Vittorio Arrigoni, Staying Human

Some people risk their lives for strangers because they see these strangers as fellow human beings. They follow their conscience and sense of humanity to fight with others for justice, freedom, and equality.

Vittorio Arrigoni gave his life for Palestinians. He left his comfortable life in Italy to join Palestinians in their fight for freedom and justice, and despite difficulties and obstacles he faced , he kept going on till he was killed for what he believed in. It is tragic when the world loses someone like him. He was a hero, and a hero's death is painful.

This is a film about him made before his death. I watched it today, and thought of sharing it here.

Words by Mohammad Asad

I just finished reading an abridged biography of Mohammad Asad (formerly Leopold Weiss) , and I intend to get his book " The Road to Makkah", inshaAllah. 
Some of his words quoted in the book made me feel sad about the state we Muslims are in.

'How has it come about that you Muslims have lost your self-confidence - that self confidence which once enabled you to spread your faith, in less than a hundred years, from Arabia westward as far as the Atlantic and eastward deep into China - and now surrender yourselves so easily, so weakly, to the thoughts and customs of the West? Why can't you, whose forefathers illumined the world with science and art a time when Europe lay in deep barbarism and ignorance, summon forth the courage to go back to your own progressive, radiant faith? How is it that Attaturk, that petty masquerader who denies all value to Islam, has become to you Muslims a symbol of "Muslim revival"?
'Tell me - how has it come about that the faith of your Prophet and all its clearness and simplicity has been buried beneath a rubble of sterile speculation and the hair-splitting of your scholastics? How has it happened that your princes and great land-owners revel in wealth and luxury while so many of their Muslim brethren subsist in unspeakable poverty and squalor - although your Prophet taught that No one may call himself a Faithful who eats his fill while his neighbor remains hungry? Can you make me understand why you have brushed women into the background of your lives - although the women around the Prophet and his Companions took part in so grand a manner in the life of their men? How has it come about that so many of you Muslims are ignorant and so few can even read and write - although your Prophet declared that Striving after knowledge is a most sacred duty for every Muslim man and woman and that The superiority of the learned man over the mere pious is like the superiority of the moon when it is full over all other stars?" Mohammad Asad

If you don't know who Mohammad Asad was , click here