Once again, Iraq and sadness become one.
Once again, madness beats wisdom.
Once again, craziness has its best day.
It was a partly cloudy winter morning over Samarra, a city that is truly an open-air museum, some 120 kms (80 miles) to the north of Baghdad, a city which is unique in everything; and on 22 Feb. 2006, it was destined to re-define the Iraqi on-going, ever-lasting sorrow.
The shrine of the 10th and 11th Shiite Imams (or as the Western media calls them as "Saints"), is the jewel on Samarra's necklace of history. The eternal pride of Samarra, and Samarrans, who are also defined as Sunnis, but have never ever failed to be the best of hosts to one of the 4 Shiite most Holy Sites in Iraq; Samarrans who are proud of these two Shiite Imams being their ancestors and forefathers.
On the sad morning of 22 Feb. 2006; which could be brought closer to Westerners' imagination if described as the same as the morning of 11 Sep. 2001, minus the human casualties, plus the shrine's sanctity; the golden dome that stood high above the shrine of 4: the 2 Imams, one of the Imam's sister, and one of the Imam's wife; was blown up.
With it, i am sad to say; the sanity thread in Iraq was cut, and the voice of reason was harshly told to shut up.
Samarra, and Samarrans, as well as the whole world, woke up to a seen they never imagined. A seen so devastated, and yet so devastating. The 4 graves engulfed by a silver/golden structure of enamel and Quranic writings under the golden dome, destroyed by the huge and massive explosion, were there no more.
Despite calls by the highest of religious authorities, some groups went to "retaliate", but retaliation went against the wrong people.
It is neither of faith, nor of common wisdom, to accuse Sunnis, of which are the Samarrans, who are very proud that the Shiite Imams are their ancestors.
It is neither of faith, nor of common wisdom, to attack Sunni mosques, or to drag completely innocent Sunni people from their homes, to an unknown fate, or rather to a later known fate in Baghdad's Central Morgue.
This is definitely not what the Imam's would have wanted, and this definitely not what Islam (whatever the sect is) calls for. The act of "retaliation" is as condemned and as ugly as the original act of destroying the Holy Site.
If any person wanted to "retaliate", then "retaliate" from those who would be proven guilty, or caught red-handed, as we heard from Al-Iraqiya state-run TV as well as other channels, that 10 people were arrested, and "seem" connected to the aggression.
To destroy your brother's house, is to destroy your own house.
To destroy your brother's mosque or shrine, is to destroy your own mosque or shrine.
To kill your brother, is suicide.
Going through the media on such a sad, sad day; i have seen the worse channels, and they were Al-Forat TV (which is so Shiite), and Baghdad TV (which is so Sunni). It was like this one brought benzine to the fire, and this one brought kerosene to the fire; and i am very afraid that they would bring explosives to the fire that is not getting any smaller, and they would.
I pray, sincerely, that people, with wisdom as big as the Iraqi sorrow; would rise up from the rubble left after Samarra blast; and the ashes left after a Sunni mosque burning; and come together, to stop the bloodshed; because if bloodshed ever started on a large(r) scale, then there would be no Iraqis to live in Iraq.
Wisdom is priceless in times of madness.
God preserve Iraq, and Iraqis without exception, and give them wisdom, leading to peace.
