Following
the Gaza crisis which started in Ramadan, there have been talks of late of
boycotting products from certain companies owned/controlled by Jews and
Americans (who clearly support Israel in the crisis). And of course there have
been divided opinions as to whether a boycott is necessary or even effective,
what objects it could achieve and so on and so forth.
It’s up to an individual if s/he
chooses to boycott any one company or not. Personally, as you may already know,
I have been boycotting McDonald’s, Levi’s and a few other American brands since
2001 when the US invaded Iraq (I hate Coach and Michael Kors bags and don’t
patronise Star*ucks). Alhamdulillah, thus far, I don’t feel my life any
deprived, any less enriching or poorer in these 13 years than before my
personal boycott. To me, it’s just a small sacrifice on my part compared to the
hardship suffered by the Iraqis and others affected by the US’ policies of
invasion and politics against the Afghans, Iranians, Iraqis, Palestinians etc.
I can only hope that my small (insignificant to some) acts can be likened to
the little bird which helped Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him) (I have
blogged about this before but thought I’d reproduce it here):
The story about the little bird, the
fire and Prophet Ibrahim: When Prophet Ibrahim [peace be upon him] was thrown
into a fire that filled up two valleys by the evil ruler Namrod, some birds
were flying overhead. Some of the larger birds saw this little bird that kept
on flying to the ocean to scoop up some water, bring the water in its tiny beak
and then flying back to drop the water onto the fire. After seeing the small
bird going back and forth a few times, the larger birds made fun of it and
asked him why he was doing that, as such tiny drops of water could not possibly
put out such a large fire. The small bird replied that it wanted to do its
share so that on the Day of Judgement it could go before Allah with a clear
conscience, because on the Day of Judgement, God would ask him what he did when
Ibrahim was in the fire, and he wanted to be able to answer that he did everything
within his ability to extinguish the fire. Wallahu’alam.
I share you with the following quote
again: ‘I am only one. But still, I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I
can do something. And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do
the something that I can do.’ ~Edward Everett Hale
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