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The very devices used to amplify calls for justice elsewhere are built on resources stained with Congolese blood.
By NONTOBEKO AISHA MKHWANAZI
Allah commands justice. This is not a mere suggestion in Islam but a divine obligation. The Qur’an declares:
‘Indeed, Allah commands justice and good conduct and giving to relatives and forbids immorality and bad conduct and oppression. He admonishes you that perhaps you will be reminded.’ (Surah An-Nahl,16:90)
And yet, as atrocities unfold in Goma, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Muslim world remains largely silent. Where are the voices that passionately decry injustice in Palestine, Syria, and Kashmir? Where are the protests, the impassioned khutbahs, the global calls to action? Have Congolese lives been deemed less worthy, or does their suffering simply not fit the narratives that spark collective outrage?
In early January, the M23 rebel group broke a ceasefire agreement, launching a large-scale offensive in the mineral-rich east with support from the Rwandan army. By January 27, the M23 claimed to have captured Goma, the capital of North Kivu province and a city of over a million people, thousands of whom were already displaced by previous conflicts.
Goma and Bukavu, both key cities in the DRC’s volatile east, sit along the border with Rwanda. The DRC government has repeatedly accused Rwanda of backing the M23 rebels, an allegation Kigali denies. Rwanda, in turn, claims Kinshasa collaborates with the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), an armed Hutu group with ties to the perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, a charge the DRC rejects.
This conflict is not incidental. It is fuelled by the insatiable demand for minerals like coltan and cobalt, essential components of the technology that powers modern life. The very devices used to amplify calls for justice elsewhere are built on resources stained with Congolese blood.
Prophet Muhammad (SAW) warned against complacency in the face of oppression: ‘Help your brother, whether he is an oppressor or he is oppressed.’ A man said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, I will help him if he is oppressed, but how can I help him if he is an oppressor?’ The Prophet said, ‘By preventing him from oppressing others.’ (Sahih Bukhari)
Yet, when it comes to Goma, silence prevails. Have we not heard the cries of our sisters in Goma?
Renatha Mwamini, a survivor of brutal sexual violence, spoke out courageously against her oppressors, only to be displaced once again as M23 rebels attacked the displacement camp in Kanyaruchinya. She fled, along with hundreds of thousands of other women clutching their children, desperate to escape a nightmare that never ends.
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Do these stories not move our hearts as Muslims?
And what of the hundreds of women in Munzenze prison, who were all raped and then burned alive? They were trapped in a system that abandoned them; their final moments were spent in terror as male inmates breached the women’s wing before setting the prison on fire.
These are not nameless victims, they are our sisters in humanity, and their pain is real. How can we, as an ummah, remain indifferent?
According to recent reports, nearly 3 000 people have been killed in Goma following its capture by rebels. Vivian van de Perre, the deputy head of the United Nations mission in the DRC, told VOA news that ‘so far 2 000 bodies have been collected from the Goma streets in recent days, and 900 bodies remain in the morgues of the Goma hospitals’ and predicts that the M23 is yet to take many more lives.
The overwhelming response to the suffering of Palestinians Muslims worldwide was a lesson to the ummah to not keep quite when there is injustice. And these atrocities should rightly spark protests, boycotts and activism. But justice cannot be selective.
The Qur’an commands: ‘O you who have believed, be persistently standing firm for Allah, witnesses in justice, and do not let the hatred of a people prevent you from being just. Be just; that is nearer to righteousness.’ (Surah Al-Ma’idah 5:8)
The suffering in Goma, like that in Palestine, is driven by systemic exploitation and violence. Yet, while one has ignited global resistance, the other remains in the shadows, with our mouths not calling for justice for mankind.
This is not about comparison; it is about consistency. The sanctity of human life is not negotiable.
The Qur’an further states: ‘Whoever kills a soul unless for a soul or for corruption [done] in the land—it is as if he had slain mankind entirely. And whoever saves one, it is as if he had saved mankind entirely.’ (Surah Al-Ma’idah 5:32)
Yet, Congolese blood continues to be spilled without widespread outrage. The world obsesses over the minerals beneath their feet and political rhetoric while ignoring the human lives being lost.
While the Qur’an warns against inaction of the ummah: ‘And what is [the matter] with you that you do not fight in the cause of Allah and [for] the oppressed among men, women, and children who say, “Our Lord, take us out of this city of oppressive people and appoint for us from Yourself a protector and appoint for us from Yourself a helper” ?’ (Surah An-Nisa 4:75)
Justice demands mankind, including Muslims worldwide, to speak out against the atrocities of the people of Goma in masjids, homes and public spaces. The conflict and its root causes must be understood. Humanitarian efforts must be supported, and ethical sourcing of minerals must be prioritised. Justice cannot be reduced to a matter of selective advocacy; it is an obligation.
For Prophet Muhammed (SAW) likened the ummah to a single body: ‘The believers are like one body; if one part of the body aches, the whole body feels the pain.’ (Sahih Bukhari)
Right now, one part of the body of the ummah is bleeding in Goma. It is time for the rest of the body to feel the pain and do something to stop it.
