So That Others Might Live

Muslims Who Defied The Nazis

(Noor Inayat Khan 1914-1944)

In the face of evil it is easy to turn one's eyes away. For many people this is the response that comes natural. It is a tendency that permits evil to spread. It is through the silence of good men and women that evil propagates. Yet there are those who don't just bear witness to evil but decide to stand toe to toe with evil itself. These few, these heroes, grit their teeth and clinch their fists as they refuse to back down.

For the Jewish people there was a generation of men and women who decided to take this stand. Millions of men and women rolled up their sleeves and picked up their rifles. None of them had to stop the spread of Nazism. None of them had to bleed and perish so that we, the Jewish people, might have a chance to live. It would have been possible to contain the Germans with far less sacrifice. Yet they, the brave, came to our rescue... many to never live to see the defeat of our oppressors.

This is not the story of American GIs or the Russian red army. This isn't the story of how the so called "West" saved the day. No, today we will look at how those society has told us hate us joined the fight to save us. In a world that even then claimed Islam and Judaism were incompatible, these brave souls decided to fight, bleed, and sacrifice so that others might live.

This is the story of Muslims who stood in the gap as Judaism suffered it's darkest hour.

"Madeleine"

Noor Inayat Khan was born in Moscow on the first of January, 1914. The world was at war and any hope for the end of the flow of blood was still not yet in sight. Yet her parents were given a blessing that day that so many expecting parents wish and pray for, that hope that comes with every new life.

By the time Noor Khan was in her twenties the world was once again headed for war. She had studied music and medicine and had even written her own children stories. Yet when war did break out and hostilities with Germany seemed inevitable, Noor Khan didn't look the other way. Instead, Noor Khan trained as a nurse with the Red Cross in her home country of France. While others prepared for others to defend them if Germany attacked, Khan prepared herself to help those in need. 

In May of 1940 Germany's Waffen SS whipped around France's inadequate defenses and invaded France. Noor Khan's family escaped to England as the French government surrendered in a tram trolley. Hitler would tour Paris while Noor Khan joined England's Women's Auxiliary Air Force so that she could help fight for France. She would train as a wireless operator while the Germans pillaged Europe just across the English Channel. 

Noor Khan's ability to speak French fluently gained the attention of England's Special Operations Executive (SOE). The SOE needed people with Khan's knowledge to go across the channel and help spy on the Nazis in France. Noor Khan's willingness to fight against the evils of Nazism made her a perfect candidate for what many would look at as suicide. 

In June of 1943 Noor Khan was flown into France and made her way to Paris where she would join the Prosper Network. Yet shortly after Khan arrived the resistance network came under attack by the German Gestapo. With the capture of resistance members came the fear that the Prosper Network had been compromised. Khan was encouraged to make her way back to England so as to evade capture by the Germans. And yet Noor Khan refused. She argued that she was the last wireless radio operator left in the group. So she would stay and fight despite the inherit risks. 

Noor Khan made attempts to rebuild the resistance network as she continued to keep London informed with wireless transmissions. Her efforts went on for three and a half months as the threat of capture lingered overhead. It wasn't till October that the Gestapo finally got the information they needed to arrest Noor Khan. 

Upon arrest the Gestapo found documents that allowed them to crack the code the spy "Madeleine" had been using. Noor Khan's code was then used to capture three more agents landing in occupied France. Yet under constant torture, Noor Khan refused to give the Nazi's any information that could have further compromised the work of the SOE in London. Dedicated to the war against Nazism, Noor Khan endured humiliating conditions and bravely faced a life in chains. Despite their best efforts the Gestapo could not break Noor Khan. 

In the summer of 1944 the Gestapo transferred Noor Khan and three other agents to Dachau Concentration Camp. The agents were questioned, beaten, and harassed by the Nazi SS. On the twelfth of September, 1944 Noor Khan met with the fate that Nazism had allotted all of Judaism. Put before a Nazi SS death squad, Noor Khan and the other three agents were shot and killed. 

Noor Inayat Khan had been given the chance to run away. She had been given the chance to live as comfortable a life as anyone else could have in England during the war. If anything, she had the chance to live free and stay out of harm's way. Yet Noor Khan took to the battle field against an enemy that was well known for it's brutality. When death came marching in it's wretched black uniform, Noor Khan held her head high and prepared to stand her ground. 

Bloody April in Sarajevo

“...our home is your home; feel at home. Our women will not hide their faces in your presence, because you are like family members to us. Now that your life is in danger, we will not leave you.”
Mustafa and Izet Hardaga speaking to Joseph Kavillo

Yugoslavia had been a target of the Nazis for some time. It was a stepping stone toward Greece and a vital part to Hitler's plan to take control of the Balkans. In April of 1941 the Luftwaffe began bombing Sarajevo as the Nazis made arrangements to occupy the city. Once the bombs began to fall the Waffen SS would begin it's assault upon the city. And it was in this bombardment that the Kavillo family, a Jewish family, found their home completely demolished. This was the Kavillo family's introduction to the horrors of the holocaust.

Joseph Kavillo's family had waited out the bombing in the forest. It was only after the bombs stopped dropping that Joseph Kavillo returned to survey the damage the Nazi's warplanes had wrought upon Sarajevo. He was planning to bring his family to the factory close to their old house so as to seek shelter as the war ravaged on. A family friend, Mustafa Hardaga, spotted Joseph and offered him and his family to take shelter in his house. This was in spite of the fact that Mr Hardaga knew that the Nazis offered no mercy for anyone who would willingly house Jews.

It wasn't long before Joseph Kavillo decided to move his family out of the Hardaga house and try to relocate them to the Italian controlled areas of Yugoslavia. When his family was safe, Joseph decided to stay behind. It was in this process that Joseph Kavillo was arrested by the Nazis in Bosnia. He was taken into captivity and kept in chains outdoors in the cold. Kept like an animal, Joseph Kavillo was not fed or offered shelter from Bosnia's harsh weather.

Zejneba Hardaga, the wife of Mustafa, found Joseph chained in the snow. She risked her life to smuggle Joseph food and water. Over the course of Joseph's time in chains it was Zejneba who kept him alive till she could find a way to help Joseph escape his chains and flee to be with his family. If it had not been for her, Joseph Kavillo would have either froze to death or starved in his chains.

Not long after Joseph Kavillo had rejoined his family in the Italian controlled area of Yugoslavia the Italians handed over control to the Nazis. Once again the family was trapped by the Nazi army. It's grip upon Bosnia had become absolute. So once again the Kavillo family made their way to the home of the Hardagas where they would again be sheltered by their Muslim friends. 

The Hardaga family risked everything to save their fellow Bosnians. The Gestapo had a headquarters just a short distance from their home. And yet this Muslim family took in a Jewish family in their greatest hour of need. The danger of being caught was ever palpable. Both families would have faced concentration camps or even death in the streets as the Nazis fought to smash Bosnian resistance. This was friendship at its finest. It was a heroic act that would not soon be forgotten. 

In the 1990's the city of Sarajevo fell under siege once again. This time the Serbian militias were surrounding the city and laying siege to the Bosnians. The Hardaga family were the targets this time. The Serbs wanted to ethnically cleanse Bosnia of it's Muslim citizens. Genocide was spilling Muslim blood as Bosnia's Jews tried to flee. 

The UN rarely allowed Bosnian Muslims the chance to run away from the bloodbath their arms bans had helped to engineer. Yet the Hardaga family had friends that wanted to help... friends that owed their lives to the heroism of the Hardagas. In 1994 the Hardaga family was brought to Israel as their homeland was bleeding out. Some 50 plus years had passed since the Kavillo family had been saved by the Hardaga family. But it was an act of true friendship that time could not fade the memory of. 

(Kaddour Benghabrit)

Within The House Of G-d

In 1926 the Grand Mosque of Paris was built as a token to the thousands of Muslims who had given their lives in "the war to end all wars". It was, and remains, a grand building dedicated to the Islamic faith and the belief in one G-d. Kaddour Benghabrit was one of key figures in helping to establish the massive structure in Paris. And it was Kaddour Benghabrit who was responsible for the mosque when the French Vichy government took power and aligned itself with the Nazis' final solution.

When the Nazis began collecting Jews for deportations there was a flaw in their original plan. It was one that had roots in France's colonial past. While there were plenty of French Jews in Paris that could easily be picked out and sent off for deportations, the diversity of France's Jewish citizens emerged. Jewish citizens from France's North African colonies had much more in common with Muslims than they did with European Jews. Their names, their culture, and their community were all linked with how Judaism had adapted itself to North African Islam. Many were closer friends with France's Muslim population than they were with the Jewish communities the Germans were familiar with. And it is in this aspect of France's unique diversity that the Nazis' plan ran into a wonderfully unique problem.

France's Muslims were not readily willing to hand over their Jewish neighbors. They had no desire to adopt the sorts of racial ideas and religious extremism that Hitler was preaching. There are many stories of influential Muslims in Paris who risked everything to do what was right. They risked their lives to save a people that Hitler believed they should hate. These Muslims found ways to help their Jewish brothers and sisters evade capture by the genocidal Nazis.

One way was to bring their Jewish neighbors to the Grand Mosque of Paris.

There was no organized effort involved. This was not an underground railroad of any sorts. It was simply a response in the heart of a community to stand beside their brothers in desperate need of help.

The head imam of the Grand Mosque of Paris was mainly responsible for housing Jewish refugees who turned up at the mosque. Kaddour Benghabrit was said to be responsible for giving these refugees Muslim identification papers so that they might make their way to safety. Kaddour also brazenly showed Nazi generals around the mosque even while Jews hid inside so that the Nazis might be fooled into believing he was cooperating.

In 1940 the Vichy government began petitioning the Grand Mosque to stop any actions it might be taking to save Jews from the Nazis. The head imam and Benghabrit remained defiant as they continued to give shelter to Jewish refugees who showed up at the Mosque. Their faith demanded it. Their actions demonstrated that which they believed. 

The Nazis showed their belief that Islam was a natural ally in the Nazi hatred of Judaism. They had expected the Bosnians in Yugoslavia to side with them in killing off Yugoslavia's Jews. In France they had expected the Grand Mosque to be the home of Islamic hatred for European Judaism. Yet the Muslims who operated the mosque showed that Islam was and is not opposed to Judaism. Their actions may have saved only a few dozen or potentially hundreds of Jews from the Nazi death camps. But as time goes on, as long as their story is told, their actions will show that Muslims and Jews are brothers in our unique faiths. Their actions should forever show that Judaism and Islam can and should live side by side in peace. 

Lest We Forget...

Muslims have a faith that teaches tolerance and an understanding of others. While some may abuse the faith, there have always been Muslims who have stepped out of the mold society has shaped for them... there have always been Muslims who have risked their own lives to save those of others. Beyond the news articles and daily broadcasts of stories like those of ISIS and other extremists... beyond the stereotypes... there will forever be Muslims who show the love of their Prophet's teachings.

These are the sorts of Muslims the world should never forget. These are the sorts of brave men and women that the world needs to talk about with a sense of pride and respect. We will all forever remember the names of villains like Osama bin-Laden. Yet we should also remember the names of heroes like Mustafa and Zejneba Hardaga. These brave and honorable souls should be inscribed not just on monuments but also imprinted upon our collective memory.

May G-d bless those who sacrificed so that others might live.

Muhammad, Jesus, Abraham...

Turning Away From Our Principles
(Unholy War series)

Religion is a very sensitive subject. This post will address religion in a way that is offensive to some readers. It is intended to be illustrative of how religion affects the way we reach out to the world around us. It is meant to show that we need not to shrug the strict devotions to faith at times if we are to show the true messages of said faiths. That we should be willing to reach beyond our religious boundaries to help those in need. The message is at times rough and hard to read. And it is not meant to be taken as fact but a mere suggestion. If anything, the purpose of this post is to make you ask questions, not to tell you what to do. 

Ammi

(My People)

When it comes to religions there aren't many in the West that people think of as being oppressed more so than Judaism. 70 plus years ago was the most iconic time our oppression and near extermination. Yet there was also Russia's repressive role over it's Jewish population. And there is the lingering issue of antisemitism across the West. But there is also the issue of Israel itself. And it is this issue that transforms Judaism, if only in part, from victim to oppressor. 

However, before we dive into the portion of Judaism that gets a particular portion of readers foaming at the mouth... lets go back a little ways first. 

Judaism was the first of the Abrahamic faiths that depicted in it's holy book violent imagery that some could argue was in fact genocide. Entire populations were forced out of what would become Judea (later Israel) while others were killed off altogether. These somewhat barbaric "holy wars" were said to be ordained by Elohim (G-d). His holy word was said to have directed our ancestors to slaughter men, women, babies, and even the farm animals as well. Not a living soul was allowed to be spared the wrath of the Lion of Judah. And all the while we were forging what the world would later come to know as "the holy land"... a land drenched in blood from it's birth. 

So one might expect that if you are raised to believe that G-d intended His spirit to reside upon a small patch of sand and not in the heart of man, well then Israel is just the place... right? 

We did a marvelous job at turning the blood over into the soil and bringing forth olives, wheat, and other various crops. We did a great job at building upon the ruins of those who had come before us (of course this was easy since they weren't city builders). We even managed to erect the temple just as G-d had commanded (twice actually). There were kings who had giant mines to dig up the gold and precious metals that Israel's land had to offer. There were religious leaders who made sure that the laws of the land were adhered to strictly. And there were even a handful of the underclass who made sure the fun things in life weren't totally banished by the prior said class of man. All in all, we did a great job for a very long period of time when it came to building up the culture that would define Judaism for centuries to come. 

And those centuries did come and go. The Greeks came and tried to kill us all off, we remained. The Romans came and tried to kill us all off, we remained. The neighbors found religion and came over to share it (somewhat violently), we still remained. Of course some of us did pack up our things and take off from time to time. But for the most part, we remained. 

My ancestors in particular packed up and left when the neighbors over in what is now Syria had a little argument amongst themselves and a small group of them took off for Africa. Hitchhiking with the Moors, they eventually made it to Spain. Then when the party ended and the neighbors to the north got annoyed with the new kids on the block... well they took off again (just this time without their traveling companions). And hello Croatia it was. Well until the locals found a new form of faith and suddenly the neighborhood went to hell. But I digress... 

Over the time in diaspora some of us got a little nostalgic, and by a little I mean a desire for a few hundred years or so ago. This led to a little mingling of fact with fiction and the such. But it eventually ended up with the belief that G-d wanted all "His people" back in the land of Israel. And in this sense we almost got it right when we started to realize what G-d's temple really is (but we'll get to that later). 

Packing up and headed off to a new neighborhood was easy this time. We had been sold a belief that this was a homecoming of sorts. Some were even claiming that if we had just done this a couple decades ago those pesky Germans wouldn't have had a chance to be such bloody... I digress again. 

Arriving "home", the European Jews found that some other people had moved in while they were gone. Or so it would seem if you bought the idea that this was their land in the first place. They didn't however seem to realize that the Jews who didn't take off all those centuries ago (the indigenous population one might say) were relatively comfortable with their counterparts in what was then Palestine. Instead of realizing that integration was perhaps more preferable than a hostile takeover, the newcomers decided to take back what they viewed as being rightfully theirs. 

And this is where we slow down and really get into why Judaism has forsaken it's principles when we allow for the oppression of others in the name of our own faith. 

There isn't anything that was covered in the prior paragraphs that was meant to be a joke. Just as there isn't anything in this post that is humorous. What happened to my people over the centuries has been tragic. We have been made to suffer for our faith. We have been sent to camps, ghettos, and pits in open fields where they killed us. My family was lined up on a ledge and shot. There isn't anything in this post that is easy to write about. And what happened when my people came "home" isn't easy to write about. 

We came back to Israel to find that the people who had most recently invaded and colonized it were now well established. If you are Muslim, this is the time to admit that those we now know as Palestinians weren't the first people to be born and raised on that patch of soil. If you are Jewish, now is the time to admit that those Palestinians were born and raised on that patch of soil for generations before European Jews arrived. We came back to a land that wasn't the way we left it. In some ways it was better. In other ways it was alien and denied us the privilege of practicing our faith in the same holy places we had centuries before. 

There aren't easy answers as to how things should had been. There aren't easy ways of saying that one party was wrong or one party was just a little more wrong than the other. After all, over a long enough timeline each party comes off looking like a bunch of savages out for blood. 

The fact is that when the decisions were made to expel and kill Palestinians so that Judaism could prevail... that is where Judaism is to blame. 

We believe that G-d loves all His creation. We believe that we are to honor that love by revering G-d's creation in the same way G-d did when He breathed life into it. These beliefs are not confined to the way we conduct ourselves with other Jews but extends to all G-d's children and creation. We are to treat our brother as we would want them to treat us, but more importantly... in the ways G-d has blessed us (love, compassion, and understanding... to name a few).

This way of practicing Judaism can't be easily depicted when one looks at Israel today. Though the argument can be made that Israel is a modern state and not a religious institution in and of itself... that argument is flawed. For Israel upholds Judaism above all other faiths through laws, traditions, and policies. It's bias toward Judaism is seen in laws that can be characterized as "race laws". It's propping up of Judaism is so prevalent that it can be seen in laws regarding marriage within Israel.

The continued persecution of those who once lived upon the land where Israel rest leaves a stain upon Judaism as a whole. As long as it is perceived as being permissible within Israel to devalue the lives of a few than no life is truly valuable. This hatred, the tainting of Judaism's teachings, leaves all equally miserable. It makes life easy to extinguish in as much the same way as it was when our historical oppressors stole the lives of our ancestors. 

"... As Yourself"

Christianity is born out of blood. The creation of this faith created a new branch of the Abrahamic traditions. It took the principles of Judaism and highlighted portions while easing away from others. And in this tightrope like walk through the laws of Judaism it created opportunity for new branches of it's own faith to form. What started as being washed in the blood of the Lamb of G-d soon just became a bloodletting. From the wars of Europe to the conquest of the New World, Christianity has spread through the desires of man rather than the will of G-d. From the death of one man, Jesus of Nazareth, came the deaths of martyrs and victims alike. 

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another." ~ John 13:34 

Christians did start out being persecuted. It's in fact their desire to branch away from Judaism that first got them put out on the road in the first place. The Jewish leaders of the day didn't care much for the new heretics in town. So the Christians got thrown to the Romans, who decided to kill them to start with, where they found European converts. Eventually the Romans softened up and backed away from the whole circus bit. And in the end the Christians end up with an entire city in Rome that acts as it's own little nation within a nation (however over the years I've been told by Protestants that Catholics aren't real Christians... and the same the other way around). But the just because you have the heart of an empire doesn't mean you stop there...

Christians spread out to the Germanic tribes, over Spain, and the British isles. They got held up in Romania for a bit when the empire died back. But Russia and the Eastern Europeans eventually came under the cloth as Christianity fought to claim as much of Europe as it could before the new kids down in the Middle East could come rushing north. From Greece to the Balkans Christianity was actually doing alright it seemed (given the local religions were subdued or erased all together). All Christianity had to do was make a few adjustments here and there to mask prior beliefs across the continent (examples: Christmas, Easter, Valentines Day, St Patrick's...). This cultural genocide was alright of course since the message out of Rome was that Christianity spread civilization (with a little barbarism to enforce said civilization). 

Once the initial bloodshed was finished then the in house fighting began. This long period of bloodshed is partially to blame for sending some Christians out on the road again. Over a length of time those wandering groups of Christians would eventually end up on new lands far from home. One batch would become the seeds from which the United States would grow (somewhat exaggeratedly so). However, just as any new species can be once introduced to a new environment, these seeds quickly became invasive.

"Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others."

~Philippians 2:3-4 

Native languages, cultures, and ways of life were rapidly displaced as Christians took to what some were selling as the promised land. Spanish Christian armies stole gold, silver, and slaves in the name of their god (greed) and country. English Christians came to fine religious freedom while openly denying even basic liberties to the native peoples and the slaves they brought with them. French Christians did a less invasive method of Spanish expansion yet still managed to spread disease (not really their fault, but had they stayed home...) wherever they went. The Dutch Christians and other assorted allotments tried to grab what they could before France and England divided up most of the north while Spain clung to the south. All the while the message of Christianity was that Europeans had a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of anything native peoples had prior to their arrival. 

All this was done as Christians had to swallow their faith's principles and give into the lust of man. Their colonialist of the world would become known as the "white man's burden" for the native peoples they conquered. However it wasn't the white peoples' race that was often held up as the reason for their massive excesses across the globe (however it was one of the reasons given, i.e. racism), it was their religion that was given as justification. The church often rationalized the cost the native populations had to pay by telling itself that Christianity would at least save their souls. So even if they did die from disease, hunger, or outright murder; at least their souls would be with G-d. 

Today this hatred in the West can be depicted as being confined to religiously based hate groups that scatter across Western civilization. And for the most part that is right. However, in countries where religion has not been separated from state, the pushing of Christianity as "the culture" rather than allowing diversity... the hate that fueled colonialism still persist. 

Jesus replied; "Love the Lord your G-d with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and the greatest commandment. And the second is like it, 'Love your neighbor as yourself'. All the Law of the Prophets hinge upon these two commandments." 

~Matthew 22:37-40

Christianity teaches it's followers that love is the greatest commandment of all. First they are to love G-d above all other things in this life. Secondly they are to love their fellow man in the same way they would love themselves. These two commandments in Christianity allow little room for hatred of others or other cultures. They show that Christians should be willing to express the same love for their fellow man that G-d has shown for them. If they have been blessed by their creator with freedoms, liberty, and health; then they should fight for those things for others who have not been given such blessings. Not so that those others will turn to Christ but so that in doing these things they are serving the Lord their G-d. For showing love is the basic principle of Jesus's message to his followers. 

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." ~1 Corinthians 13:4-7

"... of Mankind"

The third and final branch of the Abrahamic faiths is Islam. And like it's predecessors, Islam first arose from blood and still mingles with blood to this day. The Prophet Muhammad brought forth a faith that was meant to be the final word of G-d. It preached peace, love, and tolerance (for the Jews and Christians at least). Yet in it's implementation and founding in the deserts of Arabia it spread at first by the word and then eventually by the sword. Through no fault of it's own (of course) Islam had taken the path of the religions that came before it. It sought converts (like Christianity) and the rule of law (like Judaism). And somewhere in that rough start the message seems to have gotten lost. 

"The blessed of mankind is the one who is the most beneficial for mankind." ~Prophet Muhammad (s) in Beyhaki 6/112.

Groups like the Turks (Ottomans) really took things to a level that made the whole "peaceful religion" portion seem to be a fallacy of sorts. Their excesses, however occurring way down the road chronologically speaking, showed to the modern world how Islam had been abused since within the Middle East. Yet if we look back to the Moors in Spain we can see how Islam was abused far before that. It was only when the Moors started to lose their war of conquest that the Moors sought help from Muslims in northern Africa. While the Moors had been very tolerant of Christians and Jews, the incoming reinforcements were barbaric in their treatment of Jews and European Christians. It was in the excesses of these Muslims that the reconquista by the Christians really gathered steam. Blood begot blood in amounts that drenched Andalusia in waves. 

The Turks just expanded upon this belief that Islam was superior to the other "peoples of the book". Their abuses against the Greeks, Assyrians, and Armenians became so pronounced that they surpassed the levels of pogroms and entered the realm of genocide. Entire communities were labeled as enemies of the state... a state based on religion, and thus enemies of Islam. This created deep divides amongst the communities that still persist to this day (100 years later). 

Where the Prophet Muhammad had told his followers that the "blessed of mankind" are those who bless their fellow man; some followers had gone astray. And as with every religion, these stray followers did not just cast a stain upon themselves, their country, or their particular ethnic group. No, these followers became a blight upon all of Islam due to the reality that outsiders (especially those being killed off) do not make such distinctions when all they have been shown it hate. 

This is where Islam's presence in governments like that of Sudan continues to create a blight upon the faith itself. If a man who claims to have been blessed with a religion of superior intellect is seen firebombing villages and killing women and children... well that person's faith becomes a particularly rigid subject of debate. While another Muslim can claim that that one (or that group) isn't Muslim, to the outside world they are the poster child of Islam. And that's sadly how religions are portrayed no matter what faith it is. That whole "one bad apple" saying carries some weight.

 "None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself " ~Hadith #13

Actually Being A Blessing To Our Fellow Man

Regardless of religion, we all should be striving to be a blessing to our fellow man. Those of us who have been born into a life of freedom and prosperity have a duty to fight for those things for all mankind. Especially when there is a history of our given faith being the source of their repression. We may not be able to right all the wrongs in the past. But we can struggle every day to heal the wounds those events did create. This goes for our personal lives and in our struggle for human rights. 

We aren't perfect. Our religions aren't perfect. We will make mistakes when it comes to how we treat others. Other members of our faith will go well beyond just making mistakes. It is in how we conduct ourselves that we change the image of what it means to be religious and a supporter of human rights. By reaching out to all of mankind and not just with whom our faith is concerned, it is in this that we show the love of which all our faiths speak. 

Just as importantly, it is in showing that love and being a blessing to our fellow man that we help the causes that we do hold dear to us. You can no more uphold the rights of one oppressed community when you deny the oppression of another. After all, "love does not dishonor others". It is fair in all things. And it is far from blind. For it is the love our fellow man that convicts us to act in the first place. 

Last Bullet In The Chamber

(A Bridge Too Far series)
(PLUCK series)

(Every Word Has The Power To Wound)

No matter how well I articulate my position on Palestine and Israel I will always be seen as a "Zionist". Of this much I'm certain.

Religion is a vile and despicable construct that has served no other purpose but to divide those G-d created so much alike. Poison from the lips of imams and scholars has taken it's toll upon the moderates' minds. Venom that drips like honey, so as to hide it's bitter ends, flows from those who claim to preach peace in the name of a G-d that has apparently turned His gaze away. Their decorated temples and houses of thieves bring in the sheep to the slaughter. Yet a devout mass makes no attempt to question their masters as they raise the axe above their bowed heads.

Yes, I will always be considered a vile and ill-mannered "Zionist". But not because I hold organized religion in such contempt. No, I am "the enemy" because of my lack of apologies for supposed sins I have never once committed.

For it is not Islam that I hate. It is not Judaism which I hold such abhorrent views of. It is the perverse twisting, the manipulating, of faith in the name of politicized religion. This placement of an imagined devotion to a religion rather than the G-d it allegedly is supposed to serve. This is the source of my discontent.

On the battlefield for the survival of Israel or the "reconquista" of Palestine the main line of battle forms along religion. It is across this barrier that the two sides use the propaganda they have been fed as they release volley after volley of hate filled rhetoric. Yet both claim to be after peace? Both sides claim to be hanging their hats beneath the banners of religions that preach love and yet this is where they decide to mount their attacks from?

All my life my faith has been at war with the religion to which it is supposed to belong. Under the mislead guidance of "men of G-d" I have had to bow my head. Years of internal combat finally broke the shell and released my repulsion with every pit of snakes we so elegantly call houses of G-d. No longer could I tolerate the manipulation of holy words to serve the desires of a few. No more could I tolerate the lies that come with crosses, crescents, or stars.

For years now I my faith has been signified by the kippa atop my head. My only temple to which I retreat is that of the shadows beneath the cover of my tallit. For my faith does not need a scholar, a rabbi, an imam, or a preacher. My G-d does not need a church, a temple, or a mosque in which to confine me. My brother, my akhi... my sister, my ahoti... these are not confined by those who pray to G-d by the same name as I. The world is my alter and the persistent service of my fellow man my religion.

This is faith.

Faith cannot be used to strike at another with hollow attempts at advancing ourselves. It leaves us defenseless before the world. It places us in a state of servitude to those who most need it. In faith we step out onto a battle field where everyone carries loaded guns. Yet faith offers us nothing with which to fire back.

When we use religion to attack one another we are void of the faith to which we supposedly cling. Religion provides us a series of ritualistic defenses to hide our vulnerability. It shelters us amongst a multitude so that we become faceless... nameless. We become Muslims... Jews... we however do not become unique.

Unique talents of the individual are only highlighted in organized religion if they serve the desires of those pulling the strings. These talents that would otherwise be valuable contributions to mankind as a whole are hoarded for the selfish advancement of a few. Thus creating in situations like that in Israel an arm race of sorts that utilizes man as ammunition rather than valuing us for who we are.

The most damning part of religion playing a role in Palestine and Israel's conflict is just how effective it really is.

Through the application of "the Jews" as a blanket statement a political statement implicates not just Israel but an entire religion as a whole. The interchangeable use of Zionist with that of Jew or Jewish makes this connection between politics and faith that much more difficult to break. By utilizing these words, this ammunition, the words of a few place an entire people within the cross hairs.

No matter how moderate or rebellious the individual might be these few words can trigger a reaction based on religious devotion rather than one that might arise out of faith alone. For my faith would guide me to look beyond the words alone and toward the pain from which they originate. And yet the sting of being implicated with the masses instead of being taken as an individual brings forward only hostility. And this is from where a person will draw their reaction to such blanket statements.

For every time that I take up the position to defend Palestinians' most basic of human rights there will always be this familiar sting. As long as there are those who would defend their religion in spite of those who might otherwise align with them... I'm nothing more than a supposed "Zionist". It is this familiar sting that drives many back to the trenches their religion has dug for them and off the position their faith has guided them to hold.

This is the miserable reality of religious perversion on both sides of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Entire masses so eager to die for a flag designed for them not by G-d but by the hands of perverse leaders. This is what breaks the heart of a G-d who lives not in Jerusalem but rather in the soul of every man.

First They Came For The Hijab

France's Religious Freedom Failures

When the last wave of fascism spread across Europe the socialists who spread their banner of intolerance across the nations of Western Europe wasted no time targeting religious freedoms. Conservative Judaism suffered immediate harassment as the French brown shirts took up the German jackboots' cause. Beards were publicly desecrated as the peyos locks were sheered off. To add insult to injury these same Jews were then forced to adorn their clothing with a yellow star to identify themselves ironically in much the same way their religious customs had. However this time their sense of religious identity was upon the terms of the fascist and not in accordance to their religious customs.

For the Muslims of France the first step in reestablishing these very sins committed under, and often blamed upon, the Nazis. Yet in modern France there are no foreign fascist to blame these modern denials of religious freedoms upon. Today the French have only themselves and their own bigotry to blame for the denials of religious practices to a distinct religious group.

Once again the French strip away one of the most precious practices of their victims in an attempt to humiliate their victims. It is no more an attempt to preserve "French values" than it is an attempt to impose higher values upon the targeted portion of their society. For if religious intolerance is a French value than the victimized community should not be expected to practice religious tolerance anywhere on the planet. Once shown that their faith is given less value than that of their oppressors', how can France expect a social standard be shown toward them that they deny to others?

The idea of forcing a new set of standards upon a small portion of society is not only counterproductive but also goes completely against the ideals of liberty and equality. In a free and open society there can be no room made for intolerance of our basic G-d given rights. Let alone when it is the government applying such double standards upon society at large. For if any portion of our society is not allowed to practice their basic human rights; none of us are truly free.

The main excuse for the "burqa ban" has been the blatantly false concern for public safety. When politicians run out of things to blame their biases upon these days they turn to the mind-numb masses and screams danger. And in a modern world where the masses are just about gullible enough to drink the kool-aid these scare tactics somehow still have an affect.

But what are we really risking by allowing our Muslim sisters to be abused by the legislators of Europe?

Small Steps Toward Tyranny

When Germany began it's march toward totalitarianism in the late 1920's the German public was not well aware of what was awaiting them over the next two decades. Their flirtation with a national sense of pride and the promises of a politicians was a poison that would rot their sense of self worth. Their own identities would have to be sold to the state if they wished to obtain the prizes that their new leaders dangled just out of reach. And sure enough, the Germans took the bait. 

In France Europe watched as deviant leaders dangled lofty promises of "restoring French pride" in a society that never really had any. Slowly the seed took root and the people of France began to sell off their own self worth for the promise of a new and better France. Their own identities as liberal and free thinking individuals has slowly decayed as France inches it's way toward fascist socialism. The lie of what a person must be to be truly "French" has already be swallowed by the masses. The cookie cutter image of what a "good French citizen" should look like has already been supplanted in place of their own self image. No longer is the model citizen allowed to freely and openly practice their faith, but rather is expected to pay homage to a godless state. 

With the removal of publicly displayed Christian symbols the French were expected to show that they were cutting ties to their Christian past and moving toward a free and open society. However, once the public accepted that the church and state were separate the state began to cross the boundary and play the role of church. Where the idea of limiting the role of religion in politics had been so keenly imposed the rationalization of limiting the state's role in religion was not. 

This is where the hijab battle in Europe is best displayed. 

In a public that was willing to limit and even oppress the rights of it's Christian "bitter clingers" the society cannot expect the state to practice limits. This is why the overreaching of the state in it's relationship with the mosque is not surprising. Had the state been pushed back when it was dabbling in the church it would have been less likely to have reached it's hands into the mosque right afterward. Yet the public said nothing, so now they can do little to stop it. 

The pace at which a state moves toward tyranny is determined by the reaction of those who it governs. If the public remains silent as the state oversteps it's bounds with one group than all the rest have no ability to rely upon the others when the state comes stepping on their toes as well. The old poem "First They Came" is in this sense a warning to all portions of community when dealing with a government that attempts to grow at their expense. 

As for France, the Roma have long been the canary in the coalmine. 

When the government of France began deporting legal Romani citizens alongside newly immigrated Roma from Eastern Europe their countrymen remained silent. The deportations of Roma were looked at as an attempt to bring law and order back to the ghettos of France's cities. The scapegoat, the Roma, were just the objects upon which the French attached their collective sins. And in step with their history with France, the Roma took another one on the chin while Europe covered it's eyes. 

The canary's calls were ignored. And even when the canary fell to the bottom of it's dirty cage... nobody said a word. 

Now the fascist have moved on to another target that they had been eyeballing for years now. 

Prison Or Piety?

"O children of Adam, We have bestowed upon you clothing to conceal your private parts and as adornment. But the clothing of righteousness - that is best. That is from the signs of All-h that perhaps they will remember." ~ Qur'an 7:26

The hijab is to Islam what the kippa is to Judaism. It is yet another way for the observant to show their faith and devotion to All-h. Not publicly, contrary to what the outside world might think, but in a very personal manner that professes their dedication to the path G-d has directed for them. It is only coincidence that this portion of their faith is visible to a world that does not fully understand or appreciate it. 

Contrary to what a non-Muslim might think, the burqa is not mentioned in the Qur'an. However, the word "hijab" is mentioned in the Qur'an seven times (five times as hijab and twice as hijaban). In every occurrence the word hijab is used to mean "a barrier or veil between G-d and the human being". It is at no time mentioned as an article of clothing or a garment with which a female should adorn herself in the presence of a man. 

In this light one should understand that if a woman, especially one in a secular society, chooses to adorn the article of clothing we refer to as a hijab they are doing so under their own will. It is not a compulsory portion of Islam and has not been commanded of them by the mosque or their imam. Thus the decision to wear the headscarf is one born out of their own religious ideals and is not a "prison" with which Islam "enslaves" them (as Western feminists and conservatives have often said). 

This decision on behalf of the hijab wearing Muslim is much the same as the decision of orthodox Jews to wear the kippa (often refereed to in Yiddish as a yarmulke). Not once in the Torah does G-d command Jewish men to wear a a kippa. This is evident by the lack of a blessing associated with putting on the kippa since there is no commandment for Jews to recite (as is custom when putting on articles such as the tallit). Therefore the two garments are a rather personal decision, and though not born out of religious mandate, that should be respected due to the individual's personal relationship not with their religion but with their G-d. 

For me, a conservative Jew who does wear a kippa daily, the decision to wear the kippa is one that reminds me of G-d's will for my life. It is a sentiment that is just as sacred as keeping my beard. And even though it is just a small circle piece of clothing, the kippa is a part of my daily routine that keeps my love, my passion, and my desire to serve G-d at the front of my mind. I can only imagine that for Muslim women wearing the hijab this article of their clothing holds just as much sentiment and significance for them as well.

Who Is Next?

The main reason that the hijab battles spreading across Europe should be worrisome even to those who are not religious is rather simple. In a society where we are willing to deny the rights of a few there is no sense of security for the many. If a government is able to restrict the practices of a portion of society they are more than capable of stripping the rights of every other citizen as well. And where a portion of society is capable of being isolated and set aside for devious intent the risk of crimes against all humanity remain a very real possibility. 

When the first Germans were sent off to be reeducated the rest of Germany remained silent. That silence was a weapon in the hands of the government. It was the ammunition they needed to take the next step toward absolute control. With that silence the governments of man can strip away the identities of every individual and replace it with a soulless, heartless, and numb collective. The very essence of what we are as a society is denied to us as the image of what a faceless regime wants us to be replaces it. With our silence we not only lose our voice but also the very liberties we should be using our voices to defend.

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The Forgotten Righteous

Muslim Heroism During The Holocaust

I have often said that the Holocaust stole from me a heritage, a story, and an identity that I have had to fight to restore. From an early age I felt a pull to recover what was lost. It was a hunger for the stories that my ancestors had left in the past that reached out into the present. From those early years to this very day that hunger has only grown. It has shaped me, it has molded me, and it has brought a sense of reconciliation to a broken family tree. 

When I was in high school the subject of the holocaust was something I didn't want to talk about. Countless classes focused upon the subject with such intensity that it made it almost unbearable. At that time I was learning in my own research what had become of those who came before me. I was reading names of people my family had forgotten. I was reading how they had been abused, neglected, and sent to die at the hands of heartless governments and societies that hated them. For me, the class room was an uncomfortable battle field with the images and stories I was starting to believe were best forgotten. 

But you don't get to look away when this sort of awakening is taking place. You don't get to block out the emotions that claw at your heart and rip at your soul. The faces of the betrayed are constantly there to remind you that their story cannot be forgotten. The realization they bring is that if we forget, if we choose to forget, it will always come back in one way or another to remind us. 

When I was barely old enough to understand what war was I watched the news footage of Rwanda. I remember seeing people being hacked to death in the streets as they screamed for mercy that would never be given to them. The sounds of their tormented cries echo constantly in my mind. And then came Bosnia...

Genocide has a way of showing us the worst aspects of what we are as human beings. It takes from us the hope for humanity as it blinds us the few good aspects of mankind we have left. In that tortuous state it drags us to a point where we must deal with the sins of our collective past. It demands that we pay for our indifference to the suffering of others, our inaction in its presence, and the complicity with its very existence. 

So when Bosnia plunged into the hellish depths of "ethnic cleansing", genocide by another name, I attempted to check out. I didn't want to see it anymore. For a short time I didn't want to believe it could happen. And at that age I couldn't understand all of what was happening to the Bosnian people. 

That was until years later when I read about Jews who helped save Bosnian Muslims during the Bosnian Genocide. For the first time I had found an aspect of this wretched crime that I could study without losing a part of my sanity. For the first time I could see a small glimmer of hope.

Over the years of reading stories like the one in the picture above the ability to look past the seemingly endless darkness of this horrific crime grew. I began reading stories about Rwanda. Then I found stories about Cambodia. And next came stories about the Holocaust. I was slowly learning that even in the nightmare of genocide there are still people who manage to maintain their humanity. That even while the world was burning around them, and even though they had nothing to gain, these people showed all of us what it was to be human. 

For the Jewish people these stories offered a sense of hope. They showed us that even in times of utter despair there were still people that cared enough to help us survive the pogroms and Holocaust. However for all these "righteous among the nations" that I came across there was one group that was missing. 

The Muslims

There aren't many stories that show up when one starts to research the Holocaust in the Arab world. At least not ones that speak of heroism that is. Yet when you start to dig a little it isn't hard to find such stories these days. The accounts of Muslims saving Jewish lives are prolific. And they aren't simply confined to North Africa and the Middle East either.

Here are just a few...

Saide Arifova 

Saide Arifova was a Crimean Tartar who managed to save the lives of 88 Crimean Jews in the Ukraine from 1942-43. She was a mere kindergarten director when the Nazi's rolled into the Ukraine. Yet she knew from the start of Nazi occupation that the children in her care were in danger. And from that realization came a hero that even the Nazi's could not manage to break. 

After forging documents and switching the ethnicity of the Jewish children in her care through tampering with state documents, Saide Arifova's luck ran out. The Nazi's took Saide Arifova in for questioning where they beat her severely. Yet this Muslim woman did not turn her back on the Jewish children she had risked her life to save. She kept to her word and managed to withstand all the abuse the Nazi's had for her. 

This woman survived Nazi torture for children of a religion that was under threat of annihilation in her homeland. She had shown a courage that others had forsaken. And in the face of all this torment, Saide Arifova managed to even keep her life. 

When the Nazi's were pushed out the Crimean Tartars faced their own persecution. Stalin ordered the Sürgünlik, the forced deportation of Crimean Tartars to Uzbekistan, in fear that the Tartars had aided the Nazis during occupation. Saide Arifova, despite all her bravery in resisting the Nazis, was deported to Uzbekistan. 45 percent of the Tartars deported would die in Uzbekistan and yet Saide Arifova survived. 

Only after the Perestroika (reform of the Soviet Party during the 1980s) did Saide Arifova get to return to Crimea where she had so bravely saved those 88 Jewish children. On August 9th, 2007 Saide Arifova passed away. 

Necdet Kent

Necdet Kent was a Turkish Muslim who had been born in Istanbul, Turkey. During years of study and building a career as a Turkish Foreign Diplomat Mr Kent had managed to end up in Marseilles, France. There Mr Kent watched as the Germans entered France and installed the Vichy French regime. He bore witness to the horrific implementation of the Nazi race laws. 

In 1943 Mr Kent was given his first real challenge when faced with Germany's genocide of the Jewish people. Having been informed that the Gestapo had loaded 80 Turkish Jews onto a cattle car for deportation, Mr Kent went down to the station. He would later recall that the cattle car bore an inscription that stated "this wagon may be loaded with 20 heads of cattle and 500kgs of grass". Yet here he stood in front of a Gestapo commandant with a cattle car loaded with Jewish prisoners. 

Mr Kent ordered that the cattle car be emptied on the basis that the Jews inside were Turkish citizens and Turkey had declared neutrality in this conflict. On all legal grounds the Turkish diplomat was correct in his assumption that neutrality should be extended to the the Jews on-board. However the Germans laughed in his face and told Mr Kent that the Jews were nothing but worthless Jews. Their fate was sealed not because their nationality but rather their religion and ethnicity. 

Furious, Mr Kent and his assistant boarded the train and refused to get off. The Gestapo ordered the train to continue to it's next destination. Mr Kent and his assistant stayed on-board as the train of deportees barreled onward. All the while the Germans prepared a car at the next stop and a plan to get Mr Kent off the train. 

Once at the next stop the Gestapo boarded the train and demanded that Mr Kent get off and go back to Marseilles where he belonged. Yet Mr Kent replied that he was a representative of a government that did not believe in such abuses let alone on the basis of religious beliefs. For that reason Mr Kent could not leave the Jewish prisoners on that train in that condition. 

Unable to get Mr Kent off the train and realizing that the Turkish diplomat was bound to remain uncompromising in his stance, the Gestapo allowed the 80 Jewish prisoners to get off as well. Mr Kent would later state:

"I would never forget those embraces around our necks and hands ... the expressions of gratitude in the eyes of the people we rescued ... the inner peace I felt when I reached my bed towards morning."

Yet Mr Kent's bravery and heroism was not limited to this one day or this one action. Necdet Kent would continue to reach out to the Turkish Jews and other Jews who had fled to southern France prior to Nazi invasion. Mr Kent continuously offered the Jews he helped forged documents and passports that could help them get to Turkey or unoccupied lands. He also was recorded to have gone to the Gestapo and petitioned for better treatment of Jews on sever occasions... including after Marseilles Gestapo had begun stripping men in the streets to identify circumcised Jews publicly. 

However when honored for his acts of heroism Mr Kent did not take the opportunity to gloat. Instead Necdet Kent plainly stated that he had a duty to defend and save the lives of all Turkish citizens in France, especially Jews. Necdet Kent died at the age of 91 on September 20th, 2002.

Abdol Hossein Sardari

Abdol Hossein Sardari has become known as the "Schindler of Iran" amongst those who study the Holocaust. Yet for Mr Sardari this title was never one he boasted about. And despite this it is one that he rightfully earned in countless acts of selflessness and heroism. 

Mr Sardari was a very intelligent man who had been given leadership of the Iranian Consular office in Paris, France. He was there as the Germans began their march across Europe and thus overrunning Paris. It was from the very moment that Germans arrived that Mr Sardari began exploiting the agreements that Iran had made with Germany for protection of their citizens across Europe. These were agreements that Germany would violate regularly across Europe and yet Mr Sardari managed to hold Paris's Gestapo to the letter of the law. 

An ever vigilant defender of Iranian Jews, of which there were a sizable amount in Paris, Mr Sardari insured that every Persian Jew he could contact had a viable Iranian passport. For the Persian Jews that did not, Mr Sardari readily forged documents and passports for them. Violating laws and international agreements, Mr Sardari managed to save Persian Jews while holding Germany to it's word. 

As the occupation dragged on Abdol Hossein Sardari began to realize the complete picture of what Germany had in store for Europe's Jews. Slowly he began issuing Iranian passports and documents to non-Persian Jews across Paris. To make sure that his actions were not exposed Mr Sardari did not ask for permission to issue such documents. Instead, with a sense of bravery, Mr Sardari went about his work right under the eyes of the Gestapo. Iran would later applaud Abdol Sardari for his courage and efforts. 

Much like Necdet Kent, Abdol Hossein Sardari did not attempt to make light of his own actions in saving countless Jewish lives in Nazi occupied France. When honored for his actions, Mr Sardari clearly stated that he had a duty to save Persians from German aggression, regardless of religion. Almost forgotten, Abdol Hossein Sardari died in 1981 in Nottingham, England. 

Never Forget

The history of genocide is not filled with very many glimmering lights of hope. For this reason it is vital that history not forget those who bravely stood up to the persecution of others. When all the world would tell them to stand down and ignore the savagery placed at their feet, these brave souls showed us... reminded us... of what we should all strive for. 

These are just three stories of many. They are lives that were lived in defense of others. Their actions according to them were not heroic... they simply did what they saw as being morally correct. And it is for this reason that they are in fact heroes. In the darkness of the Holocaust they chose to shine like candles in our darkest hour. 

We should never forget these stories. We should let them live in our hearts, our minds, and in our words when dealing with such adversity. The legacy they have handed to us must never be allowed to be lost. For there is no guarantee that once lost, once forgotten, that we will ever get it back.

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China's Hidden Jihad

The Atheist State's Unholy War On Uyghur Muslims

Repression is not defined by strict measurements. If a state is able to deny the basic rights of a people in any way it is crossing over into the realm of repression. If it attempts to limit the access of a people to their faith it is a repressive regime. If it blocks a people from the same rights that it assures to others within it's population the state is repressive by nature. It is an act of tyranny that though it may be hard to put to words it is always identifiable when you see it.

In a country where the state has no prescribed religion and recognizes only the rights of the majority the line between normality and repression is often blurred. But it is there. And for the Uyghur people it is a reality that threatens to deny them their heritage, their faith, and their future. For in a state where the perverted desires of the few are put above the needs of the many it is always those left on the fringe that pay the most. In China's unstable Xingiang region the Uyghur people are the ones left on the fringe of society. They are the ones that bear the weight of a country's greed.

The weight of a nation can break the will of a people to fight... to resist. Yet when pushed too far that weight can create unity. A certain bond is formed in a people that are oppressed by brutal tyrants. It is a link to that once formed it is hard to break. All the degradation, all the humiliation, all the pain and suffering; they become reasons to push back. The tears that mothers have shed over children taken away by jackbooted thugs become the water that nurtures bitter seeds. The blood and sweat that fathers sacrifice for their families' sake only serve to feed the hunger for change. All of which are planted in the minds of the youth who watch as their parents backs' break under the heavy hands of authoritarian beasts.

Change that comes from this form is not something that waits patiently for the right time and place. Change that comes from this form is that which comes like fire. It razes the structure of society and puts siege to the cornerstone of a government that has held it down for far too long.

This is what China is struggling to contain as it tucks it's iron fists in a velvet glove. All the while the regime finds new ways to keep prying eyes out of the troubled region. For this reason the national propaganda is the only form of press allowed into areas where the security forces heighten their presence. China is once again attempting to blackout the region so that the rest of the world can't see what dirty deeds are being done behind closed doors.

The rage that China created in the hearts and minds of the Uyghur community has flared up time and time again. With each new riot came an opportunity to round up the men and boys. With each new stabbing or alleged attack came a new chance for China to open fire on Uyghur protesters. The most notable incident in recent memory was the July 5th 2009 violence in Urumqi. It was a riot in which the Han majority was rewarded for turning a peaceful protest violent. Their reward has been the persistent repression of their Uyghur neighbors every July since.

This past Ramadan the anniversary of the July violence was celebrated by the fascist state by placing hundreds of Uyghur students in detention centers where they were not allowed to observe the holy month. Uyghur children were bussed to state run schools where they were forced to hand over all electronic devices that could be used to contact the outside world. Once under arrest the children were daily subjected to state propaganda that was intended to help the reeducation process take root in the Uyghur community.

"Due to Ramadan, places of worship will be forbidden from holding all sorts of religious teaching activity. If there are violations, the places will be sealed."

~ Posted Chinese Order in Karamay

In addition the state supported increased police presence in Uyghur neighborhoods across the Xinjiang region. In Karamay the security forces were meant to enforce restrictions on Uyghur travel and to prevent visits to mosque and religious facilities. Those allowed to visit the mosque were ordered when they could be present in the mosque and for how long. A police officer was present at all times to assure the order was carried out to the letter of the law. Not a minute longer was allowed in the heavily restricted prayer times.

Then comes the French style ban on headscarves. Chinese authorities in many parts of Xinjiang have put out orders to prevent Uyghur women from wearing hijabs and other traditional head coverings. Most notably the area of Hotan has seen (mostly peaceful) demonstrations against such restrictive ordinances that violate the Uyghur peoples' religious rights.

"We have a policy of going and checking bearded and strangely clothed people, according to orders from the top,” Uchturpan public security department’s intelligence unit.

This restriction on religious attire was highlighted on August 5th when a Uyghur man was stopped by two police officers and ordered to shave his beard. When the man refused the altercation became violent. As a result the police pulled their weapons and opened fire. In the end the Uyghur man was gunned down while using his knife to defend what dignity the state had left him with.

All of these are just examples of the barbarism with which the Uyghurs are forced to live. When local concerns are brought through the proper channels the state responds with vast sweeps of the community and even harsher laws. This sort of discrimination against the Uyghurs, who watch as the state ships in Han settlers, is the food for revolution. It cannot be ignored as China attempts to force economic advancement while segregating the minority population from the economic windfall.

With every exploitation that the Uyghur people suffer comes a new seed cast in a bitter field. And while only time will tell what will grow from this maltreatment it is only reasonable to assume that it will not be beneficial to the state. A government cannot sow the worst forms of abuse and expect to reap the best of a neglected population's efforts.

So what exactly are the seeds that China is planting? 

Displacement and Replacement

Let's start with the displacement of Uyghur people and the replacement by the state with ethnic Han Chinese.

The outbreak of violence in July of 2009 drastically changed the way that China approached the issue of "assimilation" and "economic adjustments" in the Xinjiang region. Where the government had been attempting to stifle religious practices gradually while simultaneously increasing manufacturing activity in Uyghur villages and cities they suddenly ramped up their approach.

By the end of July 2009 the capitol of Urumqi was blanketed with 20,000 new Chinese military personnel. Uyghur citizens were forced out of large sections of the city while the government bussed in Han citizens. Homes where Uyghur families had just recently raised their children were now being occupied by Chinese transported in from Eastern China. The jobs these displaced Uyghurs had held in local factories were then handed over by the state to the Han immigrants. Any Uyghur who dared to speak out was caught up in the dragnet that the security forces had cast over the city.

Official and unofficial detainment centers were created for the Uyghur citizens of Urumqi. Countless civilians who were detained after the riots were not heard from again. This helped China's official campaign of uprooting the Uyghur people. It allowed the Han immigrants to be left in place since nobody would be coming back to claim the "abandoned" homes in which the state had placed them.

If we fast forward a couple years the campaign of displacing Uyghurs has not stopped. It has instead grown and been added onto as China continues to "develop" the region by removing the native population. With one way the Uyghur population is being displaced is through the forcible relocation of young Uyghur girls.

In official propaganda the state tells Uyghur women that the process of moving to Eastern China to work in factories is both "enjoyable" and "rewarding". In reality the Uyghur women face absolutely no security as they are placed in areas without social networks to help them adjust to the abrupt deportation from their homeland. Girls who are relocated are given little to no education about where they are being sent to. Religious, social, and cultural concerns are not addressed once the Uyghur girls are shipped to factory jobs that pay them less than their Han counterparts.

Wage Disparity

While income in the West is dictated by the relationship between the employer and the employee the income for the Uyghur is dictated by the relationship between the ethnic group and the state. This is most painfully obvious when we look at the Uyghur people who are subjected to inhumane working conditions in Chinese factories. While employment is relative to their ethnicity in areas more directly state controlled economic regions those who do find employment are restricted to jobs the state finds suitable for their "ethnic class". 

In studies done in 2008 researchers found that the "informal economy" of Xinjiang was segmented not by what a person could achieve or their level of education in a field but rather their given ethnicity. This showed that ethnic Han were given the highest paying jobs while Uyghur workers were only permitted to perform menial task and lower levels of employment. There was not one single career field shown that could prove this given rule of employment in Xinjiang wrong. Across the board Uyghur workers were being forced to work beneath Han (who at times had less education and/or training). 

These economic studies showed that despite any apparent equality that China claimed existed in their schools that Uyghur were limited in their own "autonomous region". No matter how hard a Uyghur student tried they would not be permitted by the current economic system to advance to the top of their career field simply due to their ethnicity. 

For the Uyghur who worked at the top level permitted to them in this bias system there was the added reality that income was slanted in favor of Han workers. The same studies showed that Uyghur who held the same job and did the same work as a Han citizen earned considerably less. This once again served the Chinese goal of repression in both economic and social standings for the Uyghur community. 

Social Inequality

Religious and ethnic prejudice against the Uyghur people in China is both an institutionalized and social mechanism.

Religious 

While the state officially recognizes the Uyghur as "racially and culturally distinct" (thus making them a recognized minority) they do little to respect the culture of the Uyghur people. This is based in the constitution of China in the aspect that the official religious status of the state is that it is atheist. However, religious tolerance is achieved (minutely) through the lose wording which states that China has the right to regulate "normal religious activities". The wording is measured in such that it permits the state the right to dictate to a given faith what is "normal" and what is not. Therefore giving China permission to deny religious observances, practices, and organizations at any time for any reason.

The willingness on China's part to accept Islam as a "normal" part of Muslim culture has broadened over the past couple decades as China has grown in both its economy and materialistic needs. With exploitative relationships with Middle Eastern countries came the desire on China's part to show that it can tolerate Islam... to an extent. This allows China the ability to play it's hand with trading partners while at the same time telling Western nations that it is becoming more religiously tolerant.

In reality the religious tolerance that China shows toward Muslim minorities is limited only to what it views is beneficial to the state. When political pressure is mounted by the outside the Chinese either give a token of goodwill or simply block access to regions like Xinjiang all together. In the end the religious rights of the repressed minority never truly grow but are simply loaned for a time before being taken away again.

As for the cultural aspect of religious discrimination the nature of the problem arises through long held prejudices against Muslims in Western China. From the very moment that Islam arrived there have been distinctions made between the faith and its followers and the rest of Chinese society. One of the main reasons has been the fact that Islam first arrived by traveling up the "silk road".

The fact that Islam arrived in China through the mouths and books of merchants has damaged the relationship between Muslim minorities and the Han majority every since. This is in part due to the class system found in China at the time of Islam's arrival. It was a class system that placed merchants at the bottom of the totem pole for the fact that they were seen as "leeches". This meant that Chinese society viewed merchants as contributing the least to society while benefiting the most from it. Thus when Islam arrived in China through the economic trade with the West it was immediately viewed as barbaric.

The stigma that Muslim minorities face can still be traced back to the class system of the Han Dynasty. Today Muslim minorities are still traditionally portrayed as greedy, underhanded, manipulative, and as liars. These prejudices are often applied by the less educated masses of Western China and have shown no signs of leaving the society as education levels rise amongst the citizens of Xinjiang province. The fact that they are so interwoven with the social fabric of China's Han majority has proven to make these prejudices hard to displace.

Ethnic

Ethnic differences in China are difficult to navigate around. While it is at times seen as beneficial to be classified as an ethnic minority it has proven more often than not damning for the Uyghur people. From the moment they are born the Uyghur people are subjected to discrimination due to the given ethnicity they were born as. It is not a far leap for us to suggest that large portions of the opportunities in their lives are shut out by the state simply based upon ethnic classification.

The government of China is structured so rigidly on ethnic lines that Uyghur children face their first encounter with ethnic discrimination from their first day of school. Even in schools that flaunt their "mixed" ethnic student body the Uyghur children can face both physical and mental abuse by their Han classmates and teachers. This is only amplified as Uyghur children work their way from lower levels of education to higher levels. 

Once out of the government's schools the Uyghur youth are barraged by social standards that reiterate the supposed superiority of the Han ethnicity to that of their own. Employment, communal participation, and social standings are all regulated by one form of ethnic discrimination or another. Even in an "autonomous" region, where government is supposed to reflect the given ethnic group, those in charge are chosen by their loyalty to the Han majority. 

This persistent reminder of a person's lack of supposed value shows the willingness of the Chinese state to subjugate it's own citizens. Of course after a certain point it would be arguable that given the perception of the state, and the way it views it's own people, that China does not see the Uyghur people as Chinese citizens. 

For this reason the Chinese government can look forward to the harvest of these vile seeds it has sown. No people should have to live with this sort of barbaric heathenism shown by the Beijing. No people, if history is the best indicator of future behavior, will forever bear this sort of abuse.

(Note: The use of "jihad" in the title is in response to China's misuse of the word when reporting on ethnic violence committed in Xinjiang. We here at Alder's Ledge would like to clarify that jihad is a word that, though misunderstood due to misuse, has a rather beautiful meaning. The word jihad can best be defined as to strive to live a life pleasing to G-d (Allah). This means that it is a term which encourages the believer to strive for a life or morality and greater understanding of their duty to serve the L-rd. However, through it's misuse and misunderstanding over time the term has been associated with "holy war". This misuse of the word was not intended by Alder's Ledge in the aspect that it would further perpetrate this misunderstanding.)

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Source Documents
(note: not all sources listed)

Radio Free Asia
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/attack-07292013171133.html
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/uchturpan-08052013173737.html
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/scholar-07312013173204.html

The Diplomat
http://thediplomat.com/2013/08/04/xinjiang-reassessing-the-recent-violence/2/

Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2009/07/07/DI2009070701491.html

Forced Migration

http://www.forcedmigration.org/podcasts-videos-photos/podcasts/uyghur-women

University of Washington Tacoma 

http://digitalcommons.tacoma.uw.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1003&context=ppe_prize

Other Sources

http://www.tonyjhowell.com/papers/Minority_income_disparity_in_Xinjiange.pdf