Is bigotry the only way to be

understood?
By Sanusia Zainab Conteh

Address: London, SE1 5PG

Contact e-mail: sanusia1711@gmail.com

A blank screen is shown, and then a mans voice is heard.

OMNISCIENT MAN
"The world is not dangerous because of those who do harm but because of
those who look at it without doing anything"
Cuts into a close up of a man with his eyes closed.

ACT 1, SEQUENCE 1
INT. MEETING ROOM-DAY
The radical Muslim man opens his eyes waking from his deep sad
thoughts to find himself in a dark meeting room sitting across a
Muslim woman dressed in white hijab attire.
Noticing that his eyes are now open, she sternly looks across at
him.

MODERATE MUSLIM (WOMAN)

{In a calm but deeply concerned voice, hands clasped together in a prayer
motion}
Why are you doing this, why are you using our religion as a war weapon, a
political tool?

RADICAL MUSLIM (MAN)

{Looks across at her, frowning}
Is that all you see? Do you really believe that those are the only
reasons we do what we do?

MODERATE MUSLIM (WOMAN)

{Swings hands across in a casual but questioning manner}
Enlighten me, what other reasons could there be?

RADICAL MUSLIM (MAN)

{Raises his voice}
Protecting our resources, defending ourselves from invasions and teaching
them the right path to Islam.

MODERATE MUSLIM (WOMAN)

{In a questioning and surprised tone}
Teaching them the right path to Islam? Through which means? Killing
innocent people? Kidnapping innocent men and taking them away from their
families? Is that your idea of teaching them the right path to Islam?

RADICAL MUSLIM (MAN)

{Speaking assertively with hand gestures}

We have to punish them if they do not adhere to our rules, Islam

is the only way of life and we have to make them learn that. The
dead ones, they had a choice! Accept Islam or die!

MODERATE MUSLIM (WOMAN)

We can't compel them to follow our path. Allah told us that there
is no compulsion in Islam. He said La ikraha fee addeeni qad
tabayyanna arrushudu mina alghayyi faman yakfur bittaghooti
wayumin billahi faqadi istamsaka bilAAurwati alwuthqa la infisama
laha wallahu sameeAAun Aaaleem. It has to be a choice; it has to
be their choice!
Subtitle of the Arabic quote.
"There is no compulsion in religion. Verily the right path has
become distinct from the wrong path. Whoever disbelieves in Taghut
and believes in Allah, then he has grasped the most trustworthy
handhold that will never break. Allah is the all-hearer and the
all-knower".

RADICAL MUSLIM (MAN)

{In an angry tone}
Look around, what do you see?! There is incest! There is murder!
There are homosexuals! There are women going out into the streets
half naked! Fornication, adultery, stealing, rapes! These are
atrocities that can only be stopped by introducing Islam into
their lives. We have made it our sole mission to make sure that
they accept Islam!

MODERATE MUSLIM (WOMAN)

But who are we to judge? Who are we to punish them for their sins?
Did you not learn from the actions of Prophet Isa Alayhisalam?
When confronted with the decision of stoning a woman caught in the
act of adultery, He said, He who is without sin, should cast the
first stone". If you are certain of your perfection as a Muslim
and you have never committed a sin in the eyes of Allah, then make
it your responsibility to be the punisher of sins!
The length of the table becomes shorter, this connotes that the
radical Muslim understands the point of view of the moderate
Muslim.

MODERATE MUSLIM (WOMAN)

Why do you have to kidnap, imprison, torture and kill those
innocent people? Where did they go wrong?

RADICAL MUSLIM (MAN)

They are merely paying for the actions of their nation.

MODERATE MUSLIM (WOMAN)

It is wrong to imprison and kill people without any justification!

RADICAL MUSLIM (MAN)

Tell that to the Bush administration who on October 17 2006 signed
the Military Commissions Act of 2006 which gave them the authority
to indefinitely hold prisoners without charge, take away their
protections right and subject them to horrific abuse. 50,000 of
those unjustly held prisoners were Iraqis; they were our Muslim
brothers who were never proven guilty but were still tortured to
death in the Guantanamo prison!

MODERATE MUSLIM (WOMAN)

Why punish a present generation for the actions of their previous
leaders? Why punish people who see that those actions violated
both the uniform code of Military justice and the four Geneva
conventions? Don't punish the present generation for their
nation's past!

RADICAL MUSLIM (MAN)

If they could hold people as prisoners through their "stovepiping"
means in which they do not determine the accuracy of intelligence
before passing it to officials, if they could torture and kill our
Muslim brothers based on potentially misleading chatter, why can't
we?

MODERATE MUSLIM (WOMAN)

We cannot do as they do because Allah has said to us, the children
of Israel, the Muslim ummah, He said to us Wala taqfu ma laysa
laka bihi AAilmun inna assamAAa walbasara walfuada kullu olaika
kana AAanhu masoola. So how can you hold and torture innocent
people without any justification and go against the teachings of
your lord?
Subtitle of the Arabic quote.
"You shall not accept any information, unless you verify it
yourself. I have given you the hearing, the eyesight, and the
brain, and you are responsible for using them"!

RADICAL MUSLIM (MAN)

2,603 people were killed in the September 2011 bombing of the
twin towers. Were the 15,000 dead Afghan civilians responsible?
Were the 19,358 people who died during the period of the invasion
of Iraq by America from March 20, 2003 to March 19, 2008
responsible? 39 per cent of those were innocent children, they
were deprived of the right to grow up and become somebody, they
were deprived of the right to live their dream? Should we sit back
and ignore these facts? Their death is proof enough and we shall
avenge it!

MODERATE MUSLIM (WOMAN)

Wala tastawee alhasanatu wala assayyiatu idfaAA billatee hiya
ahsanu faitha allathee baynaka wabaynahu AAadwatun kaannahu
waliyyun hameem
Subtitle of the Arabic quote
"The good deed and the evil deed cannot be equal, repel evil with
one which is better, then verily, he between him and you here was
enmity, will become as though he was a close friend".
In this verse, Allah ordered us his believers to be patient and
respond to an evil deed with a good deed. Why should you respond
in such a manner when you can just show them the beauty of being a
Muslim, why can't you let go of the anger and allow Allah to
punish them for their actions?

RADICAL MUSLIM (MAN)

Sister, we have watched our mothers die, our children, our
sisters, our cousins, our brothers, our fathers, our weak and old
grandparents, we have watched their body parts scatter as bombs
destroy their once active and joyful bodies. Sister!, those dead
children, those dead women they were not responsible for those
Islamic terrorism actions that they were killed for. We have to
stand up for them hence they were not given the opportunity to
stand up for themselves.
The length of the table becomes shorter; this shows that the
moderate Muslim woman understands the radical Muslim man's point
of view.

MODERATE MUSLIM (WOMAN)

Does capturing towns and villages count as your methods of
standing up for the deceased?

RADICAL MUSLIM (MAN)

Land and territory is a necessity when building status and power.

MODERATE MUSLIM (WOMAN)

Wala takuloo amwalakum baynakum bilbatili watudloo biha ila
alhukkami litakuloo fareeqan min amwali annasi bilithmi waantum
taAAlamoon
Subtitle of the Arabic quote
"And eat up not one anothers property unjustly (in any illegal
way e.g. stealing, robbing, deceiving etc.), nor give bribery to
the rulers that you may knowingly eat up part of the property of
others sinfully"

What is the point of acquiring status and power in the eyes of

man if it will not benefit you in the eyes of Allah?

RADICAL MUSLIM (MAN)

Our resources have been stolen, our lands have been destroyed, our
businesses that we spent decades establishing have been erased to
nothing. Our family homes that have housed many generations have
been wiped clean off the face of the earth, so we definitely need
more land to rebuild our lives.

MODERATE MUSLIM (WOMAN)

But does rebuilding your life have to cost others theirs? Do you
have to force others out of their family homes?, Do you have to
steal their land? You are the reason thousands of vulnerable women
and children sleep in the streets, all because you destroyed their
homes and killed their husbands, their fathers, their brothers!
They have nowhere to go, you have destroyed their possibility and
any hope they had of a brighter future.

RADICAL MUSLIM (MAN)

We sometimes have to take drastic measures to get the attention of
our oppressors.

MODERATE MUSLIM (WOMAN)

You are getting their attention but in a negative way. You have
angered the world; you had their support when you were the victims
of America's imperialism. But now, right now, you have become the
very people you were fighting against, you are imposing the exact
same use of force that you were rejecting, you have become the
oppressors of the oppression you faced. The world does not support
you in this and you can only earn their trust and gain their
support if you show them the peace within you! We are Muslims,
Islam is a religion of peace, Allah sent us a message of peace and
unity, and we should all show that to the world!
Both lights over the heads of the actors turn off, a single light
shines at the centre of the table, and a man's voice is heard.

OMNISCIENT MAN
"No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his
skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to
hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love,
for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its
opposite".