Voice of British Muslim Women

Bareera Ghaffar, Birmingham 

The last few weeks there has been a plethora of news from multiple mediums coming from the Middle East. At the centre of this news is a place engulfed in pain, grief, yet a strong sense of resilience. But Palestine, and Palestinians are more than their pain and more than just this cyclical and multi-generational grief. This is a place of history, a place where the roots of the Abrahamic faiths combine and a place where olive trees stand.  This weaving of struggle and courage that we have seen has brought about feelings of helplessness, feelings we may not be able to place and words we cannot string together to describe the horrors that have taken place.  

Beyond the complexities of the geopolitical state of affairs – engraved at the core of it all, are a people. A people who for generations have passed down stories of hope and justice, a people who have dreams and ambitions like you and I, a people who want to wake up and hear birds and the laughter of children playing outside – are a people who just want to be.  

Children and disabled people at times of a crisis are the most affected groups, they are often at the bottom of the hierarchy and bear the full burden of suffering. At times like this, they are displaced, and the sheer lack of stability alone can have immeasurable effects on one’s wellbeing – the continuous traumatic stress is the detrimental effects and cost of conflict.  There is a vital need to have compassion and the need for peace is paramount. 

Arundhati Roy writes “once you see it, you cannot unsee it…”. Therefore, we cannot and must not show moral apathy. We must stand for justice, we must use our #voicesforpeace, and we must highlight the voices and experiences of those most affected. The narratives that we have seen on social media of people on the ground transcends borders, they are inviting the world into their lived experiences, we are seeing live tweets from people and then, a silence. We are sitting in our homes while people audition for our sympathies, showing us their schools and homes that once were, standing in heaps of rubble. Is that not soul-stirring enough? 

The Holy Quran chapter 5 verse 33 states “whoso kills a person it shall be as if he had killed all mankind:”  

I ask, how much of mankind do we have left?  

We must engage, we have a shared sense of humanity and with this unity we have a shared voice of justice, peace, and integrity for all humans. 

Where there is faith, hope endures.  

Charles M Blow in his piece on the New York times writes “When our empathies have boundaries when they stop at borders, races, and ethnicities. When one group is freely granted them and another is wholly deprived, then our empathies are false. They have been weaponised. They are instruments in an argument”. We must use our voices for the rights and dignity of all humans. All children have a right to a future and not to have their lives cut short. We must persevere and make justice with a right to exist as the foundation on which peace flourishes. Moving forward we must be guided by the principles of empathy and a shared commitment of advocating for the rights of all and emphasising that every story and every individual matters.  People are more than just numbers and statistics.