Waking up in a new world: Part V

Editor's note: I think we may run out of Roman numerals. Anyway, as another worker drone once said, I'm not even supposed to be here today. But here I am, and here is another post in the possibly never-ending series that could have been called: Why I (the writer) think the invasion of Iraq was a necessary and justifiable action. I have another title for it, but decorum prevents me from typing it out. And if you think this expanding table of contents is fun, I've got a few choice words for you too:

Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV

Back to your regularly scheduled programming....

[Author's note: Perhaps this will help the editor]

Islamic Fundamentalism.

I know I promised Islamic Fundamentalism, but in order to cover the most extreme whacko parts, we need to learn something about Islam first.

Back in my younger days, I never thought much about Islam. not sure when exactly I first even heard of it. I do remember studying it somewhat in ninth grade social studies class. In the golden days of educational reform (the 1970's) the subjects of history, geography and civics were all jumbled together into one class called social studies. My teacher, Mr. Case, said we were going to spend a few weeks studying religion. Since we students were mostly Christian - if any religion - he said we'd skip over that and concentrate on Islam, Hindu and Buddhists. Made sense at the time. Since I don't remember anything I learned on the subject in that class, I assume it was pretty bland and uninformative.

Islam continued to bore me for years afterwards, and it wasn't until September 12, 2001 that I took a real hard look at it. To begin with, from newspaper and magazines articles. I bought a National Geographic book in the winter of 2002, "The World of Islam" which was a collection of articles published by the magazine over the last 100 years. I learned a good deal more about western civilization's bias' towards Islam than I learned about Islam itself. And I don't mean that sarcastically, the West had some pretty big stereotypes about Arabs. I've continued to read about it since. Sun Tzu, who wrote a masterpiece called "The Art Of War", which is still required reading at some military academies, once opined "know your enemy". I was determined to do just that.

Islam comes down from the Prophet Mohammed, who is said to be a direct descendent of the father of monotheism. Abraham is considered the father of three modern religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Now I must say, there is interesting reading on Abraham in the book of Genesis. It's almost too funny. Can you imagine being a stable hand in Abe's house, when this crazed, old, 99 year old guy comes rushing into your room - brandishing a knife - and screaming God himself declared that Abe must circumcise every male in his house before dawn? I don't know about you, but I would be both skeptical and scared as all hell.

Abraham had a wife, Sarah, and a concubine,named Hagar. They both gave him sons. Sarah was the mother of Isaac, Hagar the mother of Ishmael. The Old Testament tells us that God told Abraham to take his son, climb a mountain, build an alter, and sacrifice his son as proof of his devotion to God. The Old Testament states that Abraham did just that, and at the moment he was about to slice his son's throat (an awful lot of that over in the Middle East, isn't there?), an angel stayed his hand. The son went down the mountain, never to return home, Abraham went back to Sarah. The story has an underlying parable about how when kids grow up, they really need to get the hell out of the house at some point. But on the subject at hand, what's important is which son was chosen to be sacrificed. Jews and Christians believe it was Sarah's son Isaac. Muslims believe it was the Hagar's son Ishmael.

Isaac descended the mountain and went on to father the twelve tribes of Israel (which is in fact, the name of one of the twelve tribes, the largest). Later, Joseph would lead them into Egypt, for what he thought was at the time, gainful employment, only to turn into slavery. Ishmael went on to father the tribes of Arabia. There's the kicker. Both Christianity/Jewish and Islam claim to be the rightful heirs of Abraham, and thereby the one true God. On a side note, the Hebrews languished in slavery till Moses came along and helped convince the Pharaoh that it wasn't such a cool idea. After parting the Red Sea, and hiking off to Mount Sinai where he received the 10 Commandments, Moses came down and found the tribes of Israel really partying it up - and not in a good way. Moses broke the stone tablets, condemning the non-believers to hell. I mention this because some Muslim scholars believe that even if Isaac was the chosen son, Hebrews gave up any claim to be the chosen people of God when they sinned in shadow of the mountain, in front of God.

After wondering around the desert for 40 years (geeze, can't anyone ask directions?) the Hebrews entered the "land of milk and honey", the chosen land, the land promised by God, the River Jordan valley. They promptly made war against the inhabitants, the tribes of Ishmael, and the two groups have been at each other's throats ever since. Some people think all this trouble with Israel and Palestinians can be solved with a few treaties and swapping some land around. History, good people, look to history!

This story has always made me wonder. It's apparent that all three religions have the same roots, they believe many of the same things, so why can't we all just get along? Islam venerates the Virgin Mary and believes Jesus was a prophet who just got carried away. Some times it's almost surreal. So close, yet so far apart.

Being a Roman Catholic, I know about the Latin Rite (Roman Catholic), and the Eastern Rite. I also know of the Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, and Ukrainian Orthodox Churches, orthodox being the Greek word for "right-thinking." I couldn't even begin to list all the various flavors of Protestant religions. Lutheran, Methodist, Seventh Day Adventists, Pentecostals, Baptists, Evangelical, Church of Latter-Day Saints, those people who dance with rattlesnakes, and let's not forget every one's favorite, Jehovah Witnesses. (On a side note, I do enjoy when they come knocking on the door questioning if I go to church, and if so what scriptures were read, because I go to Church and I remember what I read. It leaves them speechless. And there's nothing like the sight of a Jehovah Witness, slack-jawed, stunned into silence. Not that there's anything wrong with being a Jehovah Witness.)

Since Christians can't seem to agree on the correct method of worship, it shouldn't come as a surprise that Islam also comes in various flavors. I believe the largest sect is Sunni, followed by Shiite.

When Mohammed finally expired, not surprisingly, there was a power struggle. One group of Muslims thought the companions of Mohammed knew him best, and therefore were most capable of continuing his teaching and work. Another group believed the position of leader of the religion should be hereditary, so there was a split. Imagine that, humans not agreeing on religion? The group that held the companions best capable eventually evolved into the Sunnas, which means "way" or "custom" as in the way of the prophet. Their chosen leader was referred to as the Caliphate (remember this word, we will come back to it), or "successor", as in successor to the prophet. The other sect evolved into the Shiite, which means Shia of Ali, or followers of Ali, the original, closest living relative of Mohammed at the time of his death.

So there was this uneasy state between the two groups, riled up by different interpretations of the Quran. Well it finally hit the rotating oscillator when the third Caliphate decided that Shiites were not true Muslims, but rather "kafirs" (nonbelievers, that category would include everyone on the planet who is not a Sunni) and needed to be dispatched (remember that too). A war erupted (I thought Islam was a religion of peace?) which climaxed with the death of the leaders of Shiites in Najaf. In modern Iraq, there is a huge Mosque in Najaf to memorialize the death of the leaders of Shiites, it's currently the Mosque of Grand Ayatollah Ali Hussein al-Sistani, considered the religious leader of the Iraqi Shiites. It was also the Mosque that Muqtada as-Sadar's army hid in when attacked by the US Marines a year or two ago. They hid behind their holy walls and dared the Marines to attack, hoping to ignite a civil war. Hiding in the sanctuary of a holy Mosque while taking pot shots at American soldiers. I'll save the righteous indignation for when we get to modern Iraq.

In case you might have missed it, Shiites show up at least once a year on the news, in a large procession, beating themselves with chains, whips, cutting themselves to draw blood. This is done during the festival to memorialize the Shiite deaths at the hands of the Sunnis. One of the few recorded incidents I've come across where Muslims did, in fact, fight to the death. Its considered one of, if not the, holiest aspect of Shiites. It may seem strange to me, but I can only imagine what Shiites think when my Church proclaims every Sunday that the Eucharist, is in fact, the "body and blood" of the Christ.

Under Saddam, the march was outlawed. Can't say as I blame him much. If I was the head of 20% of a nation oppressing 60% of the population, I wouldn't want to see them all armed and working themselves into a bloody hysteria.

Next, Wahhabism.