The need of the hour today is for the Muslim opinion makers to make a distinction between the Jewish state and the Jewish people.

When I think in retrospect with an open mind and after giving due weightage even while allowing scope for exaggeration to all that I have read in newspapers and magazines and seen on TV, I am now convinced that Saddam was indeed evil and there is no doubt he had to go. There is a lesson in this for the Muslims the World over and the sooner we become wise to it, the better. We have to be united and just. Iraq was being ruled by Sunnis and the majority Shias were completely marginalised from the mainstream politics and power centre. Similarly in most of the Sheikhdoms, the Power is in the hands of the Monarchs or Sheikhs. This too is completely unacceptable. It is high time Power is shared by means of equitable distribution of Wealth and the common man has a greater share in the affairs of his Country. American form of Democracy is certainly not the answer but there is much in it which can be blended into a form of governance which will combine the best of all forms. A close study of our beloved Prophet Muhammed SAS and his Sahaba e Ikram’s conduct will surely help in developing a form of governance which will be equtable and just. If only the Muslims the world over come together on this one issue and put together a foundation which will work to develop a COMMON ISLAMIC CONSTITUTION, the entire Islamic World will get bound together and in one stroke we would have achieved Unity. About Palestine and the atrocities being committed there by Israel, the Muslim opinion is largely predictable in its condemnation of Israel. What we forget here is that the Jews too have a similar mindset in as far as their own opinion is concerned. Unless we come out loud and clear and make it known to the World that we are not at all against the existence of the Jewish State as it used to exist before the War in which the Arab lands were annexed by Israel, the Jews will continue believing that the Arabs are against the State of Israel and are bent on their annihilation and this very notion allows them to get away with such repression and blatant occupation of the Arab Lands. They say they need this Land as a buffer to stop the suicide bombers from entering Israel proper. Our opinion should always provide for our acceptance of Israel as a sovereign independent Country and at the same time stress on the need for the Palestinians to have their own Country too. The need of the hour today is for the Muslim opinion makers to make a distinction between the Jewish state and the jewish people. We have to understand that there are people in Israel who genuinely want peace and who knows might even be extremely uncomfortable with the state policy of repression of the Palestinians by their Govt. These are the people we need to target. It is they who need to feel reassured that they can indeed live side by side with the Arabs in security and peace. The Muslims and their code of conduct is not what is generally bandied about by the jewish infected Western media but in truth we subscribe to the way shown by our prophet Muhammed SAS and the standard bearers of Islam following him. They need to be reminded about the conduct of the Muslim army under Caliph Umar first and Salahuddin later when he took Jerusalem on 2nd Oct’1187. The Jews who were earlier exiled from Jerusalem under the Christian rule were invited to come back and allowed to even build a synagogue and so too the Syrian and Armenian christians who were allowed to continue living in Jerusalem and their churches were protected. This is the true character of Islam and this is how the Muslims should be known the World over.

(The writer can be reached at adilsar2004@yahoo.co.uk)

Opinion