The Muslim Genius Who Lost Her Liberty
The west persecutes pious women
This week a short film, premiered at a think tank in Istanbul and I was honoured to be one of the speakers. The somewhat roughly made documentary, nonetheless shed light on the life of Dr Aafia Siddiqui from her birth, through her educational achievements, abusive marriage and to her kidnapping in Karachi then (up to this day), her confinement in the notorious Carswell, US prison.
Considering the horrors of the case, the audience was small.
The brilliant academic and neuroscientist, suffers to this day, in a Texan ‘rape camp’ serving an 86 year sentence. She was found guilty of trying to kill American soldiers. Shamefully, the US soldiers, serving in Afghanistan, claimed under oath that the tiny and tortured-to-fragility academic leapt at them from behind a prison cell curtain, snatched one of their guns to shoot and kill. The only person shot was Aafia. The whole story was an utter fabrication that any real defence lawyer would have easily shredded..
The question I am addressing here concerns public interest. Why aren’t human rights activists, Muslims specifically, pushing in greater numbers for Aafia’s release?
Here are my reflections on, and remedies to, our shameful complicity in one of the major injustices of our age.
We Are Toast
It is now clearer than ever, that step by step, we may be of the generation, predicted by Muhammad, the Prophet of Allah (pbuh), 1446 years ago, when he said:
‘Soon, the nations will invite one another to devour you, as diners devour a dish. Someone asked: Because of our small number, then? He ﷺ replied: No, you are numerous then, but you will be like froth on a torrent. Allah will remove reverence of you from the hearts of your enemy, and He will cast enfeeblement into your hearts. Someone asked: What is this enfeeblement? The Messenger of Allah ﷺ replied: Love of the world and hatred of death.’
Aafia was a mainstream student at a core American university. But was she western enough to matter? No. Perhaps, because she had memorised the Quran by heart. Perhaps it was her hijab, or her accent or her now famous speech on Islamic values and women.
This no doubt, set her apart from her colleagues. She was never quite white, or secular enough, for her rights to deserve protection..
‘Allah will remove reverence of you from the hearts of your enemy, and He will cast enfeeblement into your hearts.’
Dr Aafia Siddiqui is an embodiment of the unjust mechanisms which allowed slaughter in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Libya and are now enabling Gaza and now Lebanon.
Smoke Without Fire
Like these vast injustices, the tragedy visited upon this brilliant mother and daughter, has been stifled by the maleficence of western politics and its servile media. The idea of ‘it’s complicated’ and ‘no smoke without fire’ is aflame everywhere we look. Set alight by a news agenda allowing multiple theatres of Genocide to take place in full view.
This narrative has scared Muslims and split our Ummah apart.
And it’s deliberate.
‘Because of our small number, then? He ﷺ replied: No, you are numerous then, but you will be like froth on a torrent.’
I am writing to you, Oh Muslim brother and sister, Oh representative of todays’ ummah. Scattered as we are into sectarian and socially malignant gangs at each other’s throats. It is our ignorance that is called to account here.
Rasulullah ﷺ foretold the ummah’s enfeeblement. And he ﷺ explicitly stated its cause: The embrace of materialism, its philosophy, values and lifestyles.
The obligation to help the oppressed and free those unjustly imprisoned is a command from Allah (SWT), therefore, it is imperative that Aafia Siddiqui, ‘the most wronged woman in the world’ as journalist Yvonne Ridley, named her, is freed and yes, pardoned.
Head In The Sand
Why is the ummah hesitant? Huge amounts of money were paid to former Pakistani President and army General, Pervez Musharraf, to abduct Aafia and her then pre-school age children - to hand over to the Americans.
Just another example of how the love for life, longing for power or other that material stuff, can create a real life horror for individuals or whole nations.
That and ofcourse, accepting what the algorithm of atheism tells us. All this has made Aafia a victim of the internet age.
Al Qaida Leader, Seriously?
So, where did her name come up and who said she was involved in any way with Al Qaida? One of the testimonies used was that of a Bagram prisoner waterboarded 27 times. He was saying her name over and over, apparently, like this:
Allahumma Inni As’aluka Al afiyah
English Meaning: O Allah, I ask You for forgiveness and well-being in this world and in the Hereafter.
Painful, stupid, awful and surely, impossible to have used this prayer which matched her name, as evidence, right? Wrong.
The Prophet’s Tears
In a rare phone call, Aafia told her mother that the Prophet (pbuh) visited her in dreams.
In one dream, Aafia was shown into a courtroom where the Prophet (pbuh) was is in the judges chair. Aafia asked the Prophet (pbuh) why she was being tested and when it would end.
The Prophet (pbuh), told her:
‘This is not your test. It is a test for the Ummah’.
She asked him: ‘How is the Ummah doing oh Prophet of Allah.’ With tears leaving his blessed eyes, he shook his head.
“And what is wrong with you that you fight not in the Cause of Allah, and for those weak, ill-treated and oppressed among men, women, and children, whose cry is: “Our Lord! Rescue us from this town whose people are oppressors; and raise for us from You one who will protect, and raise for us from You one who will help.”
What Can We Do?
Despair is from the Shaytan so let us be people of action. I end with steps we can take to play a part in ending this grave injustice..
1) Have faith in your Faith — not in any man-made political system (or it’s functionaries). Power figures will come and go — our job is to keep going and trust Allah.
2) Avoid political appeasement. Be different — be ethical!
3) Aafia hears about protests and moves to free her which provides her hope! Send her a letter of encouragement via: letters4aafia@gmail.com. Be sure to cc Clive Stafford Smith, who will ensure your letters reach her: clivestaffordsmith2020@gmail.com
Dr Aafia is a noble mother, hafiza of Qur’an, dā’ī of Islam, an accomplished neuroscientist, and much more.
Join the Campaign to Free Her. Organise an event in your home, arrange a gathering, it needn’t be too technical.
Ask Allah for His Mercy to pour abundance on our dear sister, raise her in ranks and allow her to be reunited with the family members who love her so dearly.
©2024 Lauren Booth
Thanks for reading.
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