December 12,2004

O' Sons and Daughters of the Arab Nation long forgotten are days of Arab prominence and splendor.

I close my eyes only for a moment and I see the glorious past of our history before them as if on a journey.

The Cradle of Civilization [Iraq] shines like the Sun with its twin rivers and all its contributions to humanity. Suddenly I am transported to Nineveh and I am shown the seat of government of the 7th century BC king Assurbarnipal. Then I am taken to Ur where the Sumerian civilization had its final flowering at the close of the 3rd millennium BC and where the Prophet Ibrahim was born. Next I am taken to Uruk, to the scene of the Gilgamesh Epic and I see a large fortified city in the desert which is under the influence of the Parthian Empire and capital of the first Arab Kingdom called Hatra. Thanks to its high, thick walls reinforced by towers, Hatra withstood invasions by the Romans in A.D. 116 and 198. The remains of the city, especially the temples where Hellenistic and Roman architecture blend with Eastern decorative features, still stand and attest to the greatness of that civilization.

Next I find myself in Assur, the first capital of the Assyrian kingdom with the famous Ishtar temple and Babylon, in 18th century BC at the seat of King Hammurabi, who is primarily remembered for his codification of the laws governing Babylonian life and which served and inspired civilizations beyond his reach and imagination to this very day. Then I saw Nebuchadnezzar and the Ancient Egyptians with their great armies and vast knowledge and then they all vanished and I saw the Islamic Empire in all its power, vastness and greatness ruling over the entire world - Muslims and Christians living side by side in peace. I saw Arabs and Muslims busy at prayer and building beautiful buildings. I saw them studying the works of the Greeks and moving forward with their ideas in the areas of science, art and medicine. I saw Muslim shayhkas of high religious rank wearing turbans and teaching men at the mosques who would prove later on to be great imams and shayhks themselves. I saw Arab women ruling over their lands and bringing them to the height of prosperity and some of them even delivered khutbas on Fridays. I saw Arabs and Muslims writing poetry and painting great works of art and teaching non-Arabs and non-Muslims how to do things to improve their miserable quality of life, and then I saw the Arabs and Muslims fall from Grace and I grieved sorely for it was then that their suffering and enslavement began.

O' Sons and Daughters of the Arab nation why have you strayed and stained your honor and history? Why did you abandon yourselves to become the slaves of your enemies? These are important questions yet, important as the answers may be, we must not waste time idly dwelling on those questions but rather invest all of our time and energy to the task of recovering what rightfully belongs to us from the enemy who has stolen everything, including our dignity, from us.

The way forward for the Arab nation is UNITY and brotherhood. No longer can we waste time fighting and hating one another or pointing the finger of guilt at this one and that one. We must all admit that we are on the ground being squashed by our enemies and we must collectively determine that in spite of the bastards that rule our lands we shall stand once again as one proud and sovereign nation. We are under siege and our very existence is being threatened by an amoral and ruthless enemy but we must not cower in fear. Many times in our history have we been assaulted and occupied but we managed to break free each time by the Grace of God and we shall do it again in the present.

O' Sons and Daughters of the Arab and Muslim nation rise and merge yourselves into one body so that we can give the enemy the lethal blow that will destroy it. Arabs, Muslims and Christians alike, must never give up the effort to become one Arab nation in order to liberate our lands and our People from the yoke of the Zionist entity. Together we can deliver the lethal blow that will take the life out of our enemies.

Think of your history and where we were standing centuries ago and let your hearts be filled with anger, courage, determination and faith. We must not be deterred by the puppet regimes that rule over us. We can beat all of them by joining our minds, bodies and souls and going to the battlefield with the Mujahideen in Iraq and Palestine. God is helping us but we must mobilize ourselves and make the necessary sacrifices. It is the only way that we will be able to clean the stain of humiliation off ourselves, restore our honor and finally be able to live in peace in our own lands in our own way.

O' Sons and Daughters of the Arab nation heed these words and take control over your future by remembering and holding fast to your glorious past.

By Safiyyah al-Khayr Safiyyah_al_Khayr@msn.com