My hunger strike is not easy but it is nothing compared with what Guantanamo detainees are enduring, writes Laura Stuart.
Today I am already over half way through my pledged seven days of hunger strike in solidarity with the detainees of Guantanamo and Palestine. So far I have experienced no great hunger but a little thirstiness related to fasting the six days of Shawwal concurrently as well as some dizziness when I stand up too quickly. I have decided to stay at home and not drive in case my concentration is impaired. I have also cut out my enjoyable daily walks and have even stopped walking to the supermarket for the time being.
To be honest I don’t have a problem doing this hunger strike but I realise that as it nears its end it will be harder. Even so, my situation is tiny compared to the experience of the detainees who have been hunger striking for months – not to forget the torture of force feeding, loss of freedom and the absence of justice.
Excessive eating
Since starting this hunger strike, many have questioned my actions; a typical question has been, “So how do you think this will change anything?” I wonder how not doing any action will change anything. Personally I believe most of us eat way too much. I feel sad that so many Muslims overindulge and are overweight, diabetic and suffer from related ailments such as high blood pressure and heart problems.
One of the most frequent comments I get from people who I tell that I am on hunger strike is, “but in Islam we are not allowed to harm our body” – absolutely true – so why do so many Muslims eat processed foods, an excess of meat and sweets, sweets and more sweets? Are we not instructed that what we put into our bodies has to be Tayyib and not just Halal? Sadly so many people eat too much and don’t reflect on what they are eating. This combined with lack of exercise, especially amongst women, is a health damaging combination.
I am cooking chicken and rice for the family today. I am not feeling the hunger pangs even with the cooking smell, possibly because I am one of those people who sets their mind to something and is very determined to see it through. Every day I have been reading more about the detainees in Guantanamo and Palestine. I try to imagine their feelings of desperation and am always struck by their will to maintain their dignity and show their resolve by hunger striking.Nothing that I am doing here can compare to the situation that the detainees are enduring – something that makes me feel a little bit of a fraud here hunger striking with all of my worldly comforts around me and above all my liberty.
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All I can say about my thoughts on this is that if my brothers were to ask me what I did for the oppressed, as indeed I believe that Allah (swt) will one day ask, I can say that I acted in solidarity with them – I didn’t forget them and I reached out to them and their families. There is something very spiritual in breaking my fast with water and one date whilst I reflect on the detainees and how they and their families must be feeling, it certainly puts any perceived difficulties I have in my life into perspective.
Injustices
David Cameron’s words of assurance that he is doing all that he can to release Shaker Aamer are as believable as Alastair Burt telling myself and the other British Mavi Marmara passengers at a meeting in the Foreign Office that he is trying to get our stolen goods back. In the words of the consulate staff member who visited us in the prison at Beersheba, “Israel does what it wants”.
Of interest to all of us should be an article published in the Guardian over the weekend by Harry Ferguson an ex-MI5 officer on hunger strike. Harry Ferguson said he chose to hunger strike because he is all too aware of Mi5’s involvement in injustice. Tellingly, Mr Ferguson believes that the reason Shaker Aamer has not been returned to the UK is because he knows too much about British security services’ involvement in torture.
It is also clear that there is a huge absence of justice for Muslims; a reality that has scared too many Muslims into silence rather than what it should do which is rally us to unite and form a coherent political force. There is a hadith narrated by Thawban (ra) that sums up the situation perfectly. The Prophet Mohammed (saw) warned us that there would come a time when we would be weak as an ummah and that other nations would fall upon us as if we were food, because of our love for this life and disregard for the next – despite us being many we will be like the foam on the sea.
With so many of us taking refuge in believing that making dua for the oppressed or sending money for the needy is enough, this prophecy is being fulfilled today. Our masajid should be hives of activity with our Imams leading and directing a cohesive movement to put pressure on our government for the release of political prisoners both in Guantanamo and Palestine. But despite us being many millions in the UK, we are a divided and weak force. Division amongst Muslim in the UK and elsewhere is the biggest gift of all to our enemies.
This article originally appeared on the CagePrisoners website.
