Hotbeds of Islam Conflict

 

Currently several hotbeds of Islamic conflict exist. Here are a few:

           

Saudia Arabia.  About 1500 the Saud dynasty established control over a small area of land that would later become Saudia Arabia.  In the mid-eighteenth century, the Saudis formed an alliance with a religious fundamental, Muhammad idn Abd al-Wahhab, a Sunnite who believed that Muslims should follow a strict interpretation the Islamic law.  In 1932, Ibn Saud proclaimed the Arabian Peninsula the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.  Ibn Saud's success was due largely to his revival of the Wahhabi movement.  Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait precipitated the Persian Gulf War of 1991.  Saudi leaders fearing that Iraq would attempt to control their oil fields joined the United States and its allies in driving the Iraqis out of Kuwait.  Thousands of U.S. troops were stationed in Saudi Arabia from 1991 to 2003.  The Wahhabis strongly opposed the presence of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia home of Islam’s two holiest cities.  Tensions between the ruling Saudis and the Wahhabis began to grow.  The most notorious Wahhabi Saudi-born millionaire Osama bin Laden became the leader of the terrorist organization al-Qaida.

           

Afghanistan.  In 1996 bin Laden and other al-Qaida leaders moved to Afghanistan.  There they lived under the protection of the Taliban a conservative Islamic group that controlled most of the country.  On September 11, 2001 Islamic terrorists hijacked two commercial jetliners and deliberately crashed them into the twin towers of World Trade Center causing them to collapse.  The United States retaliated by briefly ousting the Taliban from Afghanistan.

Syria is home to diverse ethnic and religious groups dominated by the Sunni Arabs. Bashar al-Assad who has been president of The Arab Republic of Syria since 2000 has effectively suspended most constitutional protections for citizens, many of whom have fled the country. A civil war has splintered the country, divided national alliances and contributed to the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) founded by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in 1999.

Iraq.  In 1979 the Shiite Muslim Ayatollah Khomeini took control of Iran and fought a war with Iraq over territorial disputes.  The United States supported Iraq until the Kuwait invasion in 1991 when the United States organized the Islamic coalition against Iraq.  In March 2003 United States-led forces launched another war against Iraq to topple Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein a supporter of the Taliban. After the American presence in Iraq ended in 2011 fighters from the Syrian Civil War spilled into the country allowing ISIS to grab Iraqi territory.

Iran. The Persian Empire as Iran was then called collapsed with the invasion of Alexander the Great in 330 BC. Under the Sassanid Dynasty Iran again became a leading world power until Muslims raided the country in 651 AD. Following a coup in 1953 secular Iran gradually became close allies with United States until the 1979 revolution. With the fall of Saddam Hussein Iran has become a nuclear threat and the religious terror group Hezbollah, an Iranian surrogate has grown more powerful.

Pakistan.  In the nineteenth century the area that makes up Pakistan and India came under British colonial rule.  In 1947, Pakistan was created as a homeland for Muslims while the people of India were primarily Hindus.  Almost all the people of Pakistan are Muslims, but major cultural groups including Punjabis, Sindhis, and Pashtuns make establishing a unified nation difficult.

           

Palestine, the land at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea and between Egypt and southwest Asia, has for over 2000 years been the center of religious conflict.  Between 1933 and 1935, more than 100,000 Jewish refugees fled to Palestine to escape persecution in Nazi Germany and Poland.  In 1947, the United Nations divided Palestine into two states, one Arab and one Jewish.  The day after the Jews established the state of Israel on May 14, 1948, five Arab states—Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria—attacked Israel and were defeated.  In May 1967 Egyptian troops entered the Sinai Peninsula.  In the following six days, the Israelis destroyed the invading Islamic armies.  The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) founded in 1964 seeks to establish an independent state in Palestine.  The other Islamic states support the Palestinian’s fight against the Israelis but exclude Palestinians from their own countries considering them an inferior sect.

Malaysia a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary democracy divided into 13 states and a Federal Territory in Southeast Asia is rich in natural resources and racially and ethically diverse.  Islam is the official religion.  Kuala Lumpur with once the world’s tallest building, the Petronas Towers, reflects the urbanization of Malaysia.  With Muslim mosques, Christian churches and Hindu and Buddhist temples standing side-by-side, stricter Islamic standards have engendered religious unrest.

Conclusion: It’s a mess. Recommendation: Pray, celebrate life, turn off the news and change the channel to I Love Lucy reruns.

Compassion for the Churlish

A good friend of mine became concerned about his wife's tendency toward irritating interrogations of friends and family. "She is the grand inquisitor," he said.

Understanding that his wife's hubris covered a failure to trust induced by childhood abandonment, I made these comments:

It's not the questions, it's how they're asked. Disconsolate people fail to conceive that arrogant queries quince the spirit and convivial questions build rapport. Thus their attitude increases feelings of loneliness. They become more cheerless, churlish, cranky, crabby and cantankerous. 

The cure: kind, gentle warmth, awarding the good while ignoring the atrocious. Praise good behavior and it will increase; ignore bad behavior and it will diminish. 

Understanding the origins of behavior encourages empathy allowing us to replace our retaliation response with benevolence. This isn't easy. Responding to pomposity with compassion is difficult. Our ability to do so depends on our belief that kind correction changes attitudes.    

The Gift of Joy

When God gives man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work---this is a gift of God. He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart. Ecclesiastes 5:19-20

Contrary to most I view Ecclesiastes as a joyful, hopeful book because it confirms that nothing can satisfy man but God's gifts.

Wealth won't give lasting joy, nor will possessions, neither will sensuality, power, or fame. Knowledge fails to forever satisfy. Constant folly is foolish. Pleasures fade.

Man can do nothing better than eat and drink, find satisfaction in industriousness, encounter contentment in love and experience gratification in service.

The thoughts found in Ecclesiastes can expand wisdom and stimulate meaningful conversation. It is the Faustian book of the Bible.

Anger: Causes and Corrections

In the last month I have lost my temper three times. Greater than lost: I was belligerent, bellicose, bombastic, confrontational, contentious, combative. What's going on here? I considered this list:

• Gunny sacking---chronic suppressed anger that accumulates for a long period of time culminating into explosive angry outbursts.
• Fear---road rage is a good example. A car pulls dangerously in front of you causing unconscious fear that is expressed as anger. Of course there are other causes of road rage: Type A personality, a competitive nature, frustration at traffic, or maybe you are  simply a jerk. 
• There are other causes of fear anger. You may be afraid that you are inadequate or you are threatened in some way. 
• You are thinned skinned---criticism from others or fear of criticism.
• You were raised by parents who abused you or served as an anger model.
• You have a genetic predisposition for anger.
• People that are difficult for you to get along with.
• Remembering that your teachers told you not to dangle participles.
• Bipolar disorder---an excess of chemicals in your brain.
• Depression---a depletion of certain chemicals in your brain.
• Drugs or alcohol
• Narcissistic, or borderline personality disorder
• Posttraumatic stress disorder
• Hypersensitivity to rejection
• Brain tumor
• Perfectionism and failure to live up to your expectations
• Dementia as in Alzheimer's disease. Although half of individuals with dementia have Alzheimer's, there are approximately 70 other diseases that can cause dementia. 
• Fear of abandonment by family or friends.
• Politicians and other absurd people.
• Resentment toward friends or family. 
• Family or economic stress
• Burn-out or work overload

I hope my anger was generated by overwork. Although I am semiretired and work only of Tuesdays and Wednesdays my hours are long---sometimes 12 hours, then there are numerous patient and family calls, plus I am getting old and can't work as hard as I used to. There are other contributors to my angry outbursts. I'll let you guess which ones. Please don't guess Alzheimer's.

What to do about anger:

• Determine the cause of your anger and do something about it.
• Knowing your tendencies and watching for them.
• Practicing meditation, yoga or other like calming methods.
• Exercising---vigorously.
• Rest and relaxation
• A vacation
• Forgiveness of others and self
• Cosmic humor---not taking yourself so seriously and laughing at yourself and your mistakes. 
• Treating yourself with kindness.
• Empathy and being kind to others
• Avoiding jerks
• Walking away.
• Counting to 10.
• Mood stabilizers or other appropriate medications
• Bible study
• Prayer

I better begin working on these techniques. Anger is no fun. It makes enemies. And rather than reliving stress it engenders guilt, frustration, self-loathing and a bunch of other negative feelings.