In the Name of God, the Indiscriminately Merciful, the Intimately Loving
On December 12, 2019, the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was enacted into law in India, explicitly excluding Muslims from neighboring countries from obtaining citizenship. The law has been proposed to work in tandem with a National Registry of Citizens, which would require every Indian to prove their citizenship or otherwise be placed in detention centers. Together, these laws provide the legal foundation to create one of the largest Muslim registries and networks of concentration camps in the world.
As Muslim students across the West Coast, MSA West stands with those unjustly harmed by the CAA and NRC. Horror stories have already emerged from Assam, where the NRC has been instituted and the largest detention center is currently being built. Millions of migrants, among them many Muslims and Bengalis, have lost their citizenship and homes and face detention and deportation. Over 20 have died in detention centers.
In response, protests have erupted across India. Several state chiefs (Punjab, West Bengal, and Kerala) have refused to implement the bill altogether. The Modi government has met protests by shutting down the internet and flooding these regions with troops. As of December 2019, at least a dozen have been shot and killed, with hundreds more injured and detained.
It is the work of the diaspora and those of us at a comfortable distance to amplify the voices of the oppressed. Many of our brothers and sisters have been directly affected by this deliberate and brazen act of the Modi government. Challenging this horrifying oppression begins in your own networks of power. Redirect dialogue on the ground when it is silent or misinformed about the growing fascist, anti-Muslim movement as it is emerging. It is up to each of us to do our part. We call on Muslim students across California to vocally stand in solidarity with the people of India and raise awareness on your campuses and in your communities about the situation unfolding there.
Nu’man b. Bashir reported Allah’s Messenger ﷺ as saying: The similitude of believers in regard to mutual love and affection is that of one body; when any limb of it aches, the whole body aches because of sleeplessness and fever. We at MSA West extend our solidarity, love, and prayers to our ummah in India and those oppressed across the globe, in Kashmir, East Turkestan, Palestine, and Iran (amongst many others). Our sincerest duas are with you all. And Allah is always with the oppressed.
In solidarity,
MSA West
