Good evening..
Finally , Iam home..nothing like home !
with my family , we haven`t been together since ten months.
this is our second home in Amman, our first is in Baghdad, hope we can
go back soon after the end of my kids summer holiday..
may peace be upon Iraq and Iraqis...
and all of you...
faiza
# posted by Faiza Al-Arji @ 9:48 PM
Saturday, June 18th, 2005
Good evening...
We left the institute this morning, saying good bye to each other
without tears...
Those were happy days that we lived here together, as if we were one
family...
I said to my friend "Janet", my room mate, an American; if we were
here to study various subjects, like any other university students, we
would have behaved individually, without commitment to the others, but
as we sat together in the class rooms, dividing ourselves to various
groups everyday... we learned the dialogue, understanding,
comprehending the other... and respecting him, and because we studied
"Peace Building", we were united by one goal, one dream, and that,
perhaps, is the reason of our feeling that we became one family.....
********************************
I was tired throughout the evening, we were all tired from three weeks
of lessons, listening, and dialogue...
From one point, we were happy to return home to our countries, and
from the other point, we were sorry to leave each other, especially my
women friends... I loved them all; Africans, Philippines, Japanese,
Ethiopians, Europeans, Asians, and even Americans... we had a lot in
common, despite the different cultures, but the atmosphere was
friendly and healthy between us all.
memories, and as I didn't have enough for all, I gave the priority to
the women, not the men, then to some of our teachers, men and women...
because it belonged to charitable societies. I gave my friends pieces
of Iraqi real leather, on which there is the map of Iraq, the Tigris
and the Euphrates Rivers, and the ancient Iraqi relics, of the
different civilizations that once lived on Iraqi soil....
I said to them: Always remember Iraq...and pray for peace to reside in
it.
******************************************
I am now on a train, on my way to Washington, DC, to meet my friend
"Mary", to arrange a schedule for meeting Anti- war on Iraq groups,
governmental, and non- governmental, for me to explain what is going
on in Iraq for two years now, so they could understand the truth
there, other than what they hear daily from the poisonous Media.
***********************************
Yesterday, our teacher, Mr. Gavin, a Britain from South Africa, drew a
square on the board, inside of that square there were 10 longitudinal
squares, and 10 squares on the width, saying: This means $ 1 Trillion
spent annual on Armies budget, and wars in the world... (Trillion
means 6- Zero digits in front of the million...).
The American government alone spends around 47% of this amount on its
army, scattered around the world, (meaning, about 50%). The rest is
spent by the European, Asian, African countries, and others...
And Mr. Gavin said: only 6 squares of these little ones, (and there
were 100 small squares), are spent on aid, and the development of poor
countries annually.
So, do you imagine if we spent all that money to improve the
conditions of nations, how would earth become?
We stood, staring at the diagram, and wondered: How do we change the
equation? How do we draw money and influence from the hands of the
factions that manufacture weapons, and wage wars, and put it into the
hands of those who build peace on earth??
We laughed a lot, as we listened to the suggestions... but we were
sure that this was the responsibility of all of us .... the
responsibility of all people to stand up and put a limit in front of
those villains who destroyed earth, and filled it with darkness,
violence, fear, and blood....
How?
The first step: Raising up the awareness and attention levels in
people, for what is happening around them...
And secondly: In all countries, there will be strong social civil
movements, to extend helping hands to change, to achieve peace on
earth...
At night, I told "Janet", before I fell a sleep: In our Holy Quran, we
have a verse that says: .... (And my virtuous followers shall inherit
the earth...).
And she said: we have something like that in the bible....
I said: The hearts of the faithful are alike, their GOD is One, and
they want peace on earth... and all who use religion to evoke hatred
among people is a wicked liar... everyone who says; this is a Muslim,
Christian, or a Jew, wanting to turn them into enemies is a wicked
liar.....
Isn't it about time for people to open their eyes and be aware??
***************************************
We spent the last week in different groups... ours chose the subject
of "Peace Building and Society Development". In the first class we
spoke generally about different meanings of vocabularies like:
society, freedom, and development... then we decided, with the
teacher, to draw a model of a small society which lives in a state of
conflict, indicating all the factors that are influencing it,
internally, and externally, then, to think how to develop that
society, and what would the meaning of the word "develop" mean to the
people of that place?
****************************
A colleague from Afghanistan came along with a suggestion to talk
about an Afghani village, taking it as a case study. We started
drawing on big, blank papers joined together on the floor; we drew the
villagers, men, women, and children, then, the sheep, trees, and
pastures, then the small shops, the main street in the village, the
bridge, fallen since the war, the river crossing through the village,
the village mosque, and the government representative's house, who
lives far, and we drew that a big, distinguished house, away from
those of the villagers.
Then we drew the oil wells in Afghanistan, and the American military
base near the village, Pakistan as an influential neighbor, Russia as
a neighboring country who used to occupy Afghanistan, and the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict issue which influences the people's
attitude towards the American government, and its military forces
here, around the village...
There were some rebels who perform raids against the American base,
and hide in the mountains around town, aided secretly by the
villagers, because they sympathize with them; people refuse to deal
with the occupation forces, because they suffer from them; unjust
reports against them, raids, and humiliating arrests of the men in the
village. The Afghani National Guard's men collaborate with the
occupation forces in arresting people, and torturing them. People hate
them...
And people refuse to deal with any non-governmental organization that
enters the village, the rebels threaten them with death if they dealt
with these organizations or the American army, and people are stuck in
the middle, between the rebels and the occupation....
Hummm....doesn't this seem like a similar story to what is happening
in Iraq?
*****************************
So... we want to know who the rebels are, and what are their demands?
The Afghani participant said: I work for the (USAID) organization, and
I cannot enter the village for fear of my life, so, I sleep in the
military base if I go there... The village has no school or medical
center since the days of Taliban, there is no electricity, but only
small, scattered generators. People in the village live by the
products of their agricultural lands, and if they needed anything,
they went to the nearby town to buy it. There is a radio broadcasting
station, transmitting from the capital, by the government, and of
course, not all agree to what it says...
The nearest medical center is 6 hours off the village, by car. Some
villagers have cars. Children do not go to school. Women do not go out
of the house, not even for shopping, it is forbidden.
The planting of Hashish (drugs) is common in the country.
No school or medical center since the days of Taliban, when they
intensified the idea that learning is forbidden, and going to the
doctor is not necessary, for GOD is the One who heals, giving life,
and death.
The rebels come from the school, (madrasa), inside Pakistan, which was
established since the times of the Soviet Union fighting, when the
later used to occupy Afghanistan... these schools were financed by the
United States government, and some of the Islamic governments, which
helped Bin Laden to go to Afghanistan, making him a religious hero to
fight the infidel communists ... there was a strong campaign in many
Arabic countries, supported by governments, this campaign was led by
the clergy in those countries, in cooperation with the governments,
they waged the campaign of Jihad (struggle) against the enemy in
Afghanistan, brain washing the minds of thousands of Arab young men,
pushing them to go there, (at the beginning of the 1980s), paying for
the fees of their transports, study, and arms training in camps
belonging to those religious schools that teach Jihad.
What is Jihad, according to these schools?
It is fighting the non-Muslim only, training to kill them.
Those young men, whether Afghani or Pakistani Muslims, they do not
understand what the Holy Quran says, but read it only, not
understanding the meanings, and their teachers instruct them that
killing the non-Muslim is your sure way to heaven.
Of course, then the enemy was an infidel communist, who do not admit
to religion, so, the story is reasonable; kill your infidel enemy, and
not only an infidel, but an occupier...
So, those young men, young in age, experience, knowledge, and
education, were exploited, forming an effective weapon to push out the
Soviet Union out of Afghanistan...
But the problem is that those schools are still there, giving the same
lessons, spreading the same poisons in to the minds of simple people,
telling them that Islam is a religion of violence, killing, and terror
against all non-Muslims...without understanding the Quran, and what's
in it, of a great humanitarian message, of peace, and love.
How come that we, Arab Muslims, have lived since thousands of years
with Christians and other religions, in our countries in peace,
without violence?
The Palestinian-Israeli conflict isn't religious, but they tried to
put it in the guise of religion. (Muhammad was Arabic, living in our
land, the books talking about him are many, clear and comprehensible.
The Holy Quran is Arabic, and comprehensible.
Why weren't we terrorists all our lives? Why was a deformed picture of
Islam sent there? Why did the American government support
manufacturing that deformed picture? Why was that picture used in the
Media, so that whenever the word "Islam" comes into the news
broadcast, we hear words like "extremist" or "fundamental" with it? As
our British teacher.....from South Africa says?
Why weren't we, the Arabs, with the message of Muhammad living among
us, implemented in our lives, the sample of Muslims in the Media?
Why was Islam deformed, making it the enemy No.1 after the fall of
communism?
Why do we see, since 1990, that most conflicts in the world have an
Islamic party? And it wasn't like that before the fall of communism?
Even the war between Iraq and Iran, two Muslim countries, started by
the devising and encouragement of the American government to Saddam
Hussein.
Even the backwards government of Taliban, that deformed Islam, assumed
power in Afghanistan by the support of the American government.
Do the people are stupid??
When people come to our countries, they find out the amount of peace
in the hearts of Muslims, and the amount of mercy. The Arab and
Islamic people still honor the guest, respecting and welcoming, even
if he was a citizen of a western country whose government is an enemy,
and their history is full of injustice against us...
But Al-Zarqawi and Bin Laden are the deforming children of Islam...
they are the children of the American government; she produced them,
raised them, and then turned them into bombs, planting corruption,
destruction, and evil, in the name of Islam....
Islam is innocent of all that....
And one day, the truth shall be revealed to all.....
********************************
After all this, I started to believe that one of the priorities of the
nationalist tasks in Iraq now, is to expose the truth of the existence
of those deformers, then throwing them out of Iraq, immediately...if
they truly exist...
The Iraqi arena is very clear without them...we know exactly that our
only enemy is that occupation, and it should be turned out of the
country by any possible means, Al-Qida'a has nothing to do with us, if
they killed the occupiers because they are infidels, that is their
concern, with which we have no connection....
We resist the occupation because it is hateful, wanting to rob us of
our freedom, wealth, and our independence, and religion has no
connection here....
Resisting the occupation and throwing it out of the country is a
legitimate right of all nations on earth...
And the story of Al-Zarqawi and Al-Qida'a in Iraq were invented only
to take away that right from our hands.
*********************************
For many days I remained annoyed by the picture I saw of Afghanistan,
and the people there...someone delivered the wrong message about Islam
to them there.
We are Muslims, the followers of Muhammad, and to us learning is a
right and a duty upon every Muslim, man and woman.
Going to doctors is necessary, taking medicine with our faith in GOD,
and His WILL...
Women learn, work, and go out to markets, in the normal limits that
are neither overmuch, or reckless.
Dealing in drugs is forbidden in Islam; planting it, marketing, or
using it...
Everything there is upside down, and deformed... I got a headache, and
bewilderment...
These people need someone to go there, to them, and teach them the
true Islam that we know, as we learned it from our fathers and
grandfathers, and mothers, the Islam that we read in Quran, and the
Arabic books of the Prophet's speeches.
******************************
I wonder what is happening to the world?
I used to think there is a misunderstanding about Islam...
But I discovered that there is another Islam, one that was invented
there...in that "Wonder madrasa", totally different from the one we
know...
I don't know... should I laugh, or cry??
I don't know... how do the beautiful things get distorted... and
trampled under feet?
I don't know what a lying, falsified world is surrounding us, in which
we live?
I only fear for the coming generations...always thinking of ways to
get a shiny future for those generations?
*******************************
Time is passing on, now it is 6:30 PM...
We are standing in the New York train station.
The passengers who were sitting by me got off the train...I talked a
lot with them, told them I am from Iraq, they were nice and friendly,
told me they were Jews, that Abraham the Prophet used to live in Iraq.
Yes, I said, he is the grandfather of the Arabs and the Jews.
They said: So, we are cousins!
Our religious habits are similar, and we respect all Prophets....
They kept talking to me, asking me from time to time if I needed any
help, or assistance, or if I want to go to have tea in the
cafeteria... I was happy with their company...they asked about my
children, their ages, and what do they study...
Then, they got ready to get down in New York, telling me in Arabic:
Al-Sallamu Alaykum, (Peace Be upon You).
I laughed and said: Ma'aa Al-Salamma! (Go in Safety!).
A little while ago, another passenger passed in front of me, a very
old man who was listening to our dialogue...he smiled as he carried
his bag and moved away: Al-haaa'amdu Lilaah (Thank GOG), (he said it
very laboriously in Arabic), and I took it he was trying to say Good
bye, or something like that....
I laughed and said: Ma'aa Al-Salamma! (Go in Safety!).
The ticket inspector came, and asked: Hello, to Washington?
I said: yes. I took out the ticket out of my handbag, but she said: no
need, dear, I believe you.
I see that people almost everywhere love peace, friendliness, and
courtesy... but there are some who want to plant hatred among us....
Listen to this, there was a funny scene: A woman stood up and said:
Please, I lost my purse, and I need money to get back home with my
son, and so on...
That was a common story in Baghdad, we hear it often, some times we
believe it, and some times we think them swindlers...
I found some people here busy, reading magazines, not
responding...while others stood up and gave her something... I called
her and gave her some money, and she said something like: Bless Jesus!
And moved on to more people who gave her....
I can't tell if she was honest, or a con? GOD only knows...
Ha,ha,ha ... Funny, how much people are alike?
There were some women sitting on the front seats, talking and laughing
in a loud voice, like this...HA...HA...HA...
They seemed happy.... Living happy moments, without worries, without
the house, the husband, or the children...like all the women of the
world...the same feelings...and the same behaviors.
There was an old man who roamed the place for two hours now, seeming
to have lost his place, and his luggage. I think he was a senile old
man....the inspector took his hand to help him, but he went back to
walk along the seats, like a distracted man.
I wonder where his family and children are? I feel sorry for
him.......
There were some young women sitting behind me, leafing through a
fashion magazine, and babbling in a non-English language.
And behind me there was a woman who has been talking on her cellular
phone for over an hour now, in a broken English language, perhaps she
is from East Asia...
There was also an old woman who was sitting on the seat near the
toilet door, I went to wait there, and she asked me, and found out my
life history after 10 minutes, she said after reading the pamphlets of
the institute where I was: It is an excellent institute, and that was
a happy opportunity when I got acquainted with you, my dear, we are
all the children of One GOD, we are all brothers and sisters....
Hummm... these people are always supporting my philosophical theory.
Peace shall come upon earth, build by all the people like those, in
Iraq, and in other countries... those are the peace builders by
nature.
Peace is the only choice for the people of earth, but there should be
no peace without justice. We do not want turning, twisting, lies,
speeches, and empty words; there is no peace without justice.....
That was the most important point we learned in the institute during
the 3- weeks.
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