THE CRIME OF SILENCE

" The darkest places in hell

Are reserved for those

Who maintain their neutrality 

In times of moral crisis "

Now, I can't confirm whether or not the above quote from Dante Alighieri's epic 14th century poem the Divine Comedy  is part of the myriad of tattoos that form Syed Ammar Nakshawani's forearms these days, but I'm sure you'll agree it's quite a powerful saying that resonates with the message of Karbala.

If there's one thing we can take away from Imam Hussain's (as) supreme sacrifice, it's to not remain neutral when we see injustice being committed in front of us.

Indeed the very essence of Imam Hussain's (as) mission is that through his death, he showed the world how to take a stand against falsehood in any shape or form, no matter how imposing the odds.

Through his death, he showed the world how to take a stand against wrong in any shape or form, no matter how imposing the odds. - See more at: http://charlatan.ca/2013/11/letter-hussain-belongs-to-everyone/#sthash.L57RrlcX.dpuf

Through his death, he showed the world how to take a stand against wrong in any shape or form, no matter how imposing the odds. - See more at: http://charlatan.ca/2013/11/letter-hussain-belongs-to-everyone/#sthash.L57RrlcX.dpuf

Through his death, he showed the world how to take a stand against wrong in any shape or form, no matter how imposing the odds. - See more at: http://charlatan.ca/2013/11/letter-hussain-belongs-to-everyone/#sthash.L57RrlcX.dpu

But then the question remains - how does one stand up to injustice and practice activism?

The Prophet (saaw) gives the answer to that question in a short, yet beautiful saying. He essentially outlines three courses of action we can take when we see falsehood in front of our eyes.

"If you see something wrong, change it with your hands. If you are not able to, then speak out against it. If you are not able to do that, then feel bad about it in your heart - but that  is the weakest form of faith."

I speak to myself first when I say that more often than, we find ourselves languishing in that third category, the stage the Prophet (saaw) calls the 'weakest form of faith'. We see something wrong in front of us but instead of actually doing something about it, we make 101 excuses not to act. Instead we pacify ourselves by feeling rotten and assuring out conscience that we personally are far away from such acts. 

Of course, it's not always practical to take action and 'change it with your hands,' but that second stage the Prophet (saaw) mentions is almost always a viable option. The second stage, 'speaking out,' doesn't mean standing in the middle of the street and yelling into a megaphone.

Take the example of Saudi Arabia's Sheikh Nimr and his recent death sentence. It probably wouldn't have been practical for most of us to jump onto the next flight to Saudi Arabia and pull-off a daring rescue mission. But we did Tweet, sign petitions and make noise. The absolute least we could have done was 'feel bad about it'.

The point is to strive to do the utmost that is possible under the circumstances - you be the judge and draw the line yourself. 

As lovers of Imam Hussain (as), we should feel a burning itch to do something the moment we hear about any kind of injustice. Paraphrasing Dante's words, there is indeed nothing worse than taking the course of inaction in times of moral crisis.

"Oh people of Bahrain: Your pain is our pain!"

"A believer is the brother of another believer, like a single body. If any part of him suffers, he will feel its pain in his entire body; and their souls are also made of one soul," - Imam Sadiq (as)

With the situation in Bahrain getting uglier by the day, a demonstration was organized here in Ottawa for us to show our support for the oppressed people of Bahrain.

So on what was a lazy Saturday afternoon, me and a few friends turned up on Parliament Hill for the demonstration.

The atmosphere there was anything but lazy.

A fair few people had already assembled on the Hill, waving Bahraini flags, hoisting graphic images of scenes from Bahrain, and holding posters that read things like "Stop killing civilians," and "Down with the Nazi like regimes of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia."

The plan was to demonstrate in front of Parliament for a while, and then march to the Saudi Arabia Embassy to make some noise there.

A couple of people in the front had megaphones and were belting out chants (which unfortunately weren't even close to rhyming on some occasions) both in Arabic and English. The crowds responded passionately, making their feelings of anger and frustration felt.

Many of the slogans were directed at Saudi Arabia's corrupt rulers, and their decision to deploy military power to help quell the protests in Bahrain.

"Where were these forces when Gaza was being pummeled by Israel? Where were they when Lebanon was being attacked?" asked one of the protesters in a speech.

Under surveillance from local police, we marched to the Saudi embassy in Ottawa, located on 201 Sussex Drive. It was about a half-hour walk from Parliament and as we walked, we continued to chant our slogans. Some cars hooted their support as they passed by us.

Heres a video of us making our way through downtown Ottawa, to the Saudi embassy.

Once the green of the Saudi flag was visible from a distance, it was clear that the police were taking no risks. Several police cars were parked in front of the building, and police officers on foot were present as well.

We were ordered to stay on the opposite side of the street, and do our stuff from there. Aside from the chanting, Sheikh Obeid, a Lebanese scholar from Montreal, addressed us on the megaphone. He gave a short, yet stirring talk on how disgraceful the actions of the Saudi government were, and how we as Muslims should take a stand against it.

Heres a video of us protesting across the Saudi embassy. And another one.

Before the event, there was an idea going around that people should bring shoes to throw at the embassy. Thankfully, everyone kept their old sneakers at home.

Somehow the thought of me lobbing my old Reeboks across the road with a whole bunch of police officers for an audience doesn't seem overly appropriate.

Unbeknownst to us, the organizers had planned a detour to the embassy of the United Arab Emirates as well, which was just around the corner from the Saudi one.

The UAE, along with Oman and Qatar, has also sent military support to Bahrain in order to help its government. "Down down Emarat!" was the call once we reached the embassy. Security was assembled there as well,

It seemed as though we were successful in our goal to make our voices, and the voices of the people of Bahrain, heard.

It was a fantastic experience for me personally as well. It made me happy to see Muslims unite in a common cause, as not only Shias turned up for the protest. In todays day and age, solidarity is so very important.

How fortunate we are to have the right to protest, or the right to freedom of assembly, was another thing that I was reminded of. Back home in Dubai, a demonstration like this would have had us shunned by the coppers faster than you could say "Khalifa."

I'll probably go to sleep tonight hearing choruses of, "Oh people of Bahrain: Your pain is our pain!"