The conflict in Darfur has a long history. The Darfur region is a very poor region almost entirely dedicated to subsistence agriculture and livestock herding for domestic and export purposes. The Fur and other ethnic African peoples of Darfur have farmed the most fertile parts of central Darfur for generations. The Northern part of Darfur is mostly desert, and the ethnic Arab populations of Northern Darfur bring their flocks to graze and water in the south every spring. This has led to conflicts between the Fur and the Arabs. The Fur and other African groups of Darfur formed self-defense groups in the 1990s to protect their crops, homes, and families from increasing incursions by the Arab raiders, many of whom have also been armed over the past decades. 

In early 2003, armed conflict broke out between two non-Arab rebel groups in Darfur, the Sudanese Liberation Army/Movement (SLA/SLM) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), and Sudanese government forces. The Sudanese government, however, responded by attacking the civilian populations associated with the rebel groups. Human Rights Watch, in a scathing report released in May 2004, accused the Sudanese government of ethnic cleaning in Darfur. The 77-page report documents how "Sudanese government forces have overseen and directly participated in massacres, summary executions of civilians, burnings of towns and villages, and the forcible depopulation of wide swaths of land long-inhabited by the Fur, Masalit, and Zaghawa ethnic groups [of the Darfur region]." Peter Takirambudde, executive director of the Africa Division of Human Rights Watch, said, "There can be no doubt about the Sudanese government's culpability in crimes against humanity in Darfur." 

When I first heard reports of the genocide in Darfur, I was skeptical. I had thought that this was another attempt by the Western media to smear Muslim Sudan. I then researched this conflict, and I was shocked at what I learned. My earlier skepticism was entirely misplaced. Unfortunately, I am still haunted by the ghosts of my fundamentalist past from time to time. What is happening in Darfur is nothing short of genocide, and the silence of the Muslim world is most deafening. 

These are Muslims killing Muslims. What happened to this Qur'anic command: "If two parties among the Believers fall into a quarrel, make peace between them. If, however, one of them transgresses beyond bounds against the other, then fight (all of you) against the party that transgresses until it complies with the command of Allah. If it does (then) complies, then make peace between them with justice and be equitable, for Allah loves those who are equitable" (49:9)? Where are the Muslim voices of outrage? Where are the Muslim armies that should have been dispatched to protect their Darfurian brothers and sisters? Is it not true that "The Believers are but a single brotherhood," as the Qur'an mentioned in verse 49:10? What has happened to the Nation of Muhammad? 

The very same Muslim world that lambasted the United States for the horrible prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib has remained silent in the face of the massacre and rape of Muslims in Darfur. What shameful hypocrisy. It is the United States, in fact, that has been the most publicly vocal in its condemnation of the genocide in Darfur. The U.S. House of Representatives has even held hearings on Darfur. Where are the hearings in the governments of the Muslim world? As of this writing, there is not a single press release on the website of the Organization of the Islamic Conference on the distasteful violence between Muslims in Darfur. What has happened to the Nation of Muhammad?