Opinion

Political Sectarianism’s Spookiness: Down with Sunni and Shi‘i Sectarians

Abu Dharr

Dhu al-Qa'dah 29, 14402019-08-01

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In the beginning of Islamic history, there were Umawis (Umayyads) and today there are Saudis. In the beginning it wasn’t the khulafa’ and now it isn’t the Ikhwan. For some of us who cannot relate the past to the present or vice versa, let us remind them, if a reminder is any help, that the Saudis have put the Ikhwan on their terrorist list. In other words, the scheming Saudi family has criminalized the Ikhwan, for the same reason and purposes that the Umawis outlawed the Shi‘is, criminalized the Khawarij, and proscribed any scholar or movement that questioned their legitimacy.

If we the Muslims had our political thoughts correct we would easily see the similarities between the Umawis and the Saudis on one flank as they were and are at war with the Shi‘is and the Ikhwan on the other. One of the principal reasons why this political clarity is muddled is the element of sectarianism — both Sunni sectarianism and Shi‘i sectarianism. Sunni sectarianism swells into proportions verging on ignorance from a root problem that fails to identify, clearly and publicly, the political deviation and ideological aberration that was set into historical motion by the Umawi usurpation of power and succeeding dynasties since that time, barring a few exceptions. Shi‘i sectarianism sprouts into proportions verging on ignorance from a root problem that fails to identify, clearly and publicly, the political temporary solution and ideological measure to keep the Muslim population together (most of whom are steeped in a jahili ‘asabiyah) after the Prophet’s passing on — from the khilafah of Abu Bakr to Imam ‘Ali. This grey area (the legitimacy of the khilafah and the illegitimacy of monarchies) that has turned into widespread Islamic ignorance (both Sunni and Shi‘i) has become the troublemaking area of anyone who holds a grudge or harbors hostility toward Muslims (both Sunnis and Shi‘is). The two incapacities: Sunnis discovering who the Umawis were, and the Shi‘is discovering who the khulafa’ were, are causing confusion and chaos throughout Muslim lands. Feeding on this general ignorance are the jumping mad extremists and fanatics, both Sunnis and Shi‘is. Immediately identifiable on the Sunni side are most Wahhabis and Salafis; on the Shi‘i side are the Hujjatis and Shirazis. And the cure can only come from within. A Sunni does not meet the requirements to remedy Shi‘i mistakes and misunderstandings. Similarly, a Shi‘i does not meet the requirements to rectify Sunni mistakes and misunderstandings.

This very wide gap of historical, religious, ideological, and political ignorance has flung the doors of fitnah wide open for Sunni-Shi‘i religious bigots and Zio-imperialist military diehards to suck the life out of Muslims everywhere.

What has this combined Sunni-Shi‘i unfamiliarity with each other done to both of them? What has it done especially to the ruling decision-makers in Arabdom? In the first instance, current rulers in Arab countries have gone from hypocritical enemies of Israel to its introverted friends on their way to becoming its affable allies. Can anyone believe that the Egypt of the 1950s and 1960s has gone from a pompous enemy to becoming a poodle pal of the Zionist beast? Who could have imagined that an Egypt, with a population of 100 million, ganging up with the diminutive mortal enemy of Muslims — the Zionist butchers of Palestinians — to strangulate the two million poverty stricken Palestinians in an open air prison called Ghazzah!? Even an imagination running wild could not have predicted, a generation ago, that there will be Arabian officials who will go public with their alliance with the Zionist slaughterers of babies and killers of kids with smiles on their faces and will salute an apartheid Israel in their statements! The official Arabian system that began with the Umawi usurpation of power and allegations of legitimacy is winding down with the Saudi capitulation to those who are most ruthless in their hostility to committed Muslims. The Umawis’ official policy of condemning Imam ‘Ali and the Prophet’s household from the minbars has morphed into public policies that are saying the Yahud have a right to settle in and establish their (Zionist) state in Palestine. The Umawi-cum-Saudi rulers are blowing hot-and-cold saying that resistance to Zionist Israel is terrorism. Even the Palestinian Authority that was conceived in Oslo and Madrid by Arabian officials and midwifed by Zio-imperialism is begging for international recognition of statehood on about a fourth of geographical Palestine. The 14 centuries of official metamorphosing from Umawi to Saudi peaked with the Oslo agreement that had half the world’s nation-states, who were hitherto resistant to recognizing Israel, come out accepting Israel as a bona fide nation state; among them were China and India. The Umawi affinity with Byzantium lives on in official Arabdom as Egypt and Jordan made their peace with the Zionist colonizers. And now the Arabian-Gulf goofballs are preparing the stage for their official recognition of the Zionist creature — with Bahrain leading the way. Their Iblisi rationalization: we can’t be more Palestinian than the Palestinians themselves! As the 14-century old Umawi regime is surrendering to the American sponsored Zionists in Palestine, a 14-century old resistance is coming of age — the spirit of resistance and championing the rights of the oppressed. History is at a turning point. In less than a generation we may very well witness the rise of those valiant spirits who gave their lives as they stood their ground against the combined forces of Byzantium and the Umawis come back to life and win in the final confrontation in this historical battle. The resistance and fight against Zionism and its backers and benefactors is the prospect of the Palestinians, the anticipation of the Arabs, sunniness of the Sunnis, the sureness of the Shi‘is, marvel of the Muslims, and the optimism of the oppressed.

The nation-states, particularly Egypt and Jordan, who were promised economic prosperity for signing the Oslo and Madrid agreements are worse off now than they have ever been. Their normalization of relations with the Zionist colony in Palestine has put them deeply in debt and marginalized them so much that you may count them as banana republics. Opposite them was tiny Lebanon (total population a mere 4 million) — a country divided into many sects and denominations, a den of spies, dotted with nightclubs and casinos to serve as a playground for the immoral Arabians. In this Lebanese polyglot of religions and classes, the Shi‘is were at the bottom of the totem pole. Then came the attempted Israeli occupation of Lebanon in the 1980s. What was to follow was a manifest miracle — a core of dedicated grassroots Muslims, with values of human equality and principles of universal justice. They emerged and blew up the US marine barracks and the US embassy and forced the protectors of Israel to flee from Lebanon. Then came a long war of attrition against the Zionist occupiers of Lebanon that culminated in the Zionist Israelis dragging their tail of defeat out of southern Lebanon. At a time when sons of PLO officials were busy transacting business deals, the sons of the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon were transacting divine deals. A leader of Hizbullah and sons of the leaders of Hizbullah gave their lives in exchange for Allah’s promise. When the dust began to settle, many agents of the Israeli war machine were exposed and some of them fled to Israel where they eventually were treated like the rest of the Palestinians and Arabs. Then came 2006, and Israel and the US confidently talked about a “New Middle East.” And a New Middle East did indeed emerge but it was not the one Tel Aviv and Washington had envisioned. It turned into a New Middle East after 33 days of Israel’s unrelenting but failing warfare with Hizbullah. The resistance movement emerged at the center — head and shoulders above the historical remnants of Arabian officialdom from Manama to Morocco. Hizbullah today has catapulted into the only fighting force in the area along with the Islamic Resistance front. If war ever breaks out we may very well witness for the first time in our tortured contemporary history Hizbullah gallantly liberating at the very minimum northern Palestine with the potential of moving onward to liberate al-Quds (Jerusalem) — the eternal capital of the Prophets (a). And so it was: the Lebanese underclass of poor Muslims became the center of attention and the only force to be reckoned with in the Eastern Mediterranean. And the Umawi voice can be heard through the loudmouths of Arabdom who call Hizbullah a “terrorist organization.” Finely-tuned Muslims can recognize the voice of Mu‘awiyah in the statements of Bani Saud. The Saudi princes and royals are pointing fingers at Hizbullah saying that it gets its support from Iran. Look who is speaking! They get their support from Israel and America. And what is wrong if a Muslim gets support from another Muslim for the goal of putting Palestinians back in their homes and territories? We are now in front of two camps: one of them says the liberation of Palestine is a legitimate goal (the Islamic Resistance) and the other says that the Zionist colonization of Palestine is legitimate (the Gulf Arabian officials).

Arabian official mouthpieces are poisoning the airwaves with sectarian accusations flying left and right saying that Hizbullah is Shi‘i. In the meantime we want to ask them: who are your allies? Aren’t they Israel and the US? And in your sectarian vocabulary are Israel and the US Malikis? Or Shafi‘is, or Hanbalis? Or Hanafis?

The Umawis and the Saudis who hijacked the word “Sunnis” became conscious of their Sunni-ism when they began puffing their Cuban cigars and sipping their Johnny Walker!

And they should not think — they who are in denial of Allah’s power and authority — that Our giving them rein is good for them: We give them rein only to let them exacerbate their sin; and shameful suffering awaits them (3:178).

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