No Moral Equivalence

By Hasan Zillur Rahim

In ecology, the “butterfly effect” illustrates the interconnectedness of our earth. A butterfly flutters its wings in Brazil and causes a tornado in Texas. The effect is applicable to politics, economics and other spheres of human activity as well. Brutal treatment of a minority in one country causes severe backlash in another. Cheap foreign labor induces corporations to move operations offshore. The global village is a web of visible and invisible connections that daily force us to reexamine our notions of causality.

Given all that, there is still no way we can morally justify the violence in Afghanistan because of a heinous act perpetrated in Florida. A publicity-hungry pastor burns a copy of the Quran in the sunshine state. A mob attacks U.N. workers in Mazar-e-Sharif in Afghanistan, killing 12. The violence spreads to Kandahar and Jalalabad, resulting in more deaths.

Resentment has, of course, been building in Afghanistan against U.S. and Western forces for years. International contractors are increasingly seen for what they are: mercenaries. Recently, some U.S. soldiers not only killed young Afghans but posed like sadists for pictures with their “trophies,” the dead civilians.

But can these atrocities justify the killing of U.N. workers? No. There is no moral equivalence here, period. Imams of Mazar-e-Sharif did their part to feed the frenzy, exhorting their flocks to avenge burning of the Quran that took place 10 days earlier. What kind of immoral irresponsibility is that?

As Muslims, we must condemn the death of innocent civilians everywhere. Our grief and shock in this particular case is heightened because the killers were Muslims.

The Quran states: No bearer of burden can bear the burden of another. This verse is repeated 4 times in the Quran (6:164, 17:15, 39:7, 53:38), underscoring its importance. Its corollary is that we cannot exact retribution from person A because of an act committed by person B.

How can we explain the slaughter of 33-year-old Swede Joakim Dungel, for instance, by the mob in Mazar-e-Sharif because a madman an ocean away committed a despicable act?

We cannot, and as Muslims, we must unequivocally say so.

In America, Islamophobia seems to be growing by the day. While many Americans shun the bigotry of their fellow citizens, there is no question that membership in the bigotry club is increasing at an alarming rate. Conservatives have caused panic among Americans with the mendacious claim that something horrible called Sharia is about to overwhelm American democracy and constitution.

These developments are of deep concern to American Muslims.

But while we try to defend our honor and dignity by legal means and by doing good for the society at large - feeding the homeless, offering free medical service to the uninsured, and so on - we must also develop the self-assurance to unequivocally condemn the cruelty and irrational behavior of other Muslims when that occurs.

There was nothing Islamic about what happened in Marar-e-Sharif; on the contrary, what happened there gave Islam a bad name. Those of us praying for the downfall of despots and despotic institutions in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, Libya, Syria, Bahrain and other countries must also pray equally fervently for religious hysteria and indiscriminate violence to disappear from among Muslims. That is the least we can do.