Muslim's Holocausts and Genocide Remembrance Day

By Syed Soharwardy, Muslims Against Terrorism (M.A.T.)

In the history of mankind it never happened before that so many human beings
suffered and continuously struggled to survive for more than a century without
any help from outside. In the past, whenever a calamity came upon a certain
community either they were completely wiped out from the face of this earth or
someone from outside came and helped them in getting out of calamity or they
themselves struggled so hard that they defeated the cause of calamities, hence
ending the period of calamity. Moreover, it never happened that at one time so
many communities remained under calamities for such a long period. Please
look around and see what is going on in this world? Muslims in various parts of
the world have been under siege and there seems to be no way out for them.
But the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said that all Muslims are like a
body. If a part of the body suffers the entire body suffers. I am sure what
Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him) have said can not be wrong but there is a
possibility that we may not be that kind of Muslims which Prophet (Peace be upon
him) meant in this Hadith.

The Holocausts and Genocide of Muslims have taken place in the past and
recently. But it seems that the people in the western world do not know enough
about them and there is a need to create awareness about it. As the Muslims in
the western world are still struggling to make their place in the society, it is
critical that our Christian friends know these facts and understand the situation
of Muslim Ummah. After the World War II the Jewish community was so
successful in making the Christians believe that the Christians have victimized
them. They have made Christians so guilty conscious that the majority of
Christians not only sympathize with the Jewish community but they feel
obligated to pay back the Jewish community whatever they can by supporting
every action of Jewish community.

Muslims do not need to make anybody guilty of conscious. We just need to

communicate with our Christian friends in their language and terminology. I
am sure they will understand but Muslims have to take the first step. We want
to make sure that the people must recognize and believe in the other Holocausts
and genocide as well as the World War II Holocaust. Let's review few
Holocausts and Genocide of Muslims around the world.

• Palestine: The Muslim community of Palestine has been struggling for

their survival and freedom for almost a century. The Palestinian
community was struggling for their homeland long before the creation of
 Israel. They were expecting to have their homeland when the British
leave the area but when British left the area they created Israel not
Palestine. After the creation of Israel, the Jewish people of Israel not
only captured the homes and lands of poor Palestinians but they also
denied them the right of existence in their own homeland. Since 1948 the
calamities for the Palestinian people have increased instead of
decreasing. Presently, what Israeli forces are doing to Palestinians is
worse than the Holocaust of the World War II. There is no doubt in my
mind that the Jewish community suffered a lot during world war II from
the hands of Nazis and almost six million Jews were killed in that
Holocaust. However, all these calamities ended on the Jewish people
when the allied forces got victory. The Jewish community was liberated
with the help from USA and allied forces. On the other side, the
Palestinians have been struggling on their own against a power (Israel +
USA + worldwide Jewish and allied communities) which is 100 times
more resourceful than the Palestinians. Palestinians have no support
from their own Arab brothers. Palestinians have no support from the
Muslims of the world. Whatever Palestinians get from the Arab and
Muslim world is no more than a lip service. Apparently, we do not see
any end to these calamities on the Palestinians in the near future. So far,
more than over a million Palestinians have been killed, millions of them
have made refugees, and millions of them are in the concentration
camps. The Israeli forces have converted Palestinian homes and areas
into concentration camps.

• Chechnya: The Muslim community of Chechnya has been struggling

for their survival and freedom for almost a century. During early 1900s
the Russian forces illegally occupied Chechan land and later Russian
government annexed it and made it part of Russia against the will of
Chechans. The severity of Russian oppression on Chechnya is so grave
that the Russian government looted all the resources of Chechnya such
as oil, coal and other minerals and built the European part of Russia
while denied the Chechan Muslims any part of their own wealth.
Chechnya is one of the least developed areas of Russian Federation.
After the collapse of Soviet Union Chechnya announced its
independence from Russia. Since then, the Russian forces have carried
out the Genocide and Holocaust of Chechan Muslims. Thousands of
Muslims have been killed. Buildings have been destroyed. The entire
infrastructure of Chechnya has been collapsed. Women have been
publicly raped. Their brothers, fathers and husbands have been mutilated
in front of them. Just like Palestinians Chechans got no help from the
 governments of Muslim countries except the lip service. The western
governments are the most hypocrites. On one side they want to resolve
the Chechnya issue peacefully but on the other side they are providing
all the support and the resources to Russian Military to crush the
Chechan Muslims.

• Kashmir: The Muslims of Kashmir have been struggling for their

freedom for the last two centuries. For the first 145 years they fought the
war against the British rule along with the people of India. Finally, when
the people of India succeeded in getting independence from Britain in
1947, the Kashmiri Muslims thought that they would also be
independent from the rule of non-Muslims. When the British left India,
the country was divided into countries. The Muslim majority areas of
India became independent country called Pakistan and the remaining
Hindu dominated areas became a separate country called India.
According to the agreed upon formula of division Muslim dominated
areas should have joined Pakistan but the departing British rulers divided
the border in such a way that it became very easy for India to annex this
beautiful and full of resources land of Muslims into India. After the
independence, Pakistan fought a war in early fifties and captured some
of the area of Kashmir. But this did not help in reducing the miseries of
the Muslims of Kashmir. For the past 55 years India is systematically
changing the demographics of Kashmir. Thousands of Muslims have
been killed. The Indian forces have carried out the Genocide of Muslims
in Kashmir openly and deliberately. There is no house in Indian held
Kashmir where at least one or more family members have not been
killed by the Indian army. Every Muslim home is under a siege.
Women's have been raped. Children have been kidnapped or killed.
Muslims are forced to leave Kashmir. For every Muslim house in
Kashmir there are three Indian soldiers. Again, Kashmiri Muslims have
no help from any Muslim government. They are fighting against an
enemy who is 100 times more resourceful and powerful. The west has
completely closed its eyes on Kashmir. The Genocide continues in
Kashmir and apparently no one cares.

• Bosnia and Kossovo: The conflict in Bosnia Herzgovina and Kossovo is

fresh in our memories. The largest Holocaust and Genocide in the recent
history of Europe after the Holocaust of Word War II was created
against the Muslims of Bosnia and Kossovo. More than half million
Muslims were killed, Almost all the adult male population of Bosnia and
Kossovo was sent into concentration camps. Women and children were
 not only tortured and raped but they were forced to kill their own
relatives with their own hands. Millions of Muslims were made refugees
to take shelter around the world. This genocide and Holocaust took place
while the European and America forces were there. They saw it, and
pretended, as they were helpless. The United Nations forces, which
included Europeans and Americans, supposed to protect the safe heavens
for Bosnian Muslims but they failed and thousands of Muslims were
slaughtered in front of them. Imagine a hypothetical situation, if instead
of Bosnian Muslims few hundred American would have been
slaughtered by the Serbs, would the UN forces just had watched it
helplessly like they watched the slaughter of Bosnian Muslims? Off
course, not. The Holocaust of Bosnian and Kossovar Muslims was
carried out by a conspiracy of eliminating Muslims from Europe. That
conspiracy failed. Otherwise, the plan was to remove any chances of a
Muslim state in Europe.

The situation in Bosnia Herzgovina, Kossovo and Macedonia has been

temporarily settled. This is all artificial, because the problem has not
been resolved permanently. The conditions under which Muslims are
living are not very much different from the conditions that started the
conflict in first place. Bosnia Herzegovina is still divided on the ethnic
lines. There are pockets of each community and they do not talk to each
other. Any small incident can flare up the old wounds and situation will
go back to mid 1990s situation. In Kossovo and Macedonia the situation
is similar. Both Kossovo and Macedonia are divided on ethnic lines.
Forcing the people to live together while they do not want to live
together will not solve the problem permanently. To solve the problem
permanently Kossovo must get its freedom and Macedonia should be
divided into autonomous regions.

• Muslim States in Russian Federation: The history of Muslims in the

present Russian Federation goes back to several centuries. But during the
past two centuries the Russian forces have occupied most of the Muslim
states, which used to surround Russia. Even after the fall of Soviet
Union, there are still many Muslim states, which have been illegally
annexed into Russia. Chechnya is one of them. Ingushetia, Kergyzia,
Ossetia, Turkamania and many other states in Siberia are all Muslim
states which have been annexed into Russian Federation against the will
of the people of these lands. If a fair and open referendum is held today
and people given a chance to vote without any fear of persecution, many
Muslim states will choose to breakout from the Russian Federation. The
 reason is very clear. Since the annexation of these Muslim States into
Russia, the Russian governments have been using and exporting the
resources of these Muslim states to develop and flourish the regions
around Moscow and leaving these areas undeveloped and backward. The
Muslims of these states and regions do not even have access to basic
human needs such as education, drinking water, transportation, health
care, etc.?The Muslim population of these states has any power. The
puppets in the parliament represent them. Since Muslims of these states
do not have access to education, therefore, they are not well educated
which creates a huge vacuum for the leadership of these Muslims. The
standard of living of these poor Muslims is worse while their regions are
the wealthiest in Russian Federation for their natural and mineral
resources.

Muslims in China: There are more than 50 million Muslims live in China. The
ancient record of the Tang Dynasty describes a landmark visit to China by Saad
ibn Abi Waqqas (May Allah be pleased with him), one of the companions of
Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in 650 A.D. The Chinese emperor
Yung-Wei respected the teachings of Islam and considered it to be compatible
with the teachings of Confucius. To show his admiration for Islam, the emperor
approved the establishment of China's first mosque at Ch'ang-an. That mosque
still stands today after fourteen centuries.

Anti-Muslim sentiments took root in China during the Ch'ing Dynasty (1644 -
1911 A.D.), which was established by Manchus who were a minority in China.
Muslims in China number more than 50 million, according to unofficial counts.
They represent ten distinct ethnic groups. The largest are the Chinese Hui, who
comprise over half of China's Muslim population. The largest of Turkic groups
are the Uygurs who are most populous in the province of Xinjiang, where they
were once an overwhelming majority. This overwhelming majority of Muslims
has slowly been reduced but still Muslims are in majority.

The reduction in Muslim population has been drastic during the communist
regime of China. So far all the communist governments have seen Muslims as
threat and they have killed more than half million Muslims during the
communist party rule. The ethnic cleansing of Muslims is continuously going
on in China for the last fifty years. Muslims can not worship openly. The areas
of Muslim majority have been kept undeveloped and when a Muslim wants to
improve his / her standard of living he /she has no choice but to leave the area.
When he / she arrives in the developed areas of China they are no more allowed
to practice their religion openly.
 Today, the entire western world cries for the hard time faced by the
followers of Falun Gong movement but no one cries on the genocide of
Chinese Muslims. Whenever, the Western governments talk about the
human rights issues in China they always mention Falun Gong and
Christians. At least, I have never heard any western leader mentioning
the Muslims of China. The most unfortunate situation with the Chinese
Muslims is that the Muslim countries themselves do not want to talk
about them because of the good relations between Chinese government
and the Muslims countries. At least the other oppressed Muslims get
little lip service from Muslim governments and Chinese Muslims do not
even get that.

• Cambodian Muslims: When the civil war in Cambodia took place

during Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge regime, millions of Cambodians were
sentenced to death. Among those millions of Cambodians, thousands of
Muslims were also murdered. Mosques and Islamic schools were
destroyed. Many Islamic institutions were closed. Muslims were forced
to step on the Holy Qur'an and eat pig which is against their religious
beliefs. The genocide of Cambodian Muslims was not even considered
worth mentioning in the media including media in the Muslim world.
There are many other countries where Muslims are not allowed to
identify themselves as Muslims and practice their religion with freedom.
If they try to practice their religion, they become victims of hatred and
oppression or face genocide. The oppression of Muslims by the Muslims
is also on the rise. Muslims are not allowed to practice Islam in many
Muslim countries such as Turkey, Algeria, Tajikistan, Uzbukistan,
Qazakistan, Azerbaijan, etc. In many Muslim countries Muslims are not
allowed to democratically elect their own government. Most of the
Muslim governments are secular and are symbol of oppression.