To Tamil Friends !!

TO TAMIL FRIENDS…. WE HAVE A MESSAGE !! M. Asim Alavi Stay there for a moment! This is a message from the Most Merciful and the Most Compassionate. Say: "My servants, you who have transgressed against yourselves, do not despair of Allah's mercy. Truly Allah forgives all wrong actions. He is the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Merciful." ( Surat az-Zumar, 53) Get back to the famous Vadukkottai Convention of 1976, where that historic resolution for the creation of an independent and sovereign homeland for the Tamils of North and East was adopted. Here is the salient part of the resolution: "What is the alternative now left to the Nation that has lost its rights to its language, rights to its citizenship, rights to its religions and continues day by day to lose its traditional homeland to Sinhalese colonization? What is the alternative now left to a Nation that has lost its opportunities to higher education through standardization and its equality in opportunities in the sphere of employment? What is the alternative to a Nation that lies helpless, as it is being assaulted, looted and killed by hooligans instigated by the ruling race and by the security forces of the State? Where else is an alternative to the Tamil Nation that gropes in the dark for its identity and finds itself driven to the brink of devastation? There is only one alternative and that is to proclaim with the stamp of finality and fortitude that "we alone shall rule over our land that our forefathers ruled. Sinhalese imperialism shall quit our Homeland." Let us recollect the subsequent record of events along your journey towards that homeland. The supposed end of the journey couple of weeks ago, if not for an invigorated restart, witnesses shattered dreams; crushed voices and pleas, and hopes met with a devastating blow. In your journey towards your proclaimed freedom you entered a dark tunnel with the belief that eventually you will find light. In fact many dramatic events along the track put the horrific impression in the hearts of many Sri Lankans, elites and the common folks alike, that one day in the not so distant future this beautiful island will be fragmented; many visualized a scenario where normal activities of two independent states in the island will go about; many others, out of sheer defeatism, reconciled to accept the fatal reality of Ealam.

Those who witnessed the Vaddukottai and blessed with life to witness the purported sealing off of the coffin of Ealam struggle would have an important story to relate. Ask them what they felt when the resolution was adopted in 1976 and when the armed struggle came to an unfortunate end in 2009. Is it one of overwhelming enthusiasm versus despair and gloom? Do they feel that the Mulliyawaikal debacle rendered the supreme sacrifices of those finer souls along the 33 year long journey completely futile? Or for that matter, what the Tamil aspirants of Ealam in and outside of Sri Lanka do now feel about what happened? In deed, contrary to the expectations of many, a dreadful separatist organization with its creamy leadership was annihilated in a nightmarish style in a matter of days. Many of you might refuse to accept what happened; some might have even been stunned and stopped functioning. Apparently the natural reaction to such a turn of event is one of despair and disillusionment. This is because by watching a number of stunning military victories and meticulously planned commando operations by a less-equipped separatist force against a highly trained army with sophisticated military hardware, you have built the notion in your minds that the separatist guerilla force was impregnable and mighty. Here a question arises that why this mighty force could not check the advancing army at the gates? The answer is that human might has limitations. One day you can wield power but on the other day another party comes to usurp your power. Power and strength never remain in one hand permanently. Roman Empire , a mighty empire of the time, wielded power for 1000 years, but had to collapse when time came for its collapse. Wielding power is a historical cycle and its God almighty that causes power to change hands. It is God who creates opportunities for man, it’s upon man to clearly perceive these opportunities and get maximum use of it. In your struggle you came across so many such golden opportunities, remarkable among which is the olive branch extended to you in the form of that ill-fated cease fire agreement of 2002 along with the proposed self rule authority (ISGA). Be clear that, we are not indulging in political talks, however from a Tamil’s perspective that was, no doubt, a golden opportunity. But your separatist leadership miserably failed to perceive that opportunity in the right sense, believing that their guns will protect them forever. They believed that their Thalaiwar was immune from erring, hence will always take the right decision. Some went to the extend of believing that he possessed some supernatural powers or he could even be God, because many of his decisions were miraculously successful. In the first place equating man with God is simply ignoramus! It’s similar to calling that bread is equal in every aspect to its maker! How on earth is that creator and creation are equal? Look my friend! Golden opportunities seldom repeat, that is the natural law designed by God. No man is perfect; it is only God who is perfect. Man is created with haste, shortsightedness and false pride. Neither man nor his nature is omnipotent. He is neither self-sufficient nor self existing; nor is his powers limitless. In fact, he is weak, frail, needy and destitute. He is dependent on a multitude of forces to maintain his existence, but all of them are not essentially and totally within his powers. If man is immune from

weaknesses he should be able to protect himself from the clutch of death. The Qur’an describes man as follow: “And Allah wants to lighten for you your difficulties, and mankind was created weak.” An-Nisaa 4:28 Muslims believe that there is a God who is almighty. You may ask that, does God exist in the first place and if so whose God is that, the God of Islam, Hinduism or Gods of other religions? The notion of having private Gods for each religion is total absurdity. Let’s first deal with the question of existence of God and then about His attributes. In my view the Ealam struggle itself is a classic evidence for the existence of a single true God !! Just start from contemplating on what happened on those tragic days in Mulliyawaikal. Touch your heart and ask, did not many of you believe that the elusive Thalaiwar will hoodwink the advancing army and escape? Even your adversaries and traitors too predicted that the Thalaiwar and his lieutenants would have already shifted from the last theatre of war. However once it became evidently clear that the top leadership had wittingly entered the path to death and just eliminated, many began bringing in different interpretations. Some said that, if he did so, the saga would have been different; some others argued that, in deed he did not intend to escape the theatre of war as a coward, but intended to engage the enemy fiercely in a diehard battle until death embraced him in the battle ground, so as to leave a legacy of struggle by personal example; further, he commanded his comrades to show their valor in the battle field fighting until they sacrificed their lives for the cause of Ealam. They equally argued that had he intended to escape or tactically relocate for the purpose of continuing the struggle, he had many opportunities to do so. Some, in order to console themselves, even put forward the argument that in his little dominion of a vast swath of land in the Wanni he reigned supreme as the ruler and law-giver, thus giving practical shape to his Ealam ideology. It’s true that one can not discount such commitments and determination. Although your folks argue the way you want, the underlying truth was that those guerillas did not have control of their fate. As their death neared they were driven to make the decision to be cornered where they were. The Qur’an put it succinctly: Say: 'Even if you had been in your houses, those for whom slaying had been appointed would have gone forth to the places where they were to be slain.' (Al Imran: 154) Now come to the pain and anguish you went through in the aftermath of the Mulliyawaikal debacle. You heard your loved ones were massacred en masse through indiscriminate use of heavy weapons in a brutal manner; gory images of children, men and women soaking in blood were telecast by the international media making your blood boil; you saw those injured innocent lives lying around haplessly. It’s no doubt that a carnage was perpetrated against innocent civilians in pursuit of flushing out the terrorists. A Muslim is commanded by almighty God to stand for justice; to stand against injustices

and aggression. He is required to call carnage as carnage, no matter who perpetrated it. In a Muslim perspective a victory over the separatists achieved after massacring such a large number of innocent civilians can not be termed as an “unequivocal victory”. While saluting the Sri Lankan soldiers for their exceptional bravery on one hand we, equally, have to point out the wrongdoings on the other. Killing of a single person without any crime is equated with the killing of mankind as a whole in the Qur’an: if any one slew a person - unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land - it would be as if he slew the whole humanity: and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the whole humanity (Al Maidah:32) As Muslims we empathize with your pain and anguish; the pain of those who lost their loved ones in Mulliyawaikal is in deed agonizing; also of those languishing in the intermittent camps without prospect for a brighter future. Your people in deed went through untold losses and miseries due to this brutal war and indiscriminate areal bombardment. Meanwhile, let us go back to those cruel bombing of market places, passenger trains, school children’s buses, hospitals etc., We can not simply forget Arantalawa, Kattankudi mosque etc., Visualize for a moment the anguish of those who lost their loved ones in those bombings and barbaric attacks. Ask the Northern Muslims of their plight when they were driven out of their homes over night. You envied and felt hurt at the way the Sri Lankan populace rejoiced over your agonizing pain. Look! moments of joy too is a changing phenomena. Recall how you rejoiced when formidable Mullaitivu and Elephant pass military complexes with their fine officers and soldiers were over run by your “ boys”. We, human, fail to understand that joy and sorrow take turns. You cried and pleaded with international community to intervene and halt the carnage before it’s too late. But that fell on deaf ears. Your anger increased; your human instincts urged you to smite those barbarians who massacred your loved ones, but were you able to do that? No! because you were powerless!! You were vengeful, but that did not help you. Do you think you will ever be able to avenge those who committed crime against your people? Viewing from the present developments there are more possibilities for them to escape than be brought to justice; you crave for an opportunity to see them punished equitably in front of your eyes, but can that ever happen in this world? Equitable punishment means killer of one person to be killed once and killer of ten persons to be killed ten times. Impossible!! Because this world does not have such a equitable justice system; even the most powerful judge on this earth can not execute a serial killer and give him life again until being killed several times to equate his horrendous crime. But God promises a system of justice that ensures equitable reward and punishment; that, one who excels in goodness will be rewarded; one whose evils and wrongs outweigh his good deeds will be punished. It is not only that the perpetrators of

crime against your people will be punished, but your “boys” too will equitably be punished for the excesses and crimes committed against humanity. That is the Day of Judge. This world will one day come to an end. God will destroy and annihilate the universe, and in its place will evolve another higher and far superior cosmos. This statement is undeniably true. No doubt can be cast on it. The more we reflect on the nature of the cosmos, the more clearly it is proved that the existing system is not permanent and everlasting: all the forces working in it are limited in their nature, and will one day be exhausted. That is why the scientists agree that one day the sun will become cold and will give up all its energy, stars will collide with one another and the whole system of the universe will be upset and destroyed. Moreover, if evolution is true in the case of the constituents of this universe, why may it not be true for the whole of it? To think of the universe becoming totally non-existent is more improbable than that it will pass into another evolutionary stage, and another, much-improved order of things will emerge. Now check your instinct again, does it demand that God should hold His court and pronounce judgment? We see men doing good deeds and gaining nothing in this world. We see other men doing bad deeds and not suffering for it. Not only this, we see thousands of cases of good acts bringing trouble on the doer, and of bad deeds resulting in the happiness and gratification of the guilty person. When we notice these events happening every day, our reason and sense of justice demand that a time must come when the man who does good must be rewarded and the one who does evil must be punished. While promising punishment for the wrong doer, God equally promises endless reward – honor, happiness and gratification of all kinds for the righteous: An excellent retreat awaits the God-fearing; everlasting gardens with gates wide open for them; wherein they shall recline, wherein they shall ask for abundant fruit and drink, and wherein there shall be with them well-matched, bashful mates…. ….But for the transgressors an evil resort awaits them-hell where they will be roasted. (Sa`d: 49-55) For the sake of argument if we maintain that once a person embraces an ideology, he starts living it, despite all odds. An Islamist remains an Islamist under a non-Islamic system; a communist remains a communist under a non-communist system. He may live in a particular country, but refuses to accept its laws that contravene his ideology; that is the beauty of living for an ideology. This is reasonable, but go little objective! When we engage in an action we engage with expectation of a good in return, that is human nature. No human on this earth engages in an activity with the intention of getting bad results. A call for sacrifice without any thing in return is un-human and unnatural. A person that engages in such sacrifices is either misguided or pawned his intellect to another human being whom he thinks is superior; such a person is very weak in conviction and self-

judgment. A person argue that I have accepted a noble cause; I will sacrifice everything in my command, including my life, the most precious asset I possess, to achieve it; I may perish, but let others live peacefully; I want to impress upon my enemy that he can kill but never subjugate me or my people. Another person puts the same argument and adds that my commitment to the cause is not merely to let others live peacefully, rather it is for a far better and superior objective: “ To establish justice on earth and to prevent all kinds of evil from spreading, so that whole mankind can live peacefully; I may die in the cause, but my death will not go in vain; God will resurrect and reward me endlessly; I will inherit the eternal abode in Paradise which He has promised me”. Now, analyze the two arguments – which is more plausible and closer to human sense of reasoning? The one that perishes for nothing in return or the one that perishes to be resurrected and rewarded with an eternal life with endless bliss? A sane person can not escape but definitely accept the latter argument. It’s noteworthy to look at three view points that are found about the Day of Judgment and Life After Death. 1. Some people say that there is nothing left of man after death, and that after this life ending event there is no other life. According to these people, belief in life after death has no reality. They say it is scientifically impossible. This is the view of the atheists who also claim to be scientific in their approach. They say that they have never seen anybody coming back from the dead. After death a man is reduced to dust; therefore, death is the end of life and there is no life after death. But consider this reasoning: is this really a scientific argument? Is the claim really founded on reason? If they have not seen a single case of revival after death, they can only say that they do not know what will happen after death. But, instead of remaining within this limit, they declare that nothing will happen after death, at the same time alleging that they speak out of knowledge! In fact they merely generalize on ignorance. Science tells us nothing — negative or positive — in this respect and their assertion that life after death has no existence is totally unfounded. Their claim is not dissimilar to the claim of an ignoramus who has not seen an aeroplane and on that 'knowledge' proclaims that aeroplanes do not exist at all! Because somebody has not seen a thing, it does not mean that that thing does not exist. No man, not even the whole of humanity, if it has not seen a thing, can claim that such a thing does not, or car-not, exist. This claim is out and unscientific. No reasonable man can give it any weight. 2. Other people maintain that man, in order to bear the consequences of his deeds, is repeatedly regenerated in this world. If he lives a bad life, he will assume in the next generation the shape of some animal, such as a dog or a cat, or some tree or some lower kind of man. If his acts have been good, he will be reincarnated as a man into a higher class. According to them, a human being is a human being because in his previous animal form he had done good deeds; and an animal is an animal because previously as a human being he had behaved badly. One may well ask "Which of them existed first, man or animal?" If they say man preceded animal, then they will have to accept that he must

have been an animal before that, and was given a human form for its good deeds. If they say it was animal they will have to concede that there must have been before that a man who was transformed into an animal for his bad deeds. This leads to a vicious circle; the advocates of this belief cannot settle on any form for the first creature, for every generation implies a preceding generation so that the succeeding generation may be considered as the consequence of the former. This is simply absurd. 3. In discussing your plight in the above passages we dealt with the third belief with some details. That is the Islamic belief, which is grounded on logic and divine wisdom. Now it should be easier for you to accept the existence of God and life after death. These are the two fundamental principles that you should note before conceiving “Our Message”. Before coming to discuss whose God is true, I ask you to have an open mind devoid of prejudices that you may have built about Islam. Let it be plain that Qur’an is not “The Religious Scripture of Muslims, rather it’s the “Book of Guidance for Mankind from their Creator”; Muhammad (Peace be upon him) is “Not the founder of Muslims’ religion”, rather, “He is the final Prophet sent by God almighty as a mercy to whole mankind to guide them to the right path; Abraham, Moses, Jesus (Peace be Upon them) too were prophets sent earlier with the same message”. Let’s deal with the concept of God in Islam. Look at the following description of how godhead evolves in human mind: In the most primitive stage of ignorance, man thinks that the great objects of nature whose grandeur and glory are visible, and which appear to be injurious or beneficent to him, hold in themselves the real power and authority, and, therefore, are divine. Thus he worships trees, animals, rivers, mountains, fire, rain, air, heavenly bodies and numerous other objects. This is the worst form of ignorance. The biggest and the strongest animal die like a tiny germ, and loses all his power; great rivers rise and fall and become dry: the highest mountains are blasted and shattered by man himself: the productiveness of the earth is not under the earth's control—water makes it prosperous and lack of water makes it barren, liven water is not independent. It depends on air, which brings the clouds. Air, too, is powerless and its usefulness depends on other causes. The moon, the sun, and the stars are also bound by a powerful law outside whose dictates they cannot make the slightest movement. We find an all-powerful law and all-encompassing control in the universe. What a complete regularity is observed in sunrise and sunset, in winds and rains, in the motions of stars and the changes of seasons! With what a wonderful harmony countless different forces are working jointly. And what a highly effective and supremely wise law it is according to which all the various causes in the universe are made to work together at an appointed time to produce an appointed event! Observing this uniformity, regularity and

complete obedience to one great law in all fields of Nature, even a polytheist finds himself obliged to believe that there must be a deity greater than all the others, exercising supreme authority. For, if there were separate, independent deities, the whole machinery of the universe would be upset. We are face to face with a grand, limitless universe. Man's mind cannot discern its beginning or visualize its end. It has been moving along its chartered course from time immemorial and is continuing its journey in the vast vista of the future. Creatures beyond number have appeared in it — and go on appearing every day. It is so bewildering that a thinking mind finds itself wonderstruck. Man is unable to understand and grasp its reality by his unaided vision. He cannot believe that all this has appeared just by chance or accident. The universe is not a fortuitous mass of matter. It is not a jumble of un-cocoordinated objects. It is not a conglomeration of chaotic and meaningless things. All this cannot be without a Creator, a Designer, a Controller, a Governor. But who can create and control this majestic universe? Only He can do so, Who is Master of all; Who is Infinite and Eternal; Who is All-Powerful, All-Wise, Omnipotent and Omniscient; Who is All-Knowing and All-Seeing. He must have supreme authority over all that exists in the universe. He must possess limitless powers, must be Lord of the universe and all that it contains, must be free from every flaw and weakness and none may have the power to interfere with His work. Only such a Being can be the Creator, the Controller and the Governor of the universe. Second, it is essential that all these divine attributes and powers must be vested in One Being: it is impossible for two or more personalities having equal powers and attributes to co-exist. They are bound to collide. Therefore, there must be one and only one Supreme Being having control over all others. You cannot think of two governors for the same province or two supreme commanders of the army! Similarly, the distribution of these powers among different deities, so that, for instance, one of them is all knowledge, the other all-providence and still another life-giver — and each having an independent domain — is also unthinkable. The universe is an indivisible whole and each one of such deities will be dependent upon others in the execution of his task. Lack of co-ordination is bound to occur. And if this happened, the world would fall to pieces. These attributes are also untransferable. It is not possible that a certain attribute might be present in a certain deity at one time and at another time be found in another deity. A divine being who is incapable of remaining alive himself cannot give life to others. The one who cannot protect his own divine power cannot be suited to govern the vast limitless universe. Islam calls for belief in Oneness of God(Tawheed) and it is that there is no Deity worthy of worship except Allah almighty. It starts with total rejection of all deities and solemn acceptance of one God. Tawheed dispels all the clouds of ignorance and illuminates the horizon with the light of reality.

The followings are effects of belief in Tawheed: 1.A believer in this can never be narrow in outlook. He believes in a God, Who is the Creator of the heavens and the earth, the Master of the East and the West and Sustainer of the entire universe. His vision is enlarged, his intellectual horizon widens, and his outlook becomes as liberal and as boundless as is the Kingdom of God . 2.This belief produces in man the highest degree of self-respect and self-esteem. The believer knows that Allah alone is the Possessor of all power, and that none besides Him can benefit or harm a person, or provide for his needs, or give and take away life or wield authority or influence. 3.This belief also generates in man a sense of modesty and humbleness. It makes him unostentatious and unpretending. A believer never becomes proud, haughty or arrogant. 4.This belief makes man virtuous and upright. He has the conviction that there is no other means of success and salvation for him except purity of soul and righteousness of behavior. He has perfect faith in God Who is above all need, is related to none and is absolutely just. 5.The believer never becomes despondent. He has a firm faith in God, Who is Master of all the treasures of the earth and the heavens, Whose grace and bounty have no limit and Whose powers are infinite. This faith imparts to his heart extraordinary consolation, fills it with satisfaction and keeps it filled with hope. 6. This belief produces in man a very strong degree of determination, patient perseverance and trust in God. When he makes up his mind and devotes his resources to fulfilling the Divine Commands in order to secure God's pleasure, he is sure that he has the support and backing of the Lord of the universe. 7. This declaration inspires bravery in man. He becomes fearless of human being because he believes that all the forces of the world combined cannot take away anyone’s life without the will of God. 8. The belief in Tawheed creates an attitude of peace and contentment, purges the mind of jealousy, envy and greed and keeps away the temptations of resorting to base and unfair means for achieving success. The believer understands that wealth is in God's hands, and He apportions it out, as He likes; that honor, power, reputation and authority — everything — is subjected to His will and He bestows them as He will.

9. The most important effect of Tawheed is that it makes man obey and observe God's Law. One who has belief in it is sure that God knows everything hidden or open and is nearer to him than his own jugular vein. If he commits a sin in a secluded corner and in the darkness of night. He knows it; He even knows our thoughts and intentions, bad or good. We can hide from everyone, but we cannot hide anything from God; we can evade everyone, but it is impossible to evade God's grip. I call upon you to ponder over these remarks. Let me make it abundantly clear that it’s only Islam that possesses the power to heal the wounds that your hearts have been afflicted with; it’s Islam that can explain your purpose of life in this world in an explicit and unambiguous manner. Once you come to these realizations you will discover that the life of this world is narrow and hollow; you will also discover that, since the world is such a narrow and temporary abode, any struggle merely to achieve smaller goals of this world are worthless an endeavor. It will certainly broaden your horizon and widen the scope of your life. While making you to mull over the shallowness of the precepts of Vaddukottai Resolution, it will give you a sense of great mental relief that eventually you have discovered the Truth and True path to eternal success; i.e the discovery of Allah almighty who created you. My friend! let me facilitate your mind delve deeper into the matter with the following verses of the Qur’an: There is no compulsion in religion(Islam) ; the Right Path stands clearly distinguished from the wrong. Hence he who rejects the evil ones and believes in Allah has indeed taken hold of the firm, unbreakable handle………Allah is the Guardian of those who believe, He brings them out of every darkness into light. And those who disbelieve their guardians are the evil ones; they bring them out of light into all kinds of darkness….. (Al Baqarah: 256-257) References: 1) 2)

The Qur’an – English translation Towards Understanding Islam, by S. Abul A’la Maududi