We woke up on the Prophet’s birthday to be shocked that terrorists have attacked civilians in Riyadh, the capital of Islam’s most Holy Places. Now we wait in fear to welcome these bands of Godless animals to Bahrain and the rest of the normally peaceful Arabian Gulf. On the Prophet’s birthday who preached God’s word of peace and love?
29 people dead, more than 200 injured. The dead’s count is set to rise according to sources.
What would it take to get people to see reason? Just what is the value of an attack like this? When will it end? Will this area ever see real peace? Who is to blame?
It has been said that these attacks have been perpetrated by Al-Qaeda members or sympethizers, well who are these people and what is their belief? I don’t think it is the Islam I and billions like me know and follow.
Comments
the horror continues
now in [url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3037157.stm]Morocco[/url]. 41 people dead, many more injured.
This – I think – is just the start of the complete chaos that is coming to this area. It is not safe any more. The whole Arab world is being de-stabilized even more than ever before because of these so called religious (nuts) people who want to impose their own “brand” of Islam down everybody’s throught.
God help us all.
not a resolution… simply more questions
Your feelings are mirrored by mine and the rest of the world I think. Unfortunately there is no such thing as a silver bullet that might solve this world-wide problem, however, it looks like democratic countries are less prone to terrorist attacks by their own people, so maybe that is the starting point to consider.
What the rest of the world sees as a solution, completely escapes the people or establishments that do have the power to change things, and we keep telling ourselves that they know better than we can ever know. It might be correct, two minds working on a problem is better than one they say, hundreds more then, must be able to find an answer and an implementation to fight these terrorists. But, we’re not fighting an individual here, we are fighting an ideology which is infinitely more problematic.
I feel rather than changing current ruling families and governments – which in this area of the world we are not ready for – we should concentrate on doable practical things; educating people better, give them much more freedom of expression, and punish those responsible for seeding these dangerous ideas severely. We should also stop accepting that these acts of terror are religion-based.
All religions preach peace and co-existence. They preach understanding and flexibility. What these nuts are doing are capitalizing on a few young and/or naive minds which are easily molded. So far they have been left unchecked by most governments because they are terrified of being seen as “anti-Islamâ€Â. Fine, then the regimes in this area should start using the most powerful tool known to man to counter them and seed the idea of difference, tolerance and unity of man.
Television and Radio are so under-utilized in ALL of our countries – the Muslim world in general, not just the Arabs – that they have become a joke. Some people prefer to get most of their information from the Internet, the BBC and other networks they can trust or even semi-trust, they certainly do not trust the archaic propaganda methods that our local stations spew out.
If you watch any government sponsored television channel in the Gulf for instance (all of them are – except for Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabia who are partly funded by the government) you will see and hear what the King, Emir, Prime minister, Shaikhs, Ruling family members, ministers, undersecretaries, and other local officials’ daily meetings, their journeys and interviews. Then you might hear what’s happened to the rest of the Gulf, Middle East, World in general. So there might have been 2,000 people killed because of war, pestilence, natural disasters, or a major peace breakthrough happening elsewhere only IF there is enough time left in the news bulletin! So people in this area have traditionally only switched on to the local news 25 – 30 minutes after its scheduled start time.
The programs they broadcast are way out of what’s happening in the world. While the first few bombs were rained on Baghdad, the local stations had songs and other rubbish playing, when they got the order they dedicated their frequencies to re-transmit CNN and the BBC! They were absolutely not ready for it, even though the war front is only 300 miles or so to the north. The only two Arab stations that were there where Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabia – both pseudo-government organizations with a little bit more leeway than that enjoyed by other local channels.
Fine let’s leave the news bulletins for the time being, let’s see what is the most popular other shows on TV at the moment: by far song requests fronted by lovely tightly/scantily clad ladies and most of the people phoning in are grown men. You need to have a shower just to get rid of the picture of drool and sliminess exuded by the caller after every phone call.
Game shows by the dozen, all of which are unoriginal and some franchised like “Who wants to be a millionaire” etc. That would be fine if they were executed properly as well, but they’re all bad copies of the original.
What about educational programs? Let’s not go to politics for the moment, but it is interesting to note that most Arabs don’t know what environment they live in, even what wildlife we have in our own neighborhoods or deserts. The wildlife educational programs are so rare that it is impossible to know what’s around you and what you share your own environment with. Result, less awareness of our countries and less education.
Religious programs are another very important and popular broadcasts, unfortunately most of the ones I watched propagate hate and intolerance rather than the reverse. Most of the people on these should not be invited. The try extremely hard to look pious and knowledgeable, but when they open their mouths we – as Muslims – want to run and hide!
You wouldn’t believe the huge divide we have in the Islamic world between ourselves, let alone non-Muslims. Especially if you watch Saudi religious programs, they engender hate so much that you feel sick! This is not the Islam that I grew up with. I have watched programs that preach hate against the Shia Muslims – they, the preachers and imams on those programs regard them as “kafirs” or non-believers, they have also spoken against the various Sunni sects, and on and on… How are we expected to love each other and be more understanding when the so called pillars of our society preach hate and intolerance? Of course some people watching these programs take it into their head that what they’re seeing and hearing is correct as it comes from a person who supposedly studies Islam for his who life, so he must know better!
Muslims are not encouraged to take these people to task, they are not encouraged to question these so called “references of Islam”, because they (the imams) could turn around and brand you a “kafir”, a blasphemer! Then, your blood is fair to any other to take – literally! Of course this doesn’t happen any more, but you’re always looking over your shoulder to see if a nut is behind you “who want to go directly to Heaven” because he executed the will of that imam!
Do we have any tolerant, modern and forward looking imams and religious people? Of course we do, fortunately the ones I painted above are a few, however what irks me is that they are given air-time. As 99% of broadcasts in our area are government controlled, I have to say that they are sanctioned by our own governments. So unless they throttle these people – not by stopping them preaching or speaking in public, but in countering them with forward thinking, educated, modern, and flexible imams.
I remember a debate that was done on one of the Lebanese channels between two Sunni clerics and two Shia clerics. That was a BIG laugh because they WERE at each others’ throats, each pair accusing the other of not belonging to Islam, cursing, ridiculing, and cutting each other off. WE were ashamed of that station and the people taking part. I don’t even want to think of what “foreigners” thought of that program if they saw it, or generally what they thought of Muslims after that program.
So let’s now turn to education and the educational system… again 99% of the educational syllabus in our schools (the whole Arab world I think) is based on the Egyptian educational system of the 50’s and 60’s. They just reprint the textbooks every year so the books look new. Content is the same, but the changes are minor and generally aesthetic.
Most classes from the first year through high-school dedicate at least one period for the government’s interpretation of Islam ONLY and they almost NEVER touch on how the various other Islamic sects interpret the Holy Quran or the Sunna (teachings of the Prophet). So what do you get out of this if you happen to not follow the “government’s version” of Islam? At the very least indifference, at the most antagonism and a feeling of depression, so you go elsewhere to learn about your religion.
Some research that escapes me said that almost 70% of the graduates in Saudi Arabia for instance graduate from religious colleges! If this is true, what is the Saudi government preparing its young people for? What kind of work will or can these new graduates do? Other than turn against their government and accusing it of betraying Islam, of allowing foreigners to come to the land of the Holy and Hallowed Places of Mekkah and Medinah? And as they have no concept of worldliness nor flexibility, they turn against the government by blowing up places like we have seen in recent days. Of course not all of these graduates will think or get engaged in these acts of terror, but even if one of them does, then it’s one too many.
What do they learn in these colleges? I’ll tell you: in one of the religious colleges they teach freshmen hate. Pure and simple, if the first book and sometimes one of the first few lectures is the differentiation and prejudice against one or more sects of Islam, most notably the Shias. They brand Shias (amongst others) as blasphemers and “dirtyâ€Â.
In Syria – one of their most notable religious colleges teaches third year students the same concepts.
What happened to the Islamic teachings of tolerance, brotherhood of man, equality between men and women under Allah, caring for your family and neighbors? Rather than hell-fire, damnation, and “we’re the only ones who are correct and will be rewarded by Heaven hereafterâ€Â?
Let’s go to any other subject: literature, geography, maths, sciences etc. The mantra of all government schools (yes in the whole Arab and possibly the Muslim world as they all share the same syllabus approximately) is the three R’s: Read, Remember and Regurgitate!
The student is not encouraged to be creative, to think for himself, to question concepts, to debate. They are expected to do what? All together now children: Read, Remember and Regurgitate. Well done children, now be quite while I take a nap.
The solution is that most middle-class families choose to send their children to private schools at prohibitive cost. Of course NONE of the elite send their children to public schools. Absolutely none! They send them to even more expensive, exclusive schools.
So, the 95% of the population go to government public schools, and follow the 3 R’s. Then get out and can’t find jobs. I wonder why?! So governments again spend millions more putting them in vocational training and they end up getting menial jobs if they are extremely lucky. The downward spiral begins.
Of course getting a job at all requires the ubiquitous “wasta” or nepotism. You cannot get a job unless you know someone on the inside, to take your case through to the right manager who owes you a favour, this is even to get a job as an office boy. The other way is to grease someone’s palms.
That brings me to corruption. And this is the MOST important and highly infectious disease that we suffer from. If this is eradicated, we will be very happy to live under a King, non-democratic government, or whatever you want to call that political system. Corruption is so rife that you can smell it just getting off an airplane that just landed in ANY of our countries.
You go to a big company and I can guarantee you it is like walking into a clan office. Most employees have the same last name, or are cousins, or related in some way or another. It’s got worse, you go to a company and you know that it “belongs” to Sunnis, Shias, Egyptians, Iranians or whatever colour or creed.
Can you believe that in this day and age that even the Bahrain Defense Forces have almost NO Shias! They refuse to employ them. They are seen as “revolutionaries” and against the government. This is Bahrain whose Shia population number approximately 75% or more. You can of course forget it completely in Saudi and the rest of the Gulf, maybe Kuwait is a little bit more lenient, although the Shia there are approximately 30%, maybe a bit less.
What does all of this do to the individual? Forget him or her EVER feeling patriotic or belong to the country of their birth. If they don’t feel patriotic and feel subjugated then they will never be truly productive, they will never fight an invader. The proof of the pudding here is Iraq, with over 70,000 so called Republican Guards, when they felt that they might be defeated, they scarpered! These are the very same guards that were feared in the whole Arab world, a rumble of an American tank 150 miles to their south set them off running. Why didn’t they stay and fight for their country and their “kingâ€Â? Because no matter how much you pay the military and police or even the normal people, you can NEVER buy their loyalty. Without a sense of belonging, there is no way that you can entice them to fight for their country, beliefs and rulers.
So what do we have at the moment? We have a fractious and unpatriotic society.
Can we change that? You bet, but it is a hard slog and requires change from the grass-roots as well as the top echelons of government. Both have to give and be flexible in order for the situation to change. Our grandchildren will probably have a better life, but if things continue for much longer as they are now, I’m not holding my breath.
[Modified by: Mahmood Al-Yousif (mahmood) on May 18, 2003 03:20 PM]
coencidence?
As I was writing the comment above – the power went off as I was about to post the first draft! I hope that wasn’t a sign for me to shut up from a higher authority!
Anyway, we went out of the house waiting for the power to be restored and I was talking to one of my neighbors about this very subject – the terrorism attacks in the Arab world in general and Saudi in particular. Lo and behold he, his wife, daughter and son were in one of the compounds in Riyadh as it was bombed!
He described the horror of the moment and it is unimaginable. His 4 year old son was injured as the whole family were literally blown off their feet as the blast happened. He portrayed the attack and the mayhem like a Hollywood movie!
They obviously lost some friends who were living in that compound, so our heartfelt condolences go to their friends and families.
He said that three cars gained access to the compound by lying in wait until a legitimate visitor or resident came to the compound, once the security gate opened to let the resident in, the three cars rammed the gate and car into the compound and they all started machine-gun firing killing the guards and everyone else around.
They drove to the centre of the compound still firing at everyone in sight. My friend thought that it was fire crackers so they went outside to investigate and he said that all he saw was blue tracer bullets everywhere and screaming and wounded people. Frozen by terror he at last recognized what was happening, especially after seeing some residents fleeing back into their home and they told him that the compound was under attack!
As he was shepherding everyone back to the house, two of the cars exploded sending everyone flying off their feet and slammed into walls and the ground. Still he got up and got everyone in the house into a darkened room away from the blast and sat there for an more than 90 minutes. The children were terrified and so were the adults.
As they were in the house, they found out that the terrorists after blowing the two cars started walking through the compound sniping and killing whoever looked foreign to them. My friend thinks that they must have had a time-frame for this operation as suddenly and before the authorities arrived at the scene, the terrorists threw down their weapons and disappeared out of the compound in the third car.
We are immensely relieved that our neighbors are safe.
Earlier today, the Saudi Authorities apparently arrested four suspects of the attack. If it turns out to be indeed the perpetrators of this cowerdly act, I hope they hang them by the balls.
[Modified by: Mahmood Al-Yousif (mahmood) on May 18, 2003 03:35 PM]
God has better things to do
We need to solve this problem ourselves because nobody else will.
These ‘nuts