She Needs to be Saved

She was pure, as pure as a virgin.
She had poise, she had a unique stature.
At her inception, she was blasphemous. She challenged the evils around her.

She fearlessly stood up against injustice, discrimination and inequality.
She was the first among her time to preach such a revolution.
She was inclusive, she symbolized peace.
She strived for progression; revolted against stagnant dogma.
It was these attributes that contributed to her success in various arenas.
She had a lot to brag about from science to academics, from human rights to women empowerment; she was revolutionary.

Until the day she was kidnapped.
Taken to an unknown mountainous terrain by a group of men.
Bearded men who abused her for their pleasure and convenience.
Robbed her of her essence;freedom.
Deprived her of her fundamental right; the right to think,the right to disagree.
They stole her identity, they murdered her progressive vision.
They rendered her incapable of assimilating and co existing with others.
Ironically, her most beautiful trait was her flexibility, and adaptability.
For these qualities made it easier to seek her true goal; spirituality.

The assaults have become worse.
The group of men is growing; they are enticing more innocent minds into this heinous crime.
They've become her guardians; they and only they have the right to speak on her behalf.
The rapist speaking on behalf of the victim; the irony.
After all, it is they who have held her captive.
Zealously preaching dogma in her name, the masses have become their gullible, thoughtless audience.

They slander her reputation.
Her purity is tarnished everyday by each crime they commit in her name.
They use her as a shield for their sins.
The world has started questioning who she really is; is she inherently evil, violent, and intolerant?
For it is in her name that blood is shed, authority demanded, and innocent minds poisoned.

I don't want to be a bystander while a crime only becomes uglier in grandeur.
That's not what she taught, that's not what she symbolized.
She needs to be rescued, she needs to be saved.
Like everything else, these barbarians will leave her in mutilated pieces.

And we'll all be guilty.
Guilty for doing nothing to find her, guilty for not challenging her abductors, guilty for remaining silent, guilty for passively listening to illogical, unfair dogmas, guilty for doing the most convenient thing; nothing.

She is my religion; Islam.