Self-policing and destroying discrimination
The abduction of Father Bossi. The beheadings of Marines in Basilan. The impending all-out war against the MILF. It has not been a good month for Muslim Filipinos or Moros and I have observed a rise of critical statements, in media and among colleagues and friends, about Moros and Muslims in general. This has compelled me to reissue, with minor changes, this article printed in The Moro Times as a reply to many of the criticisms hurled against Moros, specifically the overgeneralization that they are, by nature violent, and that they have failed to condemn the atrocities committed in Basilan and elsewhere:Savages. Brutes. Cold-blooded killers.
These words—and worse—have been used to describe the Abu Sayyaf (other reports say that it was an MILF “lost command”) who killed and mutilated the bodies of soldiers in Basilan. They deserve those descriptions because what they did was vile and reprehensible. They deserve condemnation. Additionally, the Muslim community should denounce them all the more because they call themselves Moros and Muslims.
The Muslim community in the Philippines should take the initiative in policing its own ranks. Making it more personal, Moros like myself, should not hesitate to condemn acts of wanton violence, corrupt or immoral practices, and other wrongful deeds even if these are committed by fellow Muslims. Yes, we are an Ummah or Muslim community—although there are many who believe the Abu Sayyaf cannot be called Muslim because they violate the very tenets of Islam, particularly the faith’s focus on peace, nonviolence, and charity—but this fact should not make us hesitate to condemn fellow Moros when they are in the wrong. In fact, the opposite should be the case: we should react swiftly and, upon proper investigation, condemn—or if the word “condemn” seems too harsh, then we should take to task—fellow Muslims who are in error precisely because such action is borne of a sense of genuine brotherhood or, at the very least, because it serves to protect Muslims from our enemies within. Real brothers and sisters, out of love, tell us about our mistakes and shortcomings in order to allow us to change and correct ourselves. Since I love my Muslim brother and sister, then I must be the first to show him the error of his actions.
It is important to remember that the Muslims have numerous enemies from within. We already have enough foes from outside the Islamic community that will condemn us and discriminate against us. However, what is more insidious and dangerous are those who work to destroy the Ummah from the inside. These are Islamists who misuse, quote out of context, and distort verses from the Qu’ran and the Hadiths or prophetic traditions to justify their own misogynistic, anachronistic, and intolerant practices. Again, this is why we must police our ranks.
But doesn’t our policing our ranks just make the shortcomings and failures of Moros, as a community, all the more apparent to the Christian majority? Will this not just add fuel to the discrimination that Moros experience daily? Well, let us take the risk. It is the right thing to do. Moreover, why must the Muslim community in the Philippines have to make its decisions entirely based on what will be the perception of the Christian majority? While public perception is important, it is not paramount.
Certainly, doing what is correct should not be sacrificed at the altar of good public relations. Moreover, if Moros police their own ranks, then confidence and trust will be engendered between Muslim and Christian communities, which is the first step in addressing the issue of discrimination.
Discrimination against Muslims in the Philippines is an ugly and daily reality. It has many faces, one of which is to overgeneralize and stereotype all Moros as one and the same. The beheadings by the Abu Sayyaf may cause some in the Christian majority—and we have already seen this in the opinion sections of the dailies—to make a hasty generalization and say that all Moros are savages and brutes and that there can never be peace with Muslims, so an all-out war is the only solution to the so-called Mindanao or Moro Problem. This is the heart of the problem in the discourse on the atrocities committed by the Abu Sayyaf—that people will hate them and call them savages and brutes precisely because they are Moros. The focus thus shifts from the acts of the Abu Sayyaf, which are vile indeed, to their ethnicity and, by the fact of their being Moros, their ostensible faith. This is why Muslims must take a strong stand in condemning these acts of violence to show that what must be hated, condemned, and reviled are the actions and perpetrators and not the Moro community as a whole.
The distinction between actions and actor and Islam and Islamist may, at times, be a fine one. Accordingly, the stereotyping of Moros as violent, brutal, and savage becomes all the more difficult with reports of the atrocities committed by the Abu Sayyaf and other Islamic groups. This is the reason why the Moro community can no longer be a silent and passive community. We must, therefore, speak up, be noticed, take stands on issues of peace and tolerance, and be the counterweight to the negative perception. An active and engaged Moro community is required to fight against stereotyping and discrimination.
Peace-loving. Tolerant. Successful. These are the adjectives that—hopefully if the Moro community takes the lead in self-policing—will come first to mind when describing Muslims in the Philippines.
