Team Light v. Team Darkness: A Redline Moment

On Faith and Lessons from A Modern Day Hero

Modern day heroes are hard to come by, especially ones that actually make you rethink how you live your life. The ones that inspire and lead by example. That humble you to make change.

I discovered one as I was exploring on Substack. Somehow

The Simple Heart

page appeared before me, written by

Wayne Hsiung

. His cause is animal cruelty. He is that guy who will risk everything to rescue animals from horrific conditions: pigs spending their entire lives in tiny crates; chickens living in squalor and ridiculously crowded, inhumane conditions; terrified dogs being beaten, tortured, and eaten by humans. It is the stuff that you can’t stand the idea of, much less want to confront in real life.

While we sat eating turkey with our families for Thanksgiving, Wayne sat alone in jail for attempting to rescue chickens and ducks from two factory farms in California. It is truly the case of David, or in this case Wayne, battling the Goliath of corporations. This and other pending cases could land him 60 years in jail.

Wayne Hsiung, animal rights activist, arrested for rescuing animals from inhumane conditions

As I read more of his story, I was floored and so moved. I believe in animal rights and absolutely abhor the cruelty that I know takes place in factory farms and elsewhere. But have I ever done anything to help the cause? No, not really. Seeing his example made me think.

I feel a kinship with Wayne Hsiung. We both come from Taiwanese immigrant families. I can imagine what he chose to do with his life was as extreme for his family as my decision to convert to Islam was for mine. But I daresay we both chose to serve a cause greater than ourselves, anchored in an ethical calling. For that reason alone, I felt a connection with Wayne far greater than for our common ethnic roots. He sacrifices for what he believes in. He works hard to bring to light what others don’t see or know about. He makes his life mission about a truly great cause.

I get it. This is why Wayne’s actions are meaningful to me beyond the issue of animal cruelty. It is about living life for a principle, a purpose, and a cause that can elevate humanity, if not for all the forces in our world fighting against it. Perhaps it is a weird connection, but I believe I work on a similar project, albeit in a completely different space.

As for my own cause, I have spent the better part of my life working to educate the world about beautiful, humanistic, and reasonable Islam, the Islam that I have come to know through books, real-life experiences, and active choices. It is the version of Islam that took me from darkness to light, and that my soul knows God curated for me. To say it gave me meaning and purpose is an understatement. It would be more accurate to say I got the keys to the kingdom and was set free. So now, I try to give back by sharing this priceless gift with others who are seeking the same.

Not long after I converted, God introduced me to Superman (a.k.a. my husband), one of the most forward-thinking and brilliant Islamic jurists of our age, who also happens to be a law professor at UCLA. It was his scholarship that ignited my passion for change and lit my desire to promote elevated, enlightened, and liberating Islam - the Islam that the billion-dollar Islamophobia industry (fueled by the perpetual U.S. war-time economy), Muslim authoritarian governments, and Western colonial forces don’t want people to know about. David v. Goliath times 1000.

Now, 30 years later, at our nonprofit education institute, we teach ethical Islam. We just spent three years doing deep dives into all 114 chapters of the Qur’an, Islam’s holy book, to elevate the moral message of the Qur’an for our current moment (we offered the keys to the kingdom to everyone).

Among the Qur’an’s most important moral lessons is that change cannot come without sacrifice. Real sacrifice. Giving up what you care about most: time and money. We pay all kinds of lip service to things we say we care about, but in truth, how much time and money are we really willing to give up to make change?

Wayne is willing to sacrifice 60 years of his life in prison to elevate his cause. This blew my mind. He writes and speaks about how it is worth it and he means it. He is passionately idealist if not pragmatic and genuinely positive in his outlook. I can completely relate. Every challenge and setback is an opportunity for growth, he says. That is what my religion tells me as well. He wants to be the voice for the voiceless, standing up for those who cannot stand up for themselves. That is what we as Muslims are supposed to do too.

As a person of faith, I am curious about his faith and where he draws his strength and inspiration. He writes about being a Buddhist and the concepts of anatta (“we are all one…we are all connected”) and ahimsa (non-violence from the belief in the sacredness of all beings). I cannot help but notice the parallels with the Qur’anic message. In the Islamic tradition, especially among our sages, it is understood that we are all one with God. We are all sacred beings, connected to the Divine.

In Islam, we sum up our faith as being about truth, justice, and mercy, and bringing people from darkness to light. As God’s ambassadors and deputies on earth, we Muslims are duty-bound to fight against oppression, uplift the disempowered, honor all of God’s creation, tend to the ill, give to the needy, stand with those who have nothing, and shine light on darkness everywhere. Wayne is not Muslim but his actions wholly embody my faith. What are suffering, tortured, imprisoned animals, if not among the most needy, disempowered, and unjustly treated of God’s creation?

The Qur’an also tells us that saving one life is like saving all of humanity, and taking one life is akin to killing all of humanity. Wayne lives this principle on behalf of the animals. Interestingly, at its height, the Islamic civilization created endowments (awqaf) specifically to care for needy animals. Colonialism killed that ethic.

Like the rest of us, Wayne is not someone that has nothing better to do. Highly-educated, hard-working, high-achieving. He has degrees in political science and law (U. of Chicago) and economics (MIT), and was a former law professor (Northwestern School of Law). His work spans animal rights, climate crisis initiatives, housing for the homeless, and grassroots activism. He ran for the mayor of Berkeley, CA in 2020 on an innovative Green New City vision. He is living proof that one person can make a huge difference.

And, he is incredibly, beautifully human. I watched his interview on veganism as he tells the story of his upbringing, his outlook, and his journey from academic to activist. It was touching and endearing. He could have been my brother, my cousin, or one of my best friends.

Elsewhere, he cites the work of Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, and Gandhi in his discussions of sacrifice, non-violence, and social change. It is inspiring. I watched his lecture at Harvard Law on animal rights - up until the pig farm videos and I had to stop. It became too much for me. It is at these moments I understand why the Qur’an tells us diversity was part of God’s creation. Thank God that there are people like Wayne who can do this work. I could not.

Yet, Wayne has elevated what it means to be ethical and to live by principle. He walks the walk and puts so many of us to shame. I compare his example to that of Muslims in my own community. Sadly, as tens of thousands of our brethren are being murdered right now in Palestine, some influential Muslim leaders will not even unequivocally condemn the genocide. So-called Muslim governments will not sacrifice their profits to immediately stop the killing. Shamefully, there are fellow Muslims who will defend both those leaders and those governments.

In all this, I cannot help but see the signs of God. It is a redline moment for humanity. As a full-blown genocide unfolds before our eyes, amidst the chaos, the darkness, and the extreme suffering all around us, there is a reorganization happening. People are realigning, not on religious lines, but on ethical lines. On human lines. Which side of the redline does one fall? Does one condemn the genocide? Does humanity include all humans, or only some humans? What do we each stand for in this moment? What are we willing to sacrifice?

In Islam we believe in a Hereafter. That this life is temporary; a test to see what we will do with our precious lives. Do we stand for truth and justice? Do we use whatever gifts we were given in this life to create goodness and light? Or the opposite? Those who were given more will be held to a higher standard.

We also know that no injustice will go unaddressed, even if we don’t see it on this earth or in our lifetime. God sees everything and God promises that goodness and light will always ultimately prevail over darkness. That there is a greater life to come. This is what gives me hope and comfort. This is what gives the Palestinians their unshakeable faith in the face of evil. I want to be on the winning team, Team Light, not Team Darkness. Team Light will NOT be composed of all Muslims.

The Qur’an tells us that there will be Jews, Christians, Muslims, and many other ethical beings that will earn God’s love, mercy, and forgiveness on the Final Day and make it to Heaven. What we each do - and don’t do - matters. We learned in our three-year journey with the Qur’an that “The Chosen People” will be those who are the most ethical and morally virtuous among us, regardless of their religious label, ethnicity, color, gender, or any other physical, tribal, or superficial affiliation or membership.¹ That seems eminently fair to me.

In truth, this is one of the reasons I chose to become Muslim. Because there is a space for everyone who deserves it. No one died for anyone’s sins. Everyone will be held accountable only for what they individually did during their lives. And further, God will not only give us justice (what we deserve), but God will do one better. God will give us mercy - better than what we deserve. Given the choice of what I deserve (justice) or mercy (greater than justice), I would hope for mercy.

When I see the example that Wayne sets before me, I am humbled. It makes me reflect on my own accountability. What have I sacrificed as I sit comfortably in my home in paradise compared to my brothers and sisters in Palestine, China, Syria, Yemen, Myanmar, Sudan, or [insert any of the myriad of countries where Muslims are oppressed, tortured, imprisoned, or living in unjust circumstances]? As a Muslim living in an Islamophobic age, my primary cause has to be about fighting Islamophobia and “cleaning my own house.”

At the same time, I have a stake in so many other causes confronting humanity. Whether it is the climate emergency, human rights, racism, global poverty, corporate oligarchy, or right-wing extremism, I can make a difference on many fronts simultaneously. And I must.

As to animal cruelty, Wayne has made a difference in my life. This year, we did NOT celebrate Thanksgiving with turkey - or at all. We have never supported the displacement of the indigenous, be it humans or animals, and this was ever more pressing given the current ethnic cleansing taking place in Palestine. Instead, we decided to take active steps towards becoming vegan as a family, or at least trying. If Wayne is willing to sacrifice 60 years of his life to end the suffering of animals, how could we, in good conscience, not make meaningful adjustments to our plentiful meals in paradise? Can we even call that a “sacrifice”?

If our life on this earth can be understood as a full-time tryout for Team Light in the Hereafter, I hope that one day I will have the honor of making it on Team Light alongside Wayne and all the others in this moment who are aligning themselves on the right side of the divide. The side that chooses love, dignity, and the best parts of humanity for all - and isn’t afraid to walk the walk for it.

As a Muslim, I am grateful for Wayne’s living example, his kindness, and his spirit. He is more “Muslim” than many Muslims I know. Wayne dedicates much of his writing to honoring loved ones that he has lost. In my faith, all of the animals he has helped will testify on his behalf in the Hereafter, and all of his suffering and sacrifice will be the source of his honor. God willing, he will be reunited with all those he loves in a much better place. May we all be so blessed. And God knows best.

1. The Qur’anic exegesis on the meaning of “The Chosen People” is covered our The Project Illumine: The Light of the Qur’an commentaries in Surah 2: Al Baqarah.