Ramadan amid a trying time
Followers of the Islamic faith around the world began their annual fast, the Ramadan period, in the backdrop of one of the worst, if not the worst, humanitarian crises of recent times unfolding in the Occupied Territories of Palestine. The United Nations said this week that more Palestinian children— over 12,300—have been killed by the Israeli military than the documented deaths of children killed in all the armed conflicts around the world in the past four years (2019–2022) put together.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees has called it a 'war on children'. Yet Washington is expected not to resume funding the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) on the pretext that 12 of its 13,000 employees in Gaza were involved in the Hamas raid into Israel on October 7 last year that triggered the Israeli military reaction. The British Save the Children Fund said on Tuesday that 20 children have already died of starvation in Palestine during this holy month of Ramadan.
Elsewhere, too, the followers of the Islamic faith are facing issues. Islamophobia is sweeping across Europe as the influx of refugees from war-torn states, especially in Africa and West Asia, and up to Afghanistan in South Asia, rises and raises the ire of the locals.
In the UK, the government introduced measures on Thursday to prevent official support from being given to organisations, mainly Muslim entities, that fall within a new interpretation of 'non-violent extremism' that leads to hatred and the undermining of democracy. Closer home, the Indian government this week enacted laws amending its Citizenship Act, selectively targeting Muslims from neighbouring countries and excluding them from gaining citizenship.
It is in such a world that the Ramadan fast has begun. While it is a time for prayer for the faithful, it should also be a time to reflect on what is happening to their brethren abroad and why. Meanwhile, all humanity must spare a thought, as nothing else seems possible, to stop the genocide towards those who have so far survived the slaughter in Palestine as they pray in the rubble of Gaza and the West Bank.