23
August 2006
Lebanese Professor: 'To Be a Shi'ite Now…'
In
an article published on August 7, 2006 in the Lebanese daily Al-Nahar, Mona
Fayyad, a professor at the LebaneseUniversity, attacked the uniform
pro-Hizbullah, pro-Iran thinking expected of and imposed upon Shi'ites in
Lebanon. [1] In the days following its publication, several reactions to
Fayyad's article were published in Al-Nahar and on the Internet.
(Mona
Fayad’s original article, in Arabic : http://www.metransparent.com/texts/mona_fayad_to_be_a_shiite_now.htm
Read
also : A letter from a « Shiite » reader
Hala Awada : « Dignity is
not measured by how much we hate and loathe an entity
It is not measured by our blind allegiance to
a leader.. »)
The
following are excerpts from an English translation of Fayyad's article that was
posted on the Internet, [2] and excerpts from the reactions.
"To Be a Shi'ite Means That You Do Not Question the Meaning of Resistance
and Pride"
"We
are going through a catastrophic and existential period that will have
long-lasting impacts on our country and region for the next century; and since
we are facing such a dangerous juncture, I saw fit to pose some questions that
one might pose to one's self, or in secret, and wouldn't dare publicize, in
fear of being accused of being a foreign agent or a traitor, or even a
blasphemer. Confronting difficult questions and putting them out in public
could help prevent us from falling to the precipice from which there is no
return, and could help leaders take the appropriate decisions in order to stop
this hellish war, whatever the cost may be.
"What
is the meaning of being Shi'ite for the majority of Shi'ites at this point and
at this critical juncture?
"To
be a Shi'ite means that you entrust your fate to the wise and infallible
leadership without daring to ask any question, even if just as a point of
understanding.
"To
be a Shi'ite means watching the Al-Manar channel, or New TV or NBN,
exclusively, and that you enjoy their inspirational songs and their exclusive
news, and that you look with enmity on all other channels because they are
either 'American' or 'Zionist,' as long as they refer to Israeli forces by
their name, and do not call them the 'forces of the enemy,' and do not have
enough eulogies and only broadcast information.
"To
be a Shi'ite means that you do not question the meaning of victory. Is it the
victory of armies while keeping soldiers - flush with weapons - alive, while
destroying all of what is built, and the killing of the human beings that
worked hard to build it up, and constitute the true protection for the fighter
himself?
"To
be a Shi'ite means that you do not question the meaning of resistance and pride.
Is it fleeing from bombing and being heaped together on the tile floors of
schools…?
"To
be a Shi'ite is to contribute to the creation of a Lebanese 'Karbala 2,' as the
Iraqi 'Karbala 1' did not perform its role as needed in building up the Arabs and
carrying them on to victory over the enemy."
"Didn't We See… That Syria is the Cornerstone of This Region?"
"To
be a Shi'ite is to be a hero that does not feel hurt nor complain, and does not
have psychological crises, and accepts sacrificing himself and his country and
everything that was accomplished so that he can teach Israel a lesson, and
expose its craziness and ensure its defeat, as was indicated to us by the
Syrian Minister on the BBC, that Israel is the loser… You see it is now hated
more than ever before, and it is indicted by most of the nations of the
world... now that they see for sure - and the lesson is still proceeding - the
extent of its savagery and folly.
"When
you are Shi'ite, you have to accept this logic, and even praise it, admiring
its eloquence, its wisdom, and its global role in spreading the legal education
and the enactment of international treaties and its role on a popular level, in
resistance and liberation. Didn't we see, through this war on us, that 'Syria
is the cornerstone of this region?' These are the very words of the [Syrian]
minister himself.
"Of
course all this destruction was necessary in order to ensure with concrete
evidence the validity of this reasoning; because of the level of our objective
thinking, we only work with evidence and empirical experimentation.
"To
be a Shi'ite is to accept that your country be destroyed before your very eyes…
and that it comes tumbling down on your head, and that your family be displaced
and dispersed and becomes a 'refugee' at the four corners of the nation and the
world, and that you accept standing up to the enemy with no complaints as long
as there is a fighter out there with a rocket that he can launch at northern
Israel - and maybe even at its south - without asking about the 'why' or about
the timing or about the usefulness of the end result.
"To
be a Shi'ite is to accept that you sacrifice all, as long as you have someone
who will compensate you with money, and that someone will look over you as you
rebuild what he destroyed. What is your problem with that?
"You
see, we are a people of heroes that knows nothing but sacrifice, and we can
absorb mental shocks and the death of loved ones and the humiliation of
displacement and the destruction of the infrastructure of the state - since it
is a weak, corrupt and follower state. Is it not enough to have on our side a
strong country [i.e. Syria] whose foundations we work to support in confronting
the unjust American might and the Israeli war machine from hell? - that machine
whose weakness we have to prove, as well as its inability to inflict any harm
on the fighters of Hizbullah, or on its ability to limit their military
capabilities, and to prove that at any price?"
"What is the Purpose of Liberating a Country? Is it to Destroy it
All Over Again and to Make it Possible for it to Be Occupied Once More?"
"To
be a Shi'ite is to keep silent and not to ask what is the purpose of liberating
a country. Is it to destroy it all over again and to make it possible for it to
be occupied once more? And not to ask about the role of the leadership: Is it
to preserve its military power and keep its men flush with arms without any
care or concern for the normal human being? Being a Shi'ite means that you can
only thank Hizbullah for its heroism and sacrifice. It is not your role to
contribute to 'weakening' it or to 'breaking its word' or to making it know
when to back down or compromise to preserve its victory on the one hand and to
preserve the Lebanese nation and its people, as well as its development, on the
other hand!! That means never to question whether pride takes precedence over
the lives of others and whether stones take precedence over arms."
"To Be a Shi'ite Means to Incapacitate Your Mind and to Leave it to
Khamenei to Guide You… and He Imposes on You a Notion of Victory That is No
Different Than Suicide"
"To
be a Shi'ite means to confer on the leader of the resistance his role as a
loyal hero to the cause of the Arab nation in its entirety, not only whether
you like it or not, but whether that nation likes it or not. You only have to
hear the popular praise of the masses, that was preceded by the praise the
masses heaped on their loyal hero 'Abd Al-Nasser, and is still shedding tears
for its other hero, Saddam Hussein. And the masses are still able to heap
praise on any hero that tickles its dreams and its feelings so that it can
sleep tight at night… or to recover its lost dignity under the boots of rulers
like Saddam, as long as we, and only we, pay the price until your real
awakening.
"But
the question is, to what degree can we rely on these incapable masses, who are
enslaved by their rulers, to liberate themselves without even thinking about reconsidering
this Jihadist and revolutionary plan!! Are they empowered? Are they wise
enough? Have they prepared the ground for that? Do they have tools for fighting
and remaining steadfast other than the arms of zeal and emotion and oratory?
"If
you are a Shi'ite you are not to ask this leadership how the groundwork was
prepared to absorb this indiscriminate war and its 'potential' consequences.
Where are the hospitals, the ambulances, not to speak of the shelters? These
are the responsibilities of the state - which was never consulted in declaring
war - so that it can be blamed for its weakness and lack of wit. You see, the
state is only needed when it is called upon to heal wounds, but the wise and
existential decisions are not within its realm.
"To
be a Shi'ite means to incapacitate your mind and to leave it to [Iranian
Supreme Leader] Khamenei to guide you and to decide for you what he wants
concerning arms for Hizbullah, and he imposes on you a notion of victory that
is no different than suicide."
"Isn't it a Priority to Make Iran a Regional Shi'ite Superpower?
What is the Problem With Sacrificing a Country Called Lebanon?"
"To
be a Shi'ite means to defend the meddling of the Iranian [Foreign] Minister
Mottaki in Lebanese state affairs without even trying to care for appearances.
Maybe he came to 'point out' to the ministers of Hizbullah that they [the
Hizbullah ministers] 'did not agree' to the seven-point plan, especially the
point about the multinational force, so that the door of the resistance would
not be shut, and so that we can remain a country exploited and abused, after it
was proven that the Shab'a Farms are Syrian and would be dealt with in
accordance with Resolution 242… And in that he is warning them about putting
their Lebanese identity before their following Iran.
"They
have to, against their own will, put the Iranian nuclear program and the
interest of the state of Iran ahead of the interest of their state, and ahead
of the preservation of the lives of the Lebanese or their possessions, whether
these Lebanese are Shi'ite or otherwise, but especially if they are Shi'ites.
Isn't it a priority to make Iran a regional Shi'ite superpower? What is the
problem with sacrificing a country called Lebanon? Or the Shi'ites of this
'Lebanon'?"
"If You are a Shi'ite and You Dare Write Such Writings and Think
Such Thinking, Then You Must Be a Foreign Agent and a Traitor"
"And
in this tense mood, if you are a Shi'ite you have to listen to your Shi'ite
speaker, who is disturbed and angry, and who wants to turn the world on top of
the [Lebanese reform movement] 14th of March, and who wants to forbid the
deployment of multinational forces. And you hear him distribute labels of
foreign servitude, treason, Americanism and Zionism left and right, without
raising your lip. You have to absorb his anger and agree with all his opinions,
of which we have mentioned but a small sample. This is what takes you as far as
possible from thinking: who the heck you are? Are you a Lebanese citizen? Does
your being a Shi'ite mean that you have to give priority to Iran over Lebanon?
Do you have the freedom to have your own opinions? Freedom of expression? Is it
possible to think calmly and to ask where are we going with this nation, the
institutions of this state, with pluralism, with the coexistence that we have
to defend now?
"If
you are a Shi'ite and you dare write such writings and think such thinking,
then you must be a foreign agent and a traitor, in favor of partition and
naturalization of Palestinians [in Arab states]. You must be with the Zionist
and Israeli projects, and you defend the state, with its corruption and
favoritism, and you support the biased American policies, and you accept its
short-sightedness, and its support for the terrorism of the Zionist state, and
its failure to give the Palestinians their state like all other creatures of
God, under the pretext of not supporting the terrorism of Hamas. And that means
you support Israel itself and its satanic war machine and its extreme savagery,
and you justify its killing, its occupation, and its folly, and you are lucky
if you are not accused of being the one destroying houses on people's heads and
the dismemberment of children's corpses and scattering them on the heaps of
debris - [all this] by raising your voice.
"Did
I forget any of the symphony? If I did, please excuse me, because I cannot miss
any of the news shows any more. I have to go see who is being displaced and
whose house is being destroyed at the moment - that is, if he manages to survive."
Reactions to Mona Fayyad's Article
Two
articles in the Lebanese daily Al-Nahar - one from August 10, 2006, by Naif
Karim and another from August 12, 2006, by Sanaa Haj - accused Mona Fayyad of
superficiality and of distorting the facts, and mimicked the style of her
article.
Karim
wrote: "The hypothetical Shi'ite is supposed to give up his weapons and
sleep in the arms of the wolf, relying on the protection of the international
community and not troubling himself or his country with [issues of] liberating
territories... [or] liberating Lebanese prisoners...
The hypothetical Shi'ite is supposed to accept it as inevitable fate that there
are networks of Israeli agents who plant bombs and kill activists from Sidon to
Ba'albek... A Shi'ite who counts as a pure Lebanese is one who condemns [Syrian
Foreign Minister] Walid Al-Muallem and [Iranian Foreign Minister] Manuchehr
Mottaki for their open interference in Lebanon's affairs, [but] throws flowers
to Condoleezza Rice and approves of the New Middle East that she is weaving
from the blood of our children." [3]
Sanaa
Haj, a university lecturer, wrote: "To be a Shi'ite means having to
justify [the activity of] the resistance [i.e. Hizbullah] - to foreign
[parties] and unfortunately also to domestic [ones]... [It means having] to
convince others every day that you are loyal to your country, which you nourish
with your blood and your determined stand, and to constantly prove that you are
an Arab and not an Iranian... to endure the sight of your family members in
South Lebanon being killed and uprooted from their homes... to keep silent and
not dare to express your enthusiasm and your joy at the victories of the
resistance, so as to not offend the sensibilities of certain people in
Lebanon..." [4]
In
an August 12, 2006 article in Al-Nahar, Isma'il Sharaf Al-Din responded to Naif
Karim's claims, saying that Karim had not answered the legitimate questions
raised by Mona Fayyad. Sharaf Al-Din, who sees himself as a displaced Shi'ite,
wrote that he agreed with Fayyad's statements and wished to add one of his own:
"As a Shi'ite, you must first of all demand an accounting from those who
started this adventure, which, as an initial result, caused more than one
million Lebanese, most of them Shi'ites, to be displaced from their homes, with
[entire] cities and villages being emptied of their inhabitants." [5]
Reformist
columnist 'Aziz Al-Haj posted a reaction on the reformist website Elaph,
stating that Mona Fayyad "is not the only one who writes with such candor
out of love for Lebanon and its people." He listed many others who had
written in the same vein, in the London Arabic-language daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat
and in the Kuwaiti press, and who had incurred a torrent of curses, insults,
and accusations of being communists. [6]
MEMRI
http://memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD125806
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1]
Al-Nahar (Lebanon), August 7, 2006.
[2]
The translation was posted on the website "New England Americans for
Lebanon" and has been lightly edited for style. http://www.10452lccc.com/hizbollah/fayad10.8.06english.htm
,
August 11, 2006.
[3]
Al-Nahar (Lebanon), August 10, 2006.
[4]
Al-Nahar (Lebanon), August 12, 2006.
[5]
Al-Nahar (Lebanon), August 12, 2006.
[6]
http://www.elaph.com/ElaphWeb/ElaphWriter/2006/8/168599.htm
,
August 10, 2006.