“Why does it feel so unnatural to have to care about the far away in a conflict…”

I think most people actually do care about those affected in a far away conflict, more than you realise. Perhaps, it might have something to do with the way people look. Meaning, if they look like you or someone you know then the feeling is deeper more intense(as black people felt after Katrina)

“why did God create us to think more about what affects the individual the most?”

Is this true? Are you sure? Self-concern(self-preservation) is a natural instinct. But more often than not, people do think about the greater good if given the right context. You can call it morality(as dictated by religion) or enlightened self-interest(the atheist version of morality).

It all comes down to the human need to feel a connection to something greater than the individual. For man as an individual has no worth in and of himself. It is only in the context of the other that he has purpose. It is only in the context of the society in which he lives that he has substance.

Maybe compassion for those not close to you is like getting up for Fajr- not easy for most, a real struggle for some, but well worth the effort. It’s not for the sake racking up points like some divine game of pinball, but for the constant purification and strengthening of the soul.
Wow, we need du’a.

Ginan Rauf

I think you claim not to sugarcoat when the real obstacle to
your compassion is not abstract but a visceral hatred of the
Arab. that is what you attempt to veil, to disguise under the banner
of intellectual honesty. I for one am not fooled.

Maybe, I’m just a “normal” person…OmarG wrote

Normal, you say! far from it.

you are not normal. you have to have compassion to be normal.

did some arab do something nasty to you to be so hateful toward arabs and in denial of their achievements?

compasion is a salfi, sufi and secular conept. do not be segmented….unify…ahad (sorry, ahad is arabic…no…not really sorry…you’ve got to live with it).

center – now that i think about it an important distinction needs
to be made. This is not just about the absence of compassion
but the presence of active denial. It shouldn’t matter what a
particular individual thinks or doesn’t think of Arabs. Irrelevant.
if war crimes are committed then people perpetuating them have
to be held accountable. If somebody kills a neo Nazi rapist, let say, he or she will still be tried for murder. there has to be an inalienable
human right that transcends people’s personal preferences or
historically specific resentments. We know there are plenty of those
they tend to be subjective and arbitrary. All of this is a distraction
from the facts on the ground. UN peacekeepers have been killed.
there is speculation that this was done on deliberately. My guess
is that those who demand an investigation and accountability will
not be seen as defending a particular tribal group. Why shouldn’t
it be any different when Arab or Israeli civilians are killed?