The Gulf Crisis and New World Order — Page 44
Second Friday Semwn Aug 17, 1990 allow you to use them as bargaining chips in any way; any act of wrong doing against them is prohibited by Islam. HAVOC WROUGHT BY POLITICS, DEPRIVED OF MORALITY The entire lifetime of the Holy Prophet of Islam, and all the battles in which he himself took part, bear testimony to the fact that not a single incident of any excess committed against non-Muslim residents occurred, with whose nation the Muslims were a t war. They were totally free, and had the liberty to lead their life the way they wanted, Not even a single individual ever acted cruelly towards them. As a matter of fact, Islam directs us to grant sanctuary, if requested, even to your enemy. But Iraq, in complete disregard of this principle of Islamic morality, announced that all British and U. S. nationals who were living in Iraq and Kuwait in any capacity are not allowed to either le. ave the country or even stay in their current residences, instead, they should gather together in a designated hotel. Similarly, forei gn nationals from other Islamic countries were restricted in like manner. It is obvious that the way things are moving now, these people will be used as hostages. This conduct is abhorrent even to the commonly accepted norms of morality in the world, not to speak of the injunctions of Islamic morality. So, where is morality? In politics today, is there any country in the world - Islamic or otherwise - about which one can say that it passes the strict test of righteousness, or meets even the minimum criteria of Islamic morality? There is laxity everywhere. Recently, under cover of the U. N. resolutions, an all-out blockade of Iraq was put into effect i. e. , a total ban on Iraqi imports and exports of any kind was militarily enforced. It involves two kinds of moral violations and excesses that are very serious. Firstly, the U. N. in its resolutions had not included food-supply and the flow of other necessities of life in the proposed boycott. Secondly, it had not originally intended to forcibly secure the participation of any country in this boycott of Iraq. In both these matters, U. S. as well as U. K. are indulging in wanton excesses. On the one hand they accuse Iraq of having an immoral position - and we agree that it is a violation of the Islamic principles of morality - but then, in the same breath, they themselves are being guilty of a glaring act of immorality that is only thinly disguised by 44