News
The plight of the Rohingya Muslims had been an issue largely hidden from the global main stream media. In South East Asia, this was the case until in April 2014, mass graves of what are believed to contain the remains of Rohingya Muslims detained in slave camps near the Thailand-Malaysia border were discovered by the Thai police. Within weeks of the discovery, reports of thousands of Rohingya Muslims being left afloat at the Andaman Sea by human trafficking syndicates started to surface. They reportedly travelled from their hidden transit in Thailand to seek shelter in Malaysia and Indonesia. The governments of these two Muslim countries, that are obliged to help them, instead rejected the Rohingya Muslims inhumanely. However, after several negotiations, the Malaysian and Indonesian authorities agreed to rescue the Rohingyas from the sea – a shamefully late gesture! Then recently, on the 24th of May 2015, more mass graves were discovered by the Malaysian authorities near the Thai-Malaysia border. These graves are also believed to be that of Rohingya Muslims who fled Myanmar and were detained by human traffickers near the Thailand-Malaysia border. Suddenly the media scene is filled with news concerning the Rohingyas. Sadly, a definite solution within today’s nation-state framework is nowhere to be seen.
Comment:
The suffering of Rohingya Muslims began in the 18th century when the desecration of the Rakhine region was initiated by the Kuffar. Before that, Rakhine had been under the rule of Islam for over three centuries (1430 – 1748 CE). The Kuffar has not only occupied the region, they also kill Muslims, especially the scholars and preachers of Islam. They committed various oppressions, robbing the riches of Rakhine and destroyed many Islamic symbols such as madrasas and masjids. Then in 1982, the Rohingya Muslims were denied citizenship under the Burmese Citizenship Law (1982). As a result, they lost all their rights for education, health services and other basic rights of a state citizen. The suffering intensified in 2012 when fighting between Buddhist minorities and Rohingyas in Rakhine began. Thereafter, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims have been displaced. Many now live in makeshift camps and countless attempts to escape the oppression by leaving Rakhine, with an uncertain future.
It is with this backdrop that the Rohingya refugees arrived in the waters of Malaysia and Indonesia and being turned away inhumanely. What kind of treatment is this on their fellow Muslims? Don’t the governments realize that the Rohingya Muslims faced oppression, discrimination and massacre for decades by the Buddhist extremists under the Myanmar regime for no other reason except that they are Muslims, the same Deen professed by the rulers of Malaysia and Indonesia? Shame on these Muslim rulers! Why haven’t the leaders of these governments not taken heed of Allah’s orders? Allah سبحانه وتعالى says:
وَإِنِ اسْتَنصَرُوكُمْ فِي الدِّينِ فَعَلَيْكُمُ النَّصْرُ
“If they seek your help in religion, it is your duty to help them”
(Al-Anfal: 72)
What other assistance is requested by the Rohingyas if not to save them from the atrocities of the extremist Buddhists and the Myanmar regime who kill and oppress them just because they are Muslim? Shame on these leaders!
The Government of Malaysia and Indonesia and other Muslim leaders must open their land borders for the Rohingya refugees and other Muslims wishing to enter this country, more so when the Muslims are faced with oppression and tyranny. Additionally, Malaysia, Indonesia and other Muslim states should put pressure on Myanmar to stop all murders, savagery and cruelty towards Muslims under their rule. If political pressure is ignored, then jihad fi sabilillah must be declared in order to eliminate the tyranny of the government of Myanmar as the final step in order to ensure the honour and sanctity of Muslim blood. This is the only true solution to ensure the protection of Muslims as ordered by Allah سبحانه وتعالى. Our Rohingya brothers must be given the opportunity to begin a new life – they must be given appropriate shelter, employment, health service and other basic rights because Malaysia and Indonesia are Muslim lands and we are Muslims just like our brothers from Rohingya.
What happened to the Rohingya Muslims today is inconceivable when the world was and will be under the rule of the Khilafah. Never has it happened in the history of Islam where the Khilafah denied the rights of the Muslims or even followers of other religions when they agreed to obey Islam. Instead, they are treated with utmost kindness and fairness in accordance with the rights granted to them as citizens. Our memory is still fresh in remembering how Sultan Bayazid II opened the gates of the state in giving aid and protection to the Jews who were expelled and persecuted by Ferdinand, the Catholic King of Spain. The same service was also rendered by the Sultan against Jews in Turkey after the liberation of the city of Constantinople by Muhammad al-Fatih in 1453. Such is the urgency for the Khilafah in order to save all our brothers who are being oppressed in the land of God.
Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Dr. Mohammad – Malaysia