‘My homeland above all’
this article answers questions by many people as to why i wasn’t discussing recent events or directly commenting on them. without a doubt, we’ve been facing moral crisis — even before the situation escalated to political and sectarian crises, and any comment on the abdali cell events could be interpreted beyond what the writer envisaged. the general situation is sickening, as the government and the people have both failed to make good citizens of the hundred thousand schoolboys and girls in a state whose government controls its citizens from the day of birth until death. the failure is strange indeed, especially as money and educational materials are readily available and the soul and body is ready to embrace life’s beauty. the population is small and easy to control, and yet, we fail because nobody has thought about what will happen if the community suffers moral or political shock— similar to those experienced recently, and we find ourselves in the middle of crises. faces of odious fanaticism and ugly sectarianism have been exposed in twisted logic in the midst of shame and sorrow. we have lived forty years and seen and warned of religious extremism and deliberate invitation to hundreds of extremist clerics from neighboring countries to visit and create division among us. we have lived forty years and kept warning against leaving the window ajar with rope for associations and charities to collect billions of zakat and a fifth of shiite money without knowing the purpose of collecting the sum, and for whom or where or how it will be spent. we have been warning on all qu’ran memorization contests and unjustified religious activities proven to have made no contribution to increase knowledge or reduce extremism. yes, we have lived 40 years. we object, write and bear the consequences of our work. we have been prosecuted a dozen times in court for refusing membership of one party against another in society, and then comes those asking us to prove our allegiance through a statement, speech, word or article—as if loyalty is proven by word of mouth or lecture. my homeland is above all, and if it’s lost, we’ll be made miserable orphans— as we suffered in the seven months of the iraqi occupation. i do care about the issue of abdali cell or imam al-sadiq mosque terrorist attack, and any other national or security betrayals—as much as it affects the security of this beautiful homeland. otherwise, it does not mean much to me, because my faith in patriotism and love for the country cannot be shaken by a bombing incident or a judicial verdict or conspiracies of this or that group. issues of this nature are expected to happen in a small country surrounded by forces that have aspirations and ambitions greater than ours. all this sectarian polarization and ‘protecting each group on its soil’ would not have happened if we raised or taught or brought up our sons and taught ourselves to put the nation above all things, and not sectarian affiliations. there is no need for any group or opponent to issue a statement to declare full loyalty to the homeland, the nation or the authority whenever there is a security issue or sabotage in the community. no matter what a group writes, part of the statement will be criticized or ignored. reduce the religious doses and sectarian extremism, promote loyalty and love for the homeland, stand behind the leadership, and push the state to secularism, so we may succeed.
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