Islamic History and Smear Campaigns
The
history of Islam has been subjected to a systematic campaign of distortion and
falsification since the mid-nineteenth century — to say nothing of earlier
assaults throughout the nation's long history, carried out by individuals and
groups ranging from spiteful detractors to ignorant dupes.
At the
forefront of this unjust campaign — and lurking behind it — stand the arrogant
powers of old and new alike: those whose fires of tyranny and oppression once
scorched the world during the ill-fated era of military colonialism. Today, it
appears that some who have inherited the burden of that legacy yearn for it
still, striving relentlessly to resurrect it or restore it anew, bringing with
it the tools of that wretched age and its long-buried hatreds.
And no
small share of the responsibility for these campaigns falls upon that statelet
which has inherited — among others — that shameful colonial legacy, and
continues to practice its barbaric methods that time has long rendered
obsolete. Who else could it be but that misshapen entity, established as a
poisoned dagger in the flank of the Islamic nation, obstructing its unity and
its recovery of strength and leadership: "Israel."
Yet the
enmity and scheming of all these parties must not distract us or cause us to
overlook a malice no less fierce — one that likewise targets the history of
Islam and the Islamic nation — for which those tyrannical and despotic
governments also bear their share of guilt: governments that hold sway over the
destinies of many Muslim lands and strive to perpetuate their grip through
every means of brutality, brainwashing, and the domestication of their
subjugated peoples, whose will has been stripped from them. Through this, the
history of Islam is distorted — by way of reframing, misleading truncation,
tendentious selection, and other such methods of manipulation — so that
generations may be raised, before the eyes of the oppressors, as submissive,
broken-willed, enfeebled in resolve, and narrow in aspiration.
It should
come as no surprise, then — given all of this — when you come across the plan
of one such despotic government, drawn up at the moment it resolved to settle
its bitter conflict with one of the Islamic movements active within its borders
that sought to restore the glory of Islam. There you will see what their hands
have wrought in that plan, and what they have practically implemented: a
rewriting of the Islamic history curriculum taught to schoolchildren, so that
these generations may be raised without a guiding identity or a motivating
sense of zeal. (1)
Nor
should it surprise you to read that among the most significant tools of
normalization — or the domestication of the Muslim mind to accept the presence
of the "Israeli" cancer within the body of the nation — is the fact
that the peace agreements between that usurping entity and the governments that
consented to sign them contained binding clauses obligating those parties to
rewrite the Islamic history curriculum taught to the young in schools,
ostensibly to erase historical animosities, as they claim. Nor did they content
themselves with inserting dead-letter provisions into those agreements; rather,
they were careful to follow up and compel the other party to implement them,
enlisting international powers before which some Eastern governments have had no
recourse but to comply. (2)
Following
the ominous September 11 incident—the reality, repercussions, and logic of
which rational people still doubt, as well as who might actually be behind
it—the pressures grew more fierce. Once again, the dictations and demands of
the arrogant, domineering Western powers resurfaced to review Islamic history.
In fact, their audacity and boldness against us reached such a level—in an era
of humiliation and loss of strength—that they demanded a revision of Islam
itself and its Holy Book. Thus, they compel us to teach our youth certain
verses while excluding others, under the pretext of combating terrorism,
spreading a culture of peace, and supporting national unity, among other flimsy
claims!
They have
never lacked, and will never lack, those from among our own people—who speak
our language and belong to us—who rush to execute their demands, whether out of
desire or fear. In our current reality, there are bitter examples of this. How
precise is the Quranic description of the mentality of these reckless, enslaved
individuals and their diseased souls, as it states: (yet
you [Prophet] will see the perverse at heart rushing to them for protection,
saying, ‘We are afraid fortune may turn against us.’) (Al-Ma'idah:52)
Regrettable Effects of an Ongoing Conspiracy
It is
regrettable to say that these unjust campaigns have borne fruit, resulting in
the rise of generations of Muslims who are ignorant of their nation's glorious
history, and perhaps even hateful and resentful of it—no longer seeing it as
the source of their glory and a cause for pride. These are generations that
know no distinct identity and find within themselves no motivating zeal;
generations as submissive as a flock of sheep, driven by the shepherd or the
butcher wherever he pleases; generations of weak resolve, feeble determination,
and hopes and aspirations limited strictly to the boundaries of low, worldly
needs.
Indeed,
this wretched image was not solely the harvest of erasing or poisoning the
historical memory of these generations. Rather, this deliberate erasure or
distortion of that historical memory had consequences no less catastrophic than
weakening the faith itself, destabilizing the value system, and undermining the
moral framework, among other aspects targeted by the plots of the scheming,
lurking haters of the best nation and the best religion.
What is
even worse and more bitter is their success in fabricating individuals who bear
Muslim names, only for them to enthusiastically participate in this unjust
campaign—sometimes out of ignorance, and at other times out of a misguided
conviction. Perhaps the role of these individuals is far more dangerous than
the role of those who lead the campaign out of ancient hatreds and
nationalistic or religious bigotry; for people are deceived by a Muslim who
inserts poison into the honey far more than they are deceived by a non-Muslim
practicing the exact same act.
Today, we
have come to see among us those whom the great thinker, Abdel Wahab El-Messiri, described as the 'Functional Jew.' As he defined
them in one of his lectures, they are Muslims who speak our language and claim
affiliation with our religion, yet they perform the exact same role practiced
by the Jew, serving his agendas and working on his behalf. This is not driven
by traditional, old-fashioned espionage, but rather by an almost complete
conviction that they are doing good, or performing natural, irreproachable
tasks. (3)
Highly Significant Questions
Several
questions present themselves here: Why is there this suspicious interest on
their part in Islamic history in particular? Why are they so keen to distort or
falsify it? What are the dimensions of this campaign? And what are the methods
of their plots regarding distortion and falsification, so that we may be aware
of them and thus secure ourselves from their evil by taking counter-measures
and exerting the necessary efforts in this path without hesitation or relent?
Furthermore, we ought to question, discern,
and trace the impacts, manifestations, and extent of infiltration of these
malicious plans into our contemporary reality and within the folds of our
available intellectual resource. Consequently, we must ask about our primary
role in resistance and confrontation, fundamentally on the intellectual level,
as well as on other cultural and social levels. This is a matter that loyal,
specialized research centers must collaborate to discuss and study deeply,
delving into its utmost depths, rather than relying solely on interested
specialists or non-specialists—even though the field is not devoid of attempts
that deserve admiration and praise, as we see with Abdul-Rahman Al-Hajji, Imad
Al-Din Khalil, Abdul-Halim Oweis, Anwar Al-Jundi, Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, and
others.
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Footnotes:
1.
See: Qadha'if
al-Haqq (Missiles of Truth) by Sheikh Muhammad al-Ghazali, to review the
secret document containing the features of that plan/conspiracy.
2.
See: The
statement of Tillerson, the former US Secretary of State, regarding the Center
for Combating Extremism in Saudi Arabia, published on Al Jazeera on
December 13, 2017, and the proceedings of a talk show on Al Jazeera
regarding the fever of curriculum changes in the Arab world on September 30,
2014.
3.
A famous
lecture by Dr. Abdel-Wahab El-Messiri at Cairo University.
