12 arrested for disrupting Israeli ambassador
After watching the video, a discussion started on whether this was the best possible way to address the problem. I gave my opinion:
I think regardless of why they were speaking out, which might be correct in principle, they should do it in the right manner. We wouldn’t like it if a Muslim speaker came to an MSA event and some protesters kept interrupting him or shouting things and their crew applauds them. It isn’t the right way to get any message across. I couldn’t keep watching the video because it was immature and upsetting.
Why not ask him intelligent questions to prove your point?
Why not go about it in a more civil way?
Someone responded in their defense that they had deliberated and thought about this in a meaningful way and came to the conclusion that they wanted to carry out their protest in this manner. Then continued to give his opinion that Muslims are too critical of each other, which I agree with, and reminded me of a very important lesson. The reminder was from the story of Prophet Dawud PBUH, when he was reprimanded by Allah (swt) for judging between two parties without hearing both sides of the story. Excellent reminder, although I don’t think it is relevant in this case, since I am not a judge in a case against the student or for them, and in no position to give or deny them any rights.
My analysis of the situation was from looking at what results came from it, the students were arrested, and they got some media attention, but unfortunately, the wrong type. In addition he made another good point that if someone that promoted genocide was invited by the school Muslims would protest just the same. I agree in principle, but in action the active Muslims I have seen tend to (there are exceptions) focus on causes they feel are related to them and not so much general causes, like human rights outside of Muslim lands.
Lastly, another contributor explained that the way Muslims are so harsh on each other is a result of introspection and continued to explain that we have to make sure that when it comes to political issues, namely Palestine, Muslims have to follow the rules and not make exceptions for themselves (with respect to protesting or reacting to events).
There’s this notion that being politically correct shows weakness or silence. On the contrary, who got the better of that exchange? The ambassador stood silently and waited for them to finish and continued his talk. The students took turns interrupting him and being disrespectful. One brother has added that the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) never acted in that way when dealing with Quraish. He didn’t interrupt them in mid-sentence and scream out objections.
It has nothing to do with worrying about what others think of us, what do I as a Muslim see when my brothers and sisters act this way? I have been president and VP of MSA and I know a lot goes into events and there is an organized way of coming to these conclusions as to how events are run. Sometimes we get a little emotional about our local MSA’s and respective schools and their efforts, and that is understandable, but Muslims won’t get anywhere acting up in public.




