The Muslim World Explodes: 'Failing To Learn the Lessons of History'

By A. Akbar Muhammad | Last updated: Sep 21, 2012 - 6:35:18 PM

'Hillary Clinton stated that a “small group of savages” took the lives of Ambassador Stephens and the three Consular staff members. I wondered as I read her words, was this the same “small group of savages” that brutally killed Muammar Gadhafi and issued a fatwa that he was not a Muslim, in order to justify the savage way his body was handled and undignified way he was buried?'

(FinalCall.com) - In 1983, the Nation of Islam held its national convention, Saviours’ Day in Gary, Indiana—our first outside of Chicago. One of the workshops we presented was “Lessons from History—Those Who Have Failed to Learn the Lesson of History Are Doomed to Repeat It.” This often used axiom must be considered now by the United States as it faces anti-American protests that engulfed many nations of the world.

The violent backlash that exploded in every corner of the earth was triggered by “The Innocence of Muslims,” a despicable and disgusting film made to distort the life of Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be upon Him) that offended Muslims. People in over 30 countries have concluded there are extremists in the United States of America who hate Muslims. These haters display their disdain under the guise of freedom of speech and freedom of expression.

However history has shown the tragic end results of those who are bent on offending Muslims in words and, at worse, with deeds. With the deaths of J. Christopher Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three diplomatic staff during a Sept. 11 attack on the American Consulate in Benghazi, and with the tragic deaths of protestors on the streets expressing outrage at the Western World over the repulsive film, are examples of the results of offending sensibilities.

Many innocent people throughout the world have died because of reckless disregard of human sensibilities to faith and culture. Author Samuel P. Huntington predicted these clashes in his instructive book, “The Clash of Civilizations and The Remaking of World Order.” However, I don’t believe even Huntington thought it would manifest in the degenerate way we are witnessing today—whether it’s the barbaric and inhumane treatment of war prisoners in Iraq or the raping of Iraqi women. Whether flushing the Holy Qur’an down toilets or book burnings of the holy text. Whether its footage of American soldiers urinating on the dead corpses of fallen Afghan fighters or the torturing of captured combatants through water boarding and other illegal techniques. And not to mention the arrest and imprisonment of innocent Muslim men and women for long periods of time, often without charge, only on a suspicion they are terrorists.

In addition, Hollywood is making derogatory movies about the Islamic World, demeaning its culture and depicting Muslims as troublemakers and terrorists. Cartoonists are being employed to draw propaganda images mocking Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be upon Him) in a deliberate attempt to insult the faith of 1.6 billion people who recognize him as their guide.

Many people disagreed with Mr. Huntington when his book was first released; however, he talked about the fault line wars and cited the invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union. This was a decade long war from—1979 to 1989—where the Soviets were defeated, losing over 20,000 soldiers and forced to withdraw, conceding it was a no-win situation. For the Afghans, it wasn’t just war, but a form of cultural imperialism designed to take them out of their faith, Islam, and replace it with Western ideas and values that they had no taste or stomach for.

Certain ideologues of Western society say this latest conflict is a war against the forces of darkness and appears to be the war of Armageddon. Many apologists among Muslim scholars are seeking the favor of the Western world by advocating “we need to sit in dialogue.” From the scholar’s point of view, it sounds like the right thing to do, but among the masses of the 1.6 billion Muslims, we don’t have millions of scholars. Many Muslims have no education at all but they have their faith as the force of stabilization for their lives. When their faith is violated in the insidious manner the film did, their first response is not to get books and find a scholar to discuss how offended they are. Their hearts and minds tell them to demonstrate and make known their disgust.

The masses are standing up and declaring enough is enough and demanding that this horrible movie be completely removed from YouTube.com and wherever else it is being shown. Also, they would like to arrest the sick individuals who produced this movie and charge them with being complicit in the death of three Foreign Service workers, as well as a respected ambassador.

It is obvious some have not learned the lessons of history and are repeating them. The American Indians have a saying, “they never call their warriors soldiers; they call them warriors.” The soldiers are paid to fight, but the warriors fight from their heart because of belief. Regardless of the propaganda, no film, desecration of the Holy Qur’an, defamation of Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) nor torture will stop the millions of Muslims from struggling to defend their faith and belief system.

In his book Mr. Huntington wrote about the “fault line wars.” Today the Western powers have established fault lines around the world where we should be seeking the ways of peace and learning how to live with each other. In our own diversity, we are moving towards the clash of civilizations.

Lastly, Hillary Clinton stated that a “small group of savages” took the lives of Ambassador Stephens and the three Consular staff members. I wondered as I read her words, was this the same “small group of savages” that brutally killed Muammar Gadhafi and issued a fatwa that he was not a Muslim, in order to justify the savage way his body was handled and undignified way he was buried?

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