slow response<\/a>. There will certainly be long term consequences to the Pakistani government\u2019s perceived shortcomings in the response.<\/p>\nThere will, even more certainly, be long term consequences to the poor response by the Americans and other western countries. Because of the remoteness and harshness of the terrain, helicopters were needed quickly to drop supplies and rescue workers. There was an American base nearby in Afghanistan with thousands of helicopters still America only sent 8 helicopters and offered $50 million in aid. The American response was certainly minimal.<\/p>\n
No final numbers are in yet for the earthquake, but at least 40,000 are dead and between 2 and 5 million homeless in an area where winter is setting in quickly. However, the response of the Muslim world is what I find shocking and impossible to comprehend. Where are Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Qatar, Turkey, Iran, and all the other Muslim countries that are in a position to help? When the world\u2019s only remaining superpower (and one of the richest nations on earth) has a catastrophe, everyone lines up to help \u2013 even those who are branded by the US as part of an \u201caxis of evil\u201d. When a poor Muslim country has a catastrophe of a magnitude not witnessed in recent memory, it is a different story:<\/p>\n
Tsunami<\/b>: 150,000 dead \u2013 500,000 homeless \u2013 $204 million in Muslim aid
\nKatrina<\/b>: 1,000 dead \u2013 20,000 homeless \u2013 $1 billion in Muslim aid
\nQuake<\/b>: 40,000+ dead \u2013 millions homeless \u2013 $210 million in Muslim aid<\/i>
\nLooking at the facts, it would seem that any earlier pride in the fact that Muslims came generously to the aid of disaster victims was an illusion. I am forced to conclude that the motivations and intentions behind the generosity to the Katrina victims was not generosity, compassion, and love for fellow human beings in crisis.<\/p>\n
President Bush in his recent \u201cwar on terror\u201d speech raised the specter of radical Islamists establishing \u201ca radical Islamic empire that spans from Spain to Indonesia\u201d whose goal is \u201cto develop weapons of mass destruction, to destroy Israel, to intimidate Europe, to assault the American people and to blackmail our government into isolation.\u201d And whose ultimate goal is \u201cto enslave whole nations and intimidate the world.\u201d Pretty terrifying stuff \u2013 good enough for the cover blurb of an adventure novel, and only needing a graphic of a menacing army of dark skinned, turban wearing, sword wielding, hook nosed Muslims to complete the image.<\/p>\n
The trouble is that this is the stuff of fantasy. The fact that Muslims can\u2019t even cooperate well enough to give more than a feeble response to devastating events such as the tsunami or the India\/Pakistan quake (don\u2019t even think about the shameful lack of response to the Iranian quake in 2003) shows just how ridiculous the fear is of the return of a Caliphate or a Muslim Empire uniting Muslims across national, ethnic, and sectarian lines. The fractured nation states of the Muslim world are so tied up in their own national identities that they are incapable of uniting even for a humanitarian crisis.<\/p>\n
This earthquake came right at the beginning of Ramadan, the month of fasting, of testing ourselves, of remembering the poor and helpless. During Ramadan, Muslims are usually the most aware of the needy and more generous than at any other time. If this was a test, then we have failed. There will certainly be long term consequences for this failure of the Ummah. If we are not witnessing the death of the Ummah, we are at the very least witnessing the death of its soul.<\/p>\n
<\/i><\/p>\n
Sheila Musaji is editor-in-chief of The American Muslim<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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