This is an awesome video released today by Al-Jazeera regarding the Hutu massacres and the Muslims aiding the Tutsis.
The Rwandan Mufti makes some interesting points; the hutus considered Muslims ‘untouchables’ basically!
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0U5AZFsBrc
Very interesting to see the failures of the Catholics and the altruism of the Muslims! “Faith before ethnic loyalty”.
As-salamu alaykum,
Beautiful, simply beautiful. Jazakullah khayran.
May Allah Ta’ala bless the Muslim saviors in the video and elsewhere, the people of Rwanda–and lead them to Islam–and those who help others against oppressors, murderers, and injustice. Amin.
This is an article done back in 2002 about the Tutsis who accepted Islam because of the Muslims’ adab: http://muslimvillage.com/story.php?id=705
Jazak’Allah Khair for sharing. Great report.
Any chance we’ll see this story up at Jihadwatch.com?
JazakAllahkhair for sharing this.
I also posted an article published in the New York Times, check it out:
http://islamicarchives.wordpress.com/2008/12/07/role-of-muslims-during-the-rwandan-genocide/
According to Marc Lacey of The New York Times,”the safest place during the genocide was a Muslim neighborhood”
Assalamualaikum Warahmatullah
The winds of genocide were blowing throughout Rwanda in the days during Ramadan of 1994.
Imams and other Muslim religious leaders were openly calling upon the Muslim community not to get involved in the brewing ethnic hate.
They reminded the Muslims that “murder” is a sin.
The genocide started, if I’m not mistaken, about three days after Eid. Therefore, the message which the Muslim religious leaders had imparted to their community was still fresh in its mind.
Rwandan Muslims essentially took two different paths to saving the Tutsis.
Muslims in compact Muslim communities waited for Tutsis to come to them, offering shelter to those who came ; while Muslims in communities where they are smaller in numbers took the active approach meaning that they seek out Tutsis to save.
This would include going out in small boats and fishing out Tutsis who had been thrown into a lake ( if I’m not mistaken, this happened in Mabare as in the video above ).
Muslims had died protecting Tutsis. In one instance, Tutsis were sheltered by Muslims in a mosque ( again, in Mabare if I’m not mistaken.)
A Hutu mob had the place surrounded for three days but did not managed to execute their plan of murder as the Muslims were holding them off.
The Muslims would have succeeded if the Rwanda army did not arrive after that.
Again, the Muslims here behaved heroically. They were given the chance to live when the Rwanda army told the Hutus among the Muslims to leave.
However, they refused to leave the Tutsis ( Christians ) to their fate, and moments later many died together with those they were protecting.
There is a rather detail and absolutely interesting study done about the role of Rwandan Muslims in the genocide and it was on the internet but I couldn’t find the link to put here.