Right, this is a letter from a Muslim to President Bush. I do not know if you've read it or indeed heard of it, but I must warn you; it is mighty long and it makes some ridiculous parallels with the Roman Empire. However, as this is a post for the Muslim point of view, I will keep my opinions to myself;
Ant.
AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT BUSH SAFAR IBN ABD AL-RAHMAN AL-HAWALI 16
> October, 2001 Mr. President: I am writing this letter to you in hope that
> it will be taken into account without regard to the faith of its writer,
> or the color of his skin, and despite your new division of the children of
> Adam into the civilized who support all your views, and the barbarians who
> do not. Perhaps this letter is strange to you, as I write to you as one of
> the heirs of the prophets, and the prophets, as we know, used to address
> the tyrants of the earth in the hope that they might repent and fear the
> Lord of all the worlds. Thus did Moses -peace be upon him- address
> Pharaoh, Haman, and Karun, and thus did Jesus -peace be upon him- address
> the Romans and the High Priest of the Jews, and thus did Muhammad -peace
> and blessings be upon him- address Abu Jahl in Makkah, as well as the
> Roman Emperor Heraclius and the Persian Emperor Khosraw. It is not
> necessary for the recipient to listen to or acknowledge the messenger, but
> it is merely his duty to convey the message. I write to you as a member of
> an oppressed and persecuted community in a condition like that of Jesus
> when he was persecuted by the Jews on one side, and Romans on the other
> side. It is regrettable that the United States, a nation founded by
> immigrants fleeing persecution, has taken for itself the position of the
> Roman Empire which persecuted the followers of Christ -peace be upon him-
> and colluded- with the enemies of faith (the unbelievers of the children
> of Israel) to slay the prophets and messengers, and to slay their
> followers in all times and places. At that time the Roman Empire claimed
> to be the symbol of freedom and civilized values, just as you claimed
> referred to America in your first statement after the incidents of
> September 11.It was the greatest world power of its day, the heir of Greek
> civilization. It had a Senate and a fa?ade of democracy. The Roman citizen
> had freedom of religion and personal behavior. All this made it superior
> to other Empires throughout the world, and yet history does not speak well
> of this Empire because of the repulsive crime with which it stained its
> reputation: the persecution of the Christians. For this reason that Great
> Power lost its valuable distinctions when it oppressed a group of
> believers in God: Who alone possesses absolute power, absolute might, and
> absolute justice, Who is Mighty in His punishment which He withholds for
> the oppressor for awhile, but Who one day takes vengeance against him.
> Indeed, that is what He did. The Northern Barbarians overpowered Rome and
> destroyed it, They burned its cultural symbols and shattered its arrogance
> at the beginning of the fifth century of the Christian era. Two centuries
> later, God caused the followers of the final Prophet Muhammad -God's
> blessing and peace be upon him- to inherit the Holy Land in which Christ
> -peace be upon him- had lived. This was a tremendous victory for Christ
> since the Islamic Faith which conquered and liberated most of the known
> world from despotism and persecution, and filled it with mercy and
> justice, manifested for mankind the greatness of Christ -peace be upon
> him- and the truth of Christ's message, as well as the merit of his
> disciples and their followers as was revealed in detail in the Holy
> Qur'an. The Islamic community considered itself to be the final link in
> the long chain of followers of the prophets which began with Abraham, and
> included Moses and Jesus -peace be upon them- and declared to all the
> world that the enemies of Christ -peace be upon him- are the enemies of
> freedom and lofty values, especially the Jews, regardless of whether they
> denied Christ and incited the Romans against him, or whether they
> pretended to follow him so as to distort his message as did Saul who is
> called 'Paul.' The amazing thing is that the peoples who tasted the
> affliction of Roman tyranny and arrogance rejoiced at the destruction of
> Rome and wondered at the actions of the 'Northern Barbarians" who did it,
> despite the fact that they did not know or like them, yet how much more so
> would it have been if -for example- Rome had been attacked by the
> oppressed Christians? Would anyone have ventured to blame the Christians
> if they rejoiced or sympathized with the attackers? Mr. President, we
> Muslims are a nation of justice. At the same time our ethics do not allow
> us to rejoice over the misfortunes of the afflicted, yet we would still
> hope that the United States would review its stand and be more fair, so
> that we might once again give the benefit of the doubt to the United
> States for which there are precedents that encourage this hope, and which
> demonstrate how we used to move two steps towards them for every step of
> theirs, and a mile for every move of theirs. When President Wilson
> announced his fourteen points at the end of World War I, and especially
> the right of self-determination of peoples, it was greeted by the Islamic
> world as a just position towards European Colonialism that dominated most
> of its peoples. The Muslims rejoiced at a voice from among the Christian
> nations themselves saying that the time had come for an end to racial
> discrimination and crusader campaigns -such as the one led by General
> Allenby. Thus, the Islamic peoples hastened to place their complete trust
> in this neutral nation (the United States of America) and the United
> States profited greatly from this, since besides the moral distinctions it
> earned, it also achieved the greatest economic advantages in history.
> Their trust was not shaken even by its unjust position concerning the
> establishment of the Jewish state and the deprivation of the Palestinian
> people of their right to self-determination, but the Islamic peoples clung
> to their hope that that policy was simply an error that might be
> rectified. Similarly, President Eisenhower's position towards the
> three-party aggression against Egypt was one of the biggest factors that
> encouraged the continuation of the benefit of the doubt for America and
> the refusal to listen to the claims of the communists -which were not
> entirely false. However, the trust in America and its justice was rapidly
> shaken and then declined to the ground because of America's own behavior
> which came in the form of one proof after another which permanently
> refuted the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps the first of these absolute
> proofs was the actions of President Nixon and his Secretary of State
> Kissinger during and after the Ramadhan (October) War of 1973, then your
> father, President Bush whose duplicity of standards were obvious to
> everybody. Iraq violated the same or fewer international agreements then
> those that Israel has and continues to violate. Iraq's excuse in doing so
> was similar to those used by America to incorporate Texas into its
> territory. As for Israel's excuse for occupying Palestine, it is worse
> than the British justification for keeping America as a British colony,
> and more repulsive than your ancestor's excuse for the genocide of the
> American Indian! It is this contradictory position which compelled the
> Islamic peoples to attend demonstrations by the millions in support of a
> dictator whom none of them had previously liked. Then came President
> Clinton and his Jewish administration. He was more concerned than either
> yourself or your father with finding a solution for the problem but he
> followed the same wrong road; describing the horrible terrorist attack on
> the Abraham Mosque in Hebron as no more than a "crime." You and he both
> know that up until now there has never been a Palestinian attack on any
> Jewish place of worship, and when the terrorist attack occurred in Cana he
> was not ashamed to describe it as "an unintentional mistake done by the
> Israelis in self-defense," Yet when Israel was faced with bombings, he
> gathered all the World and Arab leaders at the Sharm al-Shaykh conference
> so that they could all condemn "terrorism" ignoring the continuous
> barbaric massacres and the long chain of tragedies which the Israelis have
> brought upon the Palestinians and Arabs, which were not described at all.
> This caused the Islamic peoples to dissociate from America in view of the
> fact that it dictated to the attendees what Israel wanted, and from their
> governments in view of the fact that they yielded to the American
> administration. They turned with all their suffering and hopes to the
> groups described as terrorist without any concern about that description,
> since the conference taught them a good lesson in understanding the
> terminology of the American double standard: that when America decides
> that someone is a terrorist or an extremist it places them in the position
> of legendary heroes in the eyes of the oppressed and the wretched who need
> some airing after their long defeat and subservience, and as Claes (former
> Secretary General of NATO) officially informed them that the alliance had
> placed Islam as the focus of its enmity in place of the former Soviet
> Union. There is no need for additional practical proofs after this unique
> title, proofs which arrive daily from everywhere from the Philippines,
> Timor, Kashmir, the Caucasus, the Balkans, Sudan, and many other places
> -except that what occurred in Palestine after the defiling of the Aqsa
> Mosque by the greatest terrorist criminal of this age: Sharon, outweighed
> all the others. It was your misfortune after your difficult election
> victory to be contemporaneous with that criminal, and to continue your
> eternal strategic alliance with him. We Muslims desired to see you elected
> and we have proof that the votes which gave you victory were our votes,
> and I personally advised Muslims to vote for you. Some of them hoped that
> you would be fairer than the Democrats although others clearly stated that
> the matter was no more than choosing the lesser of two evils. We did not
> do that out of forgetfulness of the crimes of your party and your father
> throughout the Muslim World, but because we are a nation of justice and
> reason we held back our feelings and made the choice which we felt was
> best for us and for America also. We hoped that you would repay good with
> good, but you did the complete opposite by increasing your predecessor's
> material and political support of Zionist terrorism in the form which has
> occurred and continues to occur. Bewildered questions were repeated on the
> lips of everyone in the Islamic Word: Does the American administration
> have a conscience? Does this biased stance which has dismayed the entire
> world have any justification and will it ever end? Is America Greater
> Israel or is Israel Lesser America? In the midst of this continuous
> confusion and frustration, the events of the 11th of September occurred. I
> will not conceal from you that a tremendous wave of joy accompanied the
> shock that was felt by the Muslim in the street and whoever tells you
> otherwise is avoiding the truth. It is my opinion that America which
> believes in freedom and democracy -as you repeat in your speeches- should
> not become upset by this one-time joy, and should not seize upon the
> Muslim's spontaneous outpouring of feeling. This nation, which worships
> God and believes in justice more than any nation on earth, did not do that
> out of racist enmity or evil intent, but they were joined in this by the
> entire world: the world that kicked you out of the Organization for Human
> Rights. 3000 popular organizations mobilized against you at the Durban
> conference. More than forty nations suffer from your oppressive boycotts
> and economic penalties, let alone from your military incursions. Even the
> environment has identified you before the world as its greatest enemy.
> People's shock at your first speech was greater than their shock at the
> event itself. It totally equated America with freedom, justice and noble
> values, and it contained a harsh threat of vengeance rather than a promise
> of fair cooperation. We tried to excuse you because of the shock of the
> events and the need to absorb popular anger, but all of your statements as
> well as your actions have been of the same mode and have severed any other
> possibility. Reckless accusations and hasty revenge are the real tragedy
> for America, and the true test of its values and civilization. Your
> security apparatus -which had boasted that it could catch a fly passing
> over the Pentagon and that it would no about a riot among the Eskimos
> before it occurred- rushed to the nearest flight school and the nearest
> hotel and took down the name of every Arab or Muslim student or resident
> and announced that they are the terrorists! Imagine Mr.President, if you
> were sitting among your family or tribe thousands of miles away and heard
> or saw the news that you had been part of a suicide operation on a plane?
> or that it was done by your brother who had died a year ago? Wouldn't you
> thank God that you were not a citizen of that civilized country or a
> believer in their so-called values and justice? Especially when your very
> civilized people answered these calls of yours, your cabinet members, and
> your security apparatus and started to attack the barbarian invaders in
> every free and civilized part of your country. I and the people of my
> country have discovered how barbaric were are when a gang of Westerners -I
> will not call them terrorists since they have white skin and blue eyes-
> performed a series of explosions in our cities, we watched as they gave
> their serious confessions, and yet we made not the smallest move to attack
> any Western person in any place in our country, we did not kill them, or
> strip search them in our airports, nor did we place them in solitary
> confinement, let alone incite the whole world to form an alliance against
> them. No, we did nothing of that which your civilized people have done to
> our children and Muslim brothers in general. What caused us to behave in
> this manner is our religion and ethics, for which gift we thank God. At
> this point I would like to ask you Mr. President, if the world chose you
> to give a prize for the people with the most advanced morals and values,
> and the best treatment of others, which of the two peoples would you give
> the prize? To your people or to ours? Does this mean that we bear ill will
> toward the American people for that we are racist in our treatment of
> them? No. Never. We believe that the American people in general have such
> good attributes that they are the closest of all Western peoples to us,
> and the most deserving of all of them of our desire for them to achieve
> good in this life and in the hereafter. They are a people the majority of
> whom believe in the existence of God, and who donate to charitable work
> more than any other people in the world (and by that we do not mean the
> evangelization of the Muslims). The truest proof of the goodness of the
> American people is that they have embraced Islam more quickly and in
> greater numbers than other peoples of the world, and have tried to
> understand it better even after you held the Muslims responsible for the
> disaster without evidence. We desire all good and honor for a people like
> this from the bottom of our hearts, and good and honor are only achieved
> by any people by one of two things: 1- Embracing God's Faith which is
> alone acceptable to Him, the Faith of all the prophets: Islam. By doing
> this Allah grants them both the good of this world and that of the next
> world. 2- Making peace with the Muslims, loving them, and treating them
> kindly. By doing this Allah rewards them security and good in this world.
> This Islamic nation, the followers of Abraham and Muhammad -God's blessing
> and peace be upon him- is dearest to God of all nations. Whoever honors
> them is honored by God, and whoever despises them is despised by God,
> though He may grant them respite for a time. History is a witness to this.
> You may say, or others may have said on your behalf, "I have apologized
> for using the term 'crusade', I have visited the Islamic Center, and I
> have advice the people to control themselves," but we say, "We are used to
> America to inflict deep wounds and then putting a small bandage on them,
> but your present attack on Afghanistan has violently removed those
> bandages and opened a wound in the heart of every Muslim. Mr. President,
> if only when you did what you did, you had avoided the racist terminology
> of your speeches about hostile action. It would have been enough for you
> to simply claim the right -with no need for justification- treat the world
> any way you want, and to punish whomever you want, whenever you want. But
> then you had to go on and leave the desire for revenge open without any
> end in sight when you said " Today we will concentrate on Afghanistan, but
> the battle is wider than that." Is it not enough for you to destroy a
> whole nation because of an unproven accusation against a single person or
> organization forced to live in that country? Is this hostility which
> exceeds all values and morals, and shakes every living conscience in the
> world only a drop in the sea of your vengeance? Did Christ -peace be upon
> him- grant you that power? Far be it for him to do that. Even Machiavelli
> himself does not grant you that degree of power. Your precedent in this is
> Samson. Won't you fear God -you who have made your slogan to be "God bless
> America?" How can God bless and protect her when Christ His Messenger
> taught exactly the opposite of what you do: "Whoever strikes you on your
> right cheek, then turn to him your left cheek. Whoever takes from you your
> garment, then give him also your cloak. And whoever mocks you for a mile,
> go with him for two miles." Do you not understand that when you make the
> desire for endless vengeance to be the attribute of the civilized nation,
> you make Christ -peace be upon him- to be an uncivilized barbarian? Far be
> it for him, but you have rejected God and Christ, and followed the
> behavior of the Popes of the Middle Ages who used to grant indulgences and
> excommunication according to their whims. You have granted an everlasting
> pardon to yourselves and to the Zionist State, and to every hostile
> tyrant, and you have issued an excommunication for anyone who hesitates to
> join your endless hostility by describing them as terrorists or supporters
> of terrorism. You search with microscopes for so-called terrorist groups
> in Somalia which has been destroyed by poverty, or in the Palestinian
> refugee camps in Lebanon whose humble dwellings are threatened by Zionist
> terrorism every day. But you forget that horrible terrorism tangibly
> dwells among you. It is you, and nothing but you. If you do not believe
> this then tell me by God, if your best friend comes to congratulate you in
> ten years on the victory you hope to achieve over the mysterious enemy you
> have fabricated, what will he be able to congratulate you about? Supposing
> that he says, "Mr. President, we have killed one million Afghanis, one
> million Iraqis, one million of this and that," until the end of your
> cursed list, will that be a victory for civilization, lofty values,
> freedom and democracy? Certainly among your victims will be starving,
> naked widows and children. Will that satisfy your desire for vengeance?
> Shamelessly, you will use the fact that they are alive as evidence that
> you limited yourselves to the destruction of their mud houses and wooden
> huts as strategic targets of the smart bombs of your clean war that do not
> kill people. At this point the world that you have made depressed and sad
> for as long as God wills, will finally laugh. Yes, they will be forced to
> laugh by the civilized joke of the miraculous intelligence of your
> missiles: When you hit Iraq, Iran screamed. When you aimed at Afghanistan
> during your first attack on that country, you hit Pakistan, and one of
> your smart missiles infuriated the Yellow Giant by destroying its embassy
> in Belgrade. I admit -in all fairness- the intelligence of at least one of
> your missiles: the Patriot missile which saw one of the stupid Scuds which
> had lost its way, so it knocked it to the right direction and invited it
> to dinner with the American intelligence officers in Khobar. As for being
> clean, the whole world bears witness that you fought the cleanest war but
> with one simple observation: that although you cleaned out Hiroshima and
> Nagasaki, you unintentionally left a little pollution in its place.
> Perhaps you will realize your mistake in Afghanistan and its citizens, and
> be more generous and paint the sites with a little cheap American paint.
> However, for the sake of the truth we should also say that there is little
> doubt about the cleanness of your war in Iraq since the witnesses against
> you are children, and the law does not accept the witness of children even
> if they number in the millions, but the witnesses for your side are adults
> of the level of dictators and their generals. Mr. President, do you think
> that your list in which you announce the names of terrorist organizations
> and the countries that support terrorism will serve your interests, or
> will it be further proof that the world is against you? Who is the advisor
> who suggested publishing this list at the same time that people discovered
> your own house is glass and is still broken? Why do you make enemies of
> those who throw stones at you from Japan in the East, to Peru in the West?
> During the present dangerous security situation in your country wouldn't
> it have been enough for you to choose one country and one organization? Or
> do you want to incite all of them, so that if any one of them performs a
> terrorist operation you can hold the Muslims alone responsible so that
> your Crusade against them can continue forever? Mr. President, don't
> suppose that I want to recount your few faults and forget our own (in your
> eyes) very many faults. No, I will mention to you a serious fault of us
> Muslims: we don't forget our tragedies no matter how much time has passed.
> Imagine, Mr. President, we still weep over Andalusia and remember what
> Ferdinand and Isabella did there to our religion, culture and honor! We
> dream of regaining it. Nor will we forget the destruction of Baghdad, or
> the fall of Jerusalem at the hands of your Crusader ancestors. That is, we
> are not (in your opinion) at the level of civilization enjoyed by the
> Germans and Japanese who support your hostilities and forget your past
> treatment of them. Moreover, the African Muslims who embraced Islam after
> the fall of Andalusia cry along with the Arabs, just as the Indonesians do
> who only heard recently heard about Andalusia. It may be a problem for us,
> but who will pay the price after awhile?
> Mr.President, your problem with the Afghans -and the Muslims in general-
> is that you are stronger than necessary and they are weaker than
> necessary. Every time you use excessive force, or are excessive in using
> it, it proves to be a weakness in strength. This is a great divine mystery
> which reminds us of what happened to the tyrant Pharaoh at the hands of
> the oppressed children of Israel. Listen to the story from God's Holy
> Scripture: Ta Seen Meem. These are the revelations of the manifest
> scripture. We recite to you some of the story of Moses and Pharaoh in
> truth, for a people who have faith. Pharaoh exalted himself in the land
> and divided its people into groups, oppressing one group among them:
> slaying their sons and sparing their women. Truly, he was one of the
> tyrants. We desire to bless those who are oppressed in the land, to make
> them rulers and to make them the heirs, and to establish them in the land.
> We let Pharaoh, Haman and their hosts receive from them that of which they
> had feared. " (28:1-6) Do not say, "Who am I compared to Pharaoh?" You
> have demanded of the Muslims what Pharaoh never demanded of Moses -peace
> be upon him- and the children of Israel: that they should not hate you in
> their hearts no matter what you do to them or how you oppress them, or
> else you will have revenge on them. This is an attribute exclusive to God,
> for God Almighty alone is the Able to wreak vengeance on all who do not
> love Him. We know of no dictatorial empire in ancient history which
> treated people according to what their hearts and consciences conceal, let
> alone a twenty-first century democracy. You may say, "We intend to remove
> anything that will incite hate from sermons, school curricula, newspaper
> articles and the media." We reply that if that is your democracy, then
> there is try as you like, but you should be sure that you will not
> succeed. We learned to hate oppression and love the truth from our
> religion and our Qur'an, and it is stronger than all of your means, and
> firmer than your mountains. If you refuse everything but the arrogance of
> force and the insanity of greatness, then there are no means left for you
> except the extermination of all the Muslims with nuclear or biological
> weapons, or whatever you want from hellish arsenal contains. You may ask,
> "Why all of them when some of them love us?" Be sure, there is no Muslim
> on earth who loves you, even if they donate their blood to you, or set up
> intelligence gathering stations for you, or delegate to you setting the
> curriculum for the education of their people. Everyone on earth who claims
> to love you -and no Muslim is able to make that claim- they only love you
> like frightened prey loves a brutal predator. You may say, "We will
> restore the trust of the Islamic peoples by changing their government into
> tolerant and democratic systems." But we say you need only cease your evil
> treatment of us. You destroyed the Iraqi people as well as others by this
> false promise, and we do not want any freedom or democracy that comes from
> you and we will not accept it. The enemy of freedom cannot grant freedom.
>
> Mr. President, I advise you and put the fear of God before you, to cease
> and desist from hostile action. Deal with the problem with fairness and
> patience, and you will find that we are with you reservation. Your
> hostility now, at the beginning of the way, is easier for you and better
> for the world. If not, easy beginnings are usually followed by extremely
> difficult ends. For that reason I ask you to think,
>
> Mr. President, if you destroy every country on your list of terrorists,
> will that be the end or only the beginning? Unless you want to be
> remembered by history for Armageddon, and in that case there will be no
> history anyway For this reason I repeat to you: Fear God and think hard.
> Peace upon him who follows God's guidance,
>
> Safar ibn `Abd al-Rahman Al-Hawali
>
