Free Iraqi

I was not living before the 9th of April and now I am, so let me speak!

Monday, March 06, 2006

Muslims against terrorism?

I just saw this post on Gateway Pundit about the demonstrations in Bahrain "against terrorism". Before looking at the pictures I was skeptic about the real nature of these demonstrations because I know that Bahrain has a She'at majority and I never heard of any demonstrations against terrorism there until the latest attack on the holy She'at shrine in Samarra.When I looked at the pictures in the original Arabic site my suspicions were confirmed. Yes, some of the signs carried by the demonstrators called for unity between Sunnis and She'at, but it really doesn't mean anything, as such calls were present in Iraq's demonstrations too and are used to conceal the sectarian nature of those demonstrations. Now there's nothing wrong with She'at demonstrating against insulting their sacred places but we should not fool ourselves and believe that this could mean the start of a wide and active rejection of terrorism among Muslims.On the other hands there were many signs that had an obvious sectarian tone. One sign was saying, "This is what the Yazidis did" with a picture of the destroyed shrine. Yazidis here refer to followers of the 2nd Amawi caliphate "Yazid Bin Mu'awiya" which is obviously used as a subtle refrence to Sunnis. It's not uncommon for some She'at clergy to refer to Sunnis as Amawis (The Amawi dynasty that ruled the Muslim world for about 100 years after Imam Ali was killed) although that family was slaughtered to the last including children by their successors and conquerors the Abbasi caliphates who 1st allied with the She'at and then turned against them. I haven't heard She'at clerics use "Yazidis" before but Yazid has always been the most hated and scorned Amawi caliphate by the She'at since he was the one who sent the army that killed Imam Hussein and many of his family members. There were still signs that clarified that Yazidis can be Sunnis and She'at meaning they're the criminals in any sect but again I see those as attempts to cover the sectarian nature of this demo. Both Sunnis and She'at speak about themselves as Muslims in public but that doesn't mean at all that they see Islam as one. It just means that they believe that their sect represent the true Islam while the others are just heretics.Some demonstrators did not forget to direct their anger towards their 'real enemy' holding signs that say "I'm in the camp of Hussein, not the camp of the Americans and the Zionists". Other signs were saying, "We're She'at forever and we will not give up on our belief"Again there's nothing wrong with She'at condemning attacks against their holy shrines but we have to be realistic and call thing by their names. This is not a demonstration against terrorism but a demonstration against those who target She'a and their religious symbols and a way for the She'at to vent their repressed hatred towards Sunnis.Westerns are very eager to see any sign of wide and strong rejection to terrorism by Muslims that sometimes they give things more than their actual weight or meaning. I understand that and like it but I don't see those hopes coming true soon.Why would Muslims condemn terrorism? They see themselves as victims of the west and so attacks on the west would actually give them some sense of justice! Sorry to say that but it's the truth about how many Muslims see such attacks while more are just not concerned at all and only a tiny minority do sympathize with western victims.Of course I don't see Muslims as victims of anyone but their own laziness and cowardice but to be fair complex international conflicts did lead at times to the west supporting Muslim dictators whom by their policies diminished any small chance the Muslim world had in reforming itself."But most of the victims of such terrorist attacks are Muslims, don't Muslims care about their own people at least?"one may argue. Doesn't make a big difference, as Muslims in most of the world live such a sh**y life and see death and torture everyday that they stopped caring about anyone except those close to them like family members or friendsSo, even She'at who have much more reasons to demonstrate against terrorism since it basically has a Sunni origin and targets She'at in many occasions, they don't react that much except when their religious symbols are desecrated. The reaction to bombing an empty building was a thousand times bigger than to attacks that killed hundreds of innocent She'at. Muslims in general don't care that much about human life and they don't value it as westerns do because they never had a life worth that much, and deaths for the most stupid and unfair reasons are very common to them, so why do you want Muslims to care about a few people killed in the US or Europe! There must have been a time during the life of each Muslim when they really cared but I doubt that they even remember that!It shows faith on the part of westerns that they expect Muslims to revolt against fanatics but they miss that they're judging people who live a very different and much difficult life by the same standards they judge their own society. Muslims will only care about life when they get to have one.