A Family in Baghdad

Sunday, December 31st, 2006
Peace be upon you…

These are the days of Al-Adha'a Eid (= the Sacrifice Feast) for the Muslims, and before that the first ten days of The Al-Hujaah passed; they are blessed days, as we fast, pray, give charity, and do all good deeds that would bring us near to God the Mighty, asking Him to forgive our misdeeds, to give us mercy, and who can forgive misdeeds but Him?
We remember the saying of the Prophet, (prayers and peace upon him): "All the offspring of Adam make mistakes, and the best of them are those who repent…", it also resembles the saying of Jesus, (peace be upon him): " …let those of you who are without sins, throw a stone at her…", when people wanted to throw stones at the adulterous woman and scorn her in front of him.

Yesterday, I woke up to the voices of Hailing from mosques, for the prayers of the feast: God is the Greatest, God is the Greatest, God is the Greatest, there is no god but God…
How beautiful they are, I wait to hear them every feast…

And we spent the day before like many people in fasting, prayers, and worship; the day of Arafat, one of the holiest days for Muslims…
Three million Muslims were on Mount Arafat praying and calling: "Oh, God, here I am at your calling, here I am, you who have no partner, praise be to you, grace be to you, and possession. You; who have no partner…"
At the beginning of the month, I read a leaflet saying that the good deeds done by a Muslim are multiplied these days, if he does something good, so, do a lot of good things during these days…
I set purposefully to help people more; I spent the ten days distributing financial aid among poor Iraqi families in Amman, I visited their houses, ate with them, felt happy to listen to their sweet prayers, and said to them; I always pray to God that the fire of strife would be extinguished in Iraq, that we would go back to our country, unite our ranks, collect our selves, so we could go back to building our country with our hands…
And they all smile and say: Amen…
Whenever I met an Iraqi man or woman, I felt that the wound is one and the pain is one, that nothing separates us. Some hundreds of thousands of Iraqis live here in Amman; we meet by chance on streets, restaurants, or shopping centers; we talk, smile, and get quickly acquainted, we pray for the good of our country, and we do not ask; are you a Sunnie, a Shia'at, a Christian, or a Kurd, that poisonous lie spread by Bush, the stupid liar, and those who support his malicious project in Iraq; a project of continuous ruin and mishap since 2003 till now….
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The last day before the feast, I spent it running, from morning till sunset, to buy a water purification system for the Falluja hospital, and some medical supplies for the hospital; bandages, gauze, medical alcohol, needles and syringes, nutritional needles, plastic medical containers for various uses, microscope glass slides for laboratory tests, medical gloves, doctor's head covers, and many more items which I can't remember all…
There is a small group of Americans who sent me an amount of money, with which I bought everything; I photographed everything, and sent bills for everything… I wait to send the boxes to Falluja after the feast holiday, God willing…
I went back home very exhausted, but very happy…
People in the hospital will drink pure, clean water, the doctors will wash their hands with clean water also, before and after the operations, and the wounded, children and adults, will find some medical supplies that could possibly aid them, and save their lives…
The people of Falluja, according to the scheme of Bush the liar, are supposed to be criminals, murderers, and terrorists, but I see them as innocent Iraqis, the victims of his silly, unjust war against all the Iraqi people. Those are supposed to be criminal, Saddamist Sunnies, and I am supposed to be a Shia'at Iraqi, oppressed by Saddam, then Bush came to liberate us, along with the leaders of the Shia'at Iraqi opposition. God be praised; that was the lying, corrupt story that was marketed about Iraq since the beginning of the war, until this moment…
But I have a heart and a mind that aren't corrupt yet with this lying and falseness, and my vision remained clean and intact.
I am an Iraqi, and those are Iraqis; my brothers and sisters, my people and kin, so, how can I agree to this injustice against them?
If I didn't know about what the Saddam regime used to do against the Iraqis, if I was ignorant, I might be pardoned, but today I am no longer ignorant; we all see and hear what is happening in Iraq, and this is a responsibility, as long as the eyes and the minds have opened. This is a responsibility, and I cannot say: this is no concern of mine, this isn't my business…
However much my faith in God increased, however much my feelings of responsibility increased, I shouldn't feel afraid, I shouldn't lie, and I shouldn't be an opportunist, agreeing to half-solutions. Islam is clear, as the Prophet, (prayers and peace upon him) said: "what is right is clear, what is wrong is clear, and between them lie the doubts, so, avoid the doubts", meaning- move away from doubts…
Well then; everything is clear in Iraq now…
This is lying, this is injustice, and this is falsehood…
Thank God, Who gave me the ability to see things for what they are, and Thank God Who gave me the courage to say the truth….
I didn't know I was courageous, until I saw the cowards around me…
I didn't know that I have learnt, from Islam and Faith, how hearts would be washed clean from lies and hatred… until I saw Bush and those behind him, clapping, obeying submitting, and carrying out what is demanded of them, until I discovered how poor they were?... and in what kind of a dark, miserable world they live?
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I thought a lot last week, of the Americans who sent aid to the poor Iraqi families in Amman, or donations to buy the medicine and the water purification system for the Falluja hospital…
I said to myself; we are truly brothers before God…
How many a dumb Muslim there is, who thinks of himself as the only survivor and the others will go to hell's fire, and all the while he doesn't help another, or takes pity upon another?
And how many a dumb Christian there is, too, because he thinks he is the only one on the right side, and the others will go to hell?
These calamities unite us, making us feel we are truly brothers, that our God is one; our Creator, Who watches upon us, and calls us to account… and the best person for Him is the most merciful, the one who loves others the most, and the one who moves best to help the poor, and those in need…
I suppose these are the teachings of all religions, for they all come from one God….
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Yesterday, I wanted to feel the taste of the feast's day, and its blessings…….. But my mood was disturbed, and my whole day was ruined when my son Majid told me: Mama, haven't you heard? They executed Saddam at six o'clock this morning?

I remained stunned… I couldn't imagine there were such stupid, malicious, or mean people like these sitting on the ruling seats, who could take such shameful decisions like this, without respecting people's feelings…
These days are the feasts of Muslims and Christians alike….. We are living through days of worship, and they are supposed to be days when mercy and forgiveness would descend upon all worshipers…
And we were all surprised with the news of executing Saddam at dawn…
Well then, why?
Don’t you respect our feelings?
If the subject would make you happy this way and extinguishes your hatred, well then, choose other days for it; black and ugly days, like your hearts and faces… and let these lovely, holy days for people to pass without spoiling its calmness with your mean grudges…
Or were these the wishes of Bush? Who couldn't go to sleep without fulfilling his wicked, spiteful wishes?
What does he understand of religion? And how much does he respect the feelings of Muslims or Christians?
And those in Iraq who carry out his wishes, what do they know about Islam? They proved they were more hostile to Islam than Bush, when they pulled the Iraqis apart, spreading the hateful strife among them, the stories about the Sunnies and the Shia'ats, and the false lies they created….by the will of God, there end will be the worst possible………
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By God, I was stunned yesterday… I couldn't believe there were on earth such creatures who bear that enormous amount of malice and meanness… mean, lowly personalities, who were exposed yesterday, who cheered, applauded and danced, like savage, barbarian tribes…
I was amazed at first, and then in the afternoon, the amazement turned into revulsion and disgust, from those beasts. Then, today, my feelings turned into pity; for these are poor people who do not realize they are living in the darkness of their hatred, that they are an object of the anger of God.
The hard heart is the farthest from God. A heart; full of darkness, injustice, hatred, and malice.
May God rid us from such a heart, and whoever carries it in his chest, among his ribs….
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Saddam Hussein was an ordinary person; he might act right, and might act wrong. In Islam, we pray for the leader to be guided into good acts and welfare, we ask God to show him what is right as right and grant him the will to follow it, and to show him what is wrong as wrong, and grant him the will to avoid it. This is the address in Islam, and ruling is supposed to be
by consultation in Islam, not by dictatorship and tyranny. And if a ruler becomes a tyrant, we either struggle to say a word of truth in his face, even if this means being killed, for this is the highest struggle, or else we pray for him, and ask God to guide him to the correct path…
In Iraq, all this happened; some used to confront him and say the word of truth in his face, and would be sentenced to death, and others used to pray for him to find the right path, while still some others used to be hypocrites, to get advantages.
But the biggest catastrophe occurred when those who call themselves "Iraqi opposition" resorted to the west, put their hands into the hands of Britain and America, planned to topple the regime and the state, and to carry out the project to occupy Iraq, then everyone would take his share of the attack; some to kill and shed blood, some to steal and plunder the wealth, and others to build military bases to stay forever, and so on. And thus roles were distributed, while Iraq was torn and wounded, its people were also torn, calling for help, but no one answered; there is a government of lowly beneficiaries, who deny any objection to what is taking place in Iraq; the calamities, the plundering, thefts, and killing, who say to the media: everything is all right in Iraq, we accomplished the project of democracy in Iraq; a new constitution, a parliament, an elected government, and everything is fine…
And of course, Bush, the liar, the blood guilty, covers up their mishaps, applauds them, and supports them. Why?
Because the equation is clear, and the agreement is clear now, as roles were distributed as such: you, Americans, occupy Iraq, build your military bases, and we build with you; prisons in which to put every Iraqi who refuses us or refuses you, your companies would invest Iraqi oil indefinitely, until it dries up, and Iraq would be left a desert… and we; the struggling heroes opposition men, shall sit on the ruling seats, build militias to kill the Iraqis who do not want us, and terrorize the others, steal whatever we can from public funds, and we shall never ask you to leave Iraq, ever… we cover up for you, and you cover up for us…..
You remain in Iraq…and we remain on the ruling seats…
Shall we call it a deal?
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So far, what is happening in Iraq is an implementation of this plan between the two sides…
Iraq was destroyed and shredded, no longer a one, independent homeland… the Iraqis either died, emigrated, or were imprisoned, or else they are silent and terrified in their houses…
Dirty, backwards, and barbarous ideas are being marketed to the Iraqis, and the world… ideas like: Sunnies, Shia'ats, and a civil war, we executed Saddam to avenge the martyrs of Iraq, and lab…lab…lab…
And there is a minority of ignorant, malicious, and misled people, who clap and beat the drums, thinking they became victorious…
But I see no victorious side….
I see a circle of violence, hatred, revenge, injustice, stupidity and lies, a circle which devoured Saddam Hussein, and it will be the same that shall devour all his foolish foes, because they are more unjust, ignorant, and more foolish.........
Saddam Hussein was wrong sometimes, and was right sometimes… Saddam Hussein had enemies, and had admirers…
But from these fools, we saw nothing but evil and ugly deeds........
Saddam Hussein put his feet on the road to hell when he put his hand into the hands of America and its intelligence system, when he let them use him as a Joker card to strike Iran, when he let himself make a Muslim kill a brother Muslim, then he destroyed the Iraqi economy after the 8 years-war, then he assaulted Kuwait by a stupid, unreasonable, irresponsible, solitary decision. And I think it was at that moment that he discovered that he made a mistake, that he has made an alliance with the devil, but that was too late.
The conditions of Iraq kept deteriorating and deteriorating after the war against Kuwait, as America came and destroyed the infrastructure of Iraq, then pushed it into the embargo, the hunger, and the poverty that hit all the Iraqis. Conditions of schools, universities, state establishments and hospitals deteriorated, the economy deteriorated, and the whole society deteriorated…
Perhaps Saddam Hussein was sorry for his friendship with America, which used him as a card to destroy Iraq, its people, and economy, but he didn't know how to act wisely; he kept thinking of a way to get his revenge from America, but he didn't think of a way to amend his mistakes, and give mercy to these poor people in Iraq.
These people lost their sons in silly, arrogant wars, lost their good livelihood sources with the passage of time, and lost even their faith in the meaning of words like: homeland, Arabism, and Nationalism…
But it turned out that the fire of Saddam Hussein was a lot merciful than the heaven of the occupation and the opposition that came with it on top of the tanks… for what was left of Iraq and its economy were destroyed, the unity of the people was shredded by a mean, lowly sectarian address, the likes of which we never heard before, and tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis were killed.
Some of the accusations against Saddam Hussein were that he killed his people and built mass graveyards… and now, we saw with our eyes tens of thousands being killed, and daily mass graves for unidentified corpses.
Who committed these acts against the Iraqis?
Who will judge these people? And where is justice?
Or is it one eyed, like the eye of Bush, the one-eyed liar?
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I once saw a series on TV in Ramadan… it was about the biography of Al-Hajjaj, (a ruler in Iraq during the Umayyad reign), and how cruel and evil he was in treating the Iraqis… then he became ill with a serious disease, perhaps cancer, so he suffered a lot of pain until he died…
The chamberlain came running to tell the Caliph, the peaceful, faithful Omar Bin Adul-Azeez. The chamberlain was happy, spiteful.
But Omar Bin Adul-Azeez was a reasonable, sensible, faithful man, who was not blinded by hatreds, so he told him contemptuously: Shut your mouth and do not gloat, for all you know, maybe God would forgive him….

And I also tell those who gloat and feel happy by the death of Saddam Hussein: How do you know? Perhaps God might forgive him, and grant him mercy…
And perhaps God might bring down his curse and anger upon those who came after him, who made the Iraqis taste calamities they didn't see at the days of Saddam Hussein, may God have mercy on his soul…
"… And we alternate days among people…"…..
They will meet the day of judgment on earth before the next world, as others before them met it….
For the justice of heaven is above all…
And may peace be upon all of you….

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