The Arabs And The Conspiracy Complex

By Dr Aaidh al-Qarni
This commentary was published in Asharq al-Awsat on 11/04/2011
 
Colonel Gaddafi said that the world was conspiring against Libya, out of envy for what the Libyan people enjoy. Then he recited the Holy Quranic Verse "From the evil of the envious when he envies." [Surat al-Falaq, Verse 5] The Syrian official media said that Syria was being exposed to a foreign conspiracy against its heroic struggle for resistance, resilience, survival and opposition. At this point, let me note that the Golan Heights have been under occupation for nearly half a century. The official Yemeni media stated that Yemen had been "targeted" because the country represents the cultural depth of the Arabs, and has a pan-national strategic dimension, along with further raving, irrational rhetoric. The official media in Jordan spoke of a foreign conspiracy hatched by covert forces to destabilize the country.
 
I would say: When will the Arabs abandon this conspiracy complex and stop denying mistakes and searching for scapegoats? When will you stop performing this farce, accusing foreign powers of conspiring against you, and blaming others for your faults? Who are you, to have the world conspire against you? Who are you to have the world's superpowers preoccupied with you? Why would the world target you, and what would it envy you for? Your wealth? Whilst your peoples feel the bitter taste of hunger, shame, ignorance, disease and underdevelopment? Or would the world target you for your giant industries, large-scale production, research centers, energy sources, bountiful knowledge, arsenals, destroyers, battleships, and aircraft carriers, when you can't even construct a car? Frankly, you are bottom of the global list in terms of industry, agriculture, education, development and production.
 
The annual budget of one Western multi-national corporation is far greater than the collective budget of the aforementioned Arab countries. Their peoples have taken to the streets to organize peaceful demonstrations for food, medicine, clean air, clean water, electricity, freedom and dignity. Those countries have failed to meet the basic necessities of their citizens, and so they have accused the world of conspiring against them. How much do these Arab "locusts" really believe their stock is worth? I would liken these Arab countries, who accuse the outside world of targeting them, to a mosquito alighting from a palm tree. When this mosquito decides to take off, it would say to the palm tree: Hold on tight, I am about to fly. The palm tree would reply: By God, I felt nothing when you landed, and most probably I won't feel anything when you fly away.
 
The US, Europe, China, Japan, Canada and Russia are busy with their factories, laboratories, nuclear industries and energy production. They are immersed in making discoveries and designing inventions, and thus they might think isn't it high time we, the Arabs, focused on our own flaws, corrected our errors, reconsidered our behavior, and rid ourselves of the conspiracy complex, which has become nothing more than a silly joke and an old ploy.
 
My good friend Abu Tayeb al-Mutanabbi once described an acquaintance of his, who hoped al-Mutanabbi would praise him publicly, or at least ridicule him, so that he could become famous. Al-Mutanabbi replied by saying:
 
"[You are] too insignificant to be praised, so I thought I had better ridicule you, but you are too trivial to be ridiculed."
 
The Holy Quran attributed the defeat of the Muslim army in the Battle of Ahud to a disagreement which had arisen between the Companions of the Prophet. In that respect, Almighty God said "Say: It is from yourselves; surely Allah has power over all things." [Surat Al-Imran, Verse 165] People ought to be held accountable for their errors and transgressions. Almighty God said "Corruption has appeared in the land and the sea on account of what the hands of men have wrought, that He may make them taste a part of that which they have done, so that they may return." [Surat al-Room, Verse 41] Therefore to blame others for your faults and use the world as a rack for hanging your mistakes on, that is an embodiment of the lack of mental perception and the corruption of opinion.
 
A sick person can never recover unless they first admit that they are suffering from a particular illness, and that they will not get better unless they take medicine. It is no use trying to run or hide in the dark. The truth comes with real courage, the nerve to admit to being wrong and the desire to change for the better. Almighty God says: "Allah does not change a people's lot unless they change what is in their hearts." [Surat al-Rad, Verse 11]