A further elaboration of the thinking behind the statements was outlined in an interview last year with Zarqawi's new advisor, Parvez Ahmed, in The Utne Reader (Nov. - Dec. '05): "It is our hope that the United States comes to its senses, but if not, our cries and efforts to spread awareness of the injustices will do nothing but grow louder and louder. However, in the meantime, Muslims are denouncing violence, except in extreme self-defense, and returning to the true spiritual nature of Islam.
"We are here to help our fellow human beings, because, on a very basic level, no one can live well if somebody else is not living well. The violence we have witnessed has been based on a grave misreading of the Koran, which is not just a series of literalisms. A handful of people advocating terrorism, who have not taken time for serious study, have taken certain passages far out of context. This is why we have scholars of religion and spiritual leaders.
"The greatest jihad for any Muslim is the struggle to not succumb to base desires, like greed, material want, bodily pleasures. Even in the context of defensive wars, there are rules of engagement which must be adhered to, such as treating prisoners with compassion, and giving them the same style of living that you afford yourself. Restraining from base desires, including revenge, are hallmarks of Islam.
In the United States, the Department of Peace, initiated one year ago by Congressman Dennis Kucinich, has helped embrace and amplify mainstream Muslim voices, by engaging Muslim leaders to speak with policymakers and interfaith scholars. It is claimed that this effort has helped reduce the feeling of isolation among many Muslims, and was instrumental in getting Ahmed to "bend Zarqawi's ear."
American Muslims are now working with U.S. leaders to create policies based on justice and mutual understanding, and which enhance the voice of the poor and dispossessed.
"We all have shared destinies," said Ahmed. "We are obviously living on the same planet, and we are all brothers and sisters, as science and other religions tell us. I invite everyone reading this to visit a Mosque and meet their own wonderful brothers and sisters there." [Article end]
Impossible you say? Maybe, but infinitely more "impossible things" have happened in the course of history. Civilizations have crashed, humans learned to fly, unknown upstarts have become world leaders (who else is there?), ideas from hermit philosophers have altered the course of history, dinosaurs disappeared and quiet little mammals filled the biological void. Paleontologists call them our ancestors. Need I even mention the universe that hatched from a singularity?
Let's face it: Nobody knows what's round the bend. The remarkable thing is that our own hands and minds will greatly influence, if not directly create, whatever IS around the bend.
As for the above fiction in Iraq, it very well COULD have happened. Had more people IMAGINED that Dennis Kucinich""the one candidate with imagination and the consequent vision""could have made it through the primaries, believed for once that it MIGHT actually happen, simply stopped playing the "waa, waa, we can't change reality" tape, and passed along one ounce of enthusiasm, it WOULD have happened. And as I imagine you know, Kucinich has been pushing hard for a Department of Peace; and Parvez Ahmed did say or suggest virtually everything above, in an interview with Utne Reader. Check it out in your local library if you don't believe me.
With such alternate visions laid clearly before them, and the chance to pick one, do you think many people would hesitate? I can't speak for everyone, but after several years working children from all over the world, including many from the mideast, I have little doubt that they or their parents would not hesitate for a second. The kids, at least, are peace loving, peer oriented, well-intentioned, fundamentally caring, thoughtful, and protective of each other. And this IS our species, before we toss in the monkey wrenches of division, the bogus notions of separateness, the fictional wedges between "us" and "them," the seeds of self-doubt, the pinpricks of sarcasm, the concepts of status and greed, and the loss of faith in their own minds.
All these kids from everywhere want is a little respect and recognition. And I believe it's fair to say that Dale Carnegie demonstrated with finality that the same is true of adults. Aretha Franklin, where are you? Is it really beyond our imagination to provide respect and recognition, for our own children and for all children the world over? And if countless hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of teachers actually do this day after day in their own classrooms, why can't this same thing be done for adults?
Why, exactly, can't George Bush sit his prima donna ass in a chair and have a discussion with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, or Osama bin Laden for that matter, get a handle on what troubles them, and not leave that chair until he has hammered out some solutions? What the hell else is he there for? Maybe you have an answer, but all that comes to my mind is that it's his own pathetic actions, paid for by your dime and mine, that fuels the ailments. Would that "your dime and mine," along with that of the unborn, didn't translate to hundreds of billions of dollars and untold lives.
I close with three suggestions, which I make to myself as well as for anyone who might care to listen. One, when you're around other people, try to imagine and to treat them as members of your own species, and as one of those species we perhaps should keep around for a while. These very folks, after all, are the receptacles for the DNA we're contemplating preserving. I personally strive to smile freely, to be open with greetings and words, in particular kind ones, to pretend I can behave like an adult (it seems like someone should), and to cut a bit more slack for any stink bugs posing as humans. There is no question that this makes my world a friendlier place, more like the one I want to see, and surely better for those around me.
I don't always succeed, but I keep working at it. Perhaps if enough people get the hang of it, our nation will adopt a similar position in relation to the rest of the world, instead of pointing missiles and guns and shaking fingers and fists at every horizon, and teaching violence to our kids. (If nothing else, I sleep better at night and appreciate the world more.)
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