Dictators, power and the blame for Muslim strife

Why do we Muslims always complain about the foreign policy of the U.S. and Britain? I understand that we may be upset about the loss of civilian lives, but both governments have now recognised the futility of their wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Historically, nations have intervened to protect their geo-strategic and commercial interests.

Why don’t we Muslims ever complain about the foreign policies of Saudi Arabia and Iran? Wahabi Saudi Arabia and Shia Iran are using their immense oil wealth to wage a proxy war. Their attempts to change the realities on the ground are evident in the Yemen and the Levant.

This meddling has given licence to brutality and culminated in the indiscriminate killing of civilians. The displacement of sections of the population has created resentment and brought to the surface latent sectarian prejudice. This isn’t a religious war, as they would have us believe; it’s a murderous endeavour to seize political power.

Europe retired most of its monarchies because they were an impediment to the advancement of its peoples. We Muslims, however, embrace our monarchs and dictators as though they were our salvation.

Our rulers have always claimed to represent the Prophet or his progeny; we’ve never had representative governments. This concentration of power has resulted in nepotism and sycophancy and has suffocated the individual’s aspiration to achieve through merit. We refuse to take responsibility for our own problems and choose to hide behind ludicrous conspiracies.

Unfortunately, we Muslims are plagued with all kinds of divisions, owing to our own ignorance. In the Iran-Iraq war Arabs fought Persians. After the Russian withdrawal from Afghanistan, Persian and Pashtu-speaking Pathans fought each other for control of the opium trade. In Darfur, Arabs from Sudan unashamedly killed Africans for control of that region’s oil. It’s expedient for both sides to blame ‘the West’ or ‘Zionists’, but, in fact, the leadership is exploiting ethnic and sectarian tensions to perpetuate its hold on power.

This sectarian hatred of one another is indoctrinated from childhood. The Shi’ites accuse the Sunnis of denying the Prophet’s cousin the position of the first caliph. The Sunnis accuse the Shi’ites of committing blasphemy by disparaging the first three caliphs. The leadership on both sides is apathetic to this bickering, but is astute enough to hide its incompetence and corruption in the cloak of divisiveness.

Our rulers don’t come from another planet and even if supplanted by other countries they are a product of our society. Their depravity should force us Muslims to contemplate what it is we believe and value that creates such individuals and enables them to abuse a position of trust and power.