The Schitzophrenic Lebanese
Writing by abuhatem on Sunday, 18 of November , 2007 at 4:35 am
Depending on which angle you view from Lebanon can be a hallmark of success, or of the greatest failures in the Middle East. It is thus that I call it the most schizophrenic country in the world.
No other country in the entire region at least has achieved so much. Free markets, free elections, and a truly Democratic system compared to all others in the region. In Lebanon there actually exists rule of law, and the religious beliefs of all seem to be respected throughout the system. Lebanon is neither extremist secular nor a fundamentalist state. Courts for each faith settle religious law matters, and all are free to worship and believe as they wish.
It is only in Lebanon that you find such a population of minorities in the Middle East. While Syria, Jordan, and Palestine have many Christians - Lebanon is obviously the bastion of Christendom in the Middle East. At the same time, Lebanon can be said to be the bastion of the Arab Shi’a.
Yet at the same time, this nation has been torn apart by more civil wars than you can count. Everyday it seems as if one sect does not agree with another. An exemplar of the backwords sectarianism characteristic of the “failed civilization,” of modern Arabism, in Lebanon you will find Christians hating Muslims, Muslims hating Druze, and Shi’a hating Sunni.
If you compare Lebanon’s civil war with the modern civil war in Iraq, time will tell which will be worse. It is in Lebanon where you have extremist Christians calling for revolution, overthrow, and a Christian state; extremist Shiites calling for an Iranian-style republic, and extremist Sunnis attempting revolution in Nahr al-Bared.
This reminds me of Thomas Friemdan’s New York Times article which I have blogged about twice; Democracy’s root: diversity. Tolerance and diversity are two things which both the Christian and Muslim faith’s value. Christianity preaches the love of thy neighbor as oneself; and Islam preaches that God has only created different groups to know one another. In both Christianity and Islam the person is not hated, his evil attributes are, and one must love good for all people. (If someone wants theological verification for at least the Muslim side of this please see Imam Nawawi’s Sharh Sahih Muslim on the hadith “None of you truly believe until you love for your brother what you love for yourself.”)
We must quit hating and seeing people as “Jew,” or “Christian,” or “Muslim,” or “Notherner,” but as human beings. If only the Lebanese had mastered this, then perhaps they would have evolved from their current condition to the bastion of Arab freedom.
Lebanon is a country that has been destroyed time and again, where sectarianism reigns supreme, but yet still has the will to hold on to the beauty which freedom is and has not fell into decay.
The great Syrian poet, Mohammad al-Maghout, a native of my city, said this about Lebanon, a few years ago before his death:
Do you miss Lebanon?
This is what I have to say to the Lebanese: Whether partisan, secular, materialistic or spiritual you must cling onto this fragment of freedom, the last little fragment that remains. This scrap is our salvation. Don’t let go: freedom is taken, not given…Â
Wise words
Category: Lebanese Politics
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