Middle East

Resolving the sectarian problem in Iraq

 “We have opened the Pandora's box.” [1]

Iraq has witnessed one of its bloodiest periods in recent weeks when four car bombs devastated two villages of the Yazidi, a Kurdish religious sect, near the city of Mosul, that left at least 250 people dead and hundreds more injured.

Unfortunately, these types of attacks are all too common in occupied Iraq. Since the 2003 American led invasion, relations between Iraq’s once unified communities have deteriorated into systematic violence on a daily basis. The UN estimates that as many as 100 people a day are being killed due to sectarianism.

Fighting between different militias has seen market places bombed, mosques destroyed and thousands kidnapped and tortured. What was once a mosaic of religious tolerance where Muslim and non-Muslim, Sunni and Shia, Arab and Kurd lived together side by side for centuries has now deteriorated in to mayhem and violence.

The blame for inciting this unrest lies squarely with the American led collation. It’s no secret that America has overtly and covertly been inflaming tensions between Sunni and Shia in order to further its political objectives not just in Iraq but the region as a whole.

After the attack on the Al-Askara mosque last year the Shia Imam Muqtada al-Sadr said: "My message to the Iraqi people is to stand united and bonded, and not to fall into the Western trap. The West is trying to divide the Iraqi people."

Establishing the Iraqi occupation government along sectarian lines and in turn supporting and arming the Shia dominated government whilst marginalising the rest of the Sunni population is an age old colonial policy. Unfortunately for the Americans this plan to incite an all-out civil war in Iraq has failed.

As reported in the New York Times, "An analysis of the 1,666 bombs that exploded in July [2006] shows that 70 per cent were directed against the American-led military force, according to a spokesman for the military command in Baghdad. Twenty percent struck Iraqi security forces, up from 9 per cent in 2005. And 10 percent of the blasts struck civilians, twice the rate from last year." [2]

Even American officials have admitted publicly that they are to blame for the sectarian violence in Iraq. Zalmay Khalilzad, US Ambassador to Iraq said, “We have opened the Pandora's box and the question is, what is the way forward?" [3]

The way forward for Iraq is what should concern every Muslim

Recently peace talks were held in Helsinki, Finland between representatives of Iraq’s main factions. The meeting was chaired by ex-IRA leader Martin McGuiness and also attended by delegates from South Africa. It was thought those involved in the Irish and South African peace processes would bring something new to the table.

The problem with meetings such as these is not the experience of the peace-negotiators and their past successes. Rather the problem is the basis of the negotiations which aim at resolving the sectarian crisis in Iraq through western inspired solutions. Point 1 of the 12 point plan that was agreed on after the meeting stated: “Resolve political issues through non-violence and democracy.” [4]

Resolving political issues through non-violence is all very well but whilst hundreds of thousands of American troops occupy the country and prop up its puppet government in Baghdad, any political solution with the true interests of the Iraqi people at heart will fail.

Democracy is always heralded as the only solution that can resolve sectarian conflict. Washington promised to make Iraq so attractive a democratic model that it would set an example to the entire region. The plan spectacularly failed. ‘Democratic Iraq’ is a model no-one wants to follow.

The shambolic nature of the ‘democracy’ promoted by the US in Iraq with the imposition of stooges has proven no better alternative than the dictatorships in the Muslim world. Hence, the Iraq debacle has simply accelerated the drive towards shari’ah and Khilafah amongst the Ummah.

Talk of introducing shariah as a way to resolve the sectarian conflict in Iraq is seen by the west as lighting the fuse on an already volatile situation. The solution in their view is secularism i.e. to remove religion from the equation all together.

This view that the noble shari’ah of Allah (swt) is somehow discriminatory against minorities and will in fact lead to a worsening situation is a blatant lie. This lie is propagated by the west and their supporters in the Muslim world who are deluded in to thinking democracy is somehow the only system that can unite people.

In the run up to the massive Khilafah conference in Indonesia this summer, the Jakarta Post published a series of articles aimed at undermining the growing support for shari’ah and Khilafah in Indonesia. One of the columnists wrote: “Any claim that the state can enforce shariah should be completely rejected because the idea undermines democracy and endangers pluralism, thus triggering disintegration.” [5]

What this columnist and those who believe shari’ah has no place in the 21st century have failed to realise is that only Islam and the Khilafah has the ability to unite the Muslim world.

Despite all their political differences the common factor uniting all Muslims in Iraq – Arab, Kurd, Sunni and Shia is the Islamic aqeeda. Only Islam has a proven track record of destroying sectarianism and tribalism in favour of unity and uniting disparate peoples in to one Ummah.
Before Islam the warring tribes of Aws and Khazraj fought war after war against each other. Yet when these two former enemies accepted Islam they became brothers who together were known as the Ansar. One day a youth was sent to incite hatred between the Ansar and break their unity by reciting a poem about their last battle at Buath. The poem stirred the emotions of the Ansar so much so, that they were about to start fighting each other, They shouted: “To arms! To arms!”

When the Prophet (saw) heard of this he said: "O Muslims! Remember Allah, remember Allah. Will you act like pagans while I am with you? After Allah has guided you to Islam and honoured you and saved you from paganism? After he has delivered you from unbelief and made you friends by so doing." [6]

After hearing this the Ansar started crying and laid down their arms embracing one another as brothers once again.

As for the Kurds there is widespread support for separating from Iraq and establishing an independent Kurdish state. The rationale behind establishing such a state is that only a Kurdish government could truly represent the culture and interests of the Kurdish people. Living under the brutal regime of Saddam Hussein, the Kurds saw the suppression of their Kurdish culture, curtailment of their rights and numerous atrocities committed against them.

This line of thinking mistakenly views the Kurdish problem as one of ethnicity, rather than governance. Under the new Iraqi government, Kurds have been given greater autonomy and are now governed by Kurdish leaders, yet for ordinary Kurds they still suffer from corruption and oppression.

Kurds in northern Iraq suffered years of bloodshed in the mid nineties because of constant infighting between the two main Kurdish parties – the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).

In 1996, the KDP headed by Massoud Barzani, even sought help from Saddam Hussein – the Kurds worst enemy, to help capture Irbil from the PUK. Relations between the Iraqi Kurdish groups and the Turkish based Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) weren’t much different. In September 2000, fighting broke out between the PUK and PKK in the Qandil range of north eastern Iraq where the PKK had seized approximately 50 villages.

Protests by ordinary Kurds against the PUK and KDP came to a head last year in Halabja where thousands gathered to commemorate the anniversary of the poison gas attack on the town. Furious Kurds stormed and destroyed a museum dedicated to the memory of the Halabja attack which for ordinary people has become a symbol of the Kurdish regional government’s oppression and tyranny. Many Kurds accuse their regional government of stealing donations gathered to help survivors of the poison gas attack.

"Kurdish officials used Halabja to gather money," said Tara Rahim who came to Halabja to honour her sister Zara killed in the attack. "Millions of dollars has been spent, but nothing has reached us," she said.

The problem in Iraq as elsewhere in the Muslim world is not one of ethnicity but rather the governing system. Saddam Hussein not only oppressed Kurds but he brutally tortured and murdered thousands of his own people whether Kurd, Arab, Sunni or Shia. He even executed his two son-in-laws!

The underlying culture of the Kurdish people is Islamic. They share the same Islamic heritage as the rest of the Muslims whether in Turkey, Iraq or elsewhere. The most famous Kurd in history was Salahudeen Ayyubi. He is honoured not just by Kurds but by all Muslims, from all ethnicities, because of his liberation of Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, the third holiest site in Islam.

Some of the largest demonstrations against the blasphemous Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad (saw) took place by Kurds in Turkey. 50,000 demonstrators gathered in the city of Diyarbakir waving green Islamic flags and chanting Islamic slogans.

As for relations between Sunni and Shia this is portrayed as one of continuous conflict with Sunni and Shia attacking each other for centuries. This view is completely incorrect.

If we look historically to relations between Sunni and Shia in Iraq we don't see any "Pandora's Box" of tensions. Rather we see both sets of Muslims have always lived together side by side, worshipping in the same mosques and inter-marrying. Despite differences of opinion over some Islamic issues both Sunni and Shia both see themselves and each other as Muslims first.

The western media continually labels mosques and neighbourhoods in Iraq as being either Sunni or Shia. Yet this distinction is a misnomer. A mosque is a House of Allah, and cannot be described as a Sunni or Shia mosque. This is why the attack on Al-Askara mosque was just as upsetting to Sunni as it was to Shia.

Both mainstream Sunni and Shia are Muslim and have more in common with each other than differences. Both agree on the fundamental tenets of the Islamic belief and that the Qur'an and Sunnah are the principle sources of Islamic law. The main Shia school of thought (madhab) is the Jafari one. This was founded by Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq the sixth Shia Imam, who was also the teacher of Imam Abu Hanifa the founder of the largest Sunni madhab.

The political rule of a future Khilafah is neither Sunni nor Shia, rather it is Islamic. The head of state may adopt legislation from many different schools of thought, whether Sunni or Shia. The people will obey these laws as the law of the land. The Head of State however, will not adopt legislation covering personal worships and beliefs unless they have a societal impact such as Zakat. The Khilafah is not a police state that will intrude in to peoples' homes investigating what beliefs they hold.

Mohammed Baqr al-Sadr, uncle of Muqtada al-Sadr declared while under house arrest because of his opposition to Ba'athism and non-Islamic rule in Iraq, "The only thing I have sought in my life is to make the establishment of an Islamic government on earth possible".

Before his execution at the hands of Saddam in 1980, he said "It is incumbent on every Muslim to liberate themselves from this inhuman gang, and to establish a righteous, unique, and honourable rule based on Islam".

With regards non-Muslim minorities in Iraq such as Christians and Yazidis they will be treated according to the rules of the dhimmi which treat non-Muslims as equal citizens who can freely practise their religions without oppression.

Islam has a unique methodology in moulding different peoples in to one harmonious society. They are united together in the Khilafah on the basis of citizenship.

Citizenship in Islam is based on someone permanently living within the lands of the Khilafah regardless of their ethnicity or creed. Arab, Kurd, Sunni, Shia, Muslim or Non-Muslim are all considered citizens of the Khilafah.

It is not a requirement for someone to become Muslim and adopt the values of Islam in order to become a citizen of the state. Muslims living outside the Islamic State do not enjoy the rights of citizenship, whereas a non-Muslim living permanently within the Islamic State (dar ul-Islam) does. This is derived from the following hadith.

The Prophet (saw) said: ‘Call them to Islam, and if they agree accept from them and refrain from fighting against them, then call them to move from their land to the land of the Muhajireen (the emigrants), and tell them if they do so, then they will have the rights which the Muhajireen enjoy and they will have duties like the duties upon the Muhajireen.’ [7]

This hadith means if they do not move to the land of the Muhajireen they would not enjoy what the Muhajireen enjoy, i.e. the rights of those who are living in the land of Islam. So this Hadith clearly shows the difference between those who move to the land of the Muhajireen and those who do not move to the land of the Muhajireen. Dar ul-Muhajireen was the land of Islam (Dar ul-Islam) at the time of the Prophet (saw), and all other lands were Dar ul-Kufr. [8]

The Islamic state is forbidden from discriminating between citizens on the basis of race, creed, colour or anything else. In origin all the rules of Islam apply equally to Muslims and non-Muslims. The Islamic scholars have agreed, especially the scholars of Usul (foundations), that the divine rules are addressed to every sane person able to understand the speech, whether he is Muslim or not, male or female. [9]

However, there are exceptions to this. If the Shari’ah rule is dependent on belief in Islam such as praying salah or giving the zakat tax then it applies only to Muslims. These exceptions are not discriminatory rules as some have claimed, but take in to account the beliefs and values of the citizen so as not to cause oppression to them. They in no way detract from being equal citizens.

To conclude, only Islam has the ability to unite the warring factions in Iraq and establish a unified and harmonious society that can progress with the sectarianism that has ripped the country apart. Enforcing democracy on the Iraqi people has failed to stem the tide of sectarianism and has in reality inflamed the situation due to political factions vying for power on the basis of sectarian interests.

Iraq was once a great and powerful nation envied by the world when it was the seat of the Abbasid Khilafah. InshAllah with the ending of the brutal western occupation and the re-establishment of the Khilafah it can be a great nation once more.

References

[1] Zalmay Khalilzad, US Ambassador, Los Angeles Times, Reported in The Guardian newspaper http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1725996,00.html
[2] Michael Gordon, Mark Mazzetti and Thom Shanker, "Bombs Aimed at G.I.'s in Iraq are Increasing" New York Times, August 16th 2006
[3] Op.cit., Zalmay Khalilzad
[4] Guardian Newspaper, 4th September 2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2162035,00.html
[5] Jakarta Post, August 21, 2007, Article ‘Caliphate campaign puts national unity at risk’
[6] Ibn Ahmad, An-Naisaburi, Reasons and Occasions of Revelation of the Holy Qur’an, p.67
[7] Narrated by Sulayman Bin Buraida, Sahih Muslim, Hadith no. 4294
[8] Hizb ut-Tahrir, ‘The Methodology of Hizb ut-Tahrir for Change,’ Al-Khilafah Publications, p. 6
[9] Taqiuddin an-Nabhani, ‘The Ruling System in Islam,’ translation of Nizam ul-Hukm fil Islam, Khilafah Publications, Fifth Edition, p. 247