Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 25
By Azer Ahmadbayli – Trend:
I spent four and a half years in the Arab countries during the 80s of the last century, and often, given my eastern appearance, I heard from the Arabs a question: are you a Muslim? But never has anyone ever asked me if I was a Sunni or a Shia. Moreover, when I tried to talk about the split of Muslims into factions (purely historically, not politically), I came across an absolute calm and even indifference of Iraqis, Libyans and others to this topic.
Looking back at the history, I was convinced that during the 20th century there were almost no obvious manifestations of discord between Sunnis and Shiites.
What happened at the beginning of the 21st century? Why, after years of peaceful coexistence, the sleeping differences between Sunnis and Shiites suddenly took on a terrible and bloody form?
After all, before IS became a monster, we simply saw a trivial fight for power – just the same as it happened 14 centuries ago in the same place.
Here are a couple of examples that make one wonder if it is really all about religion.
The Iraqi King Faisal II was killed by an insurgent crowd - containing both Sunnis and Shiites - which wasn’t at all impressed that the king belonged to the Hashemite dynasty, the direct descendants of the prophet Muhammad.
Another example: the main Shiite figure of Iran, Spiritual Leader Ayatollah Khamenei called the events of the "Arab Spring" in Egypt the "Islamic revolution" against Mubarak, who cooperated with the US and Israel, while one of the main Sunni leaders, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia called the anti-regime protests in Egypt "a conspiracy of the enemies of Islam and those who support them."
Spiritual leaders believe that those events are somehow connected with the Muslim religion. I assume it may be a revolution or a conspiracy, but it is not Islamic.
In 1954, the British Ambassador in Baghdad, John Troutbeck, warned London in the cipher telegrams about people’s “growing indignation due to corruption and greed of the ruling elites, the difficult living conditions of the poor, lack of opportunities for young people for a successful career after graduation…”
In 2019, protesters in Basra, southern Iraq, took to the streets again against the corruption of Iraqi officials, the collapse of the city's water and other life support systems, and unemployment. The protests escalated into violence, ME media outlets report.
Arab countries are facing an urgent need for a plan to fight poverty in light of the world’s changing balances of economic powers, Mahmoud Mohieldin, senior vice president of the World Bank Group, who addressed a meeting of the Arab League in Beirut, Lebanon, said last week, stating that the Arab countries recorded the highest unemployment rates in the world, Middleeastmonitor reported on January 21.
Unconscious desire of corrupt elites and clerics to retain their power or expand its boundaries and get even greater wealth - isn't this one of the main reasons for discord?