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A personal insight on the developing situation in Libya

 

«إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَيُمْلِي لِلظَّالِمِ حَتَّى إِذَا أَخَذَهُ لَمْ يُفْلِتْهُ»

"Verily Allah affords the oppressor some time, until when He takes hold of him, He does not let him go." (Bukhari and Muslim)

Libya usually conjures up images of oil, the Lockerbie disaster in 1988 and Muammar Gaddafi - more aptly known to the world as the ‘mad man.' With a population of 6.5 million, Libya is not usually the country that comes to mind when the Muslim world is discussed, Libya is alo one of very few countries that was colonized by Fascist Italy.

Libya was created from Cyrenaica , Tripolitania and Fezzan in 1952 and was ruled under a monarchy through King Idris, until he was overthrown by the ‘mad man' in 1969. Ever since the ‘mad man has ruled with brutal oppression.

When the revolutions were taking shape in Egypt and Tunisia, many were determined that Libya would be next, I was not so sure. I was from the generation that knew no other ruler than Gaddaffi. I often have discussions with Muslims from the Arab world that would compare their dictator with mine, who was worse? The stories that I heard always seemed worse, maybe because I knew many people who had their lives literally destroyed.

Change seemed like a distant cry.

I awoke on 17th February 2011 and was in shock as I witnessed the images on TV, images I actually believed would never come. As my brothers and sisters took to the streets in Benghazi I immediately feared for their lives, I knew what this ‘mad man' was capable of. Bin Ali was a killer, and Mubarak was also a murderer, but Gaddafi is something else.

Muammar Gaddafi was the sinister man that killed in order to pass time, for fun - there is no way else to explain it. He is the man who set upon killing the ulema, the people of knowledge and even simple imams of mosques. He did not stop there. He killed thinkers, academics and intellectuals, ensuring there was no intellectual challenge to his rule.

Gaddafi is known as the mad man because of the lengths he would go to remain in power. He once sent his police to my older sister's secondary private school, where he set about intimidating children for aspiring to be the thinkers of the future. That fateful day is still etched in the mind of my older sister thirty years on. She was fortunate; she managed to escape whilst they began to round up all the children. She and a friend had decided to climb a high wall. My sister was only 12. My sister described to me the screams and crying that took place as she managed to escape. My sister and her friend remained silent throughout the ordeal. My sister and her friend managed to escape - but they were the lucky ones.

My sister was found stranded on the road side. Her torn clothing was just too much for my father to bear. It was at that point that he decided, as he describes it to people today: "to put my family in my car and keep driving".

My family's phone has not stopped ringing since people took to the streets in Libya. "He's killing people, he's killing us" is how all conversations start. Our fears were being realised. People from Benghazi have reported the cold killing of children as young as 12. They aim at the head, stomach or chest, that is where all the wounds have been found. They place themselves strategically on top of buildings and just shoot. After watching events unravel in Tunisia and Egypt, Gaddafi spotted his potential weakness and set about ensuring the danger was removed: he disarmed his army. He shipped in gangs of youths from Mali and Chad, states that he has historically funded, in order to shoot, maim and kill the popular uprising against him.

The demonstrators are unarmed, tells me a sister from Tripoli. "We have tried taking to the streets here, but they fire and he has thrown missiles into the crowds in Benghazi," she screams. "We have more shuddah here than Egypt and Tunisia put together, and we are a nation that only numbers five million. He will not stop, he will not cease until we are all dead. We have started putting our corpses in schools; the hospitals are full of the bodies and blood of the shuhadah."

I have sat glued to the TV as this mad man attempts to wipe out his own very people. His desperate attempts are failing him, the army are beginning to defect, Libyan ambassadors from across the world are resigning and it appears even infighting has started within the Gaddafi family.

The Ummah in Libya like their brothers and sisters in Tunisia and Egypt have realized that their ruler has to be removed. In the face of this massacre our brothers and sisters from all walks of life have been brave and await Allah سبحانه وتعالى victory.

Upon hearing of the fate of people in Tripoli, people from Zawiay and Sabratha and the other surrounding towns have now headed to Tripoli to help their brothers. One of the largest tribes, Warafla, has joined the demonstrations. This in itself has forced the Libyan Representative to the Arab League and the Libyan Diplomat in China to resign. A Sheikh from Yargan has called upon all heads of tribes and the army to take to the streets to remove the tyrant ruler. The people have taken hold of bulldozers from construction sites and driven to army barracks where they know weapons are stored. They have ceased them and returned them to the army to remove the tyrant ruler.

In a telephone conversation to my father in which he said he is now elderly and in turn feels guilt at not being on the streets helping the Ummah. Perhaps we are all feeling like that, wanting for them the security that we have. Their sacrifice, resolve and iman should inspire us to continue in our struggle to call for that which they chant as they risk everything in the streets of Libya.

Muammar Gaddafi has ruled Libya for over 40 years; many tyrant rulers have come and gone as he ruled with an iron fist. He thought he was above revolt. He even denied the Ahadiths and murdered the sincere brothers from the Ummah who went to account him. Like all rulers before him and after him they should take heed from the ahadith of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم:

«إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَيُمْلِي لِلظَّالِمِ حَتَّى إِذَا أَخَذَهُ لَمْ يُفْلِتْهُ»

"Verily Allah affords the oppressor some time, until when He takes hold of him, He does not let him go." (Bukhari and Muslim)

 

Ibtihal Bsis was born in Libya

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