Despite some differences, terrorist group Daesh (the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) and the Popular Mobilisation Committees (Hashd) are two sides of the same coin. While Daesh is crumbling under regional and international pressure, due to its acts of savagery, the Hashd forces are gaining legitimacy by fighting alongside the Iraqi army. In spite of their efforts to show their sympathy towards civilians, the Popular Mobilisation Committees are nothing less than wolves in sheep’s clothing.
This clearly means that both Daesh and Hashd only differ in the ways of their management of savagery. The question therefore arises here that what are the roots of these branches of evil?
Throughout human history, there has always been some religion or belief that has accompanied man. This simply means that people have always embraced a belief regardless of the nature of that belief and its aspects. Looking at nations and the people around us, we can notice that there are those who worship God and believe in Allah’s uniqueness and singleness, and others who believe in idols and worship other deities. Each group practises rituals that make them feel closer to the deity they believe in. Moreover, there is no era or a specific period of time since the creation of the universe during which, man was not governed by a supreme authority or power — even in remote forests that are unknown to us, where many tribes are living beyond the reach of civilisation. Even these tribes have their own belief and worship a supreme power in their own unique ways. They also show allegiance to a supreme authority, represented by the chief of the tribe, whom they obey and implement his orders out of a sense of trust that the leader is advising them in the larger interest of all the members of the tribe, in order to preserve their security and livelihood.
This talk is not only intuitive, but it is also understood by the public. However, some people overlook it due to their personal enjoyments and busy lifestyle. Certainly, some people pretend to have forgotten these facts about religion or do not want to hear about them, whatever be the reason.
In fact, there is a problem about the issue of religion and power and their relation to man, specifically Arabs, in the light of the current, unprecedented upheavals in large parts of the Arab world. The course of events in the Arab region and the entire world is largely responsible for the current status of Arabs, specifically Muslims. Arabs now are confused and do not have a clear perception of their power due to the gloomy atmosphere that has engulfed the entire region.
Current events in the Arab world and region are politically charged and tainted with sectarianism. As a result, these events are perceived as either black or white. Unfortunately, this is being done by the official bodies — regional as well as international. These bodies are usually accompanied by a media that works tirelessly to make a person, especially in the Arab and Islamic world, stand before two extreme choices: You are either a Sunni, who most probably supports the Muslim Brotherhood and believes in the eventual return of an Islamic Caliphate, or you are a Shiite, who, most probably, believes in the long-awaited Mahdi.
Simply put: For the Brotherhood, there is an Islamic State that is the pillar of religion, and whoever does not believe in it is branded an infidel, while for the Shiite, there is Imamah and Mahdism that are pillars of religion, and whoever does not believe in them is considered an infidel.
In such a marginalising scene, an individual is caught between illusion and legend.
The Islamic Caliphate State is an illusion for which no clear textual mention has ever been found throughout Islamic history. What happened following the Prophet’s (PBUH) era was merely diligence in affairs concerning life and nothing to do with the after-life. There are Quranic indications, and some from the Prophet (PBUH) as well, that touch upon a system for an Islamic state, but a caliphate was included only as a branch and not a foundation of the religion. After the collapse of the Abbasid Caliphate, any talk regarding a caliphate is meaningless.
Some historians say that Mahdism emerged quite late, at the end of the Umayyad Caliphate era and in the early days of the Abbasid Caliphate, and that it does not exist at all in the core of Islam. This also applies to the Imamate (12 doctrine), which did not exist in the religion’s foundations. Today, some say, it is a prominent belief for Shiites.
If one were to deeply contemplate the current state of affairs in the Arab world, one would find that the Muslim Brotherhood had given the world Al Qaida, which bred a more advanced form of itself called Daesh. Imamate-Mahdism, on the other hand, may have presented before the world the eternal ritual of self-flagellation and Hashd. Both Daesh and Hashd are competing to decide who will spill more blood, who is more terrifying and who will be more destructive for human civilisation.
Arabs, particularly Muslims, must ponder over the words of contemporary Islamic intellectuals that separate religion from state and say, “religion is the relationship between a worshipper and his Creator”. That is all there is to it. Our relationship with our Creator is quite simply a personal matter and it is between the worshipper and God.
Mohammad Hassan Al Harbi is a renowned columnist and author whose writings cover various fields ranging from media studies to education. He has worked in various UAE media outlets as well as the banking sector. He holds a Master’s degree in Media and Journalism.
