In his sermon today...

In his sermon today, Tehran interim Friday prayer leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ahmad Khatami said that in contrast to the U.S.’s dream of a new Middle East under its domination, a new Middle East based on Islamic principles is now taking shape.

The statement made above is the tip of the iceberg in what seems to be happening around the Middle Eastern states. Capitalism has failed, and failed drastically. The Egyptians in particular, want a change. They want a change in administration. Their President for the past thirty years, Hosni Mubarak has failed to deliver to the country according to them. Poverty, unemployment, corruption and human right violations are rampant. A change, they feel, is needed. In contrast, Hosni Mubarak still refuses to give up his presidency despite the large scale protests.  Although he has decided not to contest in the elections due this year, he still refuses to let go of his position.

Egypt is not the only one. The entire Middle East is rising. Tunisia, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Yemen and Syria are all on the warpath. They have a strong reason to believe that it the time is now to act and promote change. The way they have been led in the past has not worked for them, they have suffered and continue to suffer at the hands of their respective governments or other governments surrounding them(Israeli pressure on Palestine).  This has put strong pressure on America and Israel, for whom an “Islamic Uprising” is dangerous. Israel’s right to exist is still strongly debated and its violence against the Muslims of Palestine has been seriously condemned in the past and a Muslim Uprising in neighboring countries would ensure increased pressure on Israel (even militarily) to discontinue its practices. This is in contrast to the current situation where the governments of most countries are US friendly and are as their citizens proclaim them “puppets” of the USA.  This is a seriously worrying situation for the US as the Middle East has control over the majority of Oil Production in the world and combined could be a grim threat to the balance of power in the world. Their loss of power over this area could be fundamental to them losing their status as the Most Powerful state in the world. Although American and Israeli lobbies are striving for(praying?) that the situation in the Middle East cools down and even if it doesn’t the revolution comes with American ideas and backing . This seems highly unlikely to me as it is the same American influence that most of the Arab population is against.


In  another statement made by  Tehran interim Friday prayer leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ahmad Khatami, he says Stating that the popular uprisings in the Arab world herald the creation of “an Islamic Middle East” based on the religion and religious democracy – in contrast to claims by former U.S. secretary of state Condoleezza Rice that a new Middle East would be developed under the leadership of the U.S. and Israel – he underlined that this ongoing unrest is the aftershock of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran.
He added that the recent uprisings in the Arab world have Islamic support, as people poured into the streets with the slogan of “Allahu Akhbar (Allah is the Greatest).”


Hussain Vakharia