Muslim Responsibility

“The blame is only against those who oppress men and wrong-doing and insolently transgress beyond bounds through the land, defying right and justice: for such there will be a penalty grievous.”

-al-Qur’an Chapter 42 (Ash-Shura) verse 42

On April 25, 2008 three NYPD officers were acquitted of murder charges in the death of Sean Bell. Sean was a young man engaged to be married in NY who on that night had gone to a club for his bachelor’s party. Before the night would be over Sean Bell would die after he and his unarmed friends were fired on 50 times by NYPD undercover officers. It’s been said that at least one of the officers were drunk or impaired at the time of the incident.

For those who are familiar with American “justice” and particularly in New York, the verdict of the trial was not a surprise. It’s not the first time that police officials have killed unarmed, unthreatening men, had a multitude of evidence against them and still were found not guilty of having committed a crime. Justifiable homicide they call it. The officers fear for their safety…so they say. In this country police officers are more or less above the law, it is rare that they will commit a crime “in the line of duty” and be found guilty of having done something wrong. We who are in the states today live in what is a police state. Those in tight pants and gold badges are notorious for abusing their power. Harassing pedestrians, profiling black and Latino individuals, roughing others up and so on. Others have attacked citizens and when citizens try to block the attack on them not by hitting the police but by shielding their bodies, the victim of the attack is charged with assaulting a police officer. No matter how much evidence is presented against them, the vast majority of the police officers are free to roam the street with no fear of prosecution or even a slap on the wrist.

As cases of police brutality increase, “spokespersons” for the black community come out of the shadows and raise a fuss appearing to try to bring about change in the dealings of the tight pant crew. Let’s understand, in saying all of this, we’re not saying that all people who are police officials are bad. There are some who do want to help protect their community, however, they do not seem to be numerically equal to those who see in the community an enemy. Even with those police officers who are “good”, these have to abide by wrong doings in the very least by keeping silent about incidents they’ve seen or heard occurred. They won’t let known what they’ve seen. The existence of a “blue wall of silence” has been talked about often. The idea that “if you snitch, don’t expect any back up when you go out on your shift” and so the “good” police individual has to be a part of criminal behavior towards the community. If you haven’t seen the movie Serpico starring Al Pacino, pick it up when you have the opportunity because it gives some incite to this. Serpico is a true story of an incident in the NYPD during the 70’s or 80’s. Going back to our subject, we are living in a police state, and if it isn’t completely that yet, it will be in the near future at the rate things are headed. The black ‘spokespersons” or the progressive “spokespersons” seem to come out and attack the symptoms but they don’t go after the disease itself. They stop the cough, but the cold is still there which means there will be more coughing tomorrow. Once the cold is gone, the cough will be gone. The issue of the police state, abuse of power by authority figures, the weakening of the general public, etc, these are things that must be addressed if change is to occur permanently. It was addressed extremely vigorously in the 1960’s and 70’s through groups like the Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU), the Muslim Mosque Incorporated (MMI), the SCLC Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Black Panthers to name a few. After these decades no group was dealing with this problem on a national scale and bringing to light the injustices practiced. We see that from the 1980’s on, police power and might increased drastically, potentially as a direct result of no one checking the system of authority.

In Islam, the Muslim is taught to stand up against injustice to change it with one’s hand and if that is not possible to change it with one’s words and if that’s not possible to at least have an intense dislike and aversion towards the injustice. The Muslim is also taught that it is their responsibility to protect those who are weak in the land. The Muslim is to voice the needs of those who are needy and to be there as a shield for those who are being beaten whether literally or figuratively speaking. There have been many occasions of injustice going on in this country both to Muslims and to non-Muslims. Muslims today are receiving a large degree of oppression; being arrested under no charges, profiled, money taken from accounts, being dehumanized in the media and so forth. The Muslim in the west has to seek justice for himself and herself this is true. Yet, we can’t isolate ourselves from the communities we are around and have it stuck in our heads that since they aren’t Muslims they don’t deserve our help. Some of us do have this ego-centric or “Muslim nationalistic” pride where if it’s not happening to a Muslim it doesn’t matter but once it happens to a Muslim then it’s an important issue to address. This is wrong. Wrong is wrong and should be confronted in the first case of it’s baring its head in society. The Muslim must learn to identify with the oppressed people in any area the Muslim happens to be in.

Something that’s amazing is how the Muslims in the past would essentially keep themselves out of the general community and not become involved with the problems being faced, racism being the biggest issue of all. Some had that feeling of being higher and better than others. Then, when the Muslim became the target and the punching bag in the west, the Muslim was shocked at how no one felt any compassion for the Muslims. They were shocked at how no one would help the Muslim, speak out for the Muslim, protect them from harassment and anger. Why should it be a surprise? You get what you give, what goes out is what comes in.

With regards to what happened to Sean Bell and the verdict that was given today, the Muslim community should be paying very close attention to it. Furthermore, the Muslim community should draw attention to what is going on over here in various parts of the country. Innocent people being murdered by the police, police sending dogs into empty buildings to attack homeless people sleeping and not bothering anyone, police using tasers repeatedly on individuals who pose no threat whatsoever and so forth. These things should not be ignored. The obligations of Muslims to help wherever he or she can. To remain silent is to be complicit and to give approval of a crime being committed. We make salat and memorize the Qur’an…then what? What are we memorizing, what are we learning? Qur’anic memorization is not about learning to brag or to debate; what we learn from the Qur’an should be implemented in our lives. When we say nothing against open murders and brutality, we are not implementing our Islam in our lives. It exists in theory but in action, our diin is missing.