Sometimes we need a wake-up call to realize the dangers we are facing. For many years now, the extremists among us have been inciting hate and animosity. They used religion, ethnicity and gender to divide us — religious and liberal, Sunni and Shia, men and women, tribal and non-tribal and Arab and non-Arab. This mad division has led to brothers and sisters fighting each other with their homes in flames. What happened in Al-Ahsa when Al-Qaeda extremists opened fire on peaceful Shias coming out of their gathering, killing and hurting many of them, was the wake-up call we all needed. When I was in the US, pursuing my higher studies, I published a webpage called: “Understanding Islam and Muslims.” In one of its sections, I wrote: “There are Muslims and there are those who call themselves Muslims, like the Shias.” Many Shias wrote asking me to correct this line, but I refused citing what I was told and taught about them. Then I met Shia brothers in our Sunni mosque. They came to join us in Ramadan, praying and sharing their Iftar. Even though we did not discuss religious issues, I noted how friendly, sincere, and honest they were. I had to revisit my original judgment. We have different interpretations of Islam. We believe ours is the right one. They have the same conviction. But we all pray toward the same Kaaba, fast in Ramadan, perform Haj, pay Zakat, and most importantly — believe there is no God but Allah, and that Muhammad (peace be upon him) is His Prophet. Yes, there was bad blood in the family, but that was a long time ago. Christians have the same history, but look at them today, cooperating in building civilization. It is all behind them, lessons in history to be learned and never repeated. We need to overcome the bloody past, and we did, for a while. In Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Bahrain and here in Saudi Arabia, we lived in peaceful coexistence for ages. Families and tribes followed different sects. We intermarried, worked, lived and played in the same neighborhood, and went to the same schools. Then, came the extremists from both sides, who opened old books, reminded us of old animosity, and put us at war — again. This worked well in Iraq, and to a lesser extent in Syria, Lebanon, Bahrain and now in Yemen. Thanks to Allah, we survived their schemes, here. That didn't sit well with them, so they tried to link issues here with there — blaming all Shias and Sunnis for the crimes of some, now and throughout history. They used satellite TV channels, social media, mosques, school books and literature to open up the old files and discuss the new. Unfortunately, we let them get away with it. No laws were set to outlaw hate speech. I asked an imam, after a Friday sermon, in which he preached against Shias, what do you want? Why are you reminding us of all these divisive issues? Do you want us to go on a killing spree? He said no, only to be careful with them; we need to be vigilant. “Why do we need to be vigilant here? Is it not enough that we have sectarian wars everywhere around us? Do we want it to spread to us?" I protested. Later, he apologized and accepted the logic of my point of view, but it wasn't easy for him. The pressure is high and the convictions are deep. We need an entire revision from both sides by credible scholars. We need to teach religious tolerance in schools. We need to criminalize hate speech. And we need to do that now. What is your take, dear readers? Here are some of your comments on my last article “The dilemma of education and job market” Competitive index “Most developing countries such as China, India and South Africa have focused on developing strong educational infrastructures which are firstly geared to supporting economic plans, human capital capacity development and competitive index. The focus of these educational strategies placed significant emphasis on the quality of learning at the foundation levels and improving the learning processes at higher education levels. However, although it is important to benchmark the educational infrastructure against international standards, it is also important to ensure that internal standards are set to meet the strategic goals of the country.” Dr. Rasheid Small Medieval education “I believe the epicenter of all ills lies in the medieval education system. The institution of “society” needs to play its due role in shaping young Saudi minds and fulfilling its obligations.” Faiz Al-Najdi
— Dr. Khaled M. Batarfi is a Saudi writer based in Jeddah. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him at Twitter: @kbatarfi
