On the Syrian Quagmire

‘And when the Fire is caused to blaze up’---[Holy Qur’an, 81:13] 

Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Messenger (sa) as saying: ‘The last Hour will not come unless there is ‘Harj’. They asked: ‘What is ‘Harj’, O Messenger of Allah?’ Thereupon, the Holy Prophet (sa) said: “Bloodshed, Bloodshed, Bloodshed”.--- (Sahih Al Bukhari/Muslim)

The Civil War in Syria

In less than a month, Syria’s horrific ‘civil’ war will enter into its eighth year. Having already lasted more than the Second World War, the internecine conflict in Syria has profoundly impacted the nation and its people in unimaginable ways. The conflict and its aftereffects has virtually reduced the country to rubble. Entire cities and villages remain abandoned, people having no choice but to flee the mindless violence and mayhem, altering the everyday life-world of the common people forever. Even as hundreds of thousands lost their lives, millions of others had to flee their homes and hearths, seeking refuge elsewhere in the country or beyond the borders, in nations near and far. Thanks to the many actors on the conflict scene and their varying  political interests and strategic calculations, the bloodletting in Syria continues unabated with no end in sight till this day. Indeed, the humanitarian catastrophe that has engulfed this already suffering, impoverished nation shakes the conscience of our common humanity.

How do we explain the extraordinarily mind-numbing shift in the fortunes of the Syrian people in recent times? What are the prospects for peace in the land, especially  in view of its complex regional environment? How does the present situation relate to Divine revelations vouchsafed to the Promised Massih (as)? Can we look at the Syrian quagmire as a Divine Sign of our times? These are some of the few questions and concerns explored in the following article.

Palestine: Israel's War crimes

Rabbih-kum bil-haqq! Wa rabbunar-rahmanul musta-'aanu 'aala maa tasifoon. 

“My Rabb (Lord)! You decide with truth. And our Rabb (Lord) is the Rahman (Most Gracious) whose help is invoked against what you attribute.”

The month of Ramadan, as well as the Eid festival and these difficult days witnessed to a deep sorrow for I could not from my mind those pictures of small innocent Palestinian children killed by the Israelite army. During the month of Ramadan I was terribly overthrown with the shocking pictures of innocent children torn down by bombs.

How can we think that is no problem in Muslim countries when each day, in front of your eyes, parents are carrying the coffins of their children? How can we celebrate festivals, eating and drinking and enjoy ourselves when all these people, all these families have nothing to eat and drink, have nothing with which to clothe themselves properly, have no place to accomplish their Salat (prayers) and not even water to drink and make ablution (Wu’zu)? These are mourning days for me. I ask myself how the Nobel Prize could have been given to Barrack Obama who is a passive accomplice of this tragedy! We should have a special thought for all these Palestinians who are being killed daily, dying as martyrs under the bombs of the Israelites. 

There are lessons to be learned from the tragedy of Palestine. While Palestinians are dying without food, their rich Arab cousins ​​in Dubai and Kuwait are competing to build the tallest skyscrapers in the world. Where is the unity of the Ummah ? Arab countries keep a low profile, watching like spectators. Previously it was said that the Ethiopians were searching in garbage cans for food. Today the Libyans, Syrians, despite living in rich countries search garbage cans for food. There is the absolute need to recover the lost unity. Divided like this, the Arab countries are getting trampled upon. I personally cannot help being deeply upset, shocked and confused, throughout the month of Ramadan by the events in the Middle East.