the Americans were wrong, but after all, the Sudanese were not exactly good anyway, right? So what if a few blacks and Arabs, Muslims even, were killed? The “WMD factory” turned out to be just what the Sudanese government said it was… a pharmaceutical factory which amongst others produces baby milk! Mmm… the Sudanese government could speak the truth after all?

The internal strife in Algeria was another case that comes to my mind. Remember the violence there after the Islamists were denied their victory in the “democratic” elections some years ago? We were told that the fanatic fundamentalist Islamist gangs went on a rampage of violence in the whole country, killing just about anyone who crossed their path, and worse, worse! Raping the women just freely! Did anyone stop an ponder? On one hand they are accused of being religious fanatics, forcing every woman to don up the “discriminatory hijabs”, allowing them to only let their eyes seen by the world. Then in the same breath, they are accused of a heinous sexual crime… Does it add up? It’s either one or the other… no two thoughts about it, if one were to think straight! Only later we were to know that actually lots of these crimes were done by the Algerian “security apparatus” themselves, to tarnish the image of the Islamists and to isolate them from the support afforded to them by the Algerian people! But no, we could never figure it out ourselves… we swallowed what was reported by the “unbiased” Western press… and was unjust to ourselves… if not our own brethren.

No, I’m not saying that be go into a state of denial. Far from it. Rather I am just advising caution. Could we not get more information from the people we trust more on the matter? In the event, could we also get the bigger perspective of the whole Sudanese issue, beyond just Darfur? Could we even trust what was said by some of the Sudanese officials (in spite of the demonisation by the West)… some of whom we knew personally as examplary Muslim students at British universities years ago? Why would their word be of less value than those who are clearly trying to break Islam up?

Yes, if after further investigation, they were proved to be wrong and unjust… go ahead, we’ll fight them. But until we get a total picture of what happened, couldn’t we just advise restraint? At the same time, yes, do our best to help the victims of the problems there. Send help and relief. Support Mercy and Islamic Relief. Garner support from all over. Even volunteer to go there if one could, so that one could actually report back what really happened (as was the case in Maluku). But reserve judgments. Please.

Wassalam.

Ainullotfi Abdul Latif

Islam Online Live Dialogue: Humanitarian Crisis in Darfur – An Eyewitness Account

Assalamu ‘alaykum wr wb!

This is the transcript for the Live Dialogue held yesterday night [from 11:30 pm] at Islam Online pertaining to the Darfur issue.

The guest answering questions was Dr. Mansour Muhammed Hassan who recently returned from a 20 day trip to Darfur in Sudan where he was the head of the medical aid mission sent by Egypt’s Medical Doctors’ Syndicate between July 2 – 23, 2004.

Dr. Hassan also visited the south of Sudan with a similar mission in April.

He is a 1979 graduate of Alexandria University’s Faculty of Medicine and is currently a consultant in pediatrics in Alexandria, Egypt. He is also the secretary general of Alexandria’s Medical Doctors’ Syndicate.

Dr. Hassan welcomes your questions about the humanitarian situation in Darfur and in the south of Sudan.

Hope it is useful. Wassalam.

Ainullotfi/Murniati