Iraq, Iran, the US and The Rise of Sectarianism
Anger, fear and hopelessness proliferated among Iraqi civilians today as the Samarra’s al-Askari shrine – the holiest sites in Shia Islam – was attacked and heavily destroyed.
The attack was certainly designed to fuel further cleavages between the Sunnis and Shia in Iraq. The fury of the aftermath was apparent as more than 100 people were killed in revenge attacks. The situation was further exacerbated when President Jalal Talabani called for an emergency summit which the Sunni politicians decided to boycott in retaliation against the reprisal attacks.
Where is Iraq heading to? Sectarianism and sectarian violence has been recently on the rise all over the Middle East. My recent posting ‘History Repeats Itself’ discusses the ongoing antagonism between Muslims and Coptic Christians in Egypt. Nigeria also witnessed scores of attacks against Christian churches after Muslims exhibited their rage in retaliation against Jylland-Posten’s blasphemous cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH). Only days later, it was Iraq’s turn.
Who is to blame in the Iraqi case? Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the influential Sunni cleric Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi (an Egyptian living in Qatar) pointed the finger to the United States and Israel stating that Iraq’s woes resulted from the work of ‘defeated Zionists and occupiers.’
For them it was simple. Recently, Ahmadinejad audaciously composed a diatribe against the United States and Israel which echoed around the globe – ‘Israel should be wiped off the map.’ The statement was bold and was a wake-up call to the Arab world as well as their Western counterparts. For some, it was a statement of courage and deserved applaud. For others, it was a statement of irresponsibility and deserved retaliation.
In essence, it was easy for Ahmadinejad to blame the United States and Israel. Both Ahmadinejad and Qaradawi saw the incident at the Samarra al-Askari shrine as a perfect excuse to incite further antagonism against the West. Their argument is simple – the United States unlawfully invaded Iraq, created a complete mess and contributed to the increasing sectarian and ‘civil war’ like violence.
Is the United States and Israel really to blame? This is quite a sensitive question to answer. On the one hand, the United States invaded Iraq on false pretenses (Saddam was certainly tyrannical but did not pose an imminent threat) since weapons of mass destruction were not located. Therefore, one could argue that it is in fact the United States to blame for the sectarian mishaps. It is an easy and immediate conclusion to make however it is unwise at this point – the damage has already been done.
On the other hand, a wiser conclusion would be to realize that extremists (like Ahmadinejad) use such occurrences to instigate further tensions and more importantly to use them as an excuse for Islamic Jihad.
Unfortunately Islamic Jihad in an utterly misconstrued manner. Figureheads such as Ahmadinejad and the even more extreme Osama Bin Laden have been able to represent what Islam has to offer in the 21st century – extremism, violence and incompatibility with modernity – the wrong visage.
If it is in the interest of Arab governments to weave a Pan-Arabic fabric then the recent rise of sectarian violence has certainly eroded any chance of such a phenomenon. Moderate Muslims need to rise and voice their opinions and concerns.
Mr. Naser Khader, a member of parliament in the Danish government proves that there is hope for moderate and liberal Islam – for changing its current face to the better.
The attack was certainly designed to fuel further cleavages between the Sunnis and Shia in Iraq. The fury of the aftermath was apparent as more than 100 people were killed in revenge attacks. The situation was further exacerbated when President Jalal Talabani called for an emergency summit which the Sunni politicians decided to boycott in retaliation against the reprisal attacks.
Where is Iraq heading to? Sectarianism and sectarian violence has been recently on the rise all over the Middle East. My recent posting ‘History Repeats Itself’ discusses the ongoing antagonism between Muslims and Coptic Christians in Egypt. Nigeria also witnessed scores of attacks against Christian churches after Muslims exhibited their rage in retaliation against Jylland-Posten’s blasphemous cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH). Only days later, it was Iraq’s turn.
Who is to blame in the Iraqi case? Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the influential Sunni cleric Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi (an Egyptian living in Qatar) pointed the finger to the United States and Israel stating that Iraq’s woes resulted from the work of ‘defeated Zionists and occupiers.’
For them it was simple. Recently, Ahmadinejad audaciously composed a diatribe against the United States and Israel which echoed around the globe – ‘Israel should be wiped off the map.’ The statement was bold and was a wake-up call to the Arab world as well as their Western counterparts. For some, it was a statement of courage and deserved applaud. For others, it was a statement of irresponsibility and deserved retaliation.
In essence, it was easy for Ahmadinejad to blame the United States and Israel. Both Ahmadinejad and Qaradawi saw the incident at the Samarra al-Askari shrine as a perfect excuse to incite further antagonism against the West. Their argument is simple – the United States unlawfully invaded Iraq, created a complete mess and contributed to the increasing sectarian and ‘civil war’ like violence.
Is the United States and Israel really to blame? This is quite a sensitive question to answer. On the one hand, the United States invaded Iraq on false pretenses (Saddam was certainly tyrannical but did not pose an imminent threat) since weapons of mass destruction were not located. Therefore, one could argue that it is in fact the United States to blame for the sectarian mishaps. It is an easy and immediate conclusion to make however it is unwise at this point – the damage has already been done.
On the other hand, a wiser conclusion would be to realize that extremists (like Ahmadinejad) use such occurrences to instigate further tensions and more importantly to use them as an excuse for Islamic Jihad.
Unfortunately Islamic Jihad in an utterly misconstrued manner. Figureheads such as Ahmadinejad and the even more extreme Osama Bin Laden have been able to represent what Islam has to offer in the 21st century – extremism, violence and incompatibility with modernity – the wrong visage.
If it is in the interest of Arab governments to weave a Pan-Arabic fabric then the recent rise of sectarian violence has certainly eroded any chance of such a phenomenon. Moderate Muslims need to rise and voice their opinions and concerns.
Mr. Naser Khader, a member of parliament in the Danish government proves that there is hope for moderate and liberal Islam – for changing its current face to the better.
posted by The Egyptian Observer at 5:52 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home