By: Tashbih Sayyed
When on May 1, 2003, President George W. Bush declared that the mission has been accomplished; he ignored the signs of an impending insurgency. He seemed to have been under the illusion that the resistance faced by coalition forces was limited to the "former regime elements" and "foreign fighters". The U.S. optimism was based on another illusion that the majority of Iraqis were their friends. The architects of Operation Iraqi freedoms, it is evident, did not think it important to take into consideration the historic passions of the Arabs. They did not consider that Iraqi desire to get rid of Saddam Hussein did not translate into a liking for a power that has historically been perceived as an enemy of Muslims. The wrong U.S. perceptions prevented the coalition forces from gauging the true magnitude of the resistance, allowing it soon to mushroom into a full fledged guerrilla war, threatening the very basis of the invasion – establishment of the rule of law in a lawless land.
The insurgency, succeeded in achieving its primary objectives; it did not allow the coalition forces to establish their authority. It did not allow the street to feel safe, secure and enjoy the fruits of Saddam's removal from power. On the contrary, it made the people feel more insecure and vulnerable to terror in the post-Saddam Iraq. The most important objective that insurgency achieved was to demoralize the U.S. so much that it became ultra- impatient to hand-over "Sovereignty" to Iraqis – even to the former Baath Party elements.
The rising casualties of coalition troops made the U.S. forget the real mission and it fell prey to another illusion that it can somehow make the generals of Saddam's Elite Guards do its bidding. Appearance of photographs of U.S. soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners, served as the proverbial last straw on the camels back. Now the need to leave Iraq seems to be more than urgent.
But before we allow ourselves to become victims of a new set of illusions, this is the best time to take a pause and take stock of the situation afresh. Nobody can deny that coalition's eventual failure or success in Iraq will determine the outcome of the whole war against terror - any one who thinks that Iraq is not connected with the overall war on terrorism is definitely living in a fool's paradise. That's why it is vital to make sure that the mistakes of the first year in Iraq are not repeated. And to be able to do this we will have to learn about the real nature of our enemy.
No military might has ever been able to win the hearts and minds of a people who perceive it as their enemy. The Arabs have always perceived the Judeo-Christian powers to be the enemies of their faith - Islam. Their religious, social and cultural education is geared toward this end. In this situation, how can the U.S. who are perceived as the enemies of Islam even think of ever being accepted as their liberators without first removing this Arab perception. The real fight on terror has to be designed toward destroying this Arab perception. Illusions based on defective intelligence cannot defeat this perception nor vanquish the historic passions.
Saddam Hussein was a tyrant. He was an abuser and a cold blooded murderer of his people. But the Iraqis did not consider him an enemy of Islam. The Baath Party had a secular agenda but was not perceived as an enemy of Iraqi civilization. And the Sunnis who always persecuted Kurds and Shias were never looked down upon as the touts of anti-Arab powers. So whatever were the Iraqi grievances, they were the grievances of one group against another representing the same national hopes, aspirations and passions – defeat of the non-Arab and non-Islamic powers. This common passion binds contradicting forces together. To underestimate the power of passion is to sign one's own death sentence.
No student of history can ignore the significance of this Islamist passion to re-establish Khilafah. The defeat of Khilafah, according to Islamists, has made it possible for the infidels to corrupt and pollute the Muslim minds and societies. The absence of Khilafah is unacceptable, because it is unholy – it has to be revived. To understand, Iraqi's insurgency, we will have to understand this passion. This passion keeps the fires of radical Islam going.
Saddam loyalists represent the same traits of Arab nationalism that made Egypt's Gamal Abdul Nasser the greatest Arab leader after Salahuddin Ayyubi of Tikrit. Ayatollah Khomeine, Ayatollah Sistani and young radical Muqtada Sadr all drink from the same fountain of anti-Americanism. Al-Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah symbolize Islamist passions to avenge Khilafah's decline that started when in 1798, an infidel General Napoleon Bonaparte of France invaded, occupied and governed Egypt. This decline was completed in 1924 when the last vestiges of the Ottoman Empire were done for by Western powers now represented by the United States of America. Falloujah and Najaf are the two fronts of the same jihad.
The quarters who try to spin the truth by creating a perception that Islamist terrorism is in response to the Israeli policies and the fervent anti-Americanism is due to the U.S. policies and its support for Israel, only hide the real and underlying force behind radical Islam. The seeds of present day radical Islam were not sowed either at the time of Balfour Declaration in 1918 or in 1924, when Ottoman Empire was dismantled. Anti-West passions are much older than the state of Israel. The foundations of present day Islamism were laid in 1731, by Shah Waliullah (1703-1762), and Muhammad Abdul Wahhab's (1703 - 1792). fascist ideology of Wahhabism. Without understanding these ideologies, no war against radical Islam can be won.
Shah Waliullah reignited the passions for jihad (holy war) in 1731. According to Waliullah, a number of secret truths were revealed to him while he was in seclusion in the grand mosque of Mecca in 1731. In one of the dreams, he saw himself as Aaim-uz-Zaman (the maintainer of the world).
According to Professor S. A. A. Rizvi, "In the same vision he saw that the king of the kafirs (infidels) had seized Muslim towns, plundered their wealth and enslaved their children. Earlier the king had introduced infidelity amongst the faithful and banished Islamic practices. Such a situation infuriated Allah and made Him angry with His creatures. The Shah then witnessed the expression of His fury in the mala'ala (a realm where objects and events are shaped before appearing on earth) which in turn gave rise to Shah's own wrath. Then the Shah found himself amongst a gathering of racial groups such as Turks, Uzbeks and Arabs, some riding camels, others horses. They seemed to him very like pilgrims in the Arafat. The Shah's temper exasperated the pilgrims who began to question him about the nature of the divine command.
This was the point, he answered, from which all worldly organizations would begin to disintegrate and revert to anarchy. When asked how long such a situation would last, Shah Wali-Allah's reply was until Allah's anger had subsided… Shah Wali-Allah and the pilgrims then traveled from town to town slaughtering the infidels. Ultimately they reached Ajmer )a town in India), slaughtered the non believers there, liberated the town and imprisoned the infidel king. Then the Shah saw the infidel king with the Muslim army, led by its king, who then ordered that the infidel monarch be killed. The bloody slaughter prompted the Shah to say that divine mercy was on the side of the Muslims." One can see the glimpses of present day Islamist terror in this dream.
Prof., Rizvi has written, "According to Shah Wali-Allah the mark of the perfect implementation of the Sharia (Islamic Law) was the performance of jihad. There were people, said the Shah, who indulged in their lower nature by following their ancestral religion, ignoring the advice and commands of the Prophet Mohammed. If one chose to explain Islam to people like this it was to do them a disservice. Force, said the Shah, was the better course - Islam should be forced down their throats like bitter medicine to a child.
This, however, was possible only if the leaders of the non-Muslim communities who failed to accept Islam were killed, the strength of the community was reduced, their property confiscated and a situation was created which led to their followers and descendants willingly accepting Islam. Another means of ensuring conversions was to prevent other religious communities from worshipping their own gods. Moreover, unfavorable discriminating laws should be imposed on non-Muslims in matters of rule of retaliation, compensation for manslaughter, and marriage and political matters."
Shah Waliullah's contemporary, Muhammad ibn Abd al - Wahhab (1703 - 92). of Arabia, professed the same culture of death and destruction. Wahabbism preaches violence against non-believers or infidels and serves as the religious basis for Osama Bin Laden and al Qaeda. Wahhabi teachings include examples of Allah cursing Jews and Christians and turning some of them into apes and pigs; and warnings that Muslims must consider non-Muslims or infidels their enemy. It bases its doctrines on the teachings of the fourteenth century scholar Ibn Taymiyya and the rulings of the Hanbali school of law, the strictest of the four Sunni schools of religious jurisprudence.
They believe that all objects of worship other than Allah are false, and anyone who worships in this way deserves to be put to death. To introduce the name of a prophet, saint or angel into a prayer or to seek intercession from anyone but Allah constitutes a form of polytheism. According to Wahhabis, the injunctions of the Qur'an are to be taken literally. The Wahhabis have fiercely opposed anything they viewed as bida, an Arabic word for any change or modernization, whether is deviates or not with the fundamental teachings of the Koran.
Wahhabis have managed to deceive the world into believing that they represent the genuine Islamic faith. Even some knowledgeable figures in the Islamic world were fooled and often bribed to adopt Wahhabism instead of the pure Islamic faith. "The ferocity with which the Wahhabis fight for their cause is legend. Neil MacFarquhar has given an Arab historian's description of the followers of the sect, as they engaged in battle: 'I have seen them hurl themselves on their enemies, utterly fearless of death, not caring how many fall, advancing rank after rank with only one desire — the defeat and annihilation of the enemy. They normally give no quarter, sparing neither boys nor old men.'" One can see this passion driving young and old, male and female Palestinians and Iraqis becoming homicide bombers to kill the infidels.
To be Continued....
(The writer is editor-in-chief of Muslim World Today and Pakistan Today, California-based weekly newspapers, president of Council for Democracy and Tolerance and adjunct fellow of Hudson Institute.)
