ARAB LEADERS SERVE WESTERN LEADERS WELL
by Syarif Hidayat*
Jahiliyyah (Arabic: جاهلية ǧāhiliyyah/jāhilīyah “ignorance”) is an Islamic concept of “ignorance of divine guidance” or “the state of ignorance of the guidance from the God Almighty Allah” or “Days of Ignorance” referring to the condition in which Arabs found themselves in pre-Islamic Arabia (in the non-Islamic sense), i.e. prior to the revelation of the Quran to Prophet Muhammad PBUH. The root of the term jahiliyyah originates from Arabic verb jahala “to be ignorant or stupid, to act stupidly”
So, jahiliyyah (ignorance/stupidity) does not mean not having the knowledge and skill or do not have the intelligence to think and work skillfully. But ignorance with regard to monotheism of God Almighty Allah, which also means ignorance of Allah’s laws and regulations.
The modern-day Jahilliyyah
Facts speak for themselves correctly and objectively that some of the Arab leaders (kings, presidents and prime ministers) including Egyptian military (coup) leaders, Libyan rebel leaders, Syrian and Iraqi (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) also known as Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Al Qaeda) rebels leaders could be easily fooled and dragged and finally deceived by the Imperialist and Zionist ploys into supporting their interests to sow discord among Muslim countries including demonizing a certain Muslim country like Iran as a threat to the Arab world and intervening in the other Arab countries as well as make them fight each other at the expense of their own fellow countrymen … and in the end, the true winners are the Zionist and Imperialist corporate world!
I am very sorry for my Arab brothers and sisters who have become victims of their easily western-fooled and corruptible leaders!
The God warning
More than 1430 years ago, the God Almighty Allah warned in Al-Qur’an, Surah Al-Maeda, verses 50 – 51 about what is nowadays happening in the Muslim World especially in the Middle East countries. In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.
بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
أَفَحُكۡمَ ٱلۡجَـٰهِلِيَّةِ يَبۡغُونَۚ وَمَنۡ أَحۡسَنُ مِنَ ٱللَّهِ حُكۡمً۬ا لِّقَوۡمٍ۬ يُوقِنُونَ
يَـٰٓأَيُّہَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ لَا تَتَّخِذُواْ ٱلۡيَہُودَ وَٱلنَّصَـٰرَىٰٓ أَوۡلِيَآءَۘ بَعۡضُہُمۡ أَوۡلِيَآءُ بَعۡضٍ۬ۚ وَمَن يَتَوَلَّهُم مِّنكُمۡ فَإِنَّهُ ۥ مِنۡہُمۡۗ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَا يَهۡدِى ٱلۡقَوۡمَ ٱلظَّـٰلِمِينَ
(٥٠-٥١:سُوۡرَةُ المَائدة)
“Do they then seek the judgement of (the days of) Ignorance? And who is better in judgement than Allâh for a people who have firm Faith. O you who believe! Take not the Jews and the Christians as Auliyâ’ (friends, protectors, helpers), they are but Auliyâ’ of each other. And if any amongst you takes them (as Auliyâ’), then surely he is one of them. Verily, Allâh guides not those people who are the Zâlimûn (polytheists and wrong-doers and unjust).”
At the push of an American button
Lamis Andoni in her article titled “An Arab world at the push of an American button” published in www.middleeastmonitor.com wrote
We do not want to underestimate or diminish the danger of Islamic State (IS) and extremism, but for the Arab League not to issue a statement to confront Israel, even if it was only a lie and hypocritical, and instead, to only call for measures to confront “terrorism” is another indication that it has become nothing more than an Arab entity playing a functional role in service of America.
All of this was expected, but the degree of unashamed compliancy is evidence that the Arab system and counter-revolution forces are very keen on renewing their loyalty and subordination to the American master, the protector of all thrones and those sitting on them. This also suggests that a representative of the Syrian opposition coalition wouldn’t be present at the Arab League meeting if this had challenged Washington, even slightly, as everything is dependent on America’s approval.
If it weren’t for America’s call for an international alliance against “terrorism”, we wouldn’t have seen an Arab endeavour towards joint Arab work and an insistence on putting the term “terrorism” in brackets, because the American definition of terrorism is based on its policies and moods, as the terrorism committed by regimes is either permitted or prohibited based on American’s temporary or permanent interests. Meanwhile, the terrorism exercised by America and Israel is legitimate and sometimes encouraged and desired.
The Arab League meeting gave an Arab cover to America’s strategy of managing the current conflict, that is of a sectarian nature, in a manner that preserves its influence and in order to distract from the consequences of Israel’s crimes committed during the war on Gaza and the Palestinians in general, and to undermine the campaigns to boycott Israel and calls for prosecuting Israel in the ICC.
America has found the Islamic State to be a mutual enemy between Israel and the Arabs, putting them into a deep security alliance. This alliance is more effective than America’s previous attempts to form an Arab-Israeli alliance against Iran, as the IS danger has a greater impact, not only on the Arab governments, but the resistance movements as well, especially the non-Islamist movements, because Israel continues to easily attack the movements and Palestinian people on the ground.
Yes, there is a need to confront religious and sectarian extremism, but these security alliances only serve America and Israel and may not even help the Arab regimes themselves, as America’s wars on terrorism always excels in strengthening extremism and expanding terrorism in all of its forms and sources, including American and Israeli terrorism, as well as religious and sectarian terrorism.
Confronting sectarian extremism, IS and its counterparts should not be linked to an American agenda, but to a reformative agenda of the educational system in the Arab world as well as economic and social development projects in order to redistribute the income in a fairer manner instead of in accordance with the neoliberal policies and corruption adopted by the states before and after the revolutions. Such policies only contribute to impoverishing the already poor section of society without providing job opportunities and hope for a better future for the angry and desperate youth.
However, none of this is actually on the official Arab agenda that only understands repressive security solutions and hitting the independent judiciary authority in order to continue to torture the people and allow the hatching of new IS factions coming in all shapes and political backgrounds. They allow this because most of the active IS systems are cowardly in the face of strategic dangers, especially Israel, and their silence in the face of Israel’s massacres guarantee American support for their continuity.
I do not rule out the possibility that the next step, which has been implicitly approved by most regimes, is to figure out how to pressure the Palestinians to disarm the resistance and prevent them from going to the International Criminal Court or the Security Council, because all forms of armed and peaceful resistance is “terrorism” in the eyes of Mr America, and the Arab system has declared its war “on terror”, hasn’t it?, Lamis Andoni concluded her article. Lamis Andoni is a Palestinian-American journalist, analyst and commentator on Middle Eastern and Palestinian affairs.
An international alliance against whom?
Dr Amira Abo El-Fetouh in her article titled “An international alliance against whom?” wrote No sooner had Barack Obama announced a new international alliance to fight what is known as the Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq than an international conference was held in Jeddah to put it into effect. Seventeen countries represented by their foreign ministers attended the conference, including US Secretary of State John Kerry and the foreign ministers of 10 Arab countries; in other words, America’s agents in the region. They came out with an agreement to confront ISIS and cooperate in waging a war against it with the objective of eliminating it. However, Turkey and Qatar refused to sign the final statement.
What does the US gain from this, and why did it opt for the meeting to be held in Saudi Arabia on September 11th, the anniversary of the fall of the Twin Towers in 2001? America never makes a move unless it has some sort of strategic goal or interest behind it; what exactly is the goal that it hopes to accomplish with this? Does America actually feel that ISIS poses a threat or danger to it in spite of those who say that it is a creation of US intelligence and that is infiltrated by many other countries?
These are legitimate questions, and if we read into the events and take a look at what has gone on in the world since the fall of the Soviet Union, we can say that America is continuing its war on the Islamic states started in 2001 against Afghanistan and calling it the “war on terror”. President George W Bush stated explicitly at the time that it was a crusade, for which he later apologised, claiming that it was a slip of the tongue, but it wasn’t; he was telling the truth.
“The Green enemy”
After the fall of the Soviet Union, former US President Ronald Reagan said that America had eliminated the red enemy, referring to Communism, and that it was time to eliminate the “green enemy”, a reference to Islam. Since that time, America has been preparing for its war on an enemy it created and used terrorism as a pretext to wage war against Islamic states. Afghanistan was followed by Iraq, and America made its way into the region and wreaked havoc and corruption on the ground. It also helped France in its war against the Muslims of Mali and fought in Libya to overthrow the regime and spread chaos in the country.
It is now using Arab and Islamic countries as a legitimate cover to wage war on the rest of the Arab world under the pretext of fighting ISIS and the danger this terrorist organisation, as they describe it, poses for the rest of the countries in the region. The US has used the Islamic State as a scarecrow to frighten kings and emirs that their thrones will be grabbed by ISIS, which lurks on the borders of their territory.
In order for this war not to be labelled as a crusade, America held its meeting in Saudi Arabia, the symbolism of which is not lost on anyone, while the government in Riyadh saw this as a chance to lead the Islamic world, especially the Sunni Muslims, and for Egypt to be subject to Saudi Arabia instead of the opposite. The coup-led government in Egypt also tried to benefit from this meeting and come out with some gains, but it failed because the government wanted to add the Muslim Brotherhood and its own war on the movement into the mix and make it a part of the international alliance to fight terrorism, as a means of gaining financial and moral support, but it was unable to achieve this.
The Arab states which signed the final statement are nothing but pawns in the hands of America, being moved however and whenever America wants and according to its interests. These states, thrones and emirates on the map have only been established and allowed to exist in order to achieve America’s goals in the region. We have an international alliance, but against whom is it pitted? concluded Dr Amira Abo El-Fetouh, an Egyptian writer and member of the National Council for Human Rights. (T/P4/P3/R03)
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)
*Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) (He can be contacted via emails: [email protected] and [email protected])
Sources:
1.http://www.quranexplorer.com/Quran/Default.aspx
2.https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/
