A few days ago a Muslim brother, Arfan Bhatti, said a few things in a demonstration against the Norwegian forces in Afghanistan. Although I agree like many others that war is not the solution and people in Afghanistan deserve better and therefore forces must move out, I don’t agree to the way the message was read. It wasn’t actually showing the true essence of what our beautiful religion is all about. Yes my Allah is the creator of the world, and I find my religion or way of life as beautiful, but it also teaches me to respect his creations. As a Muslim I have to be at my best character so others can see what Islam changed within me. If my actions are making people point their fingers at my religion then there is something I am not doing right.

I got in touch with various imams and scholars in Norway to get their views on the message read out on 20th January 2012 in Oslo by Arfan Bhatti. (It’s in Norwegian, so you may google translate it to read what they said). The views below are part of mini conversations with the imams and scholars. I find it very important that their views are heard.

1. Imam Maulana Mehboob-ur-Rehman
ICC Moske, Grønland

Siden Norge er ikke direkte en del av krigen i Afghanistan men bare følger det dem får ordre om via en internasjonal pakt er det feil å gå direkte til angrep på Norge. Dette er ikke en religiøs-sak men mer eller mindre en sak som har med menneskerettigheter å gjøre, og det finnes flere måter å få frem sin ord på men det som ble sagt på demonstrasjonen er ikke en måte vi stiller oss bak.

Det utsagnet var ikke noe som forsterker det fine Islam har å tilby men det gjorde akkurat det motsatte. I tillegg til det så ser ikke vi på det som en Islamsk måte å fremme en sak på.

Bare når det er sagt, vil vi ikke gå bort fra det at vi vil at det blir fred i Afghanistan og at alle styrker trekker seg ut.

2. Maulana Tariq Usman
Masjid-e-Aqsa Moske, Strømmen

Uttalelsen som ble lest på demonstrasjon mot norskesoldater i Afghanistan er vi uenig i. Som en Muslim kan vi ikke snakke sånn mot våre medmennesker ikke minst true dem på en sånn måte. En Muslim bør være varsom og skjønne at det finnes flere måter å fremme en sak på. Vi er også enige i at styrker bør komme tilbake nå enn å vente et par år til men det var uheldig at demonstrasjonen ble ødelagt på grunn av mangelen på en god ledelse med forståelse på Islam.

3. Imam Naimat-ullah-Shah
Moskeen Central Jama’at-e Ahl-e Sunnat, Grønland

Vi har og vil alltid være imot alle sånne trusler fra dem som kaller seg Muslimer. Islam tillater ikke noe sånt. Det finnes måter å gå videre med sånne saker og etter å ha hørt hva som ble sagt på demonstrasjonen er ikke vi enig på dem måten det ble lagt frem. Sånne små grupperinger må passe på hva dem sier og hvordan dem sier det.

4. Imam Tehsin Hussein
Sandnes Moske, Sandnes

Det bror Arfan sa er veldig dårlig gjort. Selv om han sier det er advarsel så er det ett ordspill. Vi bør.være mer våkne og motarbeide pluss prøve å holde dialog slik at de ikke blir overbevist av sine egne forståelser som er imot flertallet av lærde.

5. Imam Ikram Shah Jailani, Oslo

Når man ser på antallet som dukket opp på demonstrasjonen kan man klart og tydelig se at det var ikke engang 0.01% av antallet muslimer som bor i Norge. Ingen Imam kan være enig med dems utsagn fordi en Muslim må ha en holdning som gjør at han passer på sine naboer akkurat som sine egne brødre. Og da er det snakk om alle sammen uansett om dem er Muslim eller ikke. Og når det er sagt er det viktig at våre Muslimske brødre passer på at dem ikke misbruker vers fra Quranen for å tilfredstille sine egne interesser.

6. Maulana Shafiq-ur-Rehman
Al-Suffah Islamsk skole, Mysen

Vi som Muslimer kan ikke gi trussler av noen slag til andre medmennesker spesielt om vi skal vise hva Islam står for. Først må dem som prøver å representere Muslimer her se om dem virkelig vet hva Islam står for og for det andre må jeg også legge til at selve saken står fortsatt der, Norske og alle andre styrker må komme seg ut av en sånn krig som kun er basert på løgn.

It started on Friday 22 July 2011. With a painful picture of a building that was unrecognizable I realized that Norway is under attack by someone who has lots of hate in their heart. I didn’t know who was behind it, or what intentions they had. But one thing I had doubts of, it might be someone who will misuse my lovely religion Islam. But what will happen now I thought? Would I be the victim of hate each time I am in the city, will the ethnic-Norwegians look at me and say “Hey terrorist, get out of here”

But where am I to go? This is also my country, I have lived here as much as I have lived in Pakistan.

Evening of 22 July

While watching the scenes on tv, I was on Facebook seeing the updates by people. So much hate, that it was unbearable that people would start targeting Muslims just minutes after the bomb went off. Thanks to the media, people hated us Muslims due to every single political attack around the world, and when they paint it with “religion”, people tend to think, “here comes Jihad”.. Jihad is a struggle within ourselves and no where in the Quran the word is mentioned as a “fight”, and neither will you find the word “holy war” in there.

Group that brought Norway together – 230 000 members!!

Between 16:00 and 17:00 I started a group event called “together against terror” which later on became “Standing together for peace”. Little did I know that it would turn into a 100 000 strong group in matter of a few hours, at the time of writing this it’s over 230 000.  I saw that people needed some way of showing their support and that’s when a thought came to mind. And i posted this message on Friday evening.

Let’s start a “National March Day” where every Norwegian can come out of their homes and show their love and support for those that passed away and those affected by it. Let’s show the world if one person’s hate can go beyond the love we all can create together. Let’s do it guys!!

I put up a few words in the event info page and asked everyone to message me if they are in a different city than Oslo, so that we can start a march there as well. My “condition” was:-

• timing has to be 18:00
• date has to be Monday 25 July

Why this date and time?
Since I was helping promote the event in Oslo by another facebook member, I thought that choosing the same time rather than starting my own campaign would be a better idea. Afterall if I was talking about unity, why would I start my own “march”.. it wouldn’t be right to divide Norway into one Oslo march and one for each city, not logical, I thought.

What happened behind the scenes?
When a person would ask me if their city had a march, I would tell them to call the police, pick a meeting place of their choice, and send me the link to an event and told them how to make it, others knew the procedure. The link would then go on the official “march” page at http://www.StandingTogetherForPeace.com and the site got packed with traffic, so much that it crashed a few times.

I was up awake till 4 in the morning on friday , saturday, sunday and then even upto 17:30 I kept getting new “march” info from various people around Norway who wanted to be listed. I had to do the updates via my iphone to avoid anyone to miss out, I apologize if someone didn’t get their listed, it was a LOT of work. And you guys rocked and made it all happen, as I mentioned on the event start.. together we are stronger!

On Monday I appeared on TV2, a Norwegian tv channel, to explain the way it all worked and how I thought of the process and the unexpected amazing results that appeared. All those that said yes to setting up an event in their own city have done a great job, and some cities managed a number between 50 000 to over 150 000 people, the one in Oslo which had only 3250  members in its own event page got a sudden boost after I listed it on my front page as the official gathering I am supporting! The result was 200 000 people who came to Oslo, and more than 800 000 all over Norway came together at one exact time

Was it important to say on the Facebook page that I am a Muslim?

Was it not? When all the media is busy spreading is hate towards Muslims? I was asked on the TV show as to why I mentioned that I was a Muslim on the event page. It was very important I said, maybe because of the way media has programmed everyone about Muslims. I wanted to change that by showing that we also care about Norway just like an Ethnic-Norwegian would, it’s also my country. And I want peace, don’t you?

What will change now?

I hope things change, first of all the police should shut down all hate groups present in Norway and other countries should also shut down every single group that promotes hate against other religious groups. If a so called, self-invented group like Al-Qaida, is mentioned as a terrorist organization then groups like EDL should also be on the list, since that’s what they do, they promote hate and that’s what we saw on 22 July.

Why hasn’t the media mentioned that a Muslim was behind the Idea of a National march?

At the time of writing this, apart from Tv2 in Norway, no other media had the guts or courage to mention that the biggest event organizer who kick started the whole thing was a Muslim, and a Norwegian. I rather not have my name mentioned anywhere, but I feel it was VERY important at this time to mention that a “Muslim” took the initiative and pushed others to join this amazing cause of showing concern and love towards others.

I got a very awkward response from a journalist in one of the so called “top” newspapers in Norway, which is known for it’s “fuel” towards us Muslims. He said that reason behind me not writing that the group is created by a Muslim is, that it wouldn’t be of any use and won’t affect people’s mindset in a positive way. I totally disagree, but i didn’t find it reasonable to respond back to.

So what’s the plan for “Standing together for peace”?

I have set up another group with the same name, and will focus on setting up and helping “peaceful” gatherings all over the world. Am working on a few applications for the web that will enable people to set up events. The only condition is, the event HAS to be for a peaceful cause otherwise they won’t be listed!

I hope that we can see beyond the religious values we all have among ourselves, and keep our negativity aside. Because at the end of the day, those that were killed by the terrorist on Friday, were from all backgrounds. A bullet doesn’t see who it’s hurting, but we humans do! So watch your words and stay safe!

Regards,

A Muslim!

—-

My interviews in the media:-

- TV 2 (Appeared in the morning show)

- Dagsavisen (Power of social media)

- NTB (The day that changed everything and nothing)

- Eastern Eye

Today something tragic happened in Oslo, Norway. Two explosions went off killing a few people and injured dozens more. I absolutely have no words to explain the kind of feeling I went through when I saw the tragic images on screen. And to tell you the truth, I still have no words despite the incident being a few hours ago.

Whomever did it should realize one thing, those of us who live in Norway, love the country and stand hand in hand with everyone no matter their background and belief. It saddens me to think for a second that some political parties might gain from this, but I know there are people who might use this situation to come closer and realize that we are “one”, we have one goal, and that is to go through our day to day life making sure that peace prevails.

There was another incident where a Norwegian guy dressed as a cop shot dead 10 kids, that’s tragic, imagine the way their families are tackling this, imagine how their lives will be changed. This proves that people who terrorize don’t belong to one religion, but just have a brain that isn’t normal.

Norway has provided me a peaceful environment and its my duty as a Norwegian-Pakistani to make sure I do my bit.

Something I read today on the Norwegian newspaper online made me feel very bad deep inside. It was an article about a guy who created an account in a Norwegian bank and then kind of spread the message around on Facebook asking people to add funds to it for helping the Japanese who are suffering due to the tsunami. He added that the account belongs to an organization called “Doctors beyond borders”.

His/Her account is now closed down and an inquiry is being done to see what the whole thing was about.

Can you imagine that? I mean on one side thousands of people lost their lives, their homes, and their loved ones and here someone is cashing in on their pain by filling his account with money that should be going to them?? How low can one go?

What should be his punishment?

The punishment this person should get is to have his picture plastered over the most prominent spots all over the world so everyone can see that this is how a sick person looks like, and this is a person you should NOT trust. Yes, lots of others are probably as low-life as this person but when we have his account and police can grab him in minutes, such out of the way punishment shouldn’t be so tough to practice.

What kind of punishment would you give this person?

Just like thousands of others who were in her funeral, I didn’t know Faiza either. She was a Pakistani girl in Norway who got kidnapped by a Norwegian guy. And the reason behind the kidnapping was that she didn’t give any notice to the Pakistani guy who was interested in her. His inner devil didn’t let him live with himself and he just had to do what any pathetic person with that mindset would do. He couldn’t get her so he made sure no one else does either.

Paying the kidnapper 100 000 Norwegian kroners, this guy destroyed the dreams of a whole family, a mother, a father, brothers and sisters who cherished the girl.

What is the reason such things happen?

I would blame no one but the way love is portrayed these days. We tend to clap for lovers who do anything to get their love, they kill people, they hurt others to just reach the love of their life. And we are all “Wow.. now that’s love” . That’s not love… that’s insanity, that’s the opposite of love.

When you take the life of someone else because they can’t be yours, you are showing the lowest side of yours as a human being.

Both guys might get a strict trial, I would prefer death sentence. To be honest, God forbid.. if this was my sister, and yes she is my sister in religion, I would still want the same sentence for both guys.

If an eye for an eye would make the world go blind, then I hope the same rule will also make the first person who wishes to poke an eye out to think before he does!

Once again has the Norwegian newspaper, Aftenposten, printed the Prophet Muhammad PBUH . And what gets me thinking is why would anyone go on into this whole thing again and again knowing that the reaction would be not so cute. ( link to the other newspaper here )

Here are a few pointers as to what I think those printing these cartoons have in mind.

• Let’s print the cartoons and see how the Muslims react.
  Why would you do that? I mean any special reason to set focus on other things that are totally irrelevant to you or your school of thought?
  I respect other human beings and feel that unless it’s something associated with Islam and the way it’s projected I won’t talk or get into it because that’s not my way of dealing with issues. And not the right way either.
• Why are the Muslims making a big deal out of it?
  Because that’s how it is. For Muslims, Prophet Muhammad PBUH is a very special prophet for whom it’s said and written that no image of any sort should be created. So there is no point in pushing this thing over and over again into the throats of millions of Muslims. For example if you love someone there are always different stages to that. Your love for your father, mother brother or sister can be different but the love for someone who is the main individual associated to your belief can not be measured. So imagine those that are praying five times a day and have that much love in their heart for Prophet Muhammed, they won’t care a bit of which country you belong to if you don’t respect their values. I mean what is it to anyone to go on and keep on doing what you know will cause reaction and that too a bad one.
• Why aren’t all Muslims reacting if it’s such a big thing?
  Well violence is not the key here, it’s communication and discussion I believe. I would love to talk to some decision makers who feel that they have the right to do such things to provoke a community of people to really see what’s cooking in their mind. Do they really think before they say what they are saying? I mean is this what the world has come to? that instead of solving the hunger crisis in Africa and helping the poor kids and ladies in all parts of the world away from war.. THIS is the most important thing any media will print?
• Why are people burning the Norwegian flag to protest?
  It’s not about the flag, it’s about the flag that represents those few people who can’t respect someone’s values and love for a certain individual who is very special and important in their religion, Islam in this case. I am a Muslim and I live in Norway. I wouldn’t burn the Norwegian flag to protest but what I would really like is that I am not pushed into the corner by making fun of my beliefs.
• It’s freedom of speech Wakas, and that’s what we are using
  Oh ok. So if it’s freedom of speech that you respect so much, then let those burning the flags burn them. And those that want to burn down churches all over the world burn them, and let those few who get offended kill everyone who prints the cartoons and don’t charge them because that’s their freedom of speech. Come on, that’s how life should be. It’s a simple simple fact.

  For me, this is what those printing the cartoons have in their mind:

  “Since Muslims are being messed around with all over the world, it won’t hurt if we put a bit more poison in this whole thing and make fun of them, we know they will react like this. But that will only get more and more non Muslims to hate them. and THAT’s what we need because our political motives can be stronger and the more people that hate Muslims the easier it will be for us to do our own corrupted actions that we keep up on the side, like helping terrorist states like Israel to keep killing “Muslims”, because the image of Muslims is NOT how it is because of them, it’s how WE want it to be. And anytime we do something to provoke them, we are making it obvious that freedom of speech for us.. means “Our FREEDOM of speech” and NOT anyone else’s”

Peace and remember, freedom of speech loses its whole respect and meaning when it’s used to humiliate others beliefs and values.  My views on this whole thing might not be able to change your views unless you respect other human beings. I would love to see what most have to say about this keeping in mind that whatever you say will reflect what type of person you are. So if you show rudeness than that won’t work on me .. smile and REALLY comment when you have a solution to this and posting just to defend the printing of pictures isn’t a solution.

Just got back from a two day trip with a few friends. We all went to Geiranger in Norway, and I just HAVE to share this with you guys. From Oslo, it took us 8 hours on the big van and then obviously same time back. But amazing as the scenery was it was just WOW!

The guys I went with were an amazing company and it was lots of fun, barbecueing and tons of discussions on various things Yeah can’t get away from discussions you know!

We saw some of the most beautiful fjords in the world, which Norway is known for. So guess after AGES I saw the beauty Norway is known for, although I have lived here almost all my life.

So those of you who are looking to take a trip, Geiranger and Trollstigen are the places to check out.. You gonna love them!

Make sure you take out a week or two for this. We had rain following us on our way there and when we came back, it stopped. So it was NOT such nice thing for our pics but hey it went great anyway