Muawiyah bin Abi Sufyan, may God be pleased with him, got up on a Friday, delivered a sermon and said: Money is our money and money is our money, if we wish we give, and whoever we wish we withhold.
No one responded to him, unlike what the people were doing in the era of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs.
When the second Friday was, he said the same as his article, and no one answered him either!
When it was the third Friday, he said the same as he said, but this time, a man who attended the mosque stood up to him and said: No, but money is our money and money is our money, and whoever came between us and him we judged him with our swords.
After the prayer, Muawiyah asked the man and made him sit with him on the seat of judgment, then he gave permission to the people, so they entered upon him, then he said: O people, I spoke on the first Friday, but no one answered me, and in the second, no one answered me, and when the third time was my time, this God revived him - and he indicated To the man - and he said: I heard the Messenger of God - may God bless him and grant him peace - say: A people will come who will speak, but he will not reply to them.
When this restored my life to me, God revived him, and I hoped that God would not make me one of them.
Change for the better through democratic election boxes, it seems, is not the effective method in the Arab world. It may need more time to complete the full picture of modern democratic systems in his mind, after he has also reached a reasonable degree of maturity, awareness and willpower.
The honorable Companions and their followers after them, did not delay for a moment in criticizing any matter in which there is no text from the Qur’an, or the Noble Messenger – may God’s prayers and peace be upon him – did not say it, even if the order or action was on the part of the Caliph himself, they would face it on the road, the mosque or the house if It was called up.
Although such scenes and stories did not last long, but they are sufficient enough to compose approaches to leadership and management.
On the one hand, and on the other hand, it is surprising that, on the other hand, the reactions of the Caliphs on that day were very natural, with no fanaticism, no convulsions, no alienation from critics, but no political arrests and absences in prisons for many years, or repression and liquidation, whether material or moral.. Thus, the situation continued in this way for a period of time, until we relapsed to this day of people.
Arab Spring revolutions
A historical introduction in which is a simple aspect of good governance that the nation has lost in many of its countries, and for decades it has been trying to return to it in one way and another, despite the obstacles and barriers that are increasing more and more. The current events in Tunisia prompted me to recall some scenes of the Arab Spring as the most prominent attempts to return to the lost good government since the fifties of the last century. Tunisia in progress.
After all these events, it can be said that change for the better through democratic election boxes does not seem to be the effective method in an Arab world. It may need more time to complete the full picture of modern democratic systems in his mind, after he also reached a reasonable degree of maturity, awareness and possession The will, given that the issue of spreading and supporting democracies in the Arab world is not an Arab decision, unfortunately. Rather, it is an external decision by major powers that are still dominant, influential and benefiting from the region. Totalitarian, dictatorial regimes, and according to their past experiences in the region, have a certain good for the continuation of their influence and the protection of their interests, and therefore nothing calls for them to get involved in supporting the change of the current regimes so that other democratic regimes come to a certain degree and be a decision-maker, especially since nothing guarantees that their interests and influence will remain as they are now..Leave all the slogans, principles, values, and others for you, as they are mostly for media consumption and numbing peoples, and nothing more.
From here and through the experiences of the Arab Spring revolutions that began in Tunisia and ended there again, the observer reports that change in our Arab world is not the ideal that the Arab citizen dreams of, as he finds and follows it in parts of the world, in which the masses revolt, regimes collapse and others arise because of what For the masses of influence and power.
The situation has become clear to us since 2010 until today that the matter is not as easy as most of us expected, especially after the rapid collapse of fierce police regimes in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen, and most of us expected that the road is smooth for the train of change to continue, and we forgot that the infrastructure to install and consolidate the pillars of change does not exist, And that the movements that took place were on soft ground that had no resolution, and needed a lot of repair and preparation.
We were pleased with the statements of the West and the non-Arab East, which we considered supportive and supportive, and that they have come to respect the decisions of others and the principles and values that they raise at all times.. But we did not realize that the matter was the opposite of what happened, but I do not doubt for a moment the collapse of the major powers, especially the Western ones, to take a position What is happening in the Arab world, given that its interests are undoubtedly in danger.. Subsequently, Western positions began to flow into fluidity, as if they wanted calm and demanded time for their allies’ regimes, to catch their breath and rearrange their cards, and for the deep governments in each country to start working immediately. To regain their positions in one way or another, even if they and the Western powers that support them have turned a blind eye to some democratic manifestations, including elections through the ballot boxes, pending a (factory) reset to the conditions of the regimes that have not actually collapsed, even if some of their symbols and idols have disappeared in one way or another.
This is what actually happened, starting with Egypt and passing through Yemen and Libya, until Tunisia's turn came.
The West's interests are above all considerations
In counterattacks or counter-revolutions, the regimes began to recalculate their cards with an absolutely undoubted Western side, and liquidation operations began, regardless of the democratic principles and values that the West has been chanting for many years.
During that time, people resorted to the democratic funds of the West, and political Islam won - as rumored in the media and intended by the Muslim Brotherhood - so will the West remain silent over this unexpected transformation in the most important Arab countries?
It has become clear to the near and far and with practical evidence that it is not possible to accept any kind of regime run by Islamists, no matter how generous they are, their horizons, and their flexibility, which was not acceptable even to their followers.
The history that repeated itself after the 1992 elections in Algeria, the 2006 elections in Gaza, and the victory of the Islamic movements in them, so that the Islamists won again in Egypt and another remarkable victory in Tunisia, came to confirm that (political Islam) is totally unacceptable in political life, if not public life. Also.
The counter-revolutions began with unparalleled support from within the Arab world as well as from outside it. It became clear to the near and far, and with practical evidence, that it is not possible to accept any kind of regime run by Islamists, as if they were from another planet, no matter how generous their chests, horizons and flexibility, which were not acceptable even to some of their followers. Because despite their wide openness to others, the Islamists in all their forms were not allowed this privilege, and I mean the privilege or the opportunity to run their countries! What happened in Egypt is the most prominent example of the Arab Spring.
Now it is repeated in Tunisia in another way, despite the humility and modernity of the Tunisian democratic experience, but the attempts to return it to the fold of tyranny have been going on since the fall of the Ben Ali regime. To abort all the meanings and values of the revolution first, and then cut off all connection with the Ennahda Party with the government, despite the party’s wide flexibility over others at home and abroad, which was the subject of widespread criticism from the Islamists themselves to the party, but what happened happened.
The West .. No principles in front of interests
Thus, the West was and still is to this day. Its political and military power is in the service of its economy and trade. Protecting their interests is above any consideration. And do not tell me principles, morals and values. In front of the mineral wealth and other wealth and bounties of this afflicted Arab world, and like it in Africa and some third world countries, the West is stripped of all those principles and values that it sings day and night, and cracks our heads with for long periods, even if this leads to The devastation and destruction of countries and the decimation of millions of human souls, and the ongoing wars in certain parts of the world, and unrest and instability are only clear evidence that does not require many explanations and details.
Look around you here and there, especially in areas of conflict and crisis in poor and developing countries.
You will find that the large number of military coups and its political instability or wars, but to be an umbrella to cover up larger matters taking place on its lands and arenas.
And savage Western companies that cross borders, play a large and influential role in the course of many events in the world.
If in the past there was sabotage, or what they call direct colonialism from one country to another, today it has changed only in form, so that this sabotage continues, but at the hands of the people of the same country, in the form of military coups in most cases, because making big strategic decisions is much easier Under the rule of the military, and the majority of those decisions revolve around the country’s wealth, which can be negotiated and sold or leased for long periods with ease and ease, in the almost complete absence of peoples, who are either drugged or exhausted, and examples from here and there are more than we can count, perhaps even It is clearer than we can mention.
What to do then?
My talk is not to deepen frustration and pessimism about a future whose features seemed to be very revealing, but to review the events that occurred during a whole decade (2010-2021) and reflect on and study them, and take advantage of mistakes and reinforce the positives, if any.
First of all, to be convinced and consider it a fact based on data and experiences, that democracy is not the only means of change, even if it proves its usefulness in some regions of the world, it is not a requirement that it be so in our Arab world.
This democracy, which the West itself began to review - as Dr. Abdullah Al-Nafisi says - and subject it to intellectual examination, after it was unable to solve the problem of (corruption and poverty), which are problems that are growing and increasing in the West, so why not try to start from where the West ended and not where it began.
This is one of the proposals that need or deserve research and study. Perhaps then we will come up with an advanced method that suits the Arab environment and mentality, to change the corruption systems and the problems of poverty and tyranny.
Secondly, it is necessary to note that the processes of change take their time to ripen their fruits. Ten years since the start of the Arab Spring revolutions are nothing compared to the great revolutions that took place in the world, including the French, for example, which took more than a hundred years to achieve their goals, after tug-of-war with counter-revolutions, and this is what we should expect in our Arab world. Time is an important factor in the success of change processes, provided that it is used in modifying plans, strategies and tactics, and taking lessons and sermons from mistakes and avoiding their repetition.
Dividing the change processes into stages helps focus efforts and not waste energies and waste them in vain, by complying with the great Quranic principle (and turn away from the ignorant), which countries, institutions and bodies of counter-revolutions work to disperse and fragment the forces of change in the nation, through marginal battles here and there away from The great goals of the peoples of change, the most important of which is the dangerous trinity that disrupts the energies of the nation, and the looter of its goods: political tyranny represented in the monopoly of the few in decision-making, the poor distribution of wealth, and the authoritarian Western ally or controlling Arab sovereignty. That's a third point.
The many crises that are going through the nation have demonstrated the extent of the great and influential role of politicians in guiding societies, instead of this role being for the elite represented by intellectuals, thinkers and scholars, who are supposed to be the ones who make and shape the directions and visions of peoples, including politicians... But when the elites of societies abandoned As for its leadership role, whether desire or fear, the boats of Arab societies have lost their compass, so they are now following the guidance of politicians, including rulers, or media workers at other times. Not only, but most areas. These blunders are undoubtedly neither pleasing nor beneficial.. And this is how our Arab world has since the independence of its state, from one crisis to another, until God decrees a matter that has been in effect.