For those who think Muslims don't criticize other Muslims.

 The author is a Toledo Surgeon, and the Toledo Blades
 semi-resident expert on Islamic countries and issues.

 By S. Amjad Hussain
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http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050117/COLUMNIST12/50117
0326

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 Article published January 17, 2005

 Tsunami revealed hypocrisy of Arab countries

 The tsunami not only wrought havoc on a wide swath of the Asian
 coastline and devastated the lives of millions of people, it
 also exposed the hypocrisy of the oil-rich Arab countries in
 the Middle East and the Persian Gulf. As if to justify the
 miserly contributions of their rulers toward relief efforts, a
 number of preachers were quick to blame the victims for bringing
 down the wrath of God for their decadent and sinful lifestyles.
 More about their angry and vengeful God later.

 Most countries, including the United States, were slow to
 comprehend the enormity of devastation and slow to react. But
 react they did once it became obvious that this was perhaps the
 biggest natural disaster ever. To date $5 billion has been
 pledged for the relief efforts and more contributions are
 pouring in. By far the biggest donors are Australia, with
 pledges of $815 million (a whopping 0.15 percent of its gross
 domestic product) followed by Norway, Sweden, and Germany.

 The United States has announced a package of $350 million in
 immediate help and has provided helicopters from the carrier
 Abraham Lincoln to deliver food, water, and medicines to
 inaccessible areas. Keeping with past traditions the American
 people have opened their hearts and their purses and have
 donated more than $337 million. This is the biggest private
 donation for a foreign disaster in U.S. history.

 Now contrast this with the meager and miserly response by the
 Arab countries. Saudi Arabia pledged $10 million but later
 increased it to $30 million. The oil-rich countries of the
 Persian Gulf were two steps behind the Saudis. After Kuwait
 announced a $2 million donation, the daily newspaper Al Qabas
 lambasted the government in a front-page editorial. The
 embarrassed government increased its donation to $10 million. It
 is ironic that the same people whose families have been
 devastated by the tsunami have helped build and run the gulf
 states.

 The total amount of donations from all the Arab countries is $90
 million. There are, however, private donors who most likely
 will top what their governments have given.

 For various reasons, the promised money does not always get to
 the victims. Traditionally, these include lack of
 infrastructure for the delivery of aid, corruption in the host
 country, and occasionally simple reneging on the promise. After
 the earthquake in Iran in December, 2003, which took 30,000
 lives, the international community pledged more than $1 billion,
 but only $17 million was delivered in the end. Afghanistan has
 received less than half of the $ 2.2 billion that was promised
 for its reconstruction.

 Orthodox Muslims are fond of promoting the utopian concept of
 ummah or a worldwide community of believers. According to Muslim
 tradition, ummah, as a body, feels the pain even if a small part
 is hurt anywhere in the world. It is indeed strange that Muslim
 Indonesia was devastated, but the pain was not felt by the oil
 drunk rulers of Saudi Arabia and the gulf region. As usual it
 was the so-called decadent United States and the West that came
 to help. The same was true in drought-stricken Somalia and the
 ethnic cleansing of Bosnian and Albanian Muslims in the 1990s.

 In the case of Bosnia, the self-righteous Saudi preachers
 thought the Bosnians were not good enough Muslims. Perhaps
 Indonesians are not either.

 And that brings me back to the angry and vengeful God to whom
 some preachers in Saudi Arabia and the gulf attributed the
 recent devastation. An angry and vengeful God wielding a big
 stick and indiscriminately causing havoc with millions of
 innocent people for the sins of a few just does not cut it.
 Perhaps He should direct his wrath toward the very preachers who
 invoke His name in vain and make mockery of their religion.

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BOB KLAHN bob.klahn{at}sev.org   http://home.toltbbs.com/bobklahn

... Our ancestors lived in ages of iron and steel,we live in the age of sand.
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