Syrians' seeking freedom via Saudi influence is like seeking relief from hot charcoal by fire...
[Original article in Arabic was written Bassam Darwish, and translated by Ibn Kammuna]
It is a cursed freedom that the Syrian people, or any other people of the Middle East, seek, if that comes through the Saudis or the Gulf countries or any other state whose constitution dictates that Islamic Sharia is the source of every law.
What I am saying does not mean in any way that I was standing with the regime in Syria, or any other individual system. Everyone knows my position on corrupt and dictatorial systems, which have only gotten enriched at the expense of the people. If the Syrians believe that the Saudis or Qataris or any other Gulf rulers will help them win their freedom, then such people deserve the Syrian slang proverb: If you ask for molasses from the Mongoose’s ass, may God protect you from the evil of honey!
Freedom cannot come from a country that ordered arrest of a young man for prosecution and pursued after him from country to country until he was arrested, when the "sin" he did was writing, talking to the prophet, that he loves him and respects him, but prefers to call him "my friend" instead of "my master".
I wonder what fate would have awaited this young man if he described the prophet of what he is worthy of, and this is just through relying on what authentic hadiths and Sirat tell us about what he did to affirm his authority and establish his state.
Freedom does not come from a country that imprisons and lashes a teacher, because he admired poet Nizar Qabbani, and mentioned his name followed by "peace be upon him".
What freedom will come from the country that prohibits a non-Muslim from establishing and performing non-Islamic rituals, even in his own home, or even carry on his chest a symbol of his religion?
What freedom will come from a country where a parliamentarian requests banning the construction of any other church in his country?
What freedom comes from a country where customs officials confiscate copies of the Bible carried by Christian visitors as if they were carrying bags of drugs?
What freedom Syrians and others are hoping for from a country where its "scientists" spend nights burning the phosphorus of their brains looking for another symbol to replace the "+" sign in arithmetic, because it resembles the Christian Cross...?
What freedom will come from a country where women are still struggling to achieve the most basic human rights!
The rulers of these countries are crying for the freedom of the Syrian people, while their own people are still lacking the most basic freedoms; freedom of choice of belief, freedom of expression of anything that touches the rulership, the religion, and the tradition.
Support to achieve freedom does not come from those countries except for a price. That price is too high. It involves replacing a dictator that can be talked to and pressure him for reform, with one that does not accept criticism, and the cost of such criticism will be street lashes or the cutting of necks (beheading).
A quick look at the outcome of the situations in Libya, Egypt and Tunisia will show very clearly that these movements that were called Arab spring, are in fact autumn preparing for a winter that is loaded with huge storms that will destroy every hope of freedom. Those storms will take the nations of those countries fourteen centuries backward.
Because the Syrian people have a different composition and level of cultural consciousness from all the nations in the area, it is no wonder that the uprising could not collect all classes of people around one agreed upon message. So far, opponents have not agreed on a future plan to move the country to the level of developed countries, which separate religion and state to make it a country for all people and not just for one special group.
The time has come for the peoples of the Middle East to realize that their future cannot be possible but within a secular state form, where religion is completely separate from the state constitution. Other than that, those revolutions won’t be but a movement from "under the water dripping to under the spout."
Separation of religion and state does not mean that the secular system will wage a war on religion or on all who believe in religion or all who believe in no religion. On the contrary, it will provide protection for both religion and the followers of any religion, and also, of course, for all those who do not believe in religion. But a system, which derives its constitution from a specific religion, it will only be a servant to that religion at the expense of all other belief systems and the followers of all other beliefs.
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