By Ali Sina.
I am an Iranian and I love my country of birth very much but I do not love any
other country any less. I love Canada just as much I love Iran because Canada is
my home. I also love China, India, South Africa, Bolivia, and even Iraq. My love
is universal. I am proud of my country of birth, my culture and heritage but I
feel the same way for other countries, their heritage and culture and I want
people in other countries to be proud of their heritage too. What each nation
has achieved individually is not theirs only but is the heritage of humanity and
must be cherished by all of us.
Ideas and beliefs are transitory. Actually ideas are constantly changing and
being renewed. Everyday we learn new things and accordingly everyday we change
our minds slightly. Our views can
change dramatically over the course
of a few years. This is inevitable
if one keeps learning new things. Those who never change their minds are those
who never learn new things. They keep regurgitating their old beliefs and never
look beyond their tunneled vision.
You can rally people around yourself and create a fictitious unity by generating
hate in them. Give them a common enemy and unite them in their common hate. Find
an escape goat and blame everything on it. The holy prophet did that. He
inculcated the hate of the Jews and the non-believers to unite the Arabs.
Khomeini used the Baha’is and the Jews as scape goats. He blamed Israel and
America as the culprits for all miseries of Iranians. Hitler did the same. His
scape goats were the Jews.
But unity achieved by instigating hatred of another group and highlighting the
differences is not a lasting unity. Islamic unity did not last long. Soon after
the death of Muhammad and after Muslims exterminated the Jews and the Christians
from Hijaz they started to kill each other. The first battle took place between
Ali the Caliph of Islam and Ayesha the favorite wife of Muhammad. In that battle
many died. Then it was the Battle between the Khavarej, a hard line Muslim group
and Ali. In this “battle” Ali lost about 8 men but when the Khavarej 4000.
The truth is that these men were not ready for war, They had gone to protest
with no arms at all, Otherwise it is impossible that in a battle 4000 men die
while the other party give only 8 casualty. This senseless slaughter lasted only
one or two hours. Both sides were
Muslims and related to each other by blood.
The ambition for power, the greed for booty and the lust
for women captured in wars gave Muslims incentive to attack Iran, Syria and
eventually other countries. Islam will only grow as long as there is an enemy to
subdue and to hate. As soon as there is no one left, the Muslims will start
fighting among each other as they are doing between the Shiites and the Sunnis
in Pakistan. Islam is a religion that thrives on hate. Muslims need enemies to
remain united. That is why they need “Zionism” and the “American
Imperialism”. All Muslims are fighting with each other but in one thing they
are united and that is in their hatred of Israel and America. If you take away
these enemies from them, they will tear each other apart.
Hitler was not only an evil man but also his method was
wrong. His brand of unity founded on race superiority and hate did not last and
could not have lasted. The average public in Germany was not aware of the
holocaust. He killed the Jews and oppressed the freedom, but he was unable to
kill the idea of freedom and the dignity of human being. Today the Germans are
united by understanding and cooperation, not through hate of someone else. And
yes the abhorrent idea of racism is dead. We killed it and for all intent and
purposes it is dead even though there are still few who are racists. The
cohesive force between the Muslims is not dissimilar to what bonded the Nazis.
Islam is also a doctrine of hate and just as Nazism is doomed to disappear.
Fascism drives from the Italian word fascia, which means a
bundle of woods. This was an old Roman emblem. The idea is that a single stick
of wood can be broken easily, but when you bundle many sticks together and
fasten them with each other, they become strong and unbreakable. Fascism creates
the concept of “we” versus “them”. It is divisive and the unity of
“we” is sustained by keeping alive the hate of “them”. In fascism and
all fascistic ideologies the unity is achieved by the fear and hatred of others.
The political ideology of fascism is based on “a system of government
characterized by rigid one-party dictatorship and forcible suppression of the
opposition of minority groups” (Webster). Nazism and Islam are both inspired
by fascistic ideas. In Islam, just as in Nazism the minorities are underdogs,
their rights are denied and violated and the might is revered as right. The best
description of fascism is given by the Prophet in this verse "Muhammad is the messenger of
Allah; and those who are with him are strong against Unbelievers, (but)
compassionate amongst each other."
(Q. 48:29)
But times change and today’s world is different from the
world of 70, or even 10 years ago. The Internet is bridging the gap between the
nations and dissipating the misunderstandings. Today the fascistic ideologies
can no longer survive. People are talking with each other, exchanging ideas and
discovering their oneness.
1400 years ago a narcissistic megalomaniac demagogue could have fooled ignorant
people around him. Seventy years ago, a mad charismatic charlatan in Germany
could incite nationalism and instill pride in the defeated Germans of the WWI by
inflaming their racial superiority. Today only a fool will think of himself
superior because of his race, nationality or religion. Today unities are
achieved in diversity. Today we celebrate our differences and are proud of our
multi-culturalism. Today people are wise. There has been much cultural exchange,
racial and national intermingling for everyone to experience that we are one
people. Today one cannot call for unity based on racial supremacy. Of course
there are always crazy skinhead youth that are on the fringe of the society and
are nothing but
misfits and outcasts. Those are exceptions to the norm.
The same goes for Islam. Islam owes its success in inciting
hate. Hate of the non-Muslims and superiority of the believers over
non-believers. Quran not only condemns the non-believers and relegates them to
the blazing fire of hell, (Q. 2:39,,
22:9, 69:36)
it also instructs the Muslims to slay them wherever they find them (Q.2:191),
do not befriend them (Q. 3:28),
fight them and show them harshness (Q. 9:123),
and smite their heads (Q. 47:4).
But this is a changing world. The world can no longer continue to harbor these
fascistic ideas. The world is now poised to embrace its unity and celebrate its
diversity. Ideologies that promote superiority of one group and hate of others,
like Nazism and Islam have no place in our world.
Today, we have to unite our people through love. Playing with their feelings of
nationalism, race or religion to unite them is unethical and counterproductive.
These are foolish thoughts that would have worked in the past when people were
not educated. It works on ignorant people. Today we are more educated and are accepting of other races,
and ethnicitiesWe are humans and we share this oneness with
all humanity.
We can replace old and antiquated ideas with new ideas of universal peace,
oneness of humankind and equality for all. These are powerful ideas. These are
the ideas of the new era of mankind. This is a new age, and oneness of humankind
is the spirit of this age. Democracy is possible only through pluralism.
Pluralism is the beautiful word, which means unity in diversity.
Setting ourselves free from the mental bondage of Islam requires more than
denouncing it. Many of us who have walked away from Islam are still Muslims in
our outlook. Islam teaches superiority of the believers over non-believers. We
may think of ourselves superior by virtue of our race, nationality or anything
else. That is not freedom. Islam also claims to have the monopoly of the truth
and condemns any other thought as satanic. If we hold to our own way of thinking
as the ONLY right way and look down at other people who think differently, call
them superstitious and their thoughts unworthy of consideration, we are thinking
like Muslims. Only a person can claim to be free from Islam who has no feelings
of superiority in her heart, who has no thoughts of self-righteousness in her
mind and who truly sees herself as the child of humanity and one with this
Universe.
In a free world to ask: “what is your religion” would be a politically
incorrect question. We fight the thoughts that inseminate hate. We do not fight
people. People are sacred; thoughts are not. If we continue this hatred, we will
be disintegrated. We will lose everything. When we get rid of Islam there should
be no more fights for religion or truth. We will be free to believe in any
religion we like and discuss whatever we please. We can promote our religion and
we can speak against any religion. Everyone will be protected to express himself
and no violence or discrimination will be tolerated.
April 2001