Sunday, August 15, 2004
Some ideas….
When all these problems come to an end, I think we should start solving the main problem instead of parts of it regarding Muqtada crisis or other problems similar to it that might come to the surface in the future.
The main problem is the clerics in Iraq and the relations with Iran.
Regarding Iran and other countries the diplomatic solutions will be discussed with them soon. So our problem here is the clerics:
Those men have been increasing obviously nowadays; all you have to do when you fail at school and you can’t understand or work in any field in life is wearing a dishdasha and aba, then put a white or black turban according to your descents, a long beard, and learn by heart some verses from the Koran and that’s it..you are a cleric! And you can get a lot of money from this job.
Those men are now shown constantly on the TV, the cleric, of course due to his look and ‘dignified’ speech, many people (most of them are poor) believe and follow him in Mosques and other places where he gives his ‘precious’ lectures.
Within few weeks this young cleric gets many guys around him and by time those will be his men.
So when our ‘lovely’ neighbors especially Iran discovers this new cleric, a lot of negotiations and agreements will be made as we see now with Muqtada. (needless to talk about the Iranian clerics’ effect on ours).
This is a dangerous problem and must be solved internally also.
Of course we can’t ban such acts in an Islamic country, but certain restrictions must be applied to control their freedom, these restrictions are for the sake of the Iraqi people.
I think the concept ‘nobody is above the law’ is disrespected by some of the clerics and there must be a new way to make those men understand what the meaning of this important view is.
Those clerics must not be left, because when this happens they will spoil anything the government achieves, they want someone important to talk with, at least telling them what they want to do regarding the situation in Iraq and what possible decrees will be recognized, so a monthly meeting with them is enough to make them understand what the government is doing for the people and that they should not interfere with them cause this will cause this and that…..and explaining the consequences.
This plan is important now to the step by step secular future in Iraq, because the clerics themselves will be under supervision and on the other hand when the gross domestic product increases for every Iraqi; he will leave the religious style in his life, you might ask: what is the relation between them? …Well..I think that the poverty is the main cause here in Iraq for those people to join the religious groups and listen to the clerics’ lectures as a vent for their anger and discomfort and for others as a way to be closer to God and that Allah will find a solution for their distress! So this will give them some relief and this is true psychologically.
But as the economical status improves (and it is improving, but more jobs must be provided for the unemployed) everything will change including the religion.. People will be thinking in how to feel free and comfortable instead of the ‘do this and don’t do that’, they know that life is wonderful, but poverty and the clerics make it gloomy and depressing… and so the attraction towards the clerics will decrease gradually when the above is done, and this psychological conflict disappers.
Secularism isn’t achieved with ‘a law and that’s it’, especially in Iraq where the clerics’ effect is clear.
By time the clerics will change their manner of speech and concentrate on purely religious things that have nothing to do with politics and do not interfere with the government’s work.
Just a thought..
What are your viewpoints?
The main problem is the clerics in Iraq and the relations with Iran.
Regarding Iran and other countries the diplomatic solutions will be discussed with them soon. So our problem here is the clerics:
Those men have been increasing obviously nowadays; all you have to do when you fail at school and you can’t understand or work in any field in life is wearing a dishdasha and aba, then put a white or black turban according to your descents, a long beard, and learn by heart some verses from the Koran and that’s it..you are a cleric! And you can get a lot of money from this job.
Those men are now shown constantly on the TV, the cleric, of course due to his look and ‘dignified’ speech, many people (most of them are poor) believe and follow him in Mosques and other places where he gives his ‘precious’ lectures.
Within few weeks this young cleric gets many guys around him and by time those will be his men.
So when our ‘lovely’ neighbors especially Iran discovers this new cleric, a lot of negotiations and agreements will be made as we see now with Muqtada. (needless to talk about the Iranian clerics’ effect on ours).
This is a dangerous problem and must be solved internally also.
Of course we can’t ban such acts in an Islamic country, but certain restrictions must be applied to control their freedom, these restrictions are for the sake of the Iraqi people.
I think the concept ‘nobody is above the law’ is disrespected by some of the clerics and there must be a new way to make those men understand what the meaning of this important view is.
Those clerics must not be left, because when this happens they will spoil anything the government achieves, they want someone important to talk with, at least telling them what they want to do regarding the situation in Iraq and what possible decrees will be recognized, so a monthly meeting with them is enough to make them understand what the government is doing for the people and that they should not interfere with them cause this will cause this and that…..and explaining the consequences.
This plan is important now to the step by step secular future in Iraq, because the clerics themselves will be under supervision and on the other hand when the gross domestic product increases for every Iraqi; he will leave the religious style in his life, you might ask: what is the relation between them? …Well..I think that the poverty is the main cause here in Iraq for those people to join the religious groups and listen to the clerics’ lectures as a vent for their anger and discomfort and for others as a way to be closer to God and that Allah will find a solution for their distress! So this will give them some relief and this is true psychologically.
But as the economical status improves (and it is improving, but more jobs must be provided for the unemployed) everything will change including the religion.. People will be thinking in how to feel free and comfortable instead of the ‘do this and don’t do that’, they know that life is wonderful, but poverty and the clerics make it gloomy and depressing… and so the attraction towards the clerics will decrease gradually when the above is done, and this psychological conflict disappers.
Secularism isn’t achieved with ‘a law and that’s it’, especially in Iraq where the clerics’ effect is clear.
By time the clerics will change their manner of speech and concentrate on purely religious things that have nothing to do with politics and do not interfere with the government’s work.
Just a thought..
What are your viewpoints?
