“We will emerge victorious in either case,” Sheikh Kashaf

By Abdul Raheem Ali, IOL Iraq Correspondent

KUFA, Iraq, March 9 (IslamOnline.net) – Feeling helpless before a looming invasion by the mightiest firepower on earth, being victims to circumstances beyond their control, the Iraqis, just like us and all peoples all over the world, want to live in peace, see their children grow up and to lead a normal life free from terror and war nightmares. However, feeling the international community may, if not will, fail them, they resort to The Almighty God to save them.

The Iraqi people have found that Allah Almighty is the one and only Who can help them in their plight by invoking Him to spare their country a deadly devastating war that will nip their high hopes for a better future in the bud.

Here in Najaf, where Ali Ibn Abi-Taleb, the son-in-law of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be Upon Him), lies buried, the Iraqis supplicate to Allah in self-abasement to stave off the scourge of war and the evil plots of U.S. President George W. Bush.

“We are from Baghdad…We came here to visit the mausoleum of Imam Ali. We have been crumbling under years of (economic) blockade, what else can we do but to pray?” University students from Baghdad told IslamOnline.net.

“We have unshakable belief in Allah’s victory. It is our destiny and we, God willing, will emerge triumphant at the end of the day, no doubt,” they added in unison.

I asked my guide here why everybody is repeating almost the same message.

“The issue is not a political issue any longer, but it has become an amalgam of religion and national sentiments. The people here only care about one thing: Crusaders have come to Arab countries to occupy their land and drive them out of their homes…And they are determined to defend their country no matter what it takes,” he said.

I chanced on an Iraqi journalist, Mohsen Jawwad al-Najafi, who took me to Abd al-Rasoul al-Sahlani, 72, an Iraqi poet, who gave us some insights on the situation in Iraq.

“The Iraqi people give no heed to the empty war rhetoric mouthed by the U.S. and the U.K…They will never break the staunch will of the Iraqi people,” he said.

Najafi and I also met Naseer Kashaf, a Shiite sheikh in Najaf, who told us that the American did the Iraqis the favor of cementing their bonds as never before and healing their rifts.

“More important is that the anticipated U.S.-led invasion served as a wake-up call for the Iraqis….Mosques are now replete with people, bars closed. All people are on board that Allah is the one and only resort,” added the Sheikh.

He has further said that resisting the enemies does not need a Fatwa (religious edict), since people, by nature, are feeling that defending Iraq and Islam is an individual duty.

“We will emerge victorious in either case: whether we defeated the Americans or suffered martyrdom. Even if the Americans succeeded in destroying some buildings, setting others alight and killing thousands of people: our martyrs would go to the Paradise and their dead would go the Hellfire,” he said.

Women Bedrock of Iraqi Family

“Mothers are the bedrock of the Iraqi family,” Toushi

En route to the executive secretary of Union of Iraqi Women, Mrs. Nahda Toushi, we saw scores of young people wearing military uniforms and civvies and shouting war slogans.

Najafi told me that they are a group of volunteers, who decided to took up weapons and defend their homeland in the event of war.

When we arrived to Mrs. Toushi’s office, I asked her about the role the Iraqi women can play should war break out.

“Mothers are the bedrock of the Iraqi family…They can play a key role in safeguarding the internal front by providing the basic needs such as food and water,” said Mrs. Toushi.

“Women are now stockpiling oil and water to sustain men through war. Mothers are breastfeeding their children with the milk of patriotism, manhood and gallantry. If the Americans invaded us, they would find lionhearted men, who would teach them a lesson that they would never forget,” she added.

Kuwaitis Not The Americans

I also asked the lay people about their feelings and opinions in view of the possible invasion of their homeland.

Haidar al-Karrar, a taxi driver, surprised me by saying that “the Kuwaitis not the Americans are to blame (for the current standoff)…The Kuwaitis will attack us and not the U.S. or the U.K…They want to destroy us at any price.”

“We will not sit in the audience should they attack us even if the (Iraqi) government tried to curb us,” he vowed.

I interrupted him and said it was you who ignited the spark of enmity at the very beginning.

“We apologized for them…and let’s bygones be bygones but they can never forget or forgive. We paid dearly during backbreaking years of economic sanctions,” he said.

“Iraq and Iran have been dragged into a bloody eight-year war, which claimed thousands of lives from both sides…But we are now at good terms. You yourself have seen scores of them in Kufa and Najaf…Their government will neither support a war on Iraq nor provide facilities to the U.S. Why does not Kuwait adopt the same stance?” Karrar said.

“All Iraqis stand ready to breathe their last defending their soil…But before being martyred, they will teach the Americans a lesson that they would never forget. Every Iraqi now holds up a weapon in his/her hand to defend their land, dignity and honor,” he challengingly added.

I interrupted him once again and told him the Shiites tried to unseat the Iraqi regime in 1991, but he determinedly said “whosever says that is a liar.”

“Let me ask you such a simple question: What do you say about someone who attacks hotels and shops to plunder them? Does he really intend to topple the regime? Is the Iraqi regime here in Najaf or in Baghdad? If those Shiites had wanted to topple the Iraqi president and his regime, they would have gone there in Baghdad,” he answered back.