Cry like Women!
by Ali Bulac
On January 2, 1492, Castellanos entered Granada, the only city that was under Muslim control and the Cross immediately replaced the Crescent, which had been flying over Granada for seven centuries.


Sultan Abu Abdullah, his wife and others who accompanied him left the al-Hamra palace last time. The sultan “sighed deeply” and sobbed as he looked back at the palace. “You couldn’t fight like a man, now you're crying like a woman, ” Valide Sultan Fatima told her son, Abu Abdullah. The rocky hill from which the expression “farewell look” is derived is known in Spanish as “El Ultimo Suspiro del Moro” (the Moor’s Last Sigh).

Tariq ibn Ziyad, a great Muslim commander, landed in Spain in 711 and this was was followed by Abdurrahman al-Gafiqi’s conquest of Cordova in 726. In 1492, Muslims abandoned their last stronghold. I have a line, vague in my memory, from a long poem by an Arab poet whose name I cannot recall at the moment: O, men, why this division among you, even though you are brothers? Historians argue that disunity in Muslim political consciousness and understanding and the meaningless power struggles that emerged caused the collapse of Andalusia. This is a truism. For more on Andalusia you can read any of Ziya Pasha’s works.

The Arab League convened yet again on August 7, 2006. The Arab League convenes all the time only to agree to disagree at each meeting. No one knows why Arab League meetings always end without concrete agreements. Take a look at some of the League’s decisions and then bite your tongue! League members agreed to send envoys to New York to pressure the United Nations to take swift measures to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Lebanon, as if they are not United Nations members. This should go down into the Arab League record books as one of its “great achievements in history,” just like the Organization of the Islamic Conference summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. These are all efforts by Arabs and Muslims at state and governmental levels.

Some thing strange happened at the recent Arab League meeting in Lebanon which escaped the media’s attention. Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, fighting back tears as he was trying to describing the situation his country, could not complete his sentence. And the heroic Arab delegates applauded him.

Every Arab country sings a different tune; each seems to have different calculations. However, a closer look into the matter would show that it is not a tortuous affair. They all share a common fear: Incurring the wrath of the United States! None feels secure. In fact, except Syria and Iran, all the other 22 countries covered by the Greater Middle East Project, including the one that co-chairs the League with pride, face a similar situation. This fact is always ignored: There is no use in fearing the inevitable. Sooner or later, these anachronistic political structures will undergo transformations. If these 22 countries fail to effect the necessary reforms, improve self-reliance and take into account their own dynamics, then they will all be signing their death certificate. The entire Arab population is 280 million and 75 percent are under 30, at the point of explosion. Non-Arab Muslims are disillusioned and also angry.


As Israel bombards Lebanon, the feelings of love and sympathy for Hezbollah leader Nasrallah grows and a Syrian minister expresses his willingness to be a Hezbollah soldier; as the United States and Israel threatens Iran, Tehran gains more respect. In fact, it was not the Lebanese prime minister who burst into tears in front of the world media; it was the entire Arab and Islamic world that cried out for help. 280 million Arabs and 1.5 billion Muslims. Israel is facing an uphill battle against Hezbollah, a tiny group; however, the Arabs are afraid of incurring Israel’s wrath, even though they spend a huge part of their budgets on arms. The Arabs, one way or the other, cannot come together, and even when they succeed in doing so, their meetings yield no results. The future does not depend on such meetings; it depends on adopting the spirit and mission of Osman Bey who fought constantly against Byzantine as he put domestic conflicts aside. I have always stressed that there is a link between the fall of Andalusia and the rise of the Ottoman Empire. As Arab leaders cry like women and sigh deeply, new “Osman Gazis” are emerging. While Andalusia was dying, the Ottoman Empire was being born. We are at the beginning of birth pangs -- and it will be very painful indeed.

August 09, 2006