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28 August 2012
By Khalid Amayreh
The latest Islamic conference, which took place in the
holy city of Makkah this week, has apparently failed
to meet the minimum aspirations of Muslim peoples
around the world.
The conference was high on symbols and rhetoric, but
low on substance and concrete achievements.
As usual, the Saudi hosts dazzled their guests with
spectacular hospitality, reflecting the huge wealth of
the oil-rich country.
However apart from this, the 57-member organization
utterly failed to take practical measures to solve the
many grave problems and plights facing Muslim nations.
Needless to say, these problems are too numerous and
too urgent to be listed in a few lines or, indeed,
left for chance.
There is the enduring Palestinian cause and
unrelenting Israeli efforts to liquidate it by way of
ethnic cleansing and land theft. The Israeli occupiers
are actually trying to take over the Aqsa Mosque, the
third holiest place on earth, step by step. The latest
Zionist feat in this regard has been a vicious
proposal tabled by an Israeli lawmaker that would
transform the large courts of the Haram al Sharif (the
noble sanctuary) into a public park.
There is also the ongoing genocidal war the criminal
sectarian regime in Syria is waging on its own people.
Indeed, as the kings, emirs and presidents were
convivially chatting not far from the Kaaba, the House
of God, the cultic regime of Bashar al-Assad was
executing another massacre in the town of Azaz near
Aleppo. Now, we have just heard that another massacre
has been carried out in Aleppo itself where more than
70 people were brutally murdered Thursday when the
Alawite thugs of Bashar al-Assad attacked a bakery
outside which hundreds of people were waiting to
obtain bread for their families. The situation in
Syria resembles the situation in Bosnia during the
heighdays of war in former Yugoslavia and every Syrian
town and village is increasingly looking like another
Srebrenica.
Then there is the tragic problem of the small Muslim
minority in Myanmar where Muslims in that country have
been the target of a virtual holocaust at the hands of
the primitive Buddhist authorities, including the
government.
In recent months, the hair-raising scenes from that
country should have awakened the conscience of
humanity to the genocidal episodes. However, from the
world's callous indifference and inaction, it is amply
clear that the world's new order has no real human
conscience.
Then there is the Iranian problem and constant Israeli
threats to attack the Islamic republic as if the
lives, lands and skies of Iran had no sanctity.
Perhaps, the Muslim states lacked the willingness and
the inclination to challenge Israel and its
guardian-ally, the United States.
However, the least, the very least, Muslim states
should and could have done was to issue a terse but
stern statement viewing any aggression against Iran, a
key member state of Islamic conference, a direct
aggression against all member states.
Indeed, the fact that no such statement was issued in
the conference's final communiqué underscores the weak
leaderships of the Muslim world.
It also makes Iran feel isolated even among Muslim
countries which is not politically wise.
In fact a message of solidarity with Iran by the 57
member Organization of Islamic Cooperation would have
induced the Shiite Islamic Republic to edge away from
the murderous regime in Damascus. It is sad that the
thought has escaped the leaders of the Muslim world,
especially the Saudi hosts.
I am not really a fan of the regime in Tehran, but
regimes come and go. In any case, it is religiously,
politically and morally wrong for Muslims not to
identify with Iran in its looming showdown with
Israel. After all, Israel is the ultimate enemy of
Muslims, irrespective of how would we view Iran's
sectarian dimension.
Besides, Iran has every right under the sun to develop
nuclear energy, even a nuclear deterrent to protect
its people and defend its territory. Indeed, if Jews
have such a right, why not Muslims?
I strongly believe that the multitude of leaders
meeting in Makkah should have done more for the Syrian
people who are being massacred, starved and raped on
hourly basis by their own cultic sectarian government.
I'm not alluding to military intervention, although
this wouldn't be a bad idea to save lives. The OIC
could have urged member states to withdraw ambassadors
from Damascus and sever all relations with the Assad
junta. Suspending the Syrian regime from the
organization is a laudable step, but it is only a
symbolic measure which won't really affect the regime.
Moreover, the OIC should have taken a pro-active
decision to help the Free Syrian Army repulse and
defeat the so-called Syrian army, which is actually
nothing more than a criminal sectarian death machine
utilized by the Alawite minority to keep and
perpetuate its monopoly of power over the Syrian
people.
I realize that such a decision would have upset some
member states such as Iran. However, it should be
clearly understood that saving the lives of Muslims in
Syria is far more important than satisfying the
sectarian sensitivities of even a large and important
country like Iran.
As to the Palestinian issue, it was nice that the
Egyptian Islamist leader, Dr. Mursi, reaffirmed the
notion that despite all troubles besetting the Muslim
world, the Palestinian cause was still the number-one
issue commanding the concerns of Muslims all over the
world.
That was an unmistakable message, though not powerful
enough, to the colonialist entity, Israel that Muslims
will never ever come to terms with the Israeli fait
accompli in occupied Palestine.
Finally, the recommendation for the establishment of a
center for dialogue between Muslim sects is really an
immensely positive effort which should be encouraged
and supported at all levels.
Repugnant sectarianism is a real perpetual bane that
must be treated urgently lest it become an incurable
cancer permeating through the blood vessels of the
Muslim Umma.
However, in order for the idea to succeed, there has
to be good will from all parties concerned.
Both Shiites and Sunnis have some house cleaning to do
without which any respectable amount of mutual trust
can be regained.
In the final analysis, both sides would have to accept
the judgment of the Book of God, the Holy Quran.
More to the point, Shiite Muslims, especially the
Jaafari Ithna Asharis, would have to terminate the
repulsive age-old habit of badmouthing the companions
and wives of the Prophet Muhammed, May Allah's Peace
and Blessings be upon him, his progeny and companions. Khalid Amayreh is an American-educated
journalist living in the southern West Bank town of
Dura near Hebron. He graduated from the University of
Oklahoma in Norman in 1981. He also, received a Master
degree in Journalism from the University of Southern
Illinois at Carbondale in 1983. |
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