The myth of hatred is dead
Fall of Baghdad should usher new era of common respect
of all nations
April 16, 2003
The Iranian
Human beings were born free. Why did you make them slaves?
-- Caliph Umar
Political freedom within Iraq and ability of the populace to demonstrate
for their choices will shake the foundations of the political systems
from Damascus, Tripoli to every Arab and Islamic capital. Idols
of Saddam, which have been toppled in fists of emotion, have a very
sensitive message for has ensured that Iraqis are born again and
are free of enforced idolatry.
Abraham's tradition of Pilgrimage to Mecca was distorted into a
pagan pilgrimage, where pilgrims used to pray to 360 idols of Mecca.
The destruction of nearly hundreds of idols of Saddam is a very
poignant moment. It is the usurpation of false idols that has pointed
significance for the Islamic Crescent for the first thing Muhammad
did when he returned from Medina to Kabba after conquest was to
cleanse the holy place from 360 idols and restore the "religion
of Abraham", the worship of one true God.
The cleansing of Baghdad from idols will be a very defining moment
for Islamic conscience! It is paradoxical and indicative of the
malign influences amongst the Islamic street that when the ancient
3000-year-old statues of Buddha, a global heritage, were destroyed,
by the provincial Taliban, it failed to elicit a condemnation from
Muslims worth mentioning in the global media.
Whereas when Saddam's false idol was toppled the Muslim street,
outside of Baghdad, decried and mourned the event. Saddam's statues
erected throughout Iraq countered Islam's values of venerating human
beings and it must be a joyous event for the Islamic world that
idolatry is once again being disestablished in Mesopotamia.
Saddam, amongst his many sins, was to portray himself as a false
idol and ranking in that league is his denial of freedom to the
Iraqis. The denial of legitimate expression and avenues of dissent
is anathema to Islamic thought, which enshrines spiritual and personal
freedom as the foundation for any society.
Indeed Caliph Umar once heard that one of his fellows Arabs had
hurt the feelings of a native Egyptian, by analogising non-believer
status as that of servitude, and replied in the way of a rebuke,
"Human beings were born free. Why did you make them slaves?"
America's actions are allowing for the reintroduction of Islamic
values, such as freedom and dissent which will allow for the renewal
of Muslim civilisation. This liberation campaign will be a new opening
of the U.S. to the Middle East, with significant opportunities to
effect reconciliation with the 250 million Arabs of the Middle East.
The hatred of the Arab street with US is the normal beat that Arab
rulers churn out to the Washington pundits. With the fall of Baghdad
that myth is dead and if things are handled to the letter in Baghdad,
then the Americans will be able to establish an effective platform
of dialogue with the Muslims of the foremost Islamic capital of
the world.
The idea that the Arab street want Jihad is proven wrong, by the
fall of Baghdad, for it has shown that the people are as innocent
as other populations of the world and it is the regimes, which encourage
deviancy. The people of Baghdad rejoiced at their liberations and
remain grateful to the Americans a reaction that will be echoed
by the populaces of Damascus, Tehran and Riyadh should the tyrannies
collapse.
Freedom is not an abstract concept that is applicable only in the
Western world for it is the gift that distinguishes mankind. It
is as applicable to the Arab and a permanent basis for successful
human societies for it negates jungle law and ensures the establishment
of framework for future prosperity, progression and human development.
Without this effervescent quality all societies are doomed to perpetual
decline, obscurity and lawlessness.
Newly acquired freedoms by nature can be chaotic and out of such
habitual chaos emerges continuous dialogues that help nations to
address the key issues that face them. Iraq's new tryst with freedom
look chaotic and disorganised but nothing was more heart warming
than to see the first demonstration of Iraqis today in front of
Palestine Hotel demanding their rights. Some wanted an Islamic state,
others an end to looting and most for a restoration of civil order.
When dissent is allowed, society takes a life of its own and makes
a quantum leap towards maturity and self discovery. At these cross
roads we need to ask why should we limit the right of dissent to
limited segments of society and leave the other divide of mankind
to lament under duress. In this connected world we cannot afford
pockets of huge uncertainties, freedom around the global cannot
be ensured if pockets of massive instability and sub-human conditions
are left to prosper!
Intelligent human beings can be programmed to appreciate life and
its gifts in a society free of duress. An enslaved human being can
be equally programmed to become a suicide bomber. In a free world
we cannot obstruct the free flow of information and connectivity
by closing the frontiers of an open world. The challenge is huge
and the price is steep. The price mankind has paid in this present
conflict may look very steep and not worth the while. But the freedom
of 27 million people is a great leap forward and will have a domino
effect on the Middle East.
Taste of freedom will just not be limited to Iraq, it may be chaotic
but it is part of the progressive evolution through which most of
these civilised states have passed. Bonapartism of France was callous
but the French values of egalitarianism and fraternity are rooted
in mistakes, disorder and bloodshed of centuries.
What we are seeing today will sow the change of attitude. For the
fall of Baghdad will be a catalyst more significant than the fall
of Tehran to mullahs, for the reverberations of this new "revolution
of freedom" may lead to freedom of 250 million Arabs in the
middle east.
These events, although delayed and apparently shabby, are part
of evolutionary cycle of the Middle East. Ba'ath Iraq was the lynch
pin, which had assured the continual political instability of the
region and its replacement with a society, which encourages pluralism
and respect of the rights of the minorities, will be a catharsis
for change in the Middle East.
Politics is not about instant gratification and live news; the
small steps taken today in Baghdad will ensure major developments
in sorting out dire straits that the Middle East has found itself
in. The sea change of attitude that we have missed is that Arab
Street does not hate America. The welcoming of the troops after
such a bombing campaign could have led to a show of indifference,
as I saw in Kuwait. When Iraqi occupiers came, no one -- no one
-- came on the streets and they all fled as refugees, the souks
and bazaars remained closed until liberation.
The fall of Baghdad historically is a very big event and psychologically
is at the centre of the Muslim and the Arab world, the welcome that
US has received will and must have send jitters down the spines
of the Arab rulers in their palaces. The rejectionist Arab Iraqi
regime that showed the indecent face of militancy was at variance
with the common man, who is more interested in a open world and
wants to enjoy the freedom of man. Baghdad will now recapture the
glory of the past by adopting a society based on pluralist, inclusive
and altruistic values.
The myth is broken, for it is rulers like Saddam and OBL rather
than the Arab street who encourage the collision course between
US and Middle East. I see that Arab street and Palestinians under
Abu Mazen should take this opportunity in Baghdad to develop on
this new found freedom and take the lead by joining the civil societies
of the world, the rejection of terror and institution of democracy
will ensure Iraqi future as jewel of the Middle Eastern crown.
Our children should live with a dream to develop to their full
potential. Let's resist those who encourage children to be used
as cannon fodder to kill and maim other innocents. We are all connected.
Our destinies on this beautiful planet are common. Our mother earth
shrieks with the pain we inflict on her. The fall of Baghdad should
be is an occasion for a road map of peace and ushering of new era
of common respect of all nations.
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