Muslim Unity: A Basic Need For Peace

By Bushra Tarrar

The unity of Muslims the world over is the need of the hour, not for any aggressive design but for own survival, salvation, growth and development. Only unity can bring them the glory that the world of Islam once enjoyed. There will then be a third -world bloc (of the Muslim countries) in this emerging multipolar world that would be powerful enough to stand the rigours and the pressures of Zionist dominated capitalistic bloc or any other power that has expansionists designs. This unity has to move beyond mere lip service but translated in concrete terms.

Muslims must understand the divide and rule policy of the West. In the contemporary history, the British policy in the Middle East where Colonel Lawrence, the notorious Lawrence of Arabia was launched to work and break the Ottoman Empire, through Arab nationalism and further divisions within the Arab world in particular. Having done that the he also sowed the seeds of intra Arab and inter Arab conflicts in the region. To come more into recent history that’s still evolving, one must study the pattern since the Iran-Iraq war, the mosaic will emerge very clear.

After the Iranian revolution, the Americans, French, British, Germans, Australia and other smaller countries like Italy etc. took sides and sold their military hardware worth billions of dollars. Not only that but they also kept fanning fear, threats and hatred to make a clashes inevitable. Iraq invaded Iran with all that it had including the chemical weapons which were again supplied by the West. This bloody war continued for almost a decade where millions of people were killed on both sides. West, were having a laugh and also minting money by keeping this war flamed to its maximum duration for their economic gains. When Iraq was completely exhausted, Sadam Hussain at the behest of the US attacked Kuwait and captured it to give a war trophy to the people of Iraq. Not realizing that he fell in a well laid out trap from which Sadam never recovered and ended up at the gallows.

This invasion of Kuwait was made the basis for Western intervention that was led by the US. Operation Desert Storm that isolated Iraq from the rest of the world was orchestrated in the Security Council of the UNO. After this war, Iraq was placed under UN sanctions, no fly-zones were established. Export of oil was stopped but a limited quantity only under ‘oil for food’ was allowed. In this game billions of dollars were made by the American corporations, oil companies made rich harvest. In the US when all other business was heading for a slump, oil companies were positing quarterly profits in billions of dollars. Due to these sanctions, half a million Iraqi children died for want of baby food and medicine that could not be imported freely. To an interview, the former US Ambassador to the UN and Secretary of State Madeline Albright when questioned about the justification of over half a million children for want of food and medicine, she said it was a price worth it. Half a million children and women was of no consequence to the Zionist USA. All they want is money, money and more money no matter what it costs the humanity.

Raja Mujtaba, in his open letter to the Kings and Presidents of the Islamic countries had warned way back in 2002 that the Muslim world is going to face a situation worse than they can imagine. Today, US and its allies are singling out every Muslim country and then pounce on it like Hyenas on the week animals after singling them out. Today Muslims should be united not only in the religious sense but also in other fields like industry, agriculture, trade etc. A joint defence strategy should be their first and foremost priority. The Muslim countries have a lot of resources for trade, commerce and industry. The whole block is not only self sufficient but also contiguous to a large extent. But unfortunately they stand divided on more than one issue, it could be Arab or non Arab issue or Shia-Sunni issue. All these seeds were sowed by Lawrence of Arabia that are being capitalized by the Zionists and their allies. with one another but there is lack of understanding and unity.

OIC, Organization For Islamic Conference, Arab League or Gulf Cooperation Council etc. have all become redundant and worthless bodies. To begin with, they do not convene any conference and if they do, they never come out with some unanimous decisions that they can translate into action. These organizations of the Muslim world have become a laughing stock. Irony is that knowing it fully well that the West has and continues to damage the Muslim world, the rulers still look upon them as messiahs to their problems. Every time when some situation aggravates, without solving the previous problems more are added through sanctions and vetoes. Every decision favours Israel or India but none provide any relief to Muslim Countries. For the last two decades, Sudan is embroiled in civil war. The clash is going on between the Muslims and the Christians. These are the same people who were living in complete peace but the destruction of peace was engineered by the West to take over oil from Sudan and split the country into two. Likewise in Eastern Timor, Australia and the USA supported by the UK played a major role to bring about its separation from Indonesia.

They can make Islamic Unity much more meaningful only if they sink their egos and the concepts of narrow nationalism. They should think that they all have faith in one Allah and Quran. This is the clear and true basis for their unity. They should try to feel this spiritual reality. They should not allow the sectarian differences or of any other nature bring about any division amongst the Muslims.

They can become a world power if they all come to have a prioritized economic structuring and mutual defence pacts. They would need to make heavy investments in education, science and technology. Allocate more and more for research and development, these should be funded through IOC etc. amongst the Muslim countries, Pakistan, Turkey and to some extent Iran have a developed defence industry. This can become the basis for further enhancement involving other countries into it.

Raja Mujtaba

After graduating from college, I joined Pakistan Army and was commissioned in a Tank Regiment.   I am a veteran of the Indo-Pakistan war. After leaving the Army, I joined IT as a profession. I was hired by Kuwait Air Force And Air Defence as an Adviser to computerize its entire operation.   Here I was the Chief Coordinator of the Project, Kuwait Automated Support System (KASS).   It was a state-of-the-art leading-edge technology where we established over 500 online terminals network with dedicated voice and data communications. It had Satellite linkups to connect with other systems and track the inventory movement for KAF & AD.   On this project, I was coordinating with the US Navy, IBM World, AT&T, and Martin Marietta for the development, deployment, and operation of the KASS.  Writing has always been a passion for me, been writing for 25 years for various newspapers and periodicals. Now for the last four years, I have formed my virtual Think Tank, Opinion Maker.  Here we have some renowned writers from Pakistan and abroad who contribute regularly that’s helping the world opinion in some way.  I am a keen golfer may not be a good one but play on a daily basis. I am also fond of using the camera to picture nature and people.