Murder and Shame in the Arab World
Amal Chaaban
November 25, 2005
Another day, another few hundred unreported deaths in Iraq The top story on BBC East today Middle was the bomb that went off near a hospital in a town called Mahmudiya, This bomb killed 30 but this is only one of many. Iraq has had unprecedented carnage in the last few months perpetrated by both the butchers of the “Coalition” forces and by the butchers of Al Qaeda in Iraq. No place is sacrosanct, no event, no home, no where. A bomb was set off in a funeral procession, another near a school. Just because we don’t hear about it on CNN or Al Jazeera or whatever station du jour doesn’t mean it is not happening.
When it comes to the “Coalition” of the damned, we have no choice and worse yet no voice however, when it comes to the butchers of Al Qaeda in Iraq, we do have a choice and we most certainly do have a voice. It is absolutely shameful that we as Muslims have been largely quiet about the carnage being sown by these murderers. In fact, until the suicide bombings in Jordan, most Arab papers were muted in their criticism of Al Zarqawi and his band of merry murderers. Why is this acceptable? Why has most of the Arab world turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to the suffering of those in Iraq.
As a Muslim, I have never identified myself by sect. I have never ever differentiated between what is a Sunni Muslim and a Shiite Muslim. I was raised in a household where Muslims were Muslims and nothing else. As someone who was raised like that, I cannot fathom how we as a group who likes to identify itself by religion can keep quiet. How can we as a group ever talk about the beauty of Islam if we are allowing our fellow Muslims to be butchered.
In Iraq right now, most of the casualties fall under the banner of the Shiite portion of the population. Zarqawi has made no bones about the fact that he targets only Shiites and never if he can help it Sunnis and yet there is this ring of continued silence about him. Only when he attacked Jordan (where he had previously enjoyed a good 57% approval rating) did the Sunni Muslim community finally sit up and take notice.
That gentle readers is where our shame comes in. We have talked about the murders, we have talked them to death. The Arab League has resolutioned the issue to death but still they continue. Where is the moral outrage? Where are all the voices raised in protest? Why did it take a suicide bombing in pre-dominantly Sunni Jordan to provoke protests? Those of us who have been speaking out against Bin Laden, Zarqawi et al from the beginning have nothing to be ashamed of. Those of us who have tacitly agreed with their tactics or just shrugged them off with nary a protest have everything to be ashamed of. Ask yourself which group you belong to and if you belong to the latter, you need to rethink your allegiances.
When it comes to the “Coalition” of the damned, we have no choice and worse yet no voice however, when it comes to the butchers of Al Qaeda in Iraq, we do have a choice and we most certainly do have a voice. It is absolutely shameful that we as Muslims have been largely quiet about the carnage being sown by these murderers. In fact, until the suicide bombings in Jordan, most Arab papers were muted in their criticism of Al Zarqawi and his band of merry murderers. Why is this acceptable? Why has most of the Arab world turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to the suffering of those in Iraq.
As a Muslim, I have never identified myself by sect. I have never ever differentiated between what is a Sunni Muslim and a Shiite Muslim. I was raised in a household where Muslims were Muslims and nothing else. As someone who was raised like that, I cannot fathom how we as a group who likes to identify itself by religion can keep quiet. How can we as a group ever talk about the beauty of Islam if we are allowing our fellow Muslims to be butchered.
In Iraq right now, most of the casualties fall under the banner of the Shiite portion of the population. Zarqawi has made no bones about the fact that he targets only Shiites and never if he can help it Sunnis and yet there is this ring of continued silence about him. Only when he attacked Jordan (where he had previously enjoyed a good 57% approval rating) did the Sunni Muslim community finally sit up and take notice.
That gentle readers is where our shame comes in. We have talked about the murders, we have talked them to death. The Arab League has resolutioned the issue to death but still they continue. Where is the moral outrage? Where are all the voices raised in protest? Why did it take a suicide bombing in pre-dominantly Sunni Jordan to provoke protests? Those of us who have been speaking out against Bin Laden, Zarqawi et al from the beginning have nothing to be ashamed of. Those of us who have tacitly agreed with their tactics or just shrugged them off with nary a protest have everything to be ashamed of. Ask yourself which group you belong to and if you belong to the latter, you need to rethink your allegiances.
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