Islam growing in Haiti
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World Press
Written by Yaman Shalabi
Saturday, 16 January 2010 0144Islam is growing rapidly in Haiti, with about 5000 Muslims living in
the earthquake devastated nation among a population of 8 million ?
most practicing Christianity and Voodoo.According to a June 13, 2002 Reuters article about Islam in Haiti,
converts cite the religion's commitment to charity and social justice
as some key values that attracted them. Haitian society is rife with
poverty and an unstable economic and political climate.Muslims in Haiti believe Islam is the key ?to addressing many of
Haiti?s needs, including social injustice, literacy and a sense of
community,? according to Algerian Economist, Yacine Khelladi, quoted
in the Reuters report. ?It even regulates business, land disputes,
banking, and other things.?There are at least two masajid in Port-au-Prince, noted the Reuters report.
http//www.muslimlinkpaper.com/index.php/world-press/world-press/2024-islam-growing-in-haiti.html
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Should we look after our own first?
This kind of statement usually gets negative responses such as "all humanity" is 'our own'. But, in reality, I am wondering whether it is possible (and even just) to be so egalitarian and impartial. Don't our own families have a claim on our resources before even others? Then shouldn't our 'umma' also have a priority claim on us. I know with Jehovah's Witnesses, they already know that 58 JWs have died and are assessing other needs of their congregation. How many of us know how many Muslim brothers and sisters have lost their lives in Haiti? If there are only 5000 Muslims in Haiti, it would seem easier to keep tabs on their welfare that the churches who have hundreds of thousands of members (JWs have 16,000 members in Haiti). If people join a particular religion, doesn't that religion have a responsibility to look after its own. That does not mean that other religions can't help them, but if Catholics (which are a majority in Haiti) looked after all the Catholics, Seventh Day Adventists looked after SDAs, JWs looked after their own and Muslims looked after their own FIRST, then there would be fewer people for the state governments to look after and help. Maybe the situation would be more manageable and less chaotic. What is the point of belonging to a community, if when disaster or adversity strikes, there is no support. If that happened in a family, and family members were neglected, we would call it abuse.
What do others think?
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I hope they become true Muslims.
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First, they are not becoming Muslims but Sunni mushriks... Second, it is the worst time to break such a good news or recycle an old one. Remember the law of association! Advertisers and media people know this rule very well. The source of this news managed, one more time, to associate islam with misery and tragedy. And they accomplished creating this association with a less than 0.1 percent statistics!
If the publishers of this news are trying to brag about it, they are intellectually challenged.
Peace,
Edip -
"Beliefs that survive aren't necessarily true, rules that survive aren't necessarily fair and rituals that survive aren't necessarily necessary. Things that survive do so because they are good at surviving, like viruses."
Brother Edip
The quote above that I took from your website resonates with me and I am arguing for the same sentiment in my thesis - that power and discourse act like a virus and propogate those beliefs that advantage particular people. However, I am not sure that Sunni Muslim can't be a first step towards an understanding of 'God alone'. We all go through different stages to get to where we are today (as your own experience shows), and Sunni Islam might be a first step for some away from polytheistic beliefs to 'God alone'. But, as you say, the timing of media articles can be more for propaganda purposes rather than true information dissemination.
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Yes Tamara... I agree with you. But, I cannot know the future.
Peace,
Edip -
"intellectually challenged"
LOL! laugh