Tariq Ramadan – Ramadan Chronicles #20 Oppression

When it comes to resistance,

there is one type of resistance, which once

again is essential when it comes to the

Islamic teachings.

It's about oppression.

And while Muslims should be clear about the

fact that their dignity

is embodied or translated into 2 dimensions, the

first one has to do with their freedom.

The second has to do also with their

knowledge. Knowledge and freedom are the 2 dimensions

that are explaining

the dignity of human being. Now if there

is a government, if there is a society

or a culture

oppressing you, preventing you from thinking, preventing you

from speaking, preventing you from moving. This is

where in the name of your principles, in

the name of your understanding, you have to

resist. This is unacceptable.

So any type of oppression.

So when it comes to,

this, you can understand here that this,

oppression, the way you have to deal with

it, the way you have to resist has

to do with, protecting your freedom to think,

protecting your freedom to express yourself, protecting your

freedom of of moving

around. And this is where today we see

that this is not going and it's not

happening.

And when it comes to oppression,

this is the way you have to deal

with oppression is the way,

a physician is dealing with disease or with

a patient.

You never ask the origin. You don't ask

the color. You don't consider the color. You

don't ask about the social status, and you

don't ask about religion.

A patient has no religion. You have to

deal with the human dignity, and you have

to help him to cure and to find

again his health. It's exactly the same with

oppression. We are not on the side of

the oppressed because they are Muslims. We are

on the side of the oppressed because they

are oppressed against any type of oppression and

sometimes against,

Islamic powers that are oppressing the people. So

we are on the side of the oppressed,

and this is also something,

which is so important. It has to do

with freedom, and it has to do with

the dignity of human being. Omar Ibn Khattab

said,

Why then for how come you

are enslaving people while their mother

gave birth to them when they were

free. Freedom, it's

essential here. And we have to understand that

our struggle against oppression is a struggle

for dignity

and dignity

and, at the same time,

autonomous human beings.

The other side of the the equation here

is also about,

the way we deal with it within the

society. All structures of oppression, we have to

try to dismantle the structural way we deal

with oppression within the society when it comes

to discrimination,

rejection,

injustices,

and when also it has to do with

the,

world order when you see

societies oppressing others and putting them in a

situation where there is no dignity, there is

only economic oppression and cultural oppression

and not only political oppression.

So from where we are, it's important to

nurture the sense of

resisting resisting the world the way it is

and resisting all types of oppression in the

name of freedom. In the name of God,

of course, because we say and we start

with Bismillah,

I start with God. But in the name

of human dignity,

in the name of justice, in the name

of freedom, in the name of our,

common humanity.

This is the way we have to be

involved with this struggle. Resisting

oppression is the starting point of translating,

our faith into something which is visible when

it comes to the way we live within

our societies.

Remember to tell the people you love that

you love them.

Life is fragile.