History
testifies that when Muslim leaders aimed towards worldly ambitions and had luxurious lifestyles,
not only did the Muslim ummah suffered but also most of humanity. On the
contrary, when they have had a simple
life and prioritised the people’s interest, justice and human dignity, then
there was peace and prosperity.
In Islam,
there is no leadership but public servanthood which is based on the hadith of
the Prophet who states, “The leader of the tribe is the one who serves them.” When the
Muslims leaders applied this principle, Muslims
had a balance of power globally which
prevented many wars and conflicts.
Since the power of Muslims diminished from
the beginning of the twentieth century, more wars and conflicts occurred. Millions of innocent people were killed due to “guilt by association” of
the barbaric principle of philosophy. The
human era beyond the 20th century has been the deadliest of centuries
of human history recorded. We think that as humans we are becoming increasingly
civilised compared to previous centuries.
However, in reality, we are becoming more selfish, egoistic and destructive
than ever regarding the killing of each other as the Russian
intellectual, Pitirim Sorokin, argues in his book “The Ways and Power of Love.”
In 1994, around one million Rwandans were
killed and the global powers only watched. In the early 90s over 200,000 Bosnians were killed in central
Europe. Once again there was no intervention for years. Similarly, they are not
taking any preventive action to stop the killing of Rohingya’s Muslims as it is not in the self-interest of Muslim leaders and national
interest of the global powers.
The leaders of Muslim majority countries are only speaking to satisfy their public opinion. Some leaders are making
thunder-like noises but without any
indication of rain. If over 60 Muslim
countries cannot prevent or cease ethnic
cleansing in Rohingya, this indicates that Muslim leaders are not taking the sincere
steps except for the exploiting of the situation for their self-interest. The taxpayer’s money which they allocate for Rohingya’s Muslims is not reaching the victims because none of the
Muslim countries have a network in Rohingya.
I visited Myanmar two years ago. There were few Muslims NGOs which were working
for the people including Muslims. There were no other networks. Erdogan’s regimes
put pressure on the Myanmar government to close five Muslim schools and a soup
kitchen which was operated by a Turkish
NGO before the ethnic cleansing began. The schools
which were educating thousands of students and now is not run by the
Turkish NGO and the soup kitchen that was providing meal for 750 orphans in Rohingya were
consequently closed.
Who is responsible for ethnic
cleansing in Rohingya? Many will point out their fingers to the Buddhists
extremists. Yes, they are, but those who think
about self or national interest are equally responsible before God. The
Muslim world will continue to suffer greatly
until we have leaders with no worldly ambition like Umar ibn Abdulaziz, Saladin
and Uthman Ghazi who did not leave any
inheritance but only a handful money to
cover their burial expenses.
