Open Letter to President Bush from Islamic Fundamentalist

<p align="center" class="afghantextheading">Open Letter to President Bush</p>
<p align="center">by Sheikh Safar Al-Hawali (Arabian Peninsula)</p>
<p><a href="afghanfatawahome.htm">Back to Fatawa</p>
<p>15 October, 2001</p>
<p>Mr. President:</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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 façade
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.</p>
<p>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?</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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!</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>It was your misfortune after your difficult election victory to be contemporaneous
with that criminal, and to continue your eternal strategic alliance with
him.</p>
<p>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?
</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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!</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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?</p>
<p>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).</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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:</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>2- Making peace with the Muslims, loving them, and treating them kindly.
By doing this Allah rewards them security and good in this world.</p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>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.
</p>
<p>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? </p>
<p>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.”</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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?</p>
<p>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? </p>
<p>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:</p>
<p><b><i>"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."</i>
[Quran 28:1-6]</b></p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p><br>
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.</p>
<p><br>
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</p>
<p>For this reason I repeat to you: Fear God and think hard. </p>
<p>Peace upon him who follows God’s guidance,</p>
<p>Safar bin Abdur-Rahman Al-Hawali</p>