Few days ago, I went to see a new Pakistani client. My initial plan was to visit him last Friday, which I had to change once he informed me that he would be attending the Friday prayers and therefore would not be available. I should have guessed it, as most of my Asian and Arab Muslim clients seem to attend the Friday prayers with such fervour that I have only witnessed in Iran at the time of the last revolution.
I arrived in his office and as usual there were a few members of the family who seem to have nothing else but to hang around in relatives’ work places and drink tea all day. After some discussion about the work, the very familiar, never-failed-to-ask question came.
– Brother, which country are you from?
– I am Iranian.
To which the never-failing-answer came.
– Ha, Ha, Ha, I had guessed. Iran is a very strong country
– Thanks.
Then it’s time for the next common question.
– What do you think about Ahmadinejad?
– He is a dictator who has stolen the election.
And then comes the next common statement.
– No, he is a great man. That little man is standing up to the west and Israel. I wish we had few more people like him in power in Islamic countries.
– I just told you, he is a dictator.
– Believe me; we need dictators in our countries.
It is just unbelievable how many times I have heard that statement too from people of under developed countries. People who enjoy all benefits of their democratic, secular host countries, and prescribe dictatorship for other people. It makes me think that Ahmadinejad would have won a landslide for sure if all Muslims from poor countries could have participated in Iranian election. That is to recognise the fact that he has a reverse image in rich Sheikhdoms and less popularity in some other Muslim nations.
– Yes, but he is still not elected by our people, and we do not wish to stand up to the west. We would prefer to work with them.
– No these bastards only know one language. You have to stand up to the bastards.
That is why. He revives the lost pride of these people who blame their backwardness on west and foreign influence. He is nothing but hot air. He has done nothing for Palestinians but to divide them. He is doing the same to the whole Muslim world. But yet, that hot air warms up the hearts of those who feel ashamed of their inabilities to help their Muslim brothers in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya and other places. They leave their dictator ridden countries for a prosperous life in a free society that even allows them to pray for the death of its own soldiers in its streets. They may be equal to everyone else in the society, but they feel victimised because Gaza is raided. It’s not because of the justice and human rights for the Gazans, no, it’s because they are Muslims. No other human suffering seems to worry them too much. Then one realizes that it is only because it is a battle, a race, a match between Muslims and non-Muslims, just like when your football team plays against another club. Ahmadinejad is the man who chants here we go, here we go, here we go.
– Yes, but even if we want to stand up to them we would like our elected president to do so.
He shows his disapproval in the shape of his lips and proclaims.
– The other bloke is a soft man
– That soft man was our prime minister for eight years during the Iran-Iraq war.
The shape of his lips change and he replies with his eyebrows raised to his hair line.
– I didn’t know that.
And then he shakes his head up and down to signal the settlement of this new knowledge. He is now happy. Another strong Muslim leader. He, and all those who go to his mosque don’t care about human rights, modern laws, world order or anything else but Islam and their shattered pride. What they hear is not the cries of freedom of the Iranian nation, but the mosque’s preacher praising the Ahmadinejad. The man who is going to heal the pain of their embarrassment.
