We have a nice piece of writing by Ghassan Charbel, published in Arabic Daily Al-Hayat, pointing out what the others have achieved and where we (the writer means Arab countries but entire Muslim World should be taken into consideration), are. Though the note of the blogger is going to have several dimensions and will have different aspects of the picture of the situation in the Muslim world, the title of Mr. Ghassan's article is kept unchanged.
When big powers, America, the Western countries and many others spent a lot on exploratory missions to discover the secrets of Nature and were on the venture of lassoing the planets, the Muslims rulers were busy to conquer their own lands to defeat their own people. They established their dictatorships and tightened the noose around the necks of their own people to make them surrender to their rules, badly tainted with their lust of power and wealth.
Most of the Muslim countries, rich with natural resources, were unstable and economically immensely in backward position. Their people were deprived of even the basic needs in the field of education, health and food.
Muslim rulers intrigued against each other to frail and shake the neighboring countries. They, with their cronies and retinues, always kept their covetous eyes on the wealth of their countries, plundered the money and took their amassed wealth to keep in Swiss and Western banks for making it safe for their living and even for unborn children.
Precisely taking Pakistan in account, since decades Pakistanis have been facing a ridiculous situation. Most of the time of the history of this country military generals grabbed the power. After the end of military dictator Ziaul Haque civil rule came for short times but their their claims of democracy bore out worse than the authoritative rules.
Without going far back take the instance of present regime of Zardari. Members of the main ruling party behave to be a flock of sheep and goats willingly ready to be sacrificed for the egotism of their party leader. Morally immensely vile and shameful political character of the allies in the present ruling set up has become evident many times.
In the light of the number of the members in parliament it is actually a minority government, erected with the support of the greedy allies. They blackmail the government every now and then by going to depart their ways. But the government, very foxily, releases millions of Rupees for them in the name of development funds and they come back in the dirty game. They have decided to stand by Zardari in his the courts.
Superior courts are bent to defend the constitution not letting the government to legislate trampling the spirit of the constitution. While facing the cases the courts the ministers and the members of the parliament claim they are also out for defending the constitution.To them protecting Zardari from getting marked guilty is tantamount to protecting the constitution.
A renowned Pakistani lawyer, Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, puts whole of his professional talent in work to prove immunity of his party leader, Asif Ali Zardari, who is notoriously highest in corruption among almost all the heads of the world states and still having 600 million dollars in one of the Swiss bank. Aitzaz's plea is that no other state of the world refers its head of state to face the charges in any foreign court. Correct, but perhaps no other state is there which has its head of state with serious graft cases in Swiss court.
Bangladesh is another Muslim state with democracy. But it also has not any enviable example of following the democratic values. Crushing the main opposition parties is the main point in political agenda of prime minister Hasina Wajid. Violating all the moral and democratic norms she seems having decided to hang the first line of Jamat Islami leadership, because these people are not bent to undemocratic and immoral will of this revengeful lady who has unfortunately rose to the power and has not less stains of corruption than Zardari, the president of Pakistan.
In such gruesome and sluggish situation the education of science and technology was a herculean task, leave alone the issue of producing the scientists and technologists of a high level. In uncertain social, political, economic and ruling circumstances when we were not even able to properly sight the moon to start the holy month of Ramadhan and decide when to celebrate Eid, bringing up any Neil Armstrong to land on the surface of the moon was out of question. We were busy in setting the world record of the longest despotic rules, with no accountability system and having no room to call the rulers to the account for their blunders in almost entire Muslim world.
Parliament, judiciary, armed forces, administration and all other institutions were handicapped under their control. The fields of agriculture, industry and education remained in inertness. In a filthy corrupt system progress in any sphere of life remained subject to how much share of the investment would go in the pockets of the ruling elite.There was left no chance for the opposition to check the wrong doings of the rulers. In spite of the fact that after moon the Americans have touched Mars also and most of the world is tremendously changed now, in most of the Muslim countries this ugly culture still exists and has not too much change in it.
In Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Yemen, Syria and during the rule of Raza Shah Pehlvi in Iran, those who dared to challenge the authorities of the tyrant rule were either pushed down in the belly of the earth, in unknown graves or they were left to breath their last in the dark torture cells of the jails. Some other who escaped from all these two ends got their business and political career ruined and were silenced with the threats for the female members of their families to lose their chastity and ruin of the future of their generations.
Dignity of the nations rests on how much their social and political life is principled and how much they are law abiding in their individual and collective life. It depends mostly on to what extent there is freedom, equal opportunities of betterment, honor, integrity, respect of human rights, unity, faith and discipline enjoyed by the citizens of the state. This is moon for us, the Muslim societies. If we have developed all these traits we are far higher than the planets and if we fail to rise above the awful situation we will be destined to be lower than the nether layers of the earth.
Now in some Muslim countries a beam of light is visible in dark tunnels of the circumstances. In Turkey a mature value-oriented democratic system is getting roots. Three consecutive terms of Turkish prime minister have started bringing fruits. There is an enormous rise in Turkish economy. Turkey is getting the status of a role model in successful experience of democracy. In spite of a lot of odds Dr. Morsi, the first elected president of Egypt is determined to put his country on a sound democratic track. The democracy in Egypt is also expected to have pleasant blend of Islamic teachings. He has a wisdom and courage to overcome the hurdles caused by Naserism as Tayyep Ardogan has hurdled the fences of Kamalizm.
Munir Ahmed Khalili
Ghassan Charbel
The Moon was in deep solitude. It was far away and probably happy. It did not pay much attention to our crazy drifting planet. Neither had poems reached it nor had the lovers’ tears crept into its days. It had never occurred to the Moon that a stranger would soon knock on the door, or enter without permission. That stranger would soon disembark in pride, strolling on its surface with his mate.
Nor did the Moon ever think that the stranger would unravel its cloak to eavesdrop on its secrets, and send from whence images that delighted the world and those who had sent him. It did not expect that the fancies of Earth’s scientists would have so much courage and ambition, taming the distances and solving the riddles of the unknown. They had tricked it, and the mind’s conquests knew henceforth no limits. Knowledge expanded and exploded and revolutions ensued in the world’s laboratories.
It was a strange and amazing sight indeed. Many fled it to skepticism and denial. But those who were glued in front of their television screens saw and heard. They saw Neil Armstrong walk on the surface of the dreamy Moon, and they heard him say, “That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind”. That day in July of 1969 was a milestone in a century blighted by two world wars and too many horrors.
The United States bowed before the astronaut who passed away on Saturday. Barack Obama said, “Today, Neil's spirit of discovery lives on in all the men and women who have devoted their lives to exploring the unknown - including those who are ensuring that we reach higher and go further in space. That legacy will endure - sparked by a man who taught us the enormous power of one small step.” Likewise, the Republican candidate Mitt Romney said, “The moon will miss its first son of earth.”
But where were we that year, when the first man walked on the Moon? Arabs remember it very well. The Arab world was still reeling from the bitterness of its defeat in June 1967, despite its attempt to hide it by calling it a setback. Gamal Abdel Nasser was fatally wounded by that experience, and would pass away the following year. Jordan was confounded by Palestinian guerilla organizations, and a year later, we would witness Black September.
Lebanon was gearing up for the gradual collapse of its state, and would go on to spend a few years in a prelude to the civil war that was in fact a number of proxy wars that opted to erupt on the Lebanese theater instead.
In Iraq, the Baath party had returned to power a year earlier, and Mr. Vice President was gathering all strings and cards in his paper, pending the birth of his catastrophic tenure that would go on to drench his country and the whole region in blood.
Hafez al-Assad, meanwhile, was monitoring his comrades in the leadership, counting their adventures and mistakes. He was waiting to pounce on them later on in his Corrective Movement, which paved the way for putting the single ruling party in the hands of the barons of the many security services. Today, we can see what is happening as a result of that.
A few weeks after Armstrong’s trip, we would go on to witness the Fateh of September coup. A young officer called Muammar Gaddafi would make his debut on the Libyan and Arab scene. As usual, collective leadership would end up in the grip of one man, who would then take it upon himself to kill any dissident, and squander the revolution and the wealth, distributing bombs by land, sea and air. It was a tragedy that would last more than four decades, begetting many other tragedies.
The developed world continued its scientific breakthroughs, while we dedicated our efforts to tyranny, oppression and the cult of personality, amid a resounding failure in development, healthcare and education. Our schools are ancient caves that are best at producing those wooden speeches praising the ruling party, and those songs that glorify the leader because he invented the country and allowed people to live in it. Our universities are in shambles, our trade unions are dens for intelligence services, and our parties are prisons in disguise.
Our armies are but long lines of troops and long arms for the leader to discipline his people, if the people should dare to ask him for bread crumbs or a droplet of liberty. They are all rusty metallic regimes that produce naught but massacres, graves and civil wars.
I am not asking the Arabs to have the equivalent of Neil Armstrong and to arrange for a moon landing. I am calling for some dignity for the Arabs, and for them not to be murdered by their national armies. I am calling for clean drinking water for the Arabs, some electricity, bread that is not doctored and universities that do not produce illiterates and fanatics. I am asking for job opportunities for them. And I am asking for the factories churning out widows and orphans to be shut down, and for us to start attempting to catch up with human progress.
Decades after watching Armstrong walk on the surface of the Moon, all we see on our screens are mutilated bodies and manufactories of more graves
.
Nor did the Moon ever think that the stranger would unravel its cloak to eavesdrop on its secrets, and send from whence images that delighted the world and those who had sent him. It did not expect that the fancies of Earth’s scientists would have so much courage and ambition, taming the distances and solving the riddles of the unknown. They had tricked it, and the mind’s conquests knew henceforth no limits. Knowledge expanded and exploded and revolutions ensued in the world’s laboratories.
It was a strange and amazing sight indeed. Many fled it to skepticism and denial. But those who were glued in front of their television screens saw and heard. They saw Neil Armstrong walk on the surface of the dreamy Moon, and they heard him say, “That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind”. That day in July of 1969 was a milestone in a century blighted by two world wars and too many horrors.
The United States bowed before the astronaut who passed away on Saturday. Barack Obama said, “Today, Neil's spirit of discovery lives on in all the men and women who have devoted their lives to exploring the unknown - including those who are ensuring that we reach higher and go further in space. That legacy will endure - sparked by a man who taught us the enormous power of one small step.” Likewise, the Republican candidate Mitt Romney said, “The moon will miss its first son of earth.”
But where were we that year, when the first man walked on the Moon? Arabs remember it very well. The Arab world was still reeling from the bitterness of its defeat in June 1967, despite its attempt to hide it by calling it a setback. Gamal Abdel Nasser was fatally wounded by that experience, and would pass away the following year. Jordan was confounded by Palestinian guerilla organizations, and a year later, we would witness Black September.
Lebanon was gearing up for the gradual collapse of its state, and would go on to spend a few years in a prelude to the civil war that was in fact a number of proxy wars that opted to erupt on the Lebanese theater instead.
In Iraq, the Baath party had returned to power a year earlier, and Mr. Vice President was gathering all strings and cards in his paper, pending the birth of his catastrophic tenure that would go on to drench his country and the whole region in blood.
Hafez al-Assad, meanwhile, was monitoring his comrades in the leadership, counting their adventures and mistakes. He was waiting to pounce on them later on in his Corrective Movement, which paved the way for putting the single ruling party in the hands of the barons of the many security services. Today, we can see what is happening as a result of that.
A few weeks after Armstrong’s trip, we would go on to witness the Fateh of September coup. A young officer called Muammar Gaddafi would make his debut on the Libyan and Arab scene. As usual, collective leadership would end up in the grip of one man, who would then take it upon himself to kill any dissident, and squander the revolution and the wealth, distributing bombs by land, sea and air. It was a tragedy that would last more than four decades, begetting many other tragedies.
The developed world continued its scientific breakthroughs, while we dedicated our efforts to tyranny, oppression and the cult of personality, amid a resounding failure in development, healthcare and education. Our schools are ancient caves that are best at producing those wooden speeches praising the ruling party, and those songs that glorify the leader because he invented the country and allowed people to live in it. Our universities are in shambles, our trade unions are dens for intelligence services, and our parties are prisons in disguise.
Our armies are but long lines of troops and long arms for the leader to discipline his people, if the people should dare to ask him for bread crumbs or a droplet of liberty. They are all rusty metallic regimes that produce naught but massacres, graves and civil wars.
I am not asking the Arabs to have the equivalent of Neil Armstrong and to arrange for a moon landing. I am calling for some dignity for the Arabs, and for them not to be murdered by their national armies. I am calling for clean drinking water for the Arabs, some electricity, bread that is not doctored and universities that do not produce illiterates and fanatics. I am asking for job opportunities for them. And I am asking for the factories churning out widows and orphans to be shut down, and for us to start attempting to catch up with human progress.
Decades after watching Armstrong walk on the surface of the Moon, all we see on our screens are mutilated bodies and manufactories of more graves
.
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