You Are an Arab; Imagine That
"Why are Arabs always angry?" a reader recently asked me, in a message filled with sarcasm and thoughtlessness. I refrained from replying right a way, because he seemed little interested in listening. I couldn't help but wonder how he might feel if he himself was an Arab. So, I am writing back.
Imagine for a moment that you are an Arab.
For years you watch Palestinians being slaughtered, their land invaded and reinvaded, and for years witnessing the United States government block any attempt to punish those who aggressed upon the people whom you call "my people".
Not only have the United States' vetoes at the United Nations Security Council suffocated any initiative to deploy even unarmed observers to provide badly needed protection for Palestinians, but, thanks to billions of annual US funds, Israel manages to expand illegal settlements and provide its army with the greatest killing machines of all time.
Your human rights are never brought up unless an outside power is using the subject to inflict political pressure on your ruler. You're worth a press release by a human rights group once every blue moon, a release that no one bothers to read. You simply matter to no one.
You are an Arab and have been watching Iraq being invaded under the pretext that it possesses weapons of mass destruction, enough to annihilate civilization, as we know it. You are gripped by fear, not fearing the harm of the alleged weapons, but the disastrous attack and occupation of a battered country, one that you often called the center of your civilization.
Then, since you are still an Arab, you watch giant multinational corporations flood Iraq, to buy and sell its oil without the consent of its people. In fact, you witness Israelis flooding the "center of your civilization", seeking cheap oil and demanding pipelines that would go through their ports.
Meanwhile, Israel still holds millions of your Palestinian brethren hostage to curfews and checkpoints amid the constant fears of endless deadly strikes and assassinations.
To your surprise, you learn that no weapons of mass destruction are even found in Iraq. You hear top American officials say that Saddam might have in fact destroyed his weapons prior to the invasion. You hear another say Iraq is swimming in oil. You knew it all along and were shunned when you tried to explain what you had discovered.
You watch thousands of right wing missionaries flooding the weakened Iraq, vowing to convert your people to a religion that is not theirs. Others call your prophet a "devil" and your religion "evil" and demand that your school curriculum change to fit the agenda of some think-tank 15,000 miles away from your home, alien to your culture, language and heritage.
You learn of occupation soldiers mass raping your brothers and sisters in Iraq. The British daily mirror tells you that soldiers enjoyed themselves to the point that they took photos of raped men to commemorate the occasion, and were only uncovered by a chance.
You watch your people's history looted and set ablaze.
You cannot help but notice that American weapons were not only killing Iraqis, but Palestinians too. You learn that mostly American made weapons are the ones that claimed the lives of those Palestinian children you keep seeing on television.
You learned that the man who caused their death, Ariel Sharon has been granted a new title, "a man of peace" by President George Bush. You wonder if Bush realizes that Sharon's last nickname was the "Bucher of Beirut."
You try to escape. You invested in a small satellite dish and decide to watch mindless entertainment. To your surprise, you and your people are the hot topic for entertainment. In Hollywood, you are filthy, smelly, repulsive and backward. You deserve no respect. You are the bad "Ayrab", the devious womanizer whose death in the end of a movie must symbolize a happy ending.
You try to once more escape, this time you run away from oppression, poverty and your bitter memories. You sneak into France, to Italy, to Spain, to Australia, to the US. You think your college degree will open doors for you. They are all sealed and you find your self handcuffed and "shipped" back.
You lose it one day, and escape to Tora Bora in Afghanistan with all the other "angry Arabs." They are all killed when a "war on terrorism" is declared. You find your way through Pakistani villages to your home country and there you are caught and tortured. Once you even cross the desert to Iraq. There you are killed. Your body is left on the road leading to Baghdad for days.
Then your brother decides to chase after another destiny. He chooses another route for himself. He manages to live in the United States. He spends his nights writing letters to the editor expressing the rage you once felt. They are never published. He reflects on his feelings by keeping a journal filled with poetry, flags and pictures he draws of Palestinian children.
He hears US National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice threaten other countries in your region that they will be dealt with through a "made in America" solution.
Later that night, he watches a program aired by BBC called "Israel's Secret Weapons." The program says that Israel is the "world's sixth largest nuclear arsenal with small tactical nuclear weapons ... as well as medium-range nuclear missiles launchable from air, land or sea."
He also learns that Israel has undeclared biological and chemical capabilities and used an unknown gas against Palestinians in Gaza two years ago that sent hundreds of people to the hospital with severe convulsions.
No US official comments on the reports, except Mrs. Rice, who describes Israel as the United States' partner and exchanges friendly smiles and warm handshakes with those who developed such deadly agents when she is in Tel Aviv. Also, the overwhelming majority of the US Congress just finishes signing a letter to Bush demanding that he never pressure Israel.
Your brother writes a letter to the editor expressing his dismay, as he never did before. No one responds and the letter is never published. Instead, he resorts to his journal. He writes a poem filled with curses and angry phrases that didn't rhyme.
I still cannot help but wonder: If you were an Arab, wouldn't you be angry?
Ramzy Baroud is the editor-in-chief of PalestineChronicle.com and the editor of the anthology entitled "Searching Jenin: Eyewitness Accounts of the Israeli Invasion," now available at: www.palestinebooks.com
To buy "Searching Jenin: Eyewitness Accounts of the Israeli Invasion"
CLICK HERE
Views: 3703
How many times we have to explain to Muslims & non muslims that Japan, Israel & Europe enjoyed the assistance & support of the US to progress & to prosper. Remember ignorant peoples that Muslim countries are backwards not just because they dont want to change from within as Allah ordained them to do so but also because there is a historical western/zionist conspiracy & collaboration to prevent their progress. The forces of evils strive to destroy Islam & indianise Arabs.
We must put three fold the efforts of the Japanese to overcome our backwardness.
Wa salam,
Zinedine
Although I agree with some of your statements, your statement concerning the advancement of economics is not complete. In Hitler's book, Mein Kampf, he stated that he would be able to exterminate the Jews despite their wealth because they did not have any political power. This is similar to us; according to study conducted by Stanford, about 11% of Muslims are engineers, 10% doctors and 20% students. We have wealth and live in comfort, but we lack political power. I believe that a Muslim society should be well-rounded and that our interests and priorities should benefit us to the fullest degree in addition to benefiting us in the next life. Furthermore, the rights of women should not be ignored. People were created with the ability to sustain themselves. We Muslims should practice Deen and by doing so, we will advance in this world. Just look at the predecessors before us; they established their deen; at the same time, they contributed to the advancement of their society. In essence, Muslims should be moderate Muslims (in the Islamic sense, not the definition that the Bush administration concocted).
please read an article on this web site titled "Is Islam against science?" The author makes several good points where he proves Islamic teachings endorse the pursuit of knowledge, hence the interest and progress earlier Muslims had was a direct influence of Islam.
The most famous and successful Muslim scientists and matematician did indeed make this same point, they were well respected in the Muslim community and were openly teaching and reaserching their subject matter. They were not as you suggest persecuted, nor were they forced to recant their discoveries like their European counterparts.
I have heard little of the Mutazalites, from the little I heard about them they were mainly renounced at the time for their theories of Allah's apperance and nature. I am looking into learning more about them, insha Allah.
There are many books written on the subject of whether Islam is for or against the progress of knowledge, some written by Muslims, some by orientalist, and some others by non orientalist scholars. If you choose to read the works of those whose views are clearly antagonistic toward Islam, then you will have all of your prejudices confirmed, but if you are willing to broaden your horizons and take the chance of reading from Muslim sources or non orientalist scholars, than you will insha Allah find a great deal on Islam and its history that you have not heard of.
Very glad to hear our friend, Jonathan Storm really interested in dialogue on Arab - Americans/Israel relation.... and thanking u for let us know about your opinion . I'm Malay living in Malaysia, then let me inform u from my opinion as Muslim.
1) U r correct - United Nations has created the Israel State. Our gripe on Israel not UN. Try u thinking on the root of this problem.Its coming from Jews who want the one 'state' and bigger land for their own people. Jews is Israel... not UN.
2) What i know about Israel history: When UN declared the state of Israel, the land overthere is under British control. Arabs had lived in Palestine for over 2,000 years of the Jewish diaspora, without Arab permission their land have to give to Jews because of British want that way. so which is occupied territory?
3) Now the idea is "u attacked our children, women and our home, so we attack u back!"
Did u watched from TV that palestinean are defenseless. They just throwing rocks to Isreals army and Isreals reply with M16. They did not have the strenght to attack Israel Soldier face to face, that why they go to Israel - hide then bomb because this is the only way to attack back.
4) Thanks to America because they willing to give billion of dollars but did u think about how much the return? Its double. That why America willing to do because of the profit is more....
5) I prefer that Iraqi people or Arab people to topple Saddam by their own hand, not outsider from another continent..... r u sure that Iraqi is free now? If yes...did u saw from your own eyes not from BBC eyes or CNN eyes?
6) I suggest to you that u should read the news from Islamic country on Islamic view on this matter.
Anyway thanks for interested to know. Maybe u can read and study the Al-Quran (Koran)or any book about Islam (must written by Muslim) ....hopefully u can get the guidance,knowledge or idea on why most of muslim didnt like a
I would like to refer you to an article in this web site called "Is Islam against science?" The author has made the point that Islamic teachings through the Qur'an and hadiths encourage the pursuit of knowledge and there are many historical accounts in the earlier years where it was highly encouraged to pursue knowledge. Many of the famous philosophers, scientists and matematicians were religious Muslims and credited the teachings of Islam in leading them to further their knowledge.
As for the Mutazalites, I have never heard of any of the important scientists and matematicians belonging to their sect. Plus, I am not aware they were engaged in scientifical thought, but from what I heard about them they were mainly involved in conjecture to Allah's appearance, which is very discouraged in Islam.
I agree with you that Muslims did benefit from other civilizations, but that proves my point. The fact that Islam teaches us to further our knowledge has motivated earlier Muslims to translate ancient Greek works.
It is easy to blame Islam for the actions of Muslims. It would take too much effort and time to learn Muslims' side of the story, especially when many in the west have only heard negative information on Islam since childhood. I have met many westeners who hated Islam and could not understand why Muslims still belonged to such a religion. Then they sought to understand why. To their surprise the Islam they learned from orientalists and other hateful scholars, was very dissimilar from the Islam they learned from Muslims. I have met Muslims who were former Atheist, Christians, Jews, Hindus and Budhists, all had awful opinions of Islam, some hated Muslims with passion and now they have accepted Islam.
It is obvious to me a lot of your knowledge on Islam is based on works of people who hold negative view of the religion. If you truly want to understand Islam I advice you to read books written by Muslims or talk to Muslim sch
editor-in-chief of PalestineChronicle.com
the editor of the anthology entitled "Searching Jenin:
I read your article and I am totally sympathetic to how most Arabs feel. But I would like to take it one step further. How does it feel to be a Muslim. We are definitely persecuted by our religion and we may not even look Arab. I remember the date that USA marched into Iraq, my supervisor yelled out KILL THE BASTARDS! Here am sitting a few feet away from him, a muslim! I see you have written a poem, well ironically Allah has blessed me with some ability since Feb 2002. Please send that poem to my address. I would love to see what you have written. Great job. It is so easy to break down a dygnaty of a people then mass murder them. Look the USA did it with AMerian Indian, so why shouldn't the rest of the world do it for Arabs. Allah Hafiz
I agree that great injustice is being carrying on in palestain.But during our Hajj during 2002 We found the young boys age group of 15 and above are smoking and the treatment with Hajjies are generally not fair.The Hajjies out of enthusiasm brin dates,Zum Zum water and a few articles from the holy land.Infact in Air India flights 60 kilos of luggage was allowed,whewreas Saudi Airways only 20 kilos were allowed.The Airport authorites charged for every extra kilo.I wish with all our sympathies treat Hajjies and treat them well.
Further It is my ardent request to conduct awareness programmes to show how much hazzardious of tobaco.
1) It was the United Nations that created the Israeli state, so your gripe should be with them instead of Israel.
2) The so-called occupied territory came as a result of Arabs attacking Israel in 1967. Now the idea is "we attacked you and lost, now give us back the land from which we continually attack you from."
3) It is hard to sympathize with Palestinians when their militias target civilians. If they want international sympathy they should follow the pacifist approach of Martin Luther King Jr (USA) and Ghandhi (India) both of whom were successful in gaining civil rights and/or independence for their people.
4) I see that the USA is not appreciated by some of the world. That is hard to swallow when America gives billions of money to causes all over the world... and your leaders gladly accept it.
5) You would keep the noble Iraqi people under the boot of Saddam Hussein instead seeing them free.
6) You allow terrorists to associate the name of Allah and Islam with needless bloodshed and violence without speaking out against them.
Hopefully through a dialogue you and I can better appreciate the other side of view and enlighten one another. Feel free to email anytime.
About me... I am an educated American interested in matters of religion. I look forward to hearing from you.
Yet they got over their problems. Today thay work in co-opreation. Their people are free.
In contrast take a look at the the arab and islamic world. Ruled by worthless leadership and populations that are wrangling over petty issues. The peoples of Islam are divided and segmented. The will to educate and develop economically is nowhere to be seen. All they require is a quick fix solution.
All in all, more muslims have died at the hands of fellow muslims than others. Look att eh Iran-Iraq war. Over 1 million dead, more orphaned and widowed. Afghanistan, the mujahideen relentlessly bombed their own people and towns to smithereens, worse than the Russians, Pakistan where thousands of Sunnis and muslims have died in a proxy war.
Muslim and Arab nations lie divided on small issues with nothing more then ego at stake.
There is no point in feeling sorry and just drum around singing your sorrowful state. The world has seen much worse than what has happened to us muslims thus far. We must band together, spread education and tolerance and therefore seek to develop technologically and economically.
At the same time the development of Islamic values must continue, with a common message of brotherhood, peace and love for fellow mankind.
The USA and it's allies will always reject the fact that their agressiveness has caused people to be agresive back towards them.
I feel muslim countries and there leaders are not puting enough pressure on the rest of the world to stop crimes being comitted against palastine, iraq ect.
DOWN WITH ALL ARAB LEADERS LETS RETURN TO TRUE ISLAM
Thank you for your reply. I will try to keep an open mind as you say and I hope that you can do the same. I think you are an intelligent person as you seem ready to discuss sensitive issues calmly.
Firstly, it is true that the Muslim world once led the world in learning and prosperity. But I don't think that Islam deserves the credit - at least not all of it. When Arab invaders created an empire from Spain to India, they met with more advanced civilizations - Byzantine, Persian and Indian. Much of Islamic civilization was learned from others.
The Arabs were keen to learn and employed Jews and Christians to translate Greek books. This led to a culture of rationality. The Mutazalites, influenced by Greek ideas, taught that human reason could be relied upon to seek the truth. They held sway for a time but were opposed by the Islamic fundamentalists who insisted that God's revelations are the only source of truth. If human reasoning and God's revelations contradict, then the latter must prevail.
Leading the charge for the fundamentalists were men like Al Ashari and Al Ghazali. Al Ghazali wrote, "The source of their infidelity was their hearing terrible names such as Socrates and Hippocrates, Plato and Aristotle."
While earlier Caliphs protected the Mutazalites, eventually the fundamentalists won. Science lost. By the way, the Caliphs were not the men of faith that many imagined.
For example, the Umayyad Caliph, Walid II once shot arrows at the Koran! Other early "Muslims" also appeared to be irreverent. Even the Prophet's Companions appear to me to be irreligious. After the Prophet died, they started fighting each other for wealth and power!
Space constraints compels me to end here with a quote from Ernest Renan:
"To give Islam the credit of Averroes and so many other illustrous thinkers, who passed half their life in prison, in forced hiding, ... is as if one were to ascribe to the Inquisition the discoveries of G
Countries those who are leberal in cultural diversification are truly developing eg.US,even Isreal. Islam not promoting the nationalisim
Until Arab leaders realize this,there will be problems in their nations, specially from non muslims.
The vast majority of Americans can't imagine why anyone is angry period. Thank you for giving a view into that feeling of anger. Unfortunately, there is such a hopelessness in all that is in what you've said that I can't help thinking that observing the five daily prayers could be a comfort to anyone in the throes of these feelings. I certainty experience these feelings and know that attempts to drown them in anger do nothing for me. The person whose sarcasm drove you to write this is just as hopeless as the amalgam whose sentiments and feelings you give voice to. The former has no hope: He will die the misinformed racist with his hardened heart firmly in his chest while the latter has hope in Allah. My hope is the latter will find his way back to the middle path.
Allah's blessings be with you.
Zainabou El-Amin
Perhaps we have to look internally and seek some true evaluation of ourself. We become educated and we dream of living in the US and living a life of luxury while our brother or sister or son or daughter is being tortureded....murdered....raped.....but we shake are heads when and if we think about them and curse and act in disbelief. For example, an engineer, a muslim, works for a defense contractor helps create weapons of mass destruction in the name of peace and those weapons are sold to the goons and inept leaders of the muslim world. Then that same muslim engineer, to satisfy his/her own shortcomings, blames the muslim brothers and sisters of the world for not standing up in the face of their regimes.
Thank you for your reply. I will try to keep an open mind and I hope that you can do the same. I think you are an intelligent person as you seem ready to discuss sensitive issues calmly.
Firstly, it is true that the Muslim world once led the world in learning and prosperity. But I don't think that Islam deserves the credit - at least not all of it. When Arabs invaded and created an empire from Spain to India, they met with more advanced civilizations - Byzantine, Persian and Indian. Much of Islamic civilization was learned from others.
Thus Islamic civilization owed a debt to older civilizations just as the Christian civilization later learned from the Muslims.
The Arabs were keen to learn and employed Jews and Christians to translate Greek books. The Mutazalites, influenced by Greek ideas, taught that human reason could be relied upon to seek the truth. They held sway for a time but were opposed by the Islamic fundamentalists who insisted that God's revelations are the only source of truth. If human reasoning and God's revelations contradict, then the latter must prevail.
Leading the charge for the fundamentalists were men like Al Ashari and Al Ghazali. Al Ghazali wrote, "The source of their infidelity was their hearing terrible names such as Socrates and Hippocrates, Plato and Aristotle."
While earlier Caliphs protected the Mutazalites, eventually the fundamentalists won. Science lost. By the way, the Caliphs were not the men of faith that many imagined. They were men of the world and I suspect, quite a few were not true believers. They merely used Islam for the own ends.
For example, the Umayyad Caliph, Walid II once shot arrows at the Koran! Space constraints compels me to end here with a quote from Ernest Renan:
"To give Islam the credit of Averroes and so many other illustrous thinkers,who passed half their life in prison, in forced hiding, ... is as if one were to ascribe to the Inquisition the discoveries
I would like to suggest that Fatima Awad's
response to this article become an article
on this web site, put in a place so others
can read it :)
peace...
this is a response to your posts. From what I understand you seem to blame Islam as the reason why many Muslim countries are not prosperous or democratic.
If I were to follow your line of thinking, than Islam is also to be credited for the millennia of enlightenment and prosperity the Muslim world had. For many centuries Muslims lead the world in all facets of learning. Many Europeans used to go to the Islamic places of learning. There is no doubt that the Europeans benefited from this knowledge, for it was the major reason why Europe came out of the dark ages and into the reinassance. This is a fact noone can deny. So I ask you how you would rationalize this major contradiction?
Moreover, I would like to inform you that when the Muslim world practiced Islam and implemented the teachings of the religion in their rule of law, that was the time when the progress and enlightenment flourished. While today, in most Muslim countries the authority of Islam is not accepted by the ruling parties and in many instances it has been repressed. Please don't take the examples of Afghanistan or Saudi Arabia as following the Islamic Shariah. Only if you are very ignorant of Islam can you make that conclusion. They have abused the human rights of their citizens under the Islamic law and have a very narrow and incorrect interpretation of Islamic rule.
I appreciate the fact that people with negative understanding of Islam come into Islamic websites and read what we have to say. I respect you for it. I hope you are the kind of person who is willing to accept the truth even if it does not fit with your believes or understanding. I hope you are not the kind who come in with blinders on, in that case there is no evidence that could ever satisfy you.
This is not a war against Arabs, it is a war against Muslims.
We must unite and stand against the enemy, establish khalifa as the Quran says and Arabs must stop acting as if it's their problem only because no one will get stronger if they feel sorry for themselves. The Ummah must unite!
they are the step-children of the planet. The can't get no respect and they feel that they should get ALL the respect because Prophet Muhammad (saw) came from their lands.
Why?
They are led by the most currupt, arrogant and pride filled people on the planet.
Arabs when living in according to Islam were the best civilization. This quickly went to their heads and the greedy amoungst them grabbed up the wealth of the nations and kept it for themselves.
To sustain their unIslamic pagen rule, the rulers bought the imam's who convinced the masses that remaining in the 14th century in education, economics, politics, and trade is the way to paradise.
So began the age of ignorance, poverty and hate in the Arab world. The result is a people divided, uninformed, lost, and weak and filled with hate.
In came the West, conqured them and enslaved them not with chains, but with their own brothers....as their KING, men who slaughter their blood brothers and nephews in order to keep power in their bloodline.
From that moment the Arab has done some of the most unislamic things in the name of Islam. These include but are not limited to:
Gross practice of hate and revenge.
The murder of innocent souls.
Paying reverence to the words of humans and ignoring the teachings of the Qur'an.
etc, etc, etc...
Arabs do indeed have just means for being angry, but they need to stop blaming the world and examine their ownselves.
Until they do, they will continue to be exploited and taken advantage of by the more powerful.
the article is based on a weak premise. How can you blame all your troubles on everything foreign. It's the arabs to blame if they cant rise against the tyranny of their own rulers. Look at the rulers, you will find qaddafi, fahad, mubarak. Who is to blame for the corruption and despotism of the royal families? Please wake up and try to get your house in order first than to blame everyone else in the world. Arabs should be angry at their own rulers first who have killed them more than an invading army. Syria, Tunisia, etc.... the list just goes on.. Where is freedom in those countries. I have seen more racism in Saudia than the US. It's a weak position to find excuses for your own anger. From the abuses at home right to the top, the entire society is gripped with fear and oppression, you need to write an article on that!
peace out
Thanks for giving me the chance to express mysleft.
Salam
The author fails on all those accounts, to answer his own question. We all know the faults of the West and Israel, lets look at the intolerance and illegitimate governments that exist in the Arab world today. Governments that have stagnated growth and governments that have taken away rights granted to the people since ancient times; then tell me, why are Arabs so angry!
"Give me Liberty, or give me Death."
And the Arabs have no liberty---not because of the U.S., but because of their own leaders.
I am amazed that I have not been able to find one article talking about why the Arabs have caused the worst ills to the Muslim world since the prophest's time.
I am specifically talking about the betrayal of the Arab Muslims to the Ottoman Empire, the last bastion of Islamic Independence from the west, causing its final distraction. The Arab Muslims helped the Europeans against their own Muslims (which is categorally haram) because they gullibly believed Britain and France's promise of giving them independence. The promise was broken as soon as the war ended and they became colonized, then Israel was established and since then the Muslim world has been suffering. It is time the Arabs acknowledge they have caused this and continue to cause more afflictions to the Muslim world with their wrong understanding of the religion in which they believe suicide bombing and killing civilians, more commonly known as terrorism, as legitimate warfare. When it is clearly an abominable sin and an awful lie agaist Islam. Furthermore, this kind of acts only legitimizes those who hate Islam and furthers their agenda as we have seen time after time.
We cannot expect others to do it for us. Articles such as "You Are an Arab; Imagine That" are just the start. I know the article inspired me enough to speak out, so can others.
Fisal Asiff
Edmonton, Canada
However the article is painful may ALLAH give courage to the sufferers.
I am a convert from Christianity to Islam (alhamdulillah) and can only feel as a Muslim the injustices that are being done to my brothers and sisters. However, every Muslim and Arab can contribute something, however small, in order to bring change; economic boycott is one of them. I get really angry when I see that the Zionist store Marks & Spencer is a favourite among the Arabs. Boycotting companies who have links to Israel and support it financially can have a huge effect. And it does not hurt much. So what, if you cannot buy your favourite Nescafe anymore, or have to slap another shampoo on your hair rather than l'Oreal. This is one way we Muslims can help our brothers and sisters who are suffering under occupation. And in'shallah with Allah's help we will succeed.
I thank your for your article, and I hope the people who has the question about why Arabs are so angry get their answer from it and hope they have enough logic to understand the simple article.
Thank you,
Belqis
He will right every injustice in his time. These atrocities should not happen to anyone regardless of race or religion.Mankind is (a large portion)an arrogant and ungrateful creation.Let us wrongdoers all be aware of a painful chastisement from our Lord.Almighty Allah has sent us many Messengers and His Guidance. Truth is plain from falsehood and Right is plain from wrong. It's our choice-Choose Wisely.
I am not an Arab but still upset because I am a muslimah. MashaAllah article is very well written.
It filled my eyes with tears, but we shouldn't blame any body. We should blame ourself, because of our own misdeed, we are in such a horrible state. We left our beautiful religion and trying to follow the west. If we want to change our state, we need to submit ourself completely to Allah Subhanatala and follow His commands. Then only we will be victorious. I remind myself first and other muslim brother and sister to hold on tight Quran and Sunnah of Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him).
May Allah guide us all to the straight path and relieve our burden. Ameen
Fe Amani Allah
To answer this question, Arabs should ask themselves another question, "Why are we such losers?"
Arabs and Israelis fought 4 wars and Arabs lost all of them. The wars were fought between numerically superior Arab armies against a smaller Jewish force. Yet they lost. Is it because of US supported Israel? The answer is no. The US supplied with weapons only for the last war. In 1967 for example, Israel fought with French weapons. Furthermore, US help is no guarantee for victory. Just ask the former South Vietnamese regime.
The Arabs lost because Israel had superior technology, a developed economy better education, organization, leadership and cohesion. The Israelis are sophisticated enough to sustain a fairly wealthy democracy under enormous pressure from its hostile neighbors. No Arab country has succeeded in this. Bush is trying to create one in Iraq. Good luck to him. It's nearly mission impossible.
Why is it that the Arabs failed to develop their economies? If they had strong economies, Israel cannot possibly defeat them. Is it because of the Crusades, as some whiny Arabs like to blame? Wealthy Japan was once devastated by WW II, a more recent event. Is it because of Colonialism? Why are all Arab governments incompetent and corrupt dictatorships? Is it because the USA propped them up?
Take a look at Christian Chile and idol worshipping East Asia. Once they had dictators too, allied with America. Now they are rich and democratic. So Arabs cannot blame America for their corrupt and incompetent dictators. Why is it that Christians and Buddhists managed to prosper but Muslims so far cannot? The answer (I will come back to this later) to this question will partially explain the anger in the Arab world. But not all of it.
Please, however, do not think that because the Government of the United States has taken this turn towards tyranny and Imperialism that all of its citizens are blinded by the current level of propaganda and hate mongering fostered by that government. There is a great number of honest citizens of the United States who see through the lies fostered for the sake of greed and Imperialism, and who long for a new era of understanding and work for true peace in the world.
Many in the United States see very clearly that Israel's injustice and aggression in the Middle East is at the very core of the problems that face the world today and many see that the United States support of Israels tyrannical aggression against the Palestinean peoples has been tragically unjust and unsupported by International Law. The war on Iraq, under the guise of the War on Terrorism, is only an extention of the greed and lust for Imperialistic power that has been evidenced in this unholy alliance of the United Sates and Israel.
One of the tragedys of Modern times is that the Nation of Israel learned nothing from its abuses at the hands of Hitler and the Nazis. It is a fact that peoples who are abused are in the end faced with two choices. They can learn from their suffering and become better than their abusers, following the way of love and justice in the world - or they can become the mirror image of their abusers and abuse others in the same way that they were abused. Tragically, the Jewish Nation has chosen the latter.
As an American Muslim who have studied the history of the American Gov. I know what she is capable of. I feel that this is not only an attack on innocent Arabs, but ultimately an attack on innocent Muslim and Godfearing people of the world
Not content with killing them enmasse, they drove the Arabs out - 750,000 of them - through sheer force of terror. Today the same regime kills children, demolishes homes, treats them like vermins, the list of atrocities goes on, yet Michael is in denial.
Jews of every persuation can freely emmigrate to Israel yet those who have lost their properties are denied the right of return. Kazaars, Felashas and now converts from amongst Peruvians are shipped to new settlements inside Palestinian land yet the indigenous people of the land are systematically pushed out. Mr. Sarajinsky still believes that Jews love to live with Arabs in peace. Only as slaves! Read this article please: http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,770235,00.html
As for the land being promised to Jews by God. Well, that beats the lot. According to the account of Joshua - Old Testament, he was ordered by God to kill all men, women and children of Palestine so as it was given to Jews. This genocide according to Bible was carried out. What sort of god is this?
It is further proof that Palestine already had inhabitants.
The Zionists have taken Joshua as their hero and have never given up killing anyone who is not one of them. Now I am not anti-Jews but take a close look at history and see who is the transgressor.
When the whole world stands against you and you have no redress in the court of law and live with inhumanity for over 50 years, then expect a measure of violent retaliation, some of your own medicine. How dare you suggest we act like Ghandi - why not the Zionist act like Ghandi??
After Oslo there was no violence for a long time yet Israel continued its illegal settlements and abuse dishonouring their own word.
Absolutely wonderful piece. As a Palestinian, all the frustration and emotion I feel everyday were addressed by this article. Well-written and articulated. Will show it to everyone I know!
My comment is that, why don't the arabs, (in that case any muslim government ) declare Jihad against these invading forces?why should we be the only people to be scolded at? why can't we get that pride and joy that our ancestors used to have.What can I ,as an individual, do to help the poor people(brothers and sisters)of Iraq,Palastine and Afganitan?
I hope my comments are in line with the regulations.I hope you will give an answer to my questions.
May God bless all the muslims.
With Israel's help the Palestinians could live a happy and prosperous life side by side with the people of the book. If they did not resort to violence and peacefully demanded a state in co-existance the ancient land of Israel promised to the Jews by god thousands of years prior to Mohammads dream of flying to the "furtherst mosque" one night, then the Palestinians would have a state. Look at Ghandi and Mandella, and then look at Arafat. Arafat could have been a historic figur in world history for bringing about peace in the holy land may have even been labelled saint-like, however with his terrorist ideology he will only be remembered for being a twisted and evil human.
Don't blame for your own mistakes.
Please, to be passion.
Allah will help ...................Allah Akbar