Jarrah Ibn Abdullah, Governor of Khorasan, once
wrote to the Umayyad Caliph Umar ibn Abdulaziz stating
that the people of Khorasan were wild and rebellious,
and nothing but the whip and the sword could control
them. Umar replied: "Your theory that nothing but the
whip and the sword could control your people is
absolutely nonsensical. Truth and justice can control
them; spread truth and justice in your reign". Umar
said that it was a "lie" to believe that the sword and
the whip could guarantee to solve the people's
worsening temperament, so what would Umar tell Bashar
al-Assad today, who has deployed his tanks, armored
vehicles, army, intelligence, henchmen and Shabiha to
kill, torture, rape and terrorize?
In fact, Umar could not deter the criminal tyrant
from his crime by merely chastising him with the word
"lie", because the Bashar al-Assad regime is based on
denials, hypocrisy and falsifying the facts: His
statements are lies, his parliament is a lie, and his
explanations of the suffering of his people are lies.
In his people's demands for freedom Bashar sees
nothing but lies, because he is a liar who ultimately
believes his own fabrications. Here we see a
revolution that has been ongoing for over a year and
neither the President nor his regime recognizes that
their fall is inevitable, and that the debate only
centers around the question of "when?" Bashar lies and
then believes what he is saying, and the problem is
that he does not realize, nor does he want to realize,
that he is working against his own interests, those of
his family and his inner circle.
I hope that Bashar and his wife stop being
preoccupied – even for a few minutes – with the
trivialities of their leaked emails, in order to pay
attention to the rare courage of the Syrian people.
This courage has transformed from confronting al-Assad's
brutality, dictatorship and Shabiha with bare chests,
into scenes of dancing and singing songs of death, as
if the people are heading towards "joy" rather than
the death and arrests that no one knows the true scale
of except God. The Arab people can no longer bear the
horror of what has been transmitted by mobile phone
cameras, which are only the tip of the iceberg. Yet
the brave Syrian people hold a firm belief and remain
certain to the point that they do not pay attention to
these painful, tragic scenes, these proud people have
begun to see this wicked, arrogant regime as nothing
but a handful of despicable mercenaries and
intoxicated thugs
"And [remember] when He showed them to you, when
you met, as few in your eyes, and He made you [appear]
as few in their eyes so that Allah might accomplish a
matter already destined" (Surat al-Anfal, verse 44). I
am impressed that the Syrian people no longer care
about the defeatist international attitudes, or the
empty promises coming from near and far. In short,
what is taking place in Syria is now outside the realm
of human beings; God will accomplish a matter that is
already destined.
Bashar al-Assad and Saif al-Islam Gaddafi are two
grotesque examples of the sons of bloody, autocratic
tyrants. They are the ones who disproved the theory
that only rulers who come to power riding on the back
of a tank will naturally govern their people in
accordance with their military backgrounds and harsh
upbringings. Bashar al-Assad told his people that he
was a humble, civilized doctor, and he was incapable
of being like his father. Saif al-Islam Gaddafi was a
graduate of British academic institutions. Both of
them lived amongst Western democracies, but then
returned to their countries as if nothing had
happened. Prophet Nuh, peace be upon him, was wary of
this and warned against the tyrants of his time: "My
Lord, do not leave upon the earth from among the
disbelievers an inhabitant…Indeed, if You leave them,
they will mislead Your servants and not beget except
[every] wicked one and [confirmed] disbeliever" (Surat
Nuh, verses 26 and 27).
Dr. Hamad Al-Majid is a journalist and former
member of the official Saudi National Organization for
Human Rights. Al-Majid is a graduate of Imam Muhammad
Bin Saud Islamic University in Riyadh and holds an
M.A. from California and a Doctorate from the
University of Hull in the United Kingdom.