Last week I took my wife out for a date night.
And being the romantic that I am, we went to the cinema to watch a big screen documentary… on the horrific crimes against humanity that were being inflicted on the people of Gaza long before the current conflict. (To my wife’s credit, she later told me it was the best date night we’ve ever had. That’s how you know you married ‘the one’).
We watched Abby Martin’s “Gaza Fights for Freedom” on the big screen. If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s a gripping documentary on the plight of the people of Gaza filmed back in 2018, which shows us their eye-opening, courageous attempts at non-violent peace activism during the Great March of Return.
It’s definitely worth watching if you want more context on the struggles of the people of Gaza long before the current genocide, their attempts to peacefully protest and the (predictable, yet horrifying) response.
After the viewing, there was an opportunity to ask her questions… and I couldn’t help myself.
My Question:
“With everything you’ve seen, how do you feel about Islam, the faith of the Palestinians, and the sudden upsurge in people converting to Islam?”
Her response was as powerful and eloquent as we’ve come to expect from her.
Abby Martin’s Response:
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“That’s an interesting question…
“…Everyone that I know, that is Muslim: how they find so much beauty and hope within their religion, how they can lean on their religion in some of the most desperate times. I mean, the fact that Palestinians lean on their faith so much, to hold on… Right? And to keep that as the glue of the society and their families and their lineage and, and, I mean…
I can’t even imagine the state of… you know… being Palestinian in Gaza right now, and the loss and the pain and devastation… and to have a religion that’s so beautiful, that can bring you out of that and keep you going another day…
That’s beautiful! That’s beautiful!
So yeah, I mean, I think it’s amazing and you know, it’s so disgusting, how it’s been twisted and warped by the bigots around the world who say, the opposite, right? That Palestinians, it’s a death cult, and that Islam breeds terrorism and all the stuff that just makes me sick to my stomach, because it couldn’t be further from the truth.
They value life.
They understand life, more than you ever will…!
Right?
The Palestinians and people who are living in war zones. And faced with this devastation.
That’s what life IS!
They’re breathing and living every facet of life.
And these people who sit with their armchair analyses talking down to Palestinians and Muslims, about their religion, they’ll never even know what life is. They don’t know what it is, because they’ve never lived it.
And they can’t even begin to understand.
So that’s it.
It’s beautiful.
*************
Right on, sister.
It’s always been clear to me, as it’s slowly becoming clear to the Western public that the crimes being inflicted against the Palestinians, like those committed against the Iraqis & Afghans, are all shrouded in a dark cloud of Islamophobia.
As long as people don’t see Islam as the peaceful, beautiful, religion filled with wisdom-teaching, that it truly is… evil forces will dehumanise Muslims living in geo-political hot-zones in order to justify their attacks.
The moment people wake up to the beauty of Islam, they’ll transcend the dark unconsciousness that has, for too long, allowed for crimes against humanity to go on, unchecked, with zero accountability, under the guise of ‘oh, but among them were terrorists… and they all dress wrong… cant you see, we had no choice but to bomb them?!’.
Unfortunately, good books on Islam are not largely available in most book shops. So even when people search for the truth about Islam, they can’t find a good introductory book on our values.
That’s why I wrote this back in 2017:
Get a copy and give it to anyone who wants a deeper understanding of the tremendous faith of the Palestinians.
A number of people read it, then immediately became Muslim. Some read it and called it their ‘gateway’ to embracing Islam a few months later.
Whatever the case, people are more curious now than ever before about what we truly believe.
Share it with them.
