To Avoid Turning Iraq into Yards of Mass Graves, the People of Iraq Should Be Iraqis Only and Not Shiites and Sunnites
Published in October 5, 2019
Translated by: Ahmed Fathy
Introduction:
Nowadays, we hear news of massive demonstrations, in Iraq, of angry protestors against corruption and stealing/smuggling of public money or the wealth of the Iraqi nation; the number of those injured and killed increases every day. We provide our two-type vision concerning this event: a political vision and a historical and fundamental one.
Firstly: our political vision:
1- The racial and religious diversity has a dangerous influence within countries ruled by tyrants; of course, tyrants take advantage of it to strengthen their tyranny and spread destruction, ruin, and bloodshed as per the political rule (divide and rule/conquer) or divide et impera in Latin. Enthroned tyrants also form a class of affluent elite members who control and monopolize power and wealth. In contrast, in democratic countries, the racial and religious diversity is a factor of progress and flourishing, and this is because of the fact that all races and sects enjoy absolute equality in rights and duties; they compete within a climate of equal opportunities. In Iraq and the Levant, there are many races, doctrines, and sects; sadly, this is the primary cause of much trouble and unrest; it is as if the Levantine region and Iraq are filled with landmines which explode all the time because the affluent, filthily rich, corrupt ones follow the (religious, political and economic) ways of their forefathers in order to maintain the status quo and their authority/power and wealth; they insist on rejecting any reform endeavors. The Lord God has made it a general rule which applies to all eras: "Likewise, We sent no warner before you to any town, but the wealthy among them said, “We found our parents on a course as an Umma/nation, and we are following in their footsteps.”" (43:23). As long as the Muhammadans are captured and enslaved by the past, they repeat its worst features: civil strife and endless struggles, especially in the ongoing wars between the Sunnites and the Shiites of Iraq. This is why we say the following aloud: the people of Iraq should be Iraqis only and not Shiites and Sunnites! (We refer readers to these articles of ours in English for more details: ( http://www.ahl-alquran.com/English/show_article.php?main_id=16857) + ( http://www.ahl-alquran.com/English/show_article.php?main_id=18909) + ( http://www.ahl-alquran.com/English/show_article.php?main_id=13822).
2- In a previous article of ours titled "Is It Possible That The Muhammadans Would Achieve Progress To Reach The Level We See In The West?!" (found in English on this link: http://www.ahl-alquran.com/English/show_article.php?main_id=19844), we have written the following passage: (...It is impossible that the Muhammadans would achieve any progress as long as they are Muhammadans. They will achieve a measure of progress only if they get rid of religious clergymen and political clergymen. If this happens one day, they will be no longer labeled as 'Muhammadans' who belong to their earthly/terrestrial Sunnite, Shiite, and Sufi religions; rather, they will belong only to themselves as human beings who have human rights...). We apply this to the case of Iraq; we assert the following: the Iraqis will achieve a measure of progress only if they get rid of religious clergymen and political clergymen. They must get rid of the culture of corruption and tyranny. If this happens one day, they will be no longer labeled as 'Muhammadans' who belong to their earthly/terrestrial Sunnite and Shiite religions; rather, they will belong to their homeland, Iraq, and they will acquire the culture of citizenship which makes all people equal in their rights and duties.
3- It is a source of disgrace and shame that the people of the Iraqi nation would remain slaves to the clergymen of the terrestrial Shiite and Sunnite/Wahabi religions of Satan. Of course, any members of such clergymen are obsequiously in service of all enthroned tyrants; both tyrants and clergymen unite against human rights and dignity of the citizen. Communists are right in their two mottos: (1) the (terrestrial) religion is the opium of the masses, and (2) the last dictator/king should be hanged/strangled by the entrails of the last priest. The laughter-inducing and nauseating rituals and acts of worship of the terrestrial religions maintain the backwardness and ignorance of the masses; e.g., (A) to deify/sanctify and worship mausoleums built over human cadavers, (B) to engage into fighting because of dead persons (i.e., Ali and Hussein deified by Shiites and Mu'aweiya and Yazeed demonized also by Shiites), and (C) to wound oneself and cry/weep and scream in order to mourn annually the murder of Hussein; this is indeed a black comedy!
4- Iraqis must solve this problem by neutralizing the Shiite and Sunnite clergymen in Iraq. Of course, Europe could not achieve progress within all levels and in many fields until it freed itself from the authority of the Church; the Europeans imposed on the Church and its clergymen a curfew; they no longer meddle in the political life and in any of the scientific fields.; they are confined behind the walls of their churches. Of course, the Europeans have criticized and ridiculed/mocked (until now) the Christian clergymen who are no longer 'holy'; their corruption, stealing, and promiscuity/immorality are exposed; for instance, the scandals of the Catholic Church and the Vatican are still being exposed until now. Likewise, the free Iraqis would unify their efforts in order to expose, criticize, and ridicule the Shiite, Sunnite, and Christian clergymen of Iraq. This is a step towards progress and real democracy; the free people of Iraq should expose all facts which remain as hidden truths; they must expose immorality/promiscuity of clergymen and how they have bank accounts inside and outside Iraq as they smuggle their wealth; the Shiite clergymen of Satan must be exposed as they are pimps who exploit female children in prostitution masked by marriage contracts. There are lots of details which must be much published and talked of by Iraq citizens who seek freedom, equality, and justice within democracy.
5- In our book titled (Hanbalism – the Mother of Wahabism – and the Destruction of Iraq in the Second Abbasid Era) published on our website, we have mentioned one of the worst Abbasid caliph, Al-Motawakil, who imposed the Hanbali Sunnite religion in 234 A.H. as the official religion of the Abbasid theocracy/caliphate and demolished the mausoleum of Hussein in Karbala; he also issued a decree against visiting such a mausoleum; he persecuted Shiites, Sufis, Jews, Christians, and the Al-Mu'tazala group of thinkers/philosophers. Sadly, the persecution inflicted by Hanbali Sunnites on Shiites of Iraq continued in many eras. When the Shiite Buyyids controlled and dominated over the weak Abbasid caliphs, Iraqi Shiites enjoyed some measure of authority; they dared – at last, after much repression - to show publicly the rituals of their religion especially when they celebrated the annual Ashura feast (commemorating the murder of Hussein); this led to annual strife and fighting between the Shiites and the Sunnites especially in the Al-Karkh area in Baghdad. In contrast, when the Sunnite Turkish Seljuks controlled the Abbasid caliphate, the Sunnite persecution of Shiites returned with a vengeance. This ongoing Sunnite-Shiite struggle inside Iraq has went on for centuries until now; the only beneficiaries of it are the Shiite clergymen and their Sunnite counterparts, whereas the losers are the Iraqis who weakened by (and suffer much from) tyranny, corruption, and the fighting for the sake of dead persons (Ali and his son Hussein) and against dead persons (Mu'aweiya and his son Yazeed). This is extremely silly: the Iraqis of today are the slaved of a black history of bloodshed which imposes itself on their social, cultural, political, and religious lives; e.g., within mosques, universities, TV satellite channels, forums/symposiums, cafés, and streets. When any persons of the West countries hear this ongoing struggle of (Ali and Hussein) against (Mu'aweiya and Yazeed), they assume them to be competitors in elections of today's Iraq; they assume as if they were living men fighting one another; they burst out laughing when they realize that such persons died centuries ago. Sadly, this cursed, nightmarish past of Iraq is still being revived all the time and it dominated Iraq; it is as if Iraqis are still living and reliving the 1st century A.H; they exile themselves willingly into the past, whereas the first-world countries achieve progress every minute. The benefits drawn from the religious strife in Iraq by the Shiite and Sunnite clergymen make them eager to maintain this ongoing struggle. As long as the Iraqis are dominated by this opium of the masses, the Shiite and Sunnite clergymen will continue to control their lives and their wealth. This devilish, vicious circle must have an end and it must be crushed! The Iraqis must wake up!
6- It was easy for Saddam Hussein to rule, control, and dominate over Iraq as Iraqis are divided into sects and groups which fear and hate one another. Saddam persecuted the Shiites of Iraq in the similar manner employed by his tyrannical predecessors. Even after the fall of Saddam, the American invasion of Iraq widened the scope of sectarianism and made it the basis of a mere décor or façade of democracy there controlled by Shiite Iraqis only. The terrorist Sunnite Wahabi ISIS organization emerged in Iraq, making use of sectarianism there and of the corruption which dominates wealth, power, and authority. The ISIS terrorists have been defeated – for a while! – after many massacres which were perpetrated. Sadly, we think that the Wahabi ISIS terrorists may return and become more powerful, but under a new name, because of the fact that the conditions and circumstances which have helped create ISIS still exist inside Iraq. Yet, this time, its terrorist members will be the frustrated youths who lost all their dreams and hopes.
7- The main figures among Iraqi Shiites control Iraq now; they managed to accomplish two missions only: (1) stealing the wealth of the Iraqi nation, and (2) reducing Iraq to a mere Iranian colony. This means they replaced the American invasion with an Iranian one which is worse because it relies more on the Shiite sect of Iraq within rule, dominance, and control. This means that loyalty is to the Shiite religion and not to the homeland known as Iraq; of course, the Iranian regime controls the Shiite religion and Iraqi Shiites. Iran hates Arabs; this deep-seated hatred continued to grow for 14 centuries when the Arabs, led by the sinful caliphs, invaded the Persian empire. Iranian strategic interests are centered on making Iraq dependent on (and submissive to) Iran in the same way as Iraqi Shiites are loyal to Persian religious authorities in Iran. Of course, Iranians/Persians are having their belated revenge against Iraq; they desire to avenge for the damages caused by Saddam in the Iraqi-Iranian war. In brief, we assert here the sad fact that Iraq got rid of the Sunnite tyrannical Saddam, who was one tyrant, to fall into the snare of many Shiite Saddams/tyrants.
8- We have asserted the following many times in our previous writings: democratic transition entails to introduce gradually the culture of democracy until its roots would be firm and strong. Without this, democracy would be a mere façade or décor; i.e., sham or fake democracy to beautify the regimes of tyrants like Al-Sisi of Egypt, Al-Assad of Syria, and the dwarfs who rule Iraq now. The gradual introduction of the culture of democracy begins with this first step; namely, to curb and limit the authority of clergymen. For sure, clergymen of all types base their authority on how the masses sanctify their myths. Of course, the authority/power and dominance of clergymen end when people ridicule and mock such clergymen and their religious rituals. When such clergymen cease to be 'holy' men who are venerated and sanctified, they will no longer manage to deceive people or to interfere in politics. When citizens are freed from sanctifying the clergymen of terrestrial religions, it will be impossible for them to sanctify enthroned tyrants/rulers who assume themselves as 'infallible' recipients of 'divine' revelation.
9- The free people of Iraq must begin freeing their fellow citizens from sectarianism and the dominance of clergymen; they must raise their awareness. They must launch immediately many campaigns within the cyberspace to denounce, criticize, scandalize, and expose clergymen and their fake holiness. These campaigns must emphasize the belonging to the homeland known as Iraq; nationalistic sentiments must be propagated within equal citizenship rights and duties for all Iraqis regardless of sex, race, religion, sect, doctrine, etc. Of course, enthroned tyrants make themselves as the 'homeland' or representatives of it and symbols stand for it. Those who oppose the enthroned tyrants are thus deemed as traitors who betrayed their homeland. For instance, Al-Sisi wrongly assumes himself as the embodiment of Egypt ( http://www.ahl-alquran.com/English/show_article.php?main_id=19924). In contrast, within the culture of democracy, the homeland is not mere borders or geographical locations; the homeland is the free citizens. Hence, in Iraq, the real homeland should be the 34 million Iraqis.
10- Without exiting the dark tunnel of the first Arab civil war (i.e., Ali vs. Mu'aweiya, 35 – 40 A.H.), Iraq will remain as yards of mass graves as has been the case in the previous 14 centuries of strife; this strife must stop immediately.
Secondly: our historical and fundamental vision:
1- In the Holy Quran, the Lord God tells us about the rules of destroying and tormenting peoples; these rules were applied in the ancient eras as the Lord God has destroyed and smitten the unjust disbelievers: "When We decide to destroy a town, We command its affluent ones, but they transgress in it, so the word becomes justified against it, and We destroy it completely. How many generations have We destroyed after Noah? Your Lord is sufficient as Knower and Beholder of the sins of his servants." (17:16-17). Later on within other eras until the advent of the Hour, partial destruction by torment continues as per the Lord God's Divine Will: "There is no city but We will destroy before the Day of Resurrection, or torment it with a severe torment. This is inscribed in the Book." (17:58). This type of torment is repeated as long as the unjust, affluent, corrupt ones refuse to introduce any measure of reform: "If only there were, among the generations before you, people with wisdom, who spoke against corruption on earth - except for the few whom We saved. But the unjust ones pursued the luxuries they were indulged in, and thus became criminals. Your Lord would never destroy the towns unjustly, while their inhabitants are seeking reform." (11:116-117). This applied to Iraq during the Abbasid Era when Iraq was the center of power, authority and wealth while no one dared to warn/preach the enthroned caliphs. This is why at the time, Iraq witnessed the torment inflicted by the Lord God: massacres, famines, and pestilences/epidemics. Thus, Iraq at the time exemplified the prediction of the Lord God in the Quranic verse 17:58. Let us exemplify this by quoting historical facts in the points below.
2- Within dire, despicable conditions, the Al-Zanj or the black slaves worked in reclaiming stretches of land in Iraq, serving the affluent landowners who consumed delicacies and dainties that included a plate of tongues of fish which cost 1000 dirhams. An ambitious man manipulated the plight and suffering of the black slaves; they were the fuel of his revolt and he became their leader; this revolt of Al-Zanj lasted between 225 to 270 A.H. The black slaves were defeated, within pyrrhic victory and extreme difficulty, by the Abbasids in 270 A.H. At one time before their defeat, the troops of the black slaves razed/destroyed the southern city of Basra, in Iraq, burning it down, and enslaved its women after killing its inhabitants; sadly, this was followed by a pestilence or an epidemic which caused the death of countless people. Al-Soly the historian wrote that the troops of the black slaves had killed about 1.5 million people; at one day, they put to death about 30000 people in Basra; the leader of Al-Zanj followed the Shiite religion and he delivered Friday sermons from his pulpit while verbally abusing the companions of Muhammad. The leader of Al-Zanj sold enslaved Iraqi women of the Hashemites in return for 2 or 3 dirhams each. Each of Al-Zanj soldiers had at least ten enslaved women of the Hashemites for their sexual pleasure. The Abbasids were never warned at all by such calamities and inflictions; they suffered in the same way by the Shiite Qarmatians who committed many atrocities and threatened the Abbasid caliphate for many decades.
3- The Abbasids were never warned at all by such calamities and inflictions; they continued their luxurious lifestyle of the affluent classes. During the caliphate of the Abbasid caliph Al-Qaim, he married in 448 A.H. a very pretty princess: Khadija the daughter of the brother of the Seljuk sultan Tughril Beg who controlled the Abbasid caliphate at the time; the dowry given to the bride was 100 thousand dinars; the bride was given a mantle embroidered with gold, a golden tiara encrusted/studded with precious stones, 100 silken gowns embroidered with gold, precious items/gifts made of gold encrusted with rubies, sapphires, and jewels, and a spacious orchard overlooking the Tigris River; this orchard's fruits brought 12 thousand dinars as annual revenues. At the same time, people of Iraq were famished and impoverished; prices of food items were soaring; food items were sold at exorbitant prices, and most hungry people had to steal as highwaymen; peasants deserted their farms or sold it for cheap prices and left Iraq. Many people died of hunger; at least 1000 persons died every day at the time; many remained unburied and Tughril Beg had to oversee (and pay for) the process of burying the dead to prevent any pestilence or epidemic resulting from corrupting the air by the stench of the unburied, decomposed corpses of the dead. He felt afraid that such a stench would reach the spacious, luxurious palaces of the affluent ones! The Abbasid caliph, Al-Qaim, never care about what happened outside his palace; the rich Iraqis grew very poor and many people had to barbecue and consume the flesh of cats and dogs and then the human flesh of corpses! A man was caught red-handed as he barbecued the flesh of a young woman killed by him; he was sentenced to death for his crime. Sadly, Al-Qaim was only interested in the military campaigns of Tughril Beg to invade Tikrit and Mosul in order to loot their wealth and to enslave their women. As per the historian Ibn Al-Jawzy, in 449 A.H., the caliph and his courtiers and retinue members held lavish celebrations with huge, sumptuous-food banquets to welcome the victorious Tughril Beg and his troops and military leaders, and no one cared about the famine, pestilence, and poverty suffered by the masses in Iraq. In 450 A.H., the famine, pestilence, and poverty increased in Iraq; the circles of the unjust rulers and the affluent classes remained haughty, aloof, and isolated. Their soldiers committed many acts of aggression against the masses; the viziers were busy persecuting Shiites and non-Muslims; the caliph, Al-Qaim, was busy making love to his pretty wife the princess. He was only worried when his father-in-law, Tughril Beg, left Baghdad in order to travel to his brother in Persia in a mission of reconciliation. The Fatimids of North Africa and Egypt employed the movement and men of a leader named Al-Basasiri to undermine the Abbasid rule in Baghdad by wreaking havoc in its streets; they desired to conquer Iraq one day. This leader, Al-Basasiri, seized the chance of the absence of Tughril Beg and his troops and he announced his revolt under the banners of the Fatimids of Cairo, Egypt. The hungry Iraqi people joined this revolt and they attacked and robbed the palaces of the Abbasid caliph, courtiers, viziers, and the affluent class. The caliph was defeated and his humble requests to be spared humiliation were in vain; he was captured by the troops of Al-Basasiri; he was put on a camel and then held captive in a prison in Anbar, in Iraq, for one year, and he implored the Lord God for deliverance. This is in contrast to lavish celebrations/feasts and sumptuous-food banquets when Tughril Beg prostrated before the caliph as per the Abbasid protocol which included deifying Abbasid caliphs. Thus, this imprisoned caliph tasted humiliation, hunger, and fear and he regretted neglecting the hungry masses who died of hunger or pestilence and had to consume barbecued human flesh; he felt very sorry when his fortune, wealth, precious possessions, jewels,...etc. were robbed by the masses. His own 90-year-old mother ran away and suffered poverty and hunger; she had to write a letter to Al-Basasiri to beseech his aid in 451 A.H.; he brought her to his palace and made her live in honor, peace, and satiety; she died a year later in 452 A.H.
4- The Abbasids were never warned at all by such calamities and inflictions; Baghdad was destroyed in 656 A.H. by Hulago the leader of the Mongols (or the Moghuls). The responsibility of the destruction of Baghdad and the Abbasid caliphate falls on the last Abbasid caliph Al-Motassim as we explain in our article titled "Not In Defense of Hulago", found in English on this link: ( http://www.ahl-alquran.com/English/show_article.php?main_id=14349). This caliph, Al-Motassim, monopolized wealth and he lived in luxury along with his courtiers, servants, etc., whereas scientists and scholars at the time lived in abject poverty. The historian known as Al-Ghassany in his history-book titled (Al-Asjad Al-Masbook) wrote that in the last decades of the Abbasid caliphate, its authorities were keen only on collecting taxes and never cared to introduce anything to the benefit of people; men in authority were busy with mundane, banal activities and they lived entirely for pleasure; many grave injustices were committed by the greedy governors and money-seeking overseers and tax-collectors; they forgot that kingdom and rule may continue within disbelief/polytheism but never within injustice. Of course, Al-Motassim (the last) learned this lesson when it was too late for him; he was killed by the soldiers of the Mongols who trampled over him with their feet as per the command of their leader, Hulago, because he saw that the caliph was too mean and base to deserve to die by the sword like real men! We personally think that he deserved to die in such a humiliating manner. The famous historian, Al-Hamathani, writes in his book, titled "Collector of Historical Accounts", that after razing Baghdad, Hulago entered with his forces the palace of the caliphate. The last caliph was brought to him, shivering in terror. Hulago shouted at him and said mockingly that he was the caliph's guest and demanded all worthy and valuable things in the palace to be brought before him. All coffers and huge boxes containing precious stones, jewelry, gold…etc. were brought to him. Hulago gave them away to his men and servants as gifts, and demanded to know all the secret chambers and hide-outs and hidden storehouses of treasures that the caliph knew about. Under duress, the terrified caliph told him all about that, and especially of the underground grand basin in the garden of the palace, which was filled with golden bars, each weighing about 100 pounds! Hulago's men excavated and extracted all gold from this basin. Hulago mocked and taunted the last caliph as he owned all such priceless treasures and was stingy enough not to pay the annuities of his soldiers! Al-Hamathani tells us another scene between Hulago and the last caliph in the palace of the caliphate. Hulago ordered that the women of the seraglio of the caliph were to be brought to him. They were 700 concubines and 1000 slave-girls and female servants. The crying caliph tried to appeal and implore to Hulago to spare them, saying that they never went out of the palace, and that they had never seen moon and the sun. hence, his women were prisoners of the seraglio, just like the gold bars he buried! Hulago distributed all women as gifts on his soldiers, leaders, henchman, etc., and then, Hulago ordered his soldiers to kill the caliph by trampling over him with their feet.
5- Ibn Katheer the historian wrote about the massacre of Baghdad committed by the Mongols; the invaders massacred all men, women, children, and elderly people; few people fled and took hiding outside the city in woods, graveyards, valleys, and deserts and even inside water-wells. Those who took hiding in bars/taverns and mosques were killed by the soldiers of the Mongols who forced the gates open; even those who ran away into the roofs were put to the sword; their blood trickled into the alleys from gutters. The only survivors were some Jews and Christians and those who sought refuge in their homes and in their houses of worship and in the palace of the Shiite vizier named Ibn Al-Alqami; besides, some merchants ransomed their lives by paying large sums of money to the Mongols. Baghdad was ruined and few people remained in it; it was no longer the biggest and most crowded city in the Muslim empire; people differed in estimating the number of those killed 800 thousand persons or one/two million persons. This massacre of Baghdad lasted for 40 days; at least 1000 female slaves were captured from the palace of the caliph; many men of the Abbasid household were beheaded and his women (wives, daughters, female relatives, concubines, and female slaves) were captured by the Mongols. Piles and heaps of decomposed corpses spread in all streets of Baghdad; it became a ghost city; rain and wind made the stench of corpses spread all over the city. Many people in other Iraq cities (and even in some neighboring Levantine cities) died of the resulting pestilence carried by the air. Iraqi people suffered famine, soaring prices, epidemics, and the death of hundreds of persons every day. Many who survived the massacre and got out of their hiding places died of hunger and pestilence.
Lastly:
The affluent class of the filthily rich ones in Iraq witnessed the massacres committed by Saddam and then by the ISIS terrorists; are they willing to turn Iraq into yards of mass graves?!