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By Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor
All my life,
I’ve been proud to call myself an Arab. Our ancestors gave birth to great
civilizations and brought knowledge to the world in the fields of mathematics,
chemistry, medicine, linguistics, jurisprudence, and astronomy. They were
philosophers, poets, explorers, artisans, artists and builders who bequeathed
magnificent buildings whose aesthetics and craftsmanship cannot be replicated
today. But now it seems that Golden Age has turned to dust in countries that
used to make up an Arab World that no longer exists -- except in our memories
and our hearts. The day when the Arab League headquarters becomes a museum is
fast approaching.
We can no longer bury our heads in the sand. Unless we face the truth
unfolding daily before us the downward spiral will continue. Denial will bring
us nothing except self-delusion. Within a region wracked by conflict,
instability, chaos and poverty, Arabian Gulf States are the last bastion of
reason and enlightenment. Even here, however, invisible forces via fifth-columnists
are attempting to sow disharmony, which is why we must remain alert and
fiercely guard all that we’ve achieved.
The “Arab Spring,” a term synonymous with freedom, hope and renewal,
failed to manifest. People of different faiths and political persuasions came
together to topple oppressive leaderships, but once that common goal was
achieved they turned on one another. History will record that egocentricity,
greed and will-to-power edged out unity. Mutual understanding was replaced by
suspicion and revenge. Tolerance was cast aside for extremism and polarization
-- providing a breeding ground for terrorism.
When I look at the disastrous situations in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt
and Libya, I’m tempted to wonder whether our area has been cursed. We’ve had
more than our fair share of war, foreign invasion and occupation over
centuries. And nowadays, so many of our Arab children are awoken by explosions
or wake up shivering in tented encampments or scavenge for breakfast on garbage
dumps -- and they’re the lucky ones. Particularly in Syria, youngsters have
been mutilated, tortured and killed by government forces.
Is God punishing us? Is He angry that his core message of peace,
brotherhood and compassion has been twisted by chest thumping, politically motivated
false marjaaiyas and ayatollahs indoctrinating young minds from Tehran to Beirut, Damascus
to Sana’a, and filling our airwaves with hate? If we are cursed, it is because
political ideologues, masquerading as religious leaders, are cheating the
Creator by creating cults that distort Islam’s message and stain its image. Don’t we deserve His
mercy?
It hurts me to have to say
this, but rot is steadily eroding our once ethical societies where family
values and human dignity were once uppermost. We were born free, but so many of
us have become sheep without the ability to think for ourselves. The Holy
Quran, the word of God received by the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH), frees us
from being enslaved by anyone. The Quran enjoins us to use our brains, and to seek
education, and it provides a template for making right choices.
Our forebears adhered to God’s instructions and were
free and united for centuries, whereas today, although Muslims may read the
Holy Book or even learn it by heart, they fall under the sway of religious or
political leaders with un-Islamic ideologies. For instance, can someone like
Bashar Al-Assad be considered to be a Muslim when he has ordered the killing of
over 60,000 of his own people? Are so-called preachers whipping up their
congregations to strap bomb belts around their waist and to explode them in
marketplaces crowded with women and children Muslims by any definition of the
word? Why has the MENA region, one of the planet’s wealthiest, become
inextricably associated with backwardness, violence and poverty, where
innovation and progress are stifled by narrow mindedness? It’s also shameful
that countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan, where populations are devout,
have become havens for drug traffickers, bride burners, and rapists. The
supposedly ultra religious Afghan Taliban who torch girls’ schools are funded
by poppy harvests. I was recently shocked at televised reports of poppy farmers,
unable to repay loans because their fields were eradicated by government
forces, being forced to hand over their daughters as young as ten to be used as
sex slaves or drug runners.
We have to admit that some of the turmoil is a direct
result of interference by foreign powers that stripped Palestinians of their
homeland, carved up Greater Syria, and inadvertently gift-wrapped the Cradle of
Civilization – Iraq -- to the Iranian mullahs. There is much about the US and
Europe to be admired and emulated. We can learn a lot from the West and I, for
one, do what I can to further inter-faith understanding. Some of my closest
friends are Americans and Brits. But I do not appreciate Western interference
in our business. The US and its allies are partly to blame for ruining our
countries. I think I speak for the majority of Arabs when I ask you to leave us
be, so that we can begin to solve our own problems unimpeded. Blaming the West
is, however, no excuse for our failure to control our own destiny.
Yes, Egypt and Tunisia are transitioning to democracy,
a process that is bound to have ups and downs. But the trajectory is far from
positive. Two years on from the civil uprising in Egypt that ousted Hosni
Mubarak, no revolutionary aspiration has been achieved. On the contrary, as I
write, emergency law and curfew has been imposed on three Suez Canal provinces,
and the air over Cairo is filled with smoke from burning buildings and vehicles
mixed with teargas. And the poor are getting poorer due to rising prices, a
depreciating currency and rising taxes imposed as pre-conditions to a US$ 4.8
billion IMF loan. Authoritarianism is rearing its ugly head in Tunisia as well,
a country that still suffers from chronic unemployment. There, a growing
opposition accuses the government of incompetence while ordinary Tunisians
complain they are no better off than they were under Ben-Ali.
It’s evident that Arab governance is lacking,
especially when compared to Western nations and those that formerly made-up the
Soviet Union -- countries that weathered political and economic roller-coasters
in an atmosphere of peace and stability. Even in the worst throes of the global
economic downturn when Americans were losing homes, jobs and, in some cases,
pensions, they protested peacefully. No one tried to burn down the White House
or lob Molotov Cocktails over its walls like masked men in Cairo out to
incinerate the Presidential Palace.
It’s time for Muslims to seek the high ground to get a
bird’s eye view of the current mess, the big picture if you like, before the
rot destroys our very foundations. Let’s get back to basics. Islam will guide
us towards the light. That’s provided we hold to its pillars - and deafen our
ears to distorters, propagandists, extremists and cultists.
As long as we
turn our guns on each other, God’s forgiveness will remain elusive. The Quran
exhorts Muslims to unite: Al Hujurat 49:10 “The Muslims are brothers to each
other, therefore, make peace between your two brothers and fear Allah, so that
you may gain mercy.” If only Muslims would heed that instruction so that we can
close the book on an era that’s arguably been the most destructive in living
memory.”
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