Will Iraqis Heed the History?
By: Kayhan Int’l Staff Writer
“At least be freemen in your worldly affairs, if you have no religion” is among the famous phrases of one of the sermons of the Immortal Martyr of Karbala to the ungrateful and politically-bankrupt Iraqi hordes, who despite the blessings they had constantly received from Prophet Muhammad’s (SAWA) Ahl al-Bayt, sold their faith for a paltry sum to the tyrant Yazid and massed up for the massacre of their benefactor Imam Husain (AS), his family and his steadfast friends.
The result was history’s most heartrending tragedy in 61 AH (680 AD), whose commemoration serves as the barometer for sifting truth from falsehood, faith from hypocrisy, intellectuality from ignorance, and solidarity from sedition.
The Epic of Ashura ever since has inspired reformative and revolutionary movements, culminating in our own times in such grand events as the victory over Pahlavi tyranny and American hegemony of the Iranian people who established the dynamic Islamic Republic system of government, which without the least doubt, is the role model for freedom-loving nations, their respect for human rights, and their resoluteness against tyrants and terrorists.
Some of the leading examples in this regard are Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Occupied Palestine, Ansarullah in Yemen, and the Hashd ash-Sha’bi in Iraq – the land where the shrine of the Chief of Martyrs in Karbala draws millions of pilgrims the year round from all over the world, especially the 20-million odd gathering of the anniversary of Arba’een (Safar 20) that is the largest assembly on Earth and far exceeds the annual Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in sheer numbers.
These peaceful pilgrimages are a firm testimony to the faith and fraternity of the Iraqi Muslim people who for over three decades had suffered the repression by the Godless Ba’th minority regime, and then closed ranks to end the American occupation of their country, and finally to defeat the US-Saudi-backed macabrely murderous takfiri terrorists.
The key to the success of the Iraqi people was undoubtedly devotion to Imam Husain (AS), to his illustrious father, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS) – the Epitome of Social Justice who reposes in peace in holy Najaf – and to the belief that Iraq will be the centre of the global government of peace, prosperity, and justice, of the Awaited Saviour of mankind, Imam Mahdi (AS), the Prophet’s 12th and Last Infallible Heir.
If the Islamic Republic and the fraternal Iranian people stand solidly beside the people of Iraq and their aspirations, to the foes of the Iraqi Muslim nation their faith and unity are insurmountable obstacles to the nefarious goals of the Americans, the Zionists, and the Arab reactionary regimes.
These archenemies of the Iraqi people, after failing to pit the 17-percent Kurd ethnic minority, and the 10-percent Sunni Arabs – the dominating force under the Ba’thists – against the government in Baghdad, embarked on the devilish design of Yazid and Obeidollah ibn Ziyad, to splinter the ranks of the 70-percent Shi’a Muslim majority through deception, bribes, pressures, and threats.
The result is the current situation of senseless squabbling between the leading vote-getters of the parliamentary polls – held nine months ago but still without a functional government. This sedition is threatening to tear apart the fabric of the Iraqi society by pitting people abroad the same boat against each other.
The US, the Zionists, and the Arab reactionary regimes are beaming with joy at the occupation of the Iraqi parliament by mobs claiming to be followers of Moqtada as-Sadr, who in his thirst for power, following a vain bid to exclude the other elected MPs of the Iraqi majority from his version of a factional cabinet, ordered resignation of all the 73 Sadrist MPs.
As per constitutional laws, the vacancies were filled up by runner-up candidates of the parliamentary polls, thus placing in majority the Coordination Framework which includes groups headed by former premier Noori Maliki, and units of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF).
And now when this party has proposed its candidate for the prime minister’s post, mobs claiming to be Sadrists have resorted to violence and occupied the parliament building, unfortunately most of them in black shirts and chanting Ya Husain (AS), without observing the
sanctity of the mourning month of Muharram and the goals of the movement and sacrifice of the Immortal Martyr of Karbala.
To the delight of Washington, Tel Aviv, and Arab reactionary capitals, the rival party called for a counter-demonstration on the streets of Baghdad, but it seems saner minds have prevailed to stop such a mass protest which would have led to physical confrontation between the two groups and possible loss of life.
Now is not the time to ask why in 2019 some religious authorities had pressured Prime Minister Adel-Mahdi to resign after less than a year in his four-year term – an wise move that emboldened the US to assassinate Iran’s General Qassem Soleimani and Iraq’s Abu Mahdi al-Mohandis at Baghdad Airport in January 2020 as well as to the current situation of a hung parliament and absence of government following a poorly organized general elections.
It is still not too late to resolve the crisis and avert the sedition which endangers the very existence of Iraq, by pondering on the grave situation in Kufa in 680 AD when the fickleness of faith of the Iraqi people had made them desert Imam Husain’s (AS) envoy Muslim ibn Aqeel and after his cruel martyrdom by Ibn Ziyad, ruined their worldly life and turned their worthless bodies and souls into fuel for the eternal fires of hell, because of their treason in participating in history’s most heartrending tragedy or silently watching the slaughter of the Prophet’s blessed Household in Karbala.
Will Sadr, Maliki, and all others summon up their courage to overcome their differences through sincere devotion to the Immortal Martyr of Karbala, instead of chanting empty slogans of “Ya Ali” and Ya Husain” or the hypocrisy of wearing black clothes in the sacred month of Muharram, but acting like the hordes of Ibn Ziyad to the pleasure of their avowed enemies – the US, the Zionists, and the Arab reactionary regimes?