Gaddafi’s damaging legacy is increasingly haunting Libya. Today, I see two types of groups in Libya killing each other. The first type is the different militia groups killing each other physically in the ground. The second type is the hating groups killing each other emotionally on social media, and have nothing to offer other than negative judgmental assumptions about people they may have never even encountered in their lives, just to feed their desperate egos, indolent minds and toxic hearts.
When it comes to Islam and Sharia, I noticed the majority (and I mean the majority) of Libyans seem to have the rightest clue and clearest idea of how other people (especially women, of course) should lead their lives but none about his or her own! It’s true that every person is entitled to their own opinions but when these opinions are used as the wheel by which people steer the bus of a nation, they become very dangerous. The level of animosity, judgments, opinions, evaluations and condemnations among Libyans is alarmingly increasing! The division is getting bigger and deeper. God will neither help nor have mercy upon a country whose people insist to blind themselves to their own evil.
It’s sadly startling how Libyans still have the stamina to negatively judge each other over the daftest things like a “swimming suit” or a“head scarf”, when they should give all of their attention to their own lives and their country that is falling apart.
Pointing fingers at each other serves no one. Instead, it just creates more division among Libyans and prevents any space of tolerance and understanding, and if you want to look at it from a religious perspective, then you should know that all forms of intolerance are NOT permissible in Islam, or any other religion.
Prophet Muhammad said: “a Muslim is one from whose tongue and hands people are safe.”
Using religion to judge others is and will always be a desperate attempt used by the weak. Even if you see someone not acting in accordance with a certain belief, it’s NONE of your business to judge them. It’s up to individuals how to lead their lives, and it’s up to God to convict and judge them. What’s up to us, Libyans, is to support, guide, accept and respect each other despite our differences.
Where all these loud voices are hidden when it comes to supporting women and youth or when it’s needed to campaign against all the goons and hawks leading Libya to a complete teardown? Why these voices are not loud enough against those who have pillaged, raped, stolen, and corrupted the country; or those who are directly and indirectly involved in skirmishes and affiliated with terrorist groups and organizations in Libya? Where are our contributions to fight against the increasing sexual harassments of Libyan women, or the unlawful kidnapping and killings, or the abuses perpetrated by all the sick-minded armed groups and warlords? I guess topics about justice, youth and supporting women are still way less sexy to talk about than war, power or confronting each other over petty matters.
The tragedy of many Libyans is that their attention is still centered on what others are not, rather than on what they are and who they might become.
To every hater,
First of all, I ask God to heal your heart. Secondly, next time you refuse to give respect and support for another for whatever reasons, ask yourself a simple question: Do the reasons you want to withhold your respect and support reflect more on them or on you? Then have a look at the mirror and you will see the answer right there. And remember what the Prophet Muhammad said: “a Muslim is one from whose tongue and hands people are safe.”