Category Archives: Islam

Arab Politics, GCC, Iran, Iraq, Islam

Gulf Purification: De-Baathification, De-Despot-ification, De-Salafi-cation, De-Tribi-fication, De-Stupification…….

         

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I wrote in my previous post that de-Baathification in Iraq after 2003, like German de-Nazification after World War II, was not a bad idea to start with. It was overdone, though, and became sectarian. It was a logical policy to start with, although many typically sectarian-focused of our Gulf potentates complain about it: maybe they’ll be more eager for the de-Baathification of Syria?
Personally, I would love to see other versions as well: De-Khalifa-cation in Bahrain and De-Saudi-fication on the Arabian Peninsula some day, and maybe a few other De‘s. Natural ‘evolution’, mind you. Just to make it even and complete: how about de-Mullah-fication in Iran as well? De-tribe-fication and de-sect-ification in the Gulf GCC would be even greater for our whole region’s detoxification.
The best first step would be de-Salafi-cation which would also entail, nay require as a precondition, de-Wahhabi-fication. After that, we can all start the de-Stupification of the region.
That leaves Israel and Turkey. but I am not touching either one of those. Not yet, but de-stupification is a universal need.
Cheers
mhg

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Britain, Iraq, Islam, US Foreign Policy

If the British Misunderstood Islam: then Who in the West Can? Zionists for Arabists …….

         

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“Labour has conceded for the first time that a “primitive understanding” of the Islamic world caused some of the problems faced by the west in Iraq and Afghanistan, and warned David Cameron his response to the terrorist crisis in north Africa shows he has not learned the painful lessons from those conflicts. In a speech on Thursday, Jim Murphy, the shadow defence secretary, will suggest the Blair government did not appreciate what it was getting itself into after the September 11 attacks, as British forces joined the international effort to overthrow the Taliban and hunt down Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network……….. In Iraq, he will say, “there was a serious deficit in Western comprehension of the Sunni-Shia or intra-Shia dynamics. We know that de-Baathification left a lethal vacuum.”………..…”

It said: “a primitive understanding of Islam”!
The British created modern Iraq, patched it together with a view toward their own control of it, as part of their empire. Gertrude Bell, Percy Cox, Churchill, and others decided early on to hand power to the same class of natives (Sunni Arabs) who had served the Turkish Ottoman occupation well both in the bureaucracy and in the military. They thought the same class would serve British interests well, which they did for a while. Of course there was the small matter of the restive Kurds, who were in fact reportedly gassed by the Royal Air Force, and the majority Shi’as, who were disregarded as ‘hostile to British interests’. Iraq has been unstable ever since 1917.
Now if the British can’t understand Islam and the nuances of its various sects, then how could other Westerners think they could unravel that complex (to Western eyes) issue? Certainly not the Israeli lobbyists that have edged out the old Arabists in the U.S. State Department and other policy-making institutions and think-tanks. They have no interest in delving deeply into Arab or Muslim culture: they seem to be limited by the motto of “Israel right or wrong“, as shown for example by Susan Rice at the UN. It is almost correct now to say that the Arabists have been almost completely replaced by Zionists in the American foreign policy establishment and the institutions that feed it with advice.

De-Baathification, like de-Nazification after World War II, was not a bad idea to start with. But that policy in Iraq was carried too far beyond the senior level of bureaucrats, which created political, economic, security, and other problems. Besides, all the Baathist military and security services melted away before the fall of Baghdad. They went AWOL, like deserters during war. The military and security did not even bother to defend its capital against invasion. So how much good could it have been: it was good at repressing the people but not to face a foreign attack.
Cheers
mhg

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Arab Revolutions, Fatwas, Islam, Media

Our Wild East: Where Martyrdom is as Cheap as a Fatwa……….

         

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Martyr: 1: a person who voluntarily suffers death as the penalty of witnessing to and refusing to renounce a religion  2: a person who sacrifices something of great value and especially life itself for the sake of principle  3: victim; especially : a great or constant sufferer…….. “
“Person who voluntarily suffers death rather than deny his or her religion. Readiness for martyrdom was a collective ideal in ancient Judaism, notably in the era of the Maccabees, and its importance has continued into modern times”
                                                                   
Merriam Webster Dictionary

[Middle English, from Old English, from Late Latin, from Late Greek martur, from Greek martus, martur-, witness.] The Free Dictionary

Aljazeera network (of Qatar) announced that one of its correspondents in Syria was “martyred” the other day.
Now I don’t recall a fatwa that news reporters are to be considered “martyrs” if they die on the job. Several reporters have died in Syria, killed by both sides, but nobody has declared them martyrs. Okay, most of these reporters have been “heathens” who can’t go to Paradise anyway, unlike the rest of us good and pious Muslims. But still, there is some injustice here. I would suggest to international news agencies and networks that they hire in-house shaikhs to issue a fatwa each time one of their correspondents dies near a war zone. He would fatwa that he or she died a martyr. That would be the equalizer. After all, if a Salafi terrorist suicide bomber can be called a “martyr”, then I can call my BFFF a martyr if she ever gets run over by a car or a horse or gets mauled by a bear, heaven forbid.
Martyrdom has important implications: it means the ‘subject’ goes straight to heaven, with all the attendant perks and benefits, and no more responsibilities. Al-Jazeera also bestows martyrdom on anyone on any side of any conflict that it sees fit. Most of the Middle East does that (except perhaps for the Israelis, although they probably do have their own Jewish fatwas). If a Bahrain or other potentates crashes his car into a cement wall while drunk, some palace shaikh can pronounce him a “martyr”, and all transgressions are forgiven. A few years ago there was a fire at a tribal wedding inside a huge tent in a GCC state. Dozens of people, mostly women and children died. The fire was set by a jealous earlier wife of the groom. Some shaikh came out with a fatwa that all who died in that fire are “martyrs”. That was fine by me, I agreed in that case: it comforted the bereaved families of the innocent victims of that act or vengeance.
Every day tens of Iraqi civilians are murdered by Salafi terrorist bombs, yet not a single Arab news agency of network would call these innocent victims “martyrs”. Possibly it is probably hard for some “Muslim” media to call a dead Muslim of another sect a “martyr”. Maybe it all depends on who killed them, but it goes beyond that.
Many Lebanese have died at Israel hands during their wars, and no doubt Israeli Jews (and Druze) are considered heathen by most if not all Muslims. Yet no palace shaikhs, and hardly any Arab networks, came out and called these “martyrs”. On the contrary, I know, that some of them thought otherwise. Yet unlike the Iraqi victims, these Lebanese were not killed by decent Wahhabi suicide Jihadists. Which makes me wonder if these Lebanese, like the innocent Iraqi victims, are also considered “heathens”.
Ich glaube we should call all those who die in any conflict ‘martyrs”. That simple but practical would solve the problem for me. Better yet: why not declare anybody who dies anywhere of any case a “martyr”. Then, someday we’ll all be martyrs.
Cheers
mhg

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