The Gulf Crisis and New World Order — Page 52
Second Friday Sem,on Aug 17, 1990 enable it, in time, to become self-sufficient in other respects and emerge as a remarkable military force. This is the stuff that their apprehensions are made of. Whatever their apprehensions, the real danger that should be visible to the Muslim world is that it has been decided that a Muslim state would be eliminated from the face of this earth, and that too with the help and full co-operation of Muslim countries. No doubt, the leadership of that country itself has called it upon themselves. What can be done in a situation like this? I still think that the time elapsed so far is not so much as to put the situation beyond any hope of being normalized. But there is little hope for the deliverance of Muslims except if they return to God and the Holy Prophet of Islam. RESPECTFUL APPEAL AND HUMBLE ADVICE As for Iraq, the foremost among its responsibilities is to not hurt Islamic morality any further and not to make Islam the laughing-stock of the world any further. Those foreign nationals who are under Iraqi control now, whether they be of British, American or of Pakistani origin, let them have the freedom of choice as to where they want to go, without any hinderance. Let them know that if Iraq is at war with their country, this would be dealt as a separate matter, but they are innocent and are an inviolable trust. As a matter of fact, every foreign national visiti ng a Muslim country is a trust, even if a war breaks out subsequently between his country and the Muslim country. The embezzlement of this trust will bear very ugly fruit: their fire of revenge which is already leaping up will then flare up out of control and conswne millions of Muslims who are completely innocent. Members of the government are but a handful of individuals to lose their lives, if at all; but it is the innocent Muslim civilians who will get killed, and those who survive will face the reprisals in the post war era. Therefore the only way to peace, open to the government of Iraq, is to return to the teachings of Islam, in a spirit of Taqwa. It should take this step and then inform the Muslim world as to its readiness to bow before whatever collective decision is reached, and guarantee the withdrawal of its forces from Kuwait. Peace would then return. But the condition is that the decision-making must be done by the Muslim world alone, without allowing the non-Muslim 52