·
All systems that
interfere excessively in people’s lives, including their religious creeds and
practices, with no objective need for such action, are hated by their people.
·
The good man who
serves the people and the nation in the way of virtue is he who responds to the
demands of the spirit of the Laws of the Heaven and to the needs of the
movements of liberation and revolution on the earth.
·
The essence of all
Laws of Heaven lies in two principles: the Unity of God and what this requires
in the Relation of Man to Heaven, and Establishment of Justice on the earth in relation of Man to Man.
·
This revolutionary and
principled attitude will achieve justice and equality on the earth and ensure a
rightly coordinated development of life.
It will also ensure man his freedom to express what he believes in and
perform his duties towards God and his rites according to his own religious and
sectarian belief.
HERITAGE,
RELIGION & POLITICS
- President Saddam Hussein (Peace be upon him)
In viewing and writing
history we have to adopt a method which is expressive of our theory and the
particularity of our ideology. The many schools and interpretations and great
events of history enable every one to pick out what he likes from history to
support his own approach. One approach might ignore the value of Islam as a
revolution in the life of the Arabs, another one by exaggeration might ignore
the role of Arabs in the Islamic message which emerged from their lands and was
carried by them. Revolution can not emerge in a nation that is dead or incapable of moving
forward, although, there may be symptoms of decline that appear on the surface
at the stage when these revolutions take place.
There is no theory of life
that can work for all nations, yet the theories of all nations may form a
universal theory of life for the whole world.
However correct our theory proves in practice it will not be fully
suitable for all countries.
Recorded facts are not all
the ultimate realities even if they were agreed by all historians, because in
every stage of history some things remain unrevealed. When a group of people living on a piece of
land freely decide that they form a nation, they will eventually become a
nation, because it is their will that determines whether they are a nation or
not. All aspects of life including
history are used in reinforcing or weakening this will.
Man makes conceptions which
do not as a whole realistically and accurately reflect life as it exists. After he makes his conceptions he tries to
relate it to reality including historical facts. He tries to adopt some facts to his main
conception.
Islam is the soul of the
Arab nation. We neither abolish our past
nor copy it. We rather express the inspiration we draw from its spirit in a new
formula of development. We are not neutral in this respect. We are on the side
of Faith. In making this assertion we do not present ourselves as substitute
for any religion or religious practice. Rather, we put forward a theory of
action and principles of life with a view to developing society and establishing
justice in it. The spirit of Islam and its message is the source of inspiration
for our theory of life and action. It is a mistake to look at our pre-Islamic
history as if it were meaningless and shameful. Equally it is a mistake to
analyze our history on a class struggle basis.
Backward and retrogressive
elements suggest that Arab nation was in such a state of decadence and
injustice that Almighty God chose it for the message of Islam in order to
reform it. Arabs were chosen to bear the message of Islam not because they were
bad but because they were capable of leading humanity as a whole in changing
its aspect.
The enemies of Arabs
concentrate on the idea that the Arab mind is not versatile – that it can not
calculate complex matters. They accuse
the Arab mind of being narrow and limited, failing to measure alternative
possibilities in an integrated manner. Whereas Arab civilization provide
undeniable evidence that the Arabs finely calculated possibilities and
probabilities in all aspects of life and science at a time when other nations
were living in a state of darkness and backwardness.
Historical documents used at
a popular level should enhance our position with a view to consolidating our
struggle, steadfastness and our nation’s capability of progress. The door has to be kept open for further
progress and new interpretations within the general principles of analyzing our
history and other phenomenon. Marxist
response to this in a unbalanced manner by saying that the development of
nations, their rise, failure and progress depends on the materialistic
interpretation of history. They omit all spiritual and moral considerations,
and ignore their effect on the life of nations.
Religion and the past with all its factors, traditions and rules of life
are essential elements of our society affecting our traditions and
morality. Nobility, honor, truth and
many other values of life existed before Islam, but they later changed
according to the change in society. I
would like to assert that our party does not take a neutral stand between Faith
and heresy, it is always on the side of Faith. However, it is not a religious
party.
Ambiguity and unsteadiness
should not be our means of winning over the majority. We do not want to win
them for limited periods or for transitory matters or to overcome a temporary
impasse. We do not want to use them as a means of achieving temporary or
transitional aims, and to abandon them afterwards as the rightist and some
exploiting classes would do in their relations with the masses.
The genuine and radical
treatment of the people’s problems and basic social and economic conditions
certainly requires the avoidance of generalization and calls for the
specification of aims and methods of treatment. We reject the view that calls
for the abandonment of religion – that is heresy. This attitude is losing one by all
considerations. We categorically reject any wavering between right and left or
between one view and its opposite, because this is the method of weak,
dishonest and unprincipled people. There
must be certain concepts and practices which may conform with our principles.
While we reject heresy we must not act as religious figures. To adopt a policy
of interference in religious affairs would inevitably lead to divisions among
our people. You must avoid detailed interference in the life of the people. If
you interfere in the particularities of the people they will hate and shun you.
All systems that interfere excessively in people’s lives, including
their religious creeds and practices, with no objective need for such action,
are hated by their people. This is one of the aspects of the crises affecting many leaders and
governments throughout the world.
Through such treatment the citizens will become like card-horses with
closed ears and blinkered eyes. We categorically reject this attitude and we do
not want to apply it to our people. Unnatural
behavior would provoke even those who have no interest in clashing with
you. When we are natural, principled,
realistic and revolutionary we can win over the widest sections of the
masses. Only a minority may remain
opposed to us in certain known areas and
activities.
We have to adopt persuasion
as a basic instrument in our relation with society. We have also to maintain our clear and
principled policy. We have also to
maintain balance and avoid any detailed interference or unaccepted involvement.
The good man who serves the people and the nation in the way of virtue
is he who responds to the demands of the spirit of the Laws of the Heaven and
to the needs of the movements of liberation and revolution on the earth. Almighty God considers Faith and Good Deeds
as central issue in the essence of all His religions.
Man can do a lot of things
if he opts to serve the people and trust
in its right to developed life free from injustice and exploitation. The Laws of Heaven are not only based on
relation of man to God and on Belief in the Unity of God and in what this
requires, but also on the understanding of man’s role on the earth.
The essence of all Laws of Heaven lies in two principles: the Unity of
God and what this requires in the Relation of Man to Heaven, and Establishment
of Justice on the earth in relation
of Man to Man. Christianity and Islam came after Judaism.
Each religion was naturally born of the one that preceded it though the rules
of each new religion were not entirely the same as those of its
predecessor. As for Prophet Muhammad
(SM) being the Last of all Prophets and Messengers, Islam being the Last of the Heavenly
Religions – this means that the Laws and Rules of Heaven, man’s duties towards
them, and his relation to God have essentially met the requirements of what God
favors in man’s relation and duties towards Him.
When man grows he has to observe and respect the essence and spirit of
what is demanded by Heaven in relations between men in life in general, within
the overall context of establishing justice on the earth. What
the essence of Heaven’s rules demands is the establishment of justice and
equality between people and the placing of human effort at the disposal of the
continuous progress of life. This revolutionary and principled attitude
will achieve justice and equality on the earth and ensure a rightly coordinated
development of life. It will also ensure man his freedom to
express what he believes in and perform his duties towards God and his rites
according to his own religious and sectarian belief.
We thus save our people from dilemma of
continuous fragmentation and bitter fanatical conflict induced by the diversity
of religions, sects, schools, groups and interpretations. The will of man in carrying and clarifying
the Laws of Heaven has been essential ever since religions began. The observance of the laws of development and
its bearing on human mentality have been a fundamental consideration of the
Laws of Heaven, whether in the
succession, gradation and development of religions or in the sequence of
rules within a single religion.
In viewing and writing
history one adopts a method which is expressive of one’s world view. The many
schools and interpretations and great events of history enable every one to
pick out what one likes from history to support one’s own approach. One
approach might ignore the value of some realities, another one might exaggerate
some issues while ignore other realities.
Recorded facts are not all the ultimate realities even if they were agreed by
all historians, because in every stage of history some things remain
unrevealed. When a group of people
living on a piece of land freely decide that they form a nation, they will
eventually become a nation, because it is their will that determines whether
they are a nation or not. All aspects of
life including history are used in reinforcing or weakening this will.
