Thursday, March 19, 2009

Jihad el Khazen: Arabs have brought unto themselves the problems and misfortunes they have always faced

Speaking truth to power...
Ayoon wa Azan (Was Ibn Khaldoun Right?)
Jihad El-Khazen     Al-Hayat     - 19/03/09//

If there had been a prominent feature since the early 1980s until now and probably tomorrow, it is that the Arabs have brought unto themselves the problems and misfortunes they have always faced. Was Ibn Khaldoun right by saying that we are a barbaric nation with no ruling traditions whatsoever? He said that the clannish spirit is what characterizes Arabs, and that it is strong among Bedouins and weak among urbanites. Since people are of different types, some are predisposed to rule whereas others are not. In the same vein, Ibn Khaldoun exposes the Arabs and makes his harsh famous judgment on them. Thus, they are in his eyes "a barbaric nation as the traditions and causes of barbarity are so deeply rooted in them that they have come to constitute their nature. They enjoy rebellion and the non-observance of politics, which are inconsistent with and in contradiction to civilization." For this reason, the author of Al-Mukaddima sees that the Arabs are "the farthest from the politics of ruling." I claim that the Arabs have changed since Ibn Khaldoun's times. In fact, they have been tamed and defeated. They accept good governance, which is a rare instance, and vicious governance, which is the prevailing pattern. At the same time, they blame America and Israel for their own mistakes and sins, and nap in the afternoon.
 
They have been deemed liable to be violated, and as a result it is only the Arabs and Muslims who are killed these days. If no enemy kills them, they kill each other and then deny that terror has emerged from their ranks.
 
Death is a fact. I am not referring to an individual loss, but I am rather thinking of innocent people, of whom thousands or millions have been killed as a result of the ignorance on the part of leaders who do not know that preserving life is the first condition of the social contract following the departure from the jungle.
 
We have left the jungle, but the law of the jungle still prevails.

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