Special Dispatch - Reform Project
September 20, 2004
No. 786

Arab Progressive: The Arabs are Still Slaves to a Medieval Mentality

[IMRA: Earlier reports described Dr. Shaker Al-Nabulsi as a Jordanian
intellectual residing in the US.]

In a recent opinion piece, the progressive author and journalist Dr. Shaker
Al-Nabulsi condemned the growing support for terrorism and extremism in the
Arab world, and the rejection of moderation and reason. The following are
excerpts from the article:(1)

'We have become the Most Terrorist Nation and the Greatest Spillers of Blood
in the World'

"... If the Arabs had today a well-burnished mirror in which they can see
themselves, and if they had the requisite courage to look in it, they would
be stricken by fear and panic at the sight of themselves. The image [would
be] that we have become the most terrorist nation and the greatest spillers
of blood in the world in this [current] stage of history in which nations
resolve their problems through dialogue, diplomacy, conventions, and through
appeal to the world's better judgment, to public opinion, and to
intellectuals, instead of threatening [others] with bloodshed if this or
that demand goes unmet... The image is that we have become a nation devoid
of reason!"

'Why have the Arabs Gone Crazy in Such a Manner?'

"What happened to the Arabs in Egypt, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Iraq,
Palestine, Morocco, Yemen, and in other countries? What caused the Arabs to
lose the rationality with which they led the world in the 10th century? Why
have the Arabs gone crazy in such a manner? Is it because they have lost
hope in comprehensive reform? [Or] because they have lost hope in the
success of the Arab world? Is it a result of the huge gap between the haves
and the have-nots? Is it a result of the degrading poverty that reduces many
Arabs to rummage through garbage cans to find food? Is it a result of the
pervasive corruption prevalent in governmental institutions that do not want
and are not willing to undergo any reform that would result in the
unraveling of even a single thread from the luxurious carpet on which they
rest, with the support of the police establishment which is capable of
obstructing any call for reform...?

"Did this ... occur because of the rule of the dark religious educational
system which incites to war against modernity, democracy, and the new
liberalism, and permits the spilling of the blood of its supporters,
pioneers, and students? Is it because the cultural elite have abandoned its
political role and in so doing has paved the way for the clerics, with their
white, green, or black turbans, to set the tone of political action in the
Arab world to such a degree that we no longer distinguish between the
political and the religious? The impure has become interwoven with the holy,
the mosques have turned into proving-grounds for armed political campaigns,
chaos has spread and in the Arab world a thousand religions have sprung up,
all of them [claiming to be] Islam...

"Did this occur as a result of the fact that the intellectuals have
distorted the truth and lack the courage to tell the truth to their
students? Is it a result of the frightening spread of illiteracy and
cultural ignorance in the Arab world, with the result that the vast majority
of people do not read, do not know, [and] do not think? Is it a result of
the cumulative political and cultural repression from which the Arab people
have suffered for the last fifteen centuries? Is it a result of the
proliferation of holy sites and the proliferation of totems in Arab life to
the extent that most people have lost faith in their efficacy and [so] have
invented their own totem, which is represented in a nationalist totems such
as Abd Al-Nasser or Saddam Hussein, or in a counterfeit religious totem such
as Bin Laden, Muqtada Al-Sadr, Al-Zarqawi, or many others?

"Did this occur as a result of the fact that terrorist groups have huge
incomes from the charity tithes streaming in daily from good Muslims all
over the world? In a recent report it was said that the worth of Sheikh
Al-Qaradhawi, one of the preachers of terrorism in the Arab world, is
estimated at tens of millions of dollars. From the 'Al-Taqwaa' Bank alone
he lost three million dollars after it was shut down by the Americans...

"Did this occur as a result of the huge sums that the terrorists obtain by
growing hashish and opium on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border...?"

'The Arabs have Surrendered to the Demagogic, Hysterical, Provocative Media'

"All of the verses, all of the prophetic traditions, all of the wise
sayings, all of the poems and the words of intellectuals encouraging thought
and the application of reason have been wiped out from the Arab memory. The
Arabs have surrendered to a fake religious culture. The Friday sermons, the
religious programming, the religious literature and the turbans have become
the decisive factor in every matter - in religion, politics, the economy,
society, education, and culture. The Arabs have surrendered to the
demagogic, hysterical, provocative media and have begun to search the news
editions for bloodshed, beheadings, the dragging of bodies, the flaying of
skins, and the destruction of homes. The most endearing sight of the year
for the Arabs was that of the mass graves in Iraq."

'Anyone Who Thinks and Makes Use of His Intelligence in the Arab World is
Detestable, Condemnable, and Accursed'

"Anyone who thinks and makes use of his intelligence in the Arab world is
detestable, condemnable, and accursed; he is of the seed of serpents and the
fruit of Satan, he is an agent of the new American colonialism, one who
writes [in support] of the Marines, and a spy in the service of foreign
intelligence agencies. The Islamists who hijacked Islam, stole it and
counterfeited it ... are now leading the flocks of Arabs towards the
annihilation of human history ... not through reason but through distorted
emotions and promises of the hidden Hereafter, and through a lack of pure
and simple faith in Allah. Indeed, the Arabs have lost their pure faith in
Allah and have turned into slaves of blood-drenched religious totems,
instead of being servants of Allah...

"The Arabs think in a medieval fashion regarding politics, society, the
economy, and education, even if [they do this] by way of modern electronics.
For their foods and their transportation they make use of the latest in
Western science and technology in all of the various fields, but at the same
time they think in a medieval fashion and behave in their lives as though
they are still living in the Middle Ages, and indeed they are still slaves
to a medieval mentality and to thinkers from the Middle Ages...

"Unfortunately the Arabs' stupidity has grown, as has their thirst for
blood, and they have distanced themselves from reason. Their humanist
political values have attenuated and they have begun speaking to the world
with the sword, the axe, and armies of masked bandits, robbers, and
murderers..."

Endnote:
(1) www.rezgar.com, August 14, 2004.

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