Inter Arabs dispute are killing the nation of Islam!
Iqbal Latif-Paris 16/03/2003
In a move that it deemed worthy for the Muslim cause Libya recalled its ambassador to Saudi Arabia after an exchange at a recent Arab summit between the Crown Prince and the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Both leaders gave a demonstration of their quick wit with Col. Gaddahffi stating, "King Fahd would co-operate with the devil" with an equally ingenious retort from Prince Abdullah, "Saudi Arabia is a Muslim country and not an agent of colonialism like you and the others. Your lies precede you, while the grave is ahead of you." It seems that in an age where Muslims perceive themselves to be under threat they can rely on iconic figures like Saddam Hussein to rally them.
"Baghdad, its people and leadership, is determined to force the Mongols of our age to commit suicide at its gate,” as confidently predicted by Saddam Hussein in his tribute to the 12th anniversary of his defeat in the Gulf War. Analogising the imminent American attack to the devastative Mongols of the 13th century who ravaged Baghdad, then the effervescent capital of the Islamic world, he appealed to the patriotism, pan-Islamism and fatalism of his subjects. Inflaming the soul of Muslims everywhere by appealing to the Islamic character of his state, which paradoxically was renowned for its secular status, Saddam seems intent on preserving his reign of terror by grasping the last straws of Pan-Islamism.
It is a sad case that the heroes of the Pan-Islamic movement tend to be those Muslims, directly responsible for the dire state of affairs afflicting the Islamic Crescent. Aurangzeb, whose Sunnite fanaticism was directly responsible for the dissolution of the Mughal Empire from its once glorious heights. His intent on purifying the Deccan south of its “heathen Shi’ite kingdom” led to the rise of the Hindu Marathas, who were able to successful exploit the sorry state of affairs through pioneering and perfecting guerrilla warfare. In his eagerness to impose his beliefs onto a population, renowned for millennia of diversity, Aurangzeb was to alienate virtually everyone from the intensely Hindu Rajput kingdoms to the fiercely devout Muslim Pathans. Rather than follow the footsteps of his illustrious ancestor Akbar, who embraced the pluralism of his imperial holdings, Aurangzeb was unable to transcend his fanaticism and as a result laid the seed of his kingdoms destruction. Ironic though that modern Muslim intellectuals, notably Allama Iqbal, hail him as the ideal Muslim king. Is there any trait as dangerous as idealising and revering our tyrants?
Islam faces a new challenge with that of Saddam Hussein. The man, who now poses one of the greatest threats to the Muslim world in recent history, now is teetering to the status of martyr throughout the Muslim lands. Through the changes of technology and geography Hussein poses as great a threat as Adolf Hitler, with the ability to kill far more people. He is no Muslim saint rather the dictatorial leader of a party that aggressively promotes pan-Arab culture and renders all other ideologies, including Islam, as inferior. Saddam may gas Sunnite Kurds but still has a monopoly on the Muslim heart because of the lasting impression that a Muslim tyrant is still preferable to a foreign benefactor.
Pan-Islamism, with its stress on brotherhood amongst Muslims has been the most vibrant pulse underlying intellectual thought emanating from the Islamic world in recent decades. The raison d’etre of Islam, since its inception, has been to unite the believers under one community and this instinctual basis, guiding Islamic thought, has manifested itself in the current age in various guises.
The same Pan-Islamic sentiment has coursed through the modern age and over time has been tempered by another virulently intense imported ideology, that of nationalism. The reconciliation between these two competing demands of Muslim citizens have given to a blend, Muslim nationalism. It fundamentally recognises and accepts the multiplicity of nations within Islam but “strives to promote the solidarity, identity of outlook and close cooperation between the various Muslim nations on the basis of their religious and cultural affinity.”
It was this shift from the populist ideal of “Khilafat” to that of a more pragmatic multi-nation model co-existing within Dar-ul-Islam allowed for the development of Muslim states, particular that of Pakistan. Allama Iqbal, drawing upon Muslim nationalism, was able advocate the amalgamation of the four provinces in north-western India 'into a single state' so that these Muslims, whilst as subjects of the British Empire were a mere 'minority' in the larger subcontinental context, could eventually aspire to organically develop statehood within the living family of Muslim republics.
The balance between Islam and nation seemed amicably resolved and allowed for modernity nevertheless heated issues like Iraq renders its fragile union into a situation where Muslim must choose their loyalty to Islamic brotherhood or to the best interests of their state.
As the Arab world is deprived for a truly expressive medium by which their people can express themselves it up the leadership to tread this fine line between Islamic universalism and national particularlism. It seems they’re doing a pretty good job at living the paradox by hurling invectives about one another’s nations whilst at yet another conference aimed at Islamic unity. An Iraqi delegate, whose nation’s avowed mission is the unity of the Arab, resorted to traditional curses such as "Shut up, you monkey," and "Curse be upon your moustache” when conversing with his Kuwaiti counterpart. Saddam’s eloquence it seems is matched by his deputy, Ezzat Ibrahim al-Douri, who resorted to casting Kuwait, and pretty much the rest of the moderate Islamic world, of being in cahoots with America and "plotting with Zionism against Iraq." At the interjection of the Kuwaiti delegate, who scorned any comparison with Islam, Mr. al-Douri lashed back with a quote, which could either be translated as "You are small, a valet and a monkey," and "Shut up you minion, you (U.S.) agent, you monkey." At a time when the ominous imposition of Islamic brotherhood is advocated it seems that nationalism will continue to remain a force in a deeply divided Islamic Crescent. |
