In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
FOR HAMAS – THE SUREST WAY TO SUCCESS
[Shamim A Siddiqi, New York]
In the recently held Parliamentary Elections of January 24, 2006, Hamas secured a
landslide victory by capturing 76 seats in the house of 132 with every right to
form its own independent government in Palestine.
The USA and the
European countries accepted the results as fair and free will of the people but
are not prepared to accept the would-be government of Palestine
unless Hamas recognizes the “illegitimacy” of Israel on the legitimate land
of Palestinians and gives up its
armed struggle to overthrow it. Otherwise, all the sources of funds will be
denied to them even their own tax money that Israel is collecting around 40
millions every month on transfer of goods and services in transit through the
State of Israel will not be delivered to them.
While the sword of fiscal “death”
is hovering over the head of the would-be Palestinian government, its
President, Mahmoud Abbas invited Ismael Haniya, the second top most leader of Hamas on February 21 to form the government and he
had accepted the invitation. Since then, he has five weeks to form the government and
put up the team of his ministers with a bit “relief” that the “sustenance” to the
government will continue till the date Hamas government takes the oath. All the
financial aids will come to an end along with it. However, the leadership of
Hamas is determined and had categorically refused to accept the conditions for
aid from the Trio: the USA,
the Euro-countries and Israel.
This game of intimidation and applying coercive means does not end here. The
Foreign Secretary of the USA Dr.
Rice is currently out on tour, visiting different
Muslim countries to “convince” them not to give any financial support to Hamas
government till it accepts the conditions as spelled out by the aforesaid Trio.
This is an open game of coercion on the part of the USA.. On the face of what the USA
is advocating it negates its very propaganda “stunt” of democracy. Can any
thing be more hippocratic than these open diplomatic maneuverings to “kill” the Palestinian government in the “womb” before
its takes its birth?
However, there are a few signs of
“hopes” that have emerged from the dark clouds of threats and intimidation. It
confirms that human conscience, somewhere, is still alive though
“diplomatically”. President Putin of Russia
has the courage to declare openly that he did not consider Hamas as a
“terrorist” organization and he would invite its leadership for dialogues. A
delegation to that effect will be going to Moscow
on March 3, 2006 under the
leadership of its exiled leader Khalid Meshal who is in Syria.
Simultaneously, he has become the rowing ambassador of Hamas, visiting Muslim
countries seeking help and financial support. I hope it would work. The first
sign of hope is the negative attitude of all the Muslim governments where Dr
Rice visited and tried to convince them not to support Hamas. All reacted
perhaps with one voice that they would continue to support the Palestinian
government and that they would give it chance to realize the realities on the
ground in order to adjust with the condition gradually.
Hamas is different from Al-Fatah
of President Abbas and, as such, has more options than that are visible to the
adversaries opposing its existence tooth and nail. Hamas is an ideological
party and it is allegedly “opposing” the existence of Israel
on ideological grounds. It is a benevolent institution and working day and
night for the welfare of its people. It has faith in God and is blessed with
immense invisible blessings that are forthcoming on its ranks and files. Contrary to the secular attitude of lateYasir
Arafat and now Mahmoud Abbas, Hamas stands for the emergence of an ideological
state/society in Palestine based on
the Qur’an and Sunnah and that is the main “reason” it is being opposed by the
aforesaid Trio by all means. But by securing success through ballots, they, by
the mercy of their Lord, have thrown a challenge before the entire West. So, in
all sincerity, they are determined to stand by it. If it tries to build an
Islamic society in Palestine with
whatever “meager” resources it has at its disposal, Allah’s Nusrah will come to their help and rescue with
abundance of Barakah [blessings].
Along with it, they should now
try their utmost to rebuild the character of their people on the lines Islam
envisages and inculcate in each of them a trustworthy character to serve as
model not only for the Jews and Christians in their neighborhood but for the
entire materialistic society of Europe and America.
Their astounding success in Elections
was from Allah. They should now struggle hard to inculcate in the
Palestinian people the requisite character of a Mumin that can die but never
bends to Batil.
If the Hamas Government takes
positive steps in the lines pinpointed above, I am sure,
they are bound to get positive response from the Muslim Ummah. Both moral and
material help will, Insha Allah, pour in the land
of Qudus to the extent that they
would never need any financial help from any secular government in future.
If they start working as an
ideological party, world will watch this miracle of twenty first century with
amazing results soon that how a modern state is build up from scratch and it is
benevolent for its people, for its neighbors and for the humanity at large.
President Putin rightly said that Hamas is not a terrorist organization and
that has been endorsed today by the last Soviet President Gorbachev, accusing
the USA of
unilateralism in world affairs. Hamas has to prove it by action and deeds. I
know and history has the record that Palestinians are very hard and fighting
people against all odds. This is the test of their leaders. They have not only
to build themselves from scratch on the lines Rasulullah (S) built the first
Muslim society in seventh century AD but to build the most modern Islamic state
in twenty first century equally from scratch.. It was
Allah’s Nusrah {help) that made it possible at that time. The same help is in
waiting for Hamas to repeat that miraculous performance of their time.
However, simultaneously, while
maintaining their firmness about the Israeli state, they have to be benevolent
in their treatment with Jewish people and their “forced” state in their midst.
They will have to give up the shedding of bloodshed of innocents even if the
Zionist state out of its arrogance behaves otherwise. Palestinians have to set
the most accomplished moral example of Islam: fighting the evil designs of “others” with good behavior and
benevolent treatment with the result - “Lo!
Your enemy had become your bosom friend” [Ref: Verse # 34 of Chapter 41 of the
Qur’an] This the character of the Mumin and the
ideological state of Palestine by
Hamas will prove its worth in its conflict with Jews and Israel.
This is the tradition of Islam and Muslims when they were supreme in the world.
Hamas will have to prove that Muslims are still worth the same. It would serve
as model for this millennium and for ages to come. Hamas in this process will
lose nothing but get the gains of both the worlds. Thus, they will win the
sympathy and support of all the Islam loving people of the world. It is just
possible that if Hamas works out its detailed program on lines envisaged above,
world history will write a new chapter of “freedom
and dignity of human rights”. A
small step by Hamas in the heart of Muslim world will replenish the fresh blood
of hope and Khair [goodness] for mankind.
Shamim A Siddiqi
February 27, 2006