The Narratives – Mohamed Miah

Mohamed Miah | The Narratives

We keep telling ourselves it’s the rulers’ fault. Egypt, Saudi, Pakistan, Turkey, Jordan, Bangladesh, Morocco — their leaders sold out, they betrayed us, they are cowards. And that’s true. But what about us — the people?

What excuse do we have?

When children starve behind fences, when babies reach out with hands too weak to cry, when mothers wail while the world watches — who are they reaching for? Us. Not politicians. Not palaces. Us. The Muslim Ummah.

And what do we do? We look. We scroll. We say “SubhanAllah” and send £20 to a charity and feel like we’ve done our bit. We haven’t. We’ve done nothing. We’ve numbed our guilt with donations and hashtags while the fire keeps burning.

“The Muslim is the brother of the Muslim. He does not wrong him, nor abandon him, nor hand him over [to an oppressor].” (Bukhari & Muslim)

But we are abandoning them. Every time we turn away, every time we choose our comfort over their cries, every time we tell ourselves “I can’t do anything more” — we are handing them over.

This is not just about governments. This is about people. Ordinary Muslims who can rise for a job, a football match, a concert, a sale — but stay silent when their own kin are slaughtered.

We will die with this guilt if we do not wake up.

---

Charity Is Not Enough

Yes, charity is good. But charity is not enough. Throwing food into a fire while the flames keep growing is not a solution. It’s just a way to sleep at night.

The Ummah of Muhammad ﷺ was not built on excuses. It was built on sacrifice, on courage, on speaking truth even when it cost them.

If he ﷺ saw a population starved, slaughtered, caged, would he tell his people: “Do nothing but send aid”? No. He would rise. He would speak. He would act.

---

Our Test

This is our test. Not whether we can type du’as on WhatsApp. Not whether we can share a clip on Instagram. Our test is whether we will let this Ummah become so numb, so cowardly, that we can watch children die with their hands through fences and still go on with life as if nothing happened.

Allah will ask us. On that Day, what will we answer? “I shared a post, Ya Allah”? “I sent £20, Ya Allah”? Will that sound enough when He shows us the faces of those children?

---

Time to Wake Up

We are weak, yes. We are divided, yes. But weakness is not an excuse for silence. Even if we cannot change the world overnight, we can change ourselves. We can become a people who refuse to accept injustice as normal. We can build circles of courage, communities that care, voices that will not be silenced.

Because silence is consent. And right now, our silence is killing our brothers and sisters as surely as the bombs and bullets.

This guilt is heavy. But guilt can either bury us or ignite us. The choice is ours.