From Gibbon to Aragon

It is happening exactly how I thought it would be. The divide between the Muslims is growing everyday. I recently read the remarks from the president of Jordan that he made on this new support and alleged alliance between Lebanon, Syria, and Iran. He called it the Crescent sticking in the heart of Arabs. I was not only amazed by it, but also appalled by the use of such language by a head of state and not an ordinary one too, but a Harvard graduate as well as a Sand Hurst military graduate. Language like this is only going to add fuel to the already high rising fires of sectarianism. It is simply not Jordan but also Saudi Arabia, and other nations who are raising alarms that the rise of Iran as the leader of the Middle East is just not a viable option. The funny thing is that they go about it, by labeling this whole issue as the violent and unstable nation of Iran is going to rule the Middle East and it is going to create the unstable nation. I am completely baffled, for I thought that it was Saudi Arabia and the Iraq under Saddam who were terrorizing the Middle East but apparently that is never going to come into the picture. What is going to happen is the fact that alienation between the various sects of Islam are going to be deepened further and as a result there is going to be more bloodshed inside Islam even before we get to the rumors from the outside world, and even before we get to the people who want nothing but trouble for the Muslims (and for that matter the third world countries). Iran or no Iran, the west has at least been awoken to the troubled times that have been lain upon the Muslims for the past century. It almost seems like a déjà vu because not too far in the past, you could probably relate to the slums and ghettos of Europe where Jews were not only murdered but were considered something other than human. What did they do, they actually united in the face of adversity, worked hard and finally were able to wield enough power in 1917 to create a declaration that gave way to initial documentation of the creation of the state of Israel, and after 40 years they realized that dream by wielding enough power from the US and UK.

I am truly amazed that Muslims even though they see that only uniting and using the system against the oppressors if going to work, still dont heed the sirens. Most of the Muslim world is wrought with illiteracy and more than anything they are replete with the notions of the grandeur of yester years. They still think that they are ruling the Ottoman Empire or for that matter are a courtesan of the Mughal Empire which is not the case and will never be the case. But the worse of the worse things is that despite countless of other writers who have elaborated on this point so many times, there is no one who is willing to listen. No one is going to start working within the community and at least try to bring peace within our selves first. They are willing to put forth fatwa against the kafir of the day (who happen to be Shiites) and they are willing to kill Shiites even before they fight the plague that has wracked them from without, all the while we as a community are rotting from within. I loved a quote that Mel Gibson used (not from him but from Edward Gibbon the famous historian who said A civilization doesnt fall from wars without unless it has crumbled from within. I wouldnt even go as far as to call the Muslims of today a civilization. We have long forgotten the ways of a civilization and have taken refuge in the nation-states, and these nation-states are giving rise to antagonism that will not only work to weaken us but rip our identity, our religion and our very souls apart.

But as Aragon is asked by a little boy in the Lord of the Rings (and I loved that quote because it is very appropriate for our times) Men are saying that we will not last the night, that there is not hope to which Aragon replied There is always hope! To me hope is the quintessential human emotion, I just pray that we have enough of it left after these terrible incidents are over and the Muslim community is ready to band together to build a future for themselves.