An Iraqi Shia Editorial: “They think that religion is only a matter of having a beard”
The first post from “The Iraqi” drew an interesting array of comments. “The Iraqi” is a brave and honest man. A commenter asked to read something with “Shia and Kurd perspectives.”
The following editorial from Al Adala was emailed to me this morning. I read it and thought, okay, here’s a Shia. I can’t vouch for the translation’s accuracy, but I’ve very good reasons to trust the emailer. Al Adala is a newspaper published by the Shiite Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq. I’ve looked for a link but can’t locate one. Al Adala’s editor, however, does have a yahoo email address.
This essay was written by Zuhir Kadhem Aboud and appears in the July 28 edition. Aboud is taking on European and Arab nations that have a “double standard” about terrorists– the translation doesn’t make that point clear until the second paragraph. His last paragraph is a statement Zarqawi’s boys don’t want to hear, but the rest of the Muslim world needs to listen.
The Terror War Against Humanity
The war launched by the extremist terrorist organizations, which use Islam and its instructions as a cover to justify their acts, never affects the authorities or the Western political systems, which claim to fight terror. This war is against civilians and innocents, and is being supported, despite the fact that it’s against humanity. The crimes committed never change the state’s political ways, and couldn’t let them reconsider their economy or the ways of their systems. Also, it couldn’t convince anyone that this war is against the authorities and presidents rather than against civilians.
The eye-catching aspect is that there are states and leaders behind the terrorists’ networks, as well as mass media establishments and personalities, who don’t feel shame for supporting those terrorist organizations with the excuse of gaining a victory for Islam. Despite that, they have political schizophrenia in their contradicting stances, since sometimes they claim their commitment to human rights and to combating terror. On the other hand, they support those criminal movements which spread like a disease. At the same time, they adhere to improving relations with the European states, and yet they encourage those organizations to harm or destroy European countries.
Those organizations are also supported by the Arab satellite channels and journalists, who rely on European support and are strengthened by European democracy, and then they call to kill the innocents, and they praise the killers and criminals under the guise of glorifying Islam and the Muslims. These badly twisted people express the deterioration in the political behavior. This is considered an ethical crisis for using very cowardly and cruel methods, and taking advantage of the chance provided by some countries to those Arabs and Muslims who couldn’t live in their own countries any more. These people came to those countries where human rights are respected, and obtained citizenship and transportation. Why did they use these countries in a way that forced them to reconsider the Arab and Muslim presence, and put pressure on them in the workplace and during entry and exit from the country and during their presence there? Those organizations have only slogans and they use their demand for the occupation’s withdrawal as a cover to present more innocent civilian victims. There is a mischievous Arab newspaper which was rejected by the Arabs before the foreigners. This newspaper praises and glorifies the terror, and cries and prays for those criminals, and prays for more killing, devastation, death and explosions. It also refers to the terrorist, Bin Laden, as a respected sheikh. Those Arab newspapers are issued in the Arabic language, and financed by disbelievers and foreign countries, as well as printed by foreign printers, which are made by the disbelievers. Those papers call to kill the sons of the very same countries where they have headquarters. They glorify the dictatorships and the dictatorial periods, as well as the terrorists and criminals, and publish their statements and movies which feature murder and decapitation.
This will result in the people’s hatred for these organizations and for Islam, as long as the organizations use Islam as a slogan and cover. The civilized world witnesses barbaric attacks by backward minds, which find the suitable circumstances and use weapons to force their ideas onto civilized societies. Those organizations believe that killing and fighting democracy is right. They think that religion is only a matter of having a beard, wearing white clothes and carrying prayer beads. Such minds need to be treated because they will continue in killing people freely if no one stops them.
