11.
REFUGEES
In order to avoid the persecution of
the Quraysh idolaters in Makkah the Prophet ordered in the early period of
Islam his followers to emigrate to a safe place: in Ethiopia and then in
Madinah. There were three kinds of people in response to this order to
emigrate: (a) those Muslims who obeyed this order and emigrated to Madinah; (b)
those Muslims who preferred to stay in Makkah for worldly reason, pretending
not to be Muslims to avoid their persecution; (c) children and those who were
sick and old, and were unable to emigrate, such as ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abbās and his
mother.
When the Battle of Badr took
place in the 2nd year of Hijrah those who preferred to stay in
Makkah were forced to join the Quraysh army, or they would disclose their
belief in Islam, and be persecuted. Ibn ‘Abbās said that some people among the
Quraysh army who were secretly Muslims were hit in the battlefield. Their
fellow Muslims in the Muslim army recognized them and prayed to Allah that they
might be forgiven for joining the disbelievers in the battlefield. The Allah
revealed the following verses:
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ تَوَفَّاهُمُ
الْمَلَائِكَةُ ظَالِمِي أَنْفُسِهِمْ قَالُوا فِيمَ كُنْتُمْ قَالُوا كُنَّا
مُسْتَضْعَفِينَ فِي الْأَرْضِ
قَالُوا أَلَمْ تَكُنْ أَرْضُ اللَّهِ وَاسِعَةً فَتُهَاجِرُوا
فِيهَا فَأُولَئِكَ مَأْوَاهُمْ
جَهَنَّمُ وَسَاءَتْ مَصِيرًا. إِلَّا الْمُسْتَضْعَفِينَ مِنَ
الرِّجَالِ وَالنِّسَاءِ
وَالْوِلْدَانِ لَا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ حِيلَةً وَلَا يَهْتَدُونَ
سَبِيلًا. فَأُولَئِكَ
عَسَى اللَّهُ أَنْ يَعْفُوَ عَنْهُمْ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ
عَفُوًّا غَفُورًا
(النساء:97-99)
Verily, as for those whom angels take (in
death)
while
they are wronging themselves (as they stayed
among
the disbelievers even though emigration was
obligatory
for them), they (angels) say (to them):
“In what (condition) were you?” They reply: “We
were
weak and oppressed on the earth.” They (angels)
say:
“Was not the earth of Allah spacious enough for
you to emigrate therein?” Such men will find their Abode in Hell—
what an evil destination! Except the weak ones
among
men, women and children who cannot devise a
plan [i.e., cannot find the way], nor are they able to direct their
way. These are they whom Allah is likely to
forgive,
and
Allah is Ever Oft-Pardoning, Oft-
Forgiving (Q. 4:97-98)
When the Muslims who
remained in Makkah knew that
Allah
would not forgive them for not emigrating to Madinah, they started emigrating.
But the Makkah idolaters chased them and persecuted them. Then the following
verse was revealed,
وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَنْ يَقُولُ
آمَنَّا بِاللَّهِ فَإِذَا أُوذِيَ فِي اللَّهِ جَعَلَ فِتْنَةَ النَّاسِ
كَعَذَابِ اللَّهِ وَلَئِنْ جَاءَ نَصْرٌ مِنْ رَبِّكَ لَيَقُولُنَّ
إِنَّا كُنَّا مَعَكُمْ أَوَلَيْسَ
اللَّهُ بِأَعْلَمَ بِمَا
فِي صُدُورِ الْعَالَمِينَ (العنكبوت:10)
Of mankind are some
who say: “We believe in Allah.” But if
they are made to suffer for the sake of Allah,
they consider
the
trial of mankind as Allah’s punishment; and if victory
comes from your lord, (the hypocrites) will
say: “Verily,
we were
with you (helping you).” Is not Allah Best
Aware of what is in the breasts of the Alamin
(mankind
and jinn)? Q. 29:10)
When they were told about the above verse they became very
sad and lost hope for migrating to Madinah. However, they were told that Allah
had given them a way out, as another verse was revealed to relieve them from
being hopeless, as follows:
ثُمَّ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ لِلَّذِينَ
هَاجَرُوا مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا فُتِنُوا ثُمَّ جَاهَدُوا
وَصَبَرُوا إِنَّ رَبَّكَ مِنْ بَعْدِهَا لَغَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ (النحل:110)
The, verily, your Lord for those who emigrated after
they had
been put to trials and thereafter strove hard
and
fought (for the Cause of Allah) and were patient,
verily
your Lord afterward, is Oft-Forgiving,
Most Merciful. (Q. 16:110)
So,
they started emigrating again, and when they were overtaken by the idolaters,
they fought back, some were saved and others were killed. Anyway, Allah has
forgiven them for their delay in emigrating.
This was the hijrah (migration)
in the time of the Prophet, moving to a place to avoid persecution, where Islam
could be practiced without any problem, in modern technical term, it is called “taking refuge”, and muhājirīn
are refugees rather than migrants. A migrant is a person who chooses to leave
his country to find a job, to study or to be reunited with his family. On the other
hand, a refugee is a person who has fled persecution,
has sought and granted protection, and person seeking refuge due to a natural
disaster. An asylum seeker is
someone seeking protection because they have a well-founded fear of being
persecuted for reasons of their race, religion, nationality, political opinion
or membership of a particular social group. An asylum seeker could also be
someone who is fleeing other serious human rights violations, including torture
or cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment He may be (1) residing
in a refugee camp waiting for an opportunity to return to their home country, or
(2) waiting for resettlement in another country, or (3) may have been resettled
in another country such as Australia.
Before
becoming a refugee, a person has to be an asylum seeker, seeking protection
because of fear of being persecuted because of his race, religion, nationality,
political opinion or membership of a particular social group. He could also be
someone who is fleeing other serious human rights violations, including torture
or cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment.
After
the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003 the number of refugees increased
till it reached over 4 million refugees around the world in 2007, including 2
million in neighbouring Middle East countries, and 1.9 million in Iraq, which
means 15 % of the Iraqi people had left their homes. There are over 1.2 million
Iraqi refugees in Syria which had 18 million populations, and by 2009 Jordan
which had only 6 million populations, had taken 700,000 Iraqi refugees.
In
2011 one-quarter of the population of Jordan were refugees.
Due to the conflict in Iraq refugees
immigrate to Pakistan and Syria. About 1.8 million refugees were hosted in
Pakistan
About 2.8 million people from Afghanistan took
refuge in 69 different asylum countries whereas bout 1.9 million Iraqis have
moved, mostly to neighboring asylum countries.
About three weeks ago, an
Egyptian billionaire, Naguib Sawiris, offered to buy an island belonging to
Greece or Italy for Syrian refugees. He said:
“Greece or Italy
sell me an island, I’ll call its
independence and
host the migrants and provide
jobs for them
building their new country.”
Naguib Sawiris
Egyptian billionaire
Agence France-Presse
He was also reported by Agence
France-Presse as follows:
“Sawiris said an
island off Greece or Italy could cost
between $10 million and $100 million, but
added
the ‘main thing is investment in
infrastructure.’”
Agence
France-Presse
One of the Arab countries which hosts
the Syrian refugees with generosity is Lebanon with over one million Syrian
refugees, equal to one-quarter of its population. Compared to USA, it is like hosting
75 million refugees. The non-Arab neighbouring country, Turkey which has 70
million populations, hosts 1.6 million Syrian refugees.
The condition of the people of Syria
in 2011 was that out of 22.4 million of its inhabitants, about 200 thousand
deaths, 4 million refugees, and 7.5 million are internally displaced. So, less
than half of its population remain in their homes.
We do not know when the misery of the
refugees will end, as long as the two
contending parties, the government and those who revolt against him do not find
any solution for their disagreement. The Prophet had already warned us against
revolting against impious rulers, as long as they do not order people to
disobey Allah. The Prophet s.a.w. said:
عَلَى الْمَرْءِ الْمُسْلِمِ
السَّمْعُ وَالطَّاعَةُ فِيمَا أَحَبَّ وَكَرِهَ إِلاَّ
أَنْ يُؤْمَرَ بِمَعْصِيَةٍ
فَإِنْ أُمِرَ بِمَعْصِيَةٍ فَلاَ سَمْعَ وَلاَ طَاعَةَ
(رواه البخاري و مسلم و أبو داؤد والنسائي و
أحمد) .
Upon the person is hearing and obeying concerning
what he likes and what he dislikes, unless he
is ordered to
do an
act of disobedience [to Allah]. If he is ordered to
do an
act of disobedience, there is no hearing or
obeying.” (Reported by Bukhārī, Muslim,
Abū Dā’ūd,
al-Nasā’ī and Aḥmad)
Revolting against impious or oppressing
rulers could lead to destruction more than if they obeyed them. Scholars who
adhere to removing impious rulers say that it should be done by fighting them
on condition that bloodshed among Muslims which is called fitnah, namely,
riot, discord and civil strife would be avoided.
One of the means to bring down an impious ruler peacefully
is by rejecting any government position in his cabinet. On the 21st
of May 1998 Former President Suharto who had ruled Indonesia for 32 years
tendered his resignation from presidency. The main reason is that the condition
of the country at that time was so desperate that all members of his cabinet
resigned, and nobody would replace them. He could have ignored the
demonstration of thousands of students at the Parliament Building demanding his
resignation, but without members of Cabinet to assist him he would not be able
to rule the country. This boycott policy was very effective at that time
Another example is Shah of Iran who took power in 1953 with
the help of the CIA. He abolished political parties, and some of their members
had been exiled; others had been imprisoned or tortured by SAVAK, the Shah’s
secret police.
Demonstrations
against the Shah commenced in October 1977, became intensive in January 1978. That
year strikes and demonstrations paralyzed the country. The Shah imposed martial
law in Tehran and the troops reluctantly fired on demonstrators killing more
than 500 people, as their brothers and other relatives might have been among
them. This incident, known later as “Black Friday”, did not deter the
demonstrators. On January 16, 1979 the Shah left Iran for exile, and died in
July, 1980. Ayatollah Khomeini was invited back to Iran
greeted by several million Iranians.
Persistent and continuous peaceful demonstrations could work in bringing
down impious rulers. Allah knows best.
(CIVIC, 25
September, 2015)
المصادر:
المكتبة الشاملة
تفسير الطبري (ت. 310 هـ(
تفسير القرطبى (ت. 671
هـ)
تفسير ابن كثير (ت.
774 هـ(
ttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Revolution
http://www.ansarsunna.com/vb/showthread.php?t=35175
بر".
http://www.merdeka.com/peristiwa/ini-momen-momen-menegangkan-jelang-soeharto-lengser-21-mei-1998.html
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