Fawāz is safe, Alhamdullilāh! A week after the passing of little Rayān in Morocco, there is relief for the release of the 6-year-old boy kidnapped more than 3 months ago in the Dar’ā district in Syria. A long torment, which, however, did not receive the same level of collective involvement on the part of the Ummah, as it was in Rayān’s case.
As a matter of fact, the media dealt with Fawāz’s story only occasionally, as if it were an ordinary piece of news, while on “social networks” only very few ʾadʿiyah for the fate of Fawāz were addressed to the Most High, even when the kidnappers sent to the family a video in which the child appears naked on a bed, squirming in fear at each stroke of the belt he gets.
“In the name of Allāh, do not beat me”, “in the name of Allāh, do not beat me”, he prayed while crying, without moving to pity those unscrupulous criminals, who are nothing more than gone mad puppets owned by Shaytān. “We will cut off one his fingers for every day that passes”, they threatened if the family had not delivered the ransom by the established deadline.
Nonetheless, the news of the video, which coincided with Rayān’s death (may Allaah subhanahu wa ta’ala have mercy on him), did not get the general attention it deserved, either on TV or in the newspapers, and not even online, where the mobilization was extremely limited in extent compared to the one that accompanied the entire development of the tragedy in Morocco.
How many of us knew about the chilling footage, and dared to watch it? How many of us have constantly followed Fawaz’s story from the beginning, and were informed in real time of his release? Few, let’s face it.
And it does not seem that his return home to his parents’ arms, after the payment of the ransom, managed to warm the beating hearts of the web in a significant way. How many of us expressed joy and thanked Allāh subhanahu wa ta’ala for the happy ending?
The impression is that not all the sufferings affecting Muslims are considered on the same level. Therefore, during the live broadcasts from the now famous well of Ighran, some Syrian users were certainly right in complaining on Facebook about this contradiction, which certainly does not constitute an example of the Ummah Wāhida desired by Allāh subhanahu wa ta’ala, and of the community left to us by Prophet Muhammad ṣallāllāhu ʿalayhī wa-sallama.
“Soul and blood”, a young Syrian blogger wrote, “are possessed by little Fawāz as well”, an innocent boy who saw death in front of his eyes for over 3 months, living in deprivation and violence, both physical and psychological, without receiving the pity of the overwhelming majority of Muslims.
“Soul and blood” are possessed also by all the children in Syria, Yemen, Palestine, Afghanistan, India, Kashmir, China, Burma, the Philippines, Libya, Africa, and everywhere in the world Muslims are being faced with persecution, adversity, and conflict. And “soul and blood” are possessed by the countless children who died at the hands of hostile regimes or sometimes, too often, due to the friendly fire of Muslims themselves.
This logic applies to adults as well, to the many sisters and the many brothers who experience stories of death or even of life, but of a hard life that cannot be harder, spent on a daily basis in the midst of misery, desperation, and injustice.
Where is our Islamic solidarity toward them? And the bond of brotherhood between Muslims? Why don’t we remember them every day in our prayers? Have we perhaps relegated them to the backroom of our minds and hearts, as if they were “cold” facts and figures, a distant background that lies behind us, while empathizing and moving to tears only in front of Al Jazeera’s television screens? This is not good, and we must realize it. We did it…
Excuse me, you are not like Rayān to enjoy their sympathy and be mentioned in their prayers. You are not like Rayān to be able to remind them that they are a nation as they claim to be, although Allāh has shown that most of them are hypocrites, may my Lord have mercy on them.
Please do not misunderstand the harsh words of the young Syrian blogger, who is understandably hardened and embittered by more than a decade of war and abuse suffered from the Syrian population; and please do not misunderstand us and the message we are aiming to convey.
In those days of solitude and agony, the Most High was with Rayān, and gently He took the little kid away with Him. What are His plans? About them, we can only speculate. However, out of prudence it is better not to fly too much with the imagination, thus avoiding to self-convince ourselves about something that in reality it is not. Allāh a’alam.
But if we try to catch a sign from Him, it could be said that Rayān has indeed gathered around his sacrifice the entire Ummah, which has merged anew his soul and blood into a single body. The sacrifice of which Fawāz will remain a living witness, instead exposes our distraction on the many plights afflicting Muslims, which often find us anesthetized, rather than indifferent. The suffering that hits even one point of the Ummah affects all Muslims, and we should always be able to feel the pain, and not just case by case. If this is the lesson that has come down to us from above, let us welcome it and never forget it.
Jihād senza Spada 