Waiting for Saladin or Aladdin? [Archives:2005/835/Opinion]

“You don't really expect Saladin to return and get the New Crusades out of the Near East, like Salah Eddine Al-Ayyoubi did some eight centuries ago do you?” asked Khadija.

Her brother Faris was ready with the answer: “Look sister, things are already pointing in that direction. First of all the elections of Iraq have produced a Kurdish President for that volatile country. Saladin1 was a Kurdish warrior who rallied all the Moslems of the Tigris Euphrates Valleys and the Levant to throw out the Crusades from the Holy Land and to liberate Jerusalem. So, it should not be difficult to see Jalal Eddne Talibani doing the same again and getting rid of the Americans and the Israelis at the same time!”.

Khadija was not reassured: “Look Faris, Talibani is not Saladin and the Israelis and Americans were not sent by the Pope. In fact, Pope John Paul II did not approve of the American invasion of Iraq. We do not have a religious war in the region. We have a war for oil.”

“But it was the Israelis who convinced the Americans to enter the region by military force, because the so called Islamic terrorists emanate from the region, and this puts Western Civilization in jeopardy. Israel and her friends are putting themselves as the front line against the war on Islamic fundamentalism. There are a lot of people in the United States who sympathize with the idea that Israel must be listened to as Pope Urban was listened to eight hundred years ago” Faris tried to paint a simile between the two situations.

“What are you two fighting about now?” said Fadhil, their younger brother, continuing, “If it is about the situation in the Arab World, you would be better off by betting on the return of Aladdin2 and his magic lamp!”

“Saladin or Aladdin; is this all we can come up with as hopes for getting the Arab and Moslem World back in shape again?” remarked Khadija.

“Look Khadija”, said their father who lifted his eyes from the newspaper he was reading to take part in his kids' conversation, “I really do not blame your brothers for their wishful thinking. Throughout the Arab and Moslem World, all we have been seeing is one disappointment after another. All the leaders of the Arab and Moslem world put together can not compare to the great achievements of Saladin, nor can we expect them to produce any miracles like that of the Genie in Aladdin's lamp. In fact they may be even considered as part and parcel of the cause that got our once great nation to the demise and suffering it faces now.”

Fadhil elaborated more on his magic lamp idea: “Dad, can you dish out a couple of hundred riyals? I saw a lamp in the Old Suq of Sana'a that I think can reproduce Aladdin's Genie. The storekeeper there told me that the lamp is a few hundred years old and originally came from Baghdad. All he want is YR 200 for it.”

“Come on son, you don't really believe the cut throat merchant do you? If it was true that the lamp was so old, you think he would sell it for just YR 200?”. The father did not want his to be sleazed.

Khadija wanted to expand a little on the fantasy that was brewing in their living room: “Maybe Fadhil has a good idea worth considering. We can't have any more hope on our leaders, because all they have produced is one calamity after the next. Maybe by rubbing the lamp with the right oil, we can get the Genie to come out and then ask him at least to change our leaderships, since we can't do it at the polls. He would probably have better luck than President Bush and his fantastic illusions about bringing democracy to the region!”

Faris felt somehow he had been taken out of the discourse: “You are all getting carried away with you imaginations. I am talking about hedging on the recent appointment of a Kurdish President for Iraq and you all started to talk about genies and lamps and all kinds of American Nights fantasy. It is a fact that Saladin, in his time did what no other Arab leaders could do then. He had the same devotion and fealty to Allah which those Arab leaders should have had, but were too busy looking out after their thrones. Saladin focused all his energies on the cause he believed in. The Arab leaders had forgotten that if you do not have a mission in life, then do not bother leading because all they are doing is adding more misery to their subjects, which is what the Arab leaders were bringing to their people then. Besides, the oil we have now is more powerful than any oil we well use to rub 'Fadhil's lamp' by, because we can use it to choke our enemies.”

Khadija had a solemn reminder for everyone: “We have tried that before and look what happened to King Faisal! The Arab leaders know that they can't use oil as a factor in pressuring the Americans to leave us alone. That is a no no!”

Fadhil saw strength in his Aladdin's lamp idea: “You see, with Aladdin's lamp, everybody would be caught by surprise, because the oil we will use will not be under the control of western oil companies. I know a guy who makes good sesame oil that all the people from villages all around Sana'a are buying to cure them for all ailments. If it can do that, who knows how it might work on the lamp I have in mind. It is only two hundred riyals and anything would probably turn out as a better alternative to the present situation we have in the region.”

1 He is Salah Eddine Al-Ayyoubi, who was able to launch the first successful offensive against the Crusades, who have controlled most of the Levant area since Pope Urban II issued his Holy Wars against the Moslems to wrest Jerusalem from “infidel” control.

2 One of the famous heroes of the Arabian Nights tales, who had a magic lamp that answered to all of Aladdin's wishes.
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