By Kaleem Kawaja
Yesterday a prominent Suni Cleric Imam Shaikh Qardawi who lives in Qatar and whose TV program and website is very popular in the middle-east, threw all caution to winds and discarded neutrality in the Sunni-Shia conflict and appealed to Sunnis to go all out to annihilate Shias in the region.
He asked able-bodied Sunnis to come together and join the Sunni side in the current civil war in Syria with the intent of killing Shias. Qardawi labeled Hizbollah of Lebanon, that is composed mostly of Shias, as a party of devils and liars who have deceived Muslims and whom Sunnis must fight and destroy. Qardawi also alleged that the Islamic Republic of Iran has lied to and deceived the Muslim ummah.
At the same time Hassan NasrUllah of Hizbollah who has already sent his troups into Syria to kill the Sunni rebels there has declared that his
objective in the region is the same as that of the Alawaite Syrian President Assad, which is to annihilate Sunnis. Inside Syria it is no more rebels against the Syrian government. It is an open sectarian civil war between Sunnis and Shias. On one side are the Sunnis of Syria supported by the Sunni majority countries of Saudi Arabia, UAE, and other Sunnis, versus Shias on the other side supported by the Syrian govt, Hizbollah
of Lebanon, the Shias of Syria and Lebanon, the Alawaites and Iran.
This open bitter Sunni-Shia war has come about 25 yeas following the eight year Iraq vs Iran war of 1980s, which too was a Shia-Sunni war. The
Christians of Lebanon and Iraq are supporting the Shias in the entire region. Both Shias led by Iran – an oil-rich state, and Sunnis led by
Saudi Arabia and UAE – another conglomeration of oil rich states, are pouring in huge fortunes and resources to buy arms from US, UK,Russia,
China etc. Thus the wealth of rich Muslim countries is ending up in the coffers of non-Muslim countries and they are laughing all the way
to the bank.
In this internecine and bloody conflict the Sunnias and Shias are trying to inflict maximum damage on each other. This is sowing seeds of hatred between the two halves of the global Muslim community. This hatred coupled with violence will build much hostility and bitterness among Sunnis and Shia that may last at least a decade if not more.
This Sunni-Shia war may end up creating hatred, violence and bitterness among the Sunnis and Shias in Southasian countries (Pakistan, Bangladesh, India) and may even lead to violence among them, that may also take a long time to remove.
So for the next ten years Israel is safe in occupying the lands of Palestinians with no one to make a serious objection. Just as at the end of the Iraq-Iran war both countries became weak and easy prey to the enemies of Islam, the current bitter and bloody fighting will result in an overall much weakened Ummah. In the same timeframe Israel and the Jews will become stronger and the unquestioned super-power of the middle-east.
This is how we Muslims are again harming ourselves and will again be reduced to being at the mercy of others, even as Allah has gifted us
with the huge wealth of oil and energy resources. And this is how the enemies of Muslims easily divide the Muslims on a global scale and
exploit our lands and resources. It has happened so many times and is happening again infront of our eyes.
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Author is a Washigton DC based community activist.