Some of you may have seen the news the other day of Unionist leader Ian Paisley sitting next to Sin Fein leader Gerry Adams and agreeing to share power for the seek of furthering peace in Northern Ireland.
Of course, we all know that 12 months ago, this would have seemed impossible. 10 years ago, Paisley would have happily handed Adams over to British police if he had the chance. And Catholics and Protestants weren’t exactly getting along.
Still, some mad-capped Islamist sitting in a cave and inspired by hatred and paranoia would have just said: “Nope, their all nasty European Western Crusading Christians! We must wage jihad against the lot of them!!”
I’m not sure which cave Paul Sheehan was seated in when he wrote his column yesterday. I guess he must think that Sunnis and Shias are involved in a similar conspiracy to the one that has enabled the unified crusaders of Northern Ireland to invade the lands of Islam. Read this and try not to laugh …
The absolutist worldview of “Islam versus blasphemy” has proved seductive to millions of young Muslims on both sides of the Shiite-Sunni divide, as the governments of France, Britain, Germany, Holland, Spain and Denmark - home to 15 million Muslims - have discovered to their cost.
Right on, Paul! Who gives a rat’s not-so-halal backside if Shia and Sunni Muslims are cutting each other’s throats in Iraq? Who cares if Shia holy days in Pakistan coincide with sectarian violence? Who cares if Shia and Sunni Islamists have completely different perspectives on how their theocratic utopias would work. Who cares if Iranian Sunnis aren’t able to establish mosques in Iran ?
Sheehan’s obvious expertise in Middle Eastern, Central Asian and Islamist politics leads him to the obvious conclusion - those blasted Muslims are all in it together. And they’ve got another 15 million European Muslims ready to join the united forces of Usama bin Khomeini. Or was that Ayatollah bin Ladin?
Sheehan somehow links the 1979 Iran Revolution to the 1996 Taliban takeover of Afghanistan . Iran supported Shia militias which fought with the Northern Alliance . The Taliban waged war against the northern Alliance and massacred Shia Muslims from the Tajik and Hazara tribes.
See? They’re all linked. Sheehan’s right. Fred Nile was right also. They’re all damned Muslims!
© Irfan Yusuf 2007
