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This is a serialization of the book titled ‘Crisis in Islam’. The full book and its Endnotes may be accessed here.

I shall try in this chapter to show how the role of Imperialism in the crisis in Islam, whether in setting up political movements, supporting others, or subjugating Muslims, has been a major element in the crisis and how it has benefited Imperialism in pursuing its objectives.

The year 1492 is a significant year in the modern history of humankind. It signals the beginning of the last 500 years of modern Western Imperialism that has gone uninterrupted in one form or another. In that year, two major events took place. In one, Christopher Columbus landed on the East coast of the Americas, which landing led to the most ‘disgraceful’ ethnic cleansing of the land, part of which was documented by the American writer Helen Jackson as having led to the killing of millions of ethnic Americans in one century in the USA alone. ¹ Two consequences of that landing are worthy of note. Firstly, it set the precedent that Europeans have a natural right to settle any land even if that meant the extermination of its original inhabitants. This has gone on since 1492 and manifested itself in such places as Australia and Palestine with this conviction becoming part of the European psyche. Secondly, it exposes the sense of superiority at the heart of European intellect, which has manifested itself when we read of Columbus having ‘Discovered’ America. It seems that the Europeans believe they have a natural right to decide when history starts in having decided that the Americas and their inhabitants did not exist until the Europeans came, just as much as they have the right to decide the ‘End of History’ ².

The second significant event of 1492, which is related to the cleansing of the Americas, is the fall of the last Muslim kingdom in Spain ³. The clearly striking Imperialist feature about the end of Muslim rule in Spain is that, to my knowledge, this is the only incident in history in which an invasion led to the total eradication of a religion in one state. Islam, which prevailed in Spain for some eight centuries, did not exist after 1492.

Since 1492, European Imperialism has consisted of a chain of roles by different European states. From the Portuguese Colonialism to the Zionist Imperialism they all share the common features of being based on Judeo-Christian values, intending to subjugate, exploit, and dominate.

In the last few decades, a lot was said and written about the so-called ‘Clash or Dialogue Among Civilizations’ ⁴, in an attempt to refer to a conflict between Christianity and Islam. I believe that the use of the term ‘civilization’ in characterizing the conflict is unfortunate.  In order to talk about a conflict between Civilizations, we need to identify these Civilizations, which are supposed to be in conflict.  However, I submit that there are no such Civilizations today. There is neither an Islamic Civilization nor a Christian Civilization in existence to have a dialogue. Without entering into a philosophical discussion about the definition of civilization, it suffices to say that if we assume that they existed in the past, such as under the Holy Roman Empire or the Abbasid Empire, they do not exist today.  What could unite a Norwegian and a Namibian to form a Christian Civilization or an Iraqi and an Indonesian to form an Islamic Civilization?

There is no conflict between Civilizations today. The Conflict is between European Imperialism (which includes all offshoots of Europe such as the EU, US, Australia, Canada and Israel) and the ideology of Islam.

European Imperialism discovered as early as the Crusades that Islamic ideology was a formidable challenge to its design to dominate the world. It should be made clear that Imperialism does not have an issue with the political Islamic order but it does oppose Islamic ideology. Islamic ideology, which Imperialism confronts, consists of the principles, which Muslims consciously or subconsciously assimilate from the Qur’an and the Prophet’s conduct. Principles like refusing to submit but to Allah and refusing the Capitalist system of exploitation and accumulation of wealth are only a small sample of how Islam is anathema to Imperialism. It is Islamic ideology, which Zionist Imperialism today finds the true opponent. Thus, it has no problem with some fifty so-called Muslim states but considers Hizbullah a serious threat to its objectives in the Arab World.

The theatrical display of the Imperialist in the so-called coalition fighting ISIL does not convince anyone. Fighting ISIL needs no display of air power. If the Imperialists are genuine about fighting ISIL, the method is clear and had already been tested by them before in Iraq.

The European Imperialists played two major roles in the formation and evolution of the current crisis in Islam. It did not escape the notice of the numerous Orientalists, some of whom have studied Islamic history more deeply than modern Muslim scholars, the nature of the political schism in Islam that dates back to the beginning of the mission. It is not so hard to realize that the Caliphate system of Government was a political system with some religious connotations. It was the decision of clans of Quraysh to assume political power using the Prophet’s legacy as legitimization. In doing so, the clans of Quraysh, which I have already identified in previous chapters, ensured that their rejection of the House of Muhammad, which later became the ‘House of ‘Ali’ as the Prophet had no descendants except through Fatima and ‘Ali, was maintained.

In order to achieve that, the elders of these clans of Quraysh created their hierarchy of Companions of the Prophet upon whom they bestowed titles and praise all alleged to have been made by the Prophet. The practices and policies of those Companions later became an extension of the Prophet’s Sunna and thus an integral part of Islamic Shari’a and Islam in general. Any attempt to question the assumption that the Companion’s practices were not Sunna amounted to near apostasy: a label that most Muslims wanted to avoid. This political establishment, which I referred to in this book as the ‘House of ‘Aisha’, was set up on the day the Prophet passed away by ‘Aisha’s father, Abu Bakr. Most of the Arabs outside Quraysh were indifferent to the political struggle inside Quraysh and thus had no problem with the new political set up so long as it provided them with stability and prosperity with money pouring in from invaded land outside Arabia. The non-Arabs who converted to Islam had no option but to accept Islam as offered by the Quraysh political establishment, who to them logically appeared as having been a true representation of the Prophet’s having been his Companions.

The small percentage of Arabs and non-Arabs who chose to identify themselves, in varying degrees and for different reasons, with the ‘House of ‘Ali’ came to be considered by the Sunni fuqahā as outside mainstream Islam.  Those followers of the ‘House of ‘Ali’  who came to be known as Shi’a of ‘Ali or simply Shi’a, despite being a small twenty percent of Muslims, have played a role much greater than their size because of geography. If we exclude those in the Indian subcontinent, the Shi’a live in the vital area on both sides of the Gulf through Iraq, across southern Turkey, down through eastern Syria to south Lebanon in the area, which the Wahhābis call ‘the Shi’a Crescent’. This enclave in the Muslim world is not just significant in geopolitical terms as it bridges Europe and Asia, but is also significant in being rich in gas and oil reserves.

It would be difficult for any Imperialist power considering action to dominate the world, to overlook this reality and consider ways of exploiting it to its advantage. The British Imperialists, having realized that eradicating Islamic ideology was impossible, decided that the only way was to contain Muslims. Containing them was easiest through controlling Arabia because the Bedouin by nature are the weakest in belief leading to the possibility of easy control and manipulation. More significant is the fact that controlling Mecca means controlling Muslims especially outside the Arab world. Thus, Wahhābism was invented as outlined earlier.

The creation of Wahhābism sowed the seeds of today’s destructive campaign. Wahhābism is a revival of Salafi ideology as expanded by Ibn Taymiyyah. That Salafism asserts that Shi’a in general and the esoteric among them specifically are apostates and infidels who must be eliminated. It is obvious even for the novice in politics to appreciate the potential of such a weapon when required to set Muslims against each other in the location and time required. Setting Wahhābis against Shi’a is the best weapon the Zionist Imperialists have discovered.  One quick look at the scene in the Arab world today suffices. Fifty years ago, everyone talked about the Arab-Israeli conflict. Today everyone talks about the Sunni-Shi’a conflict. This is Zionism’s golden age!

The Imperialists went on, as outlined earlier in this book, to back and support other Islamic fundamentalist movements in the Arab world to oppose both Communist and Arab Nationalist movements. Although the Imperialists understood the formidability of Islamic ideology, they also believed that the fundamentalist Islamic movements represented aspirations to power and not the implementation of ideology and thus constituted no danger to the Imperialist objective.

Massive reserves of oil were discovered in the 20^th century in the Arabian Peninsula, which dramatically changed the scene and opportunities. The Imperialists started pumping oil like water from wells to run their machinery and support their economy. But part of that massive revenue was given back to the Bedouin in return for guarding its fields and ensuring no locals agitate or question that exploitation. The Bedouin were advised by their Imperialist masters, once they satisfied their lustful desires, to put some of that money to good use in promoting their image in the Muslim world. Large sums of money were spent on extending and improving the holy shrine in Mecca, which ensured them merits with the massive naïve and gullible Muslims, who have never read the verse: “Have you made the providing of water for the pilgrim and the maintenance of al-Masjid al-Haram equal to [the deeds of] one who believes in Allah and the Last Day and strives in the cause of Allah? They are not equal in the sight of Allah. And Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people.” [At-Tawba 9:19] They also embarked on a massive campaign of building mosques all over the Muslim world and providing them with Wahhābi preachers. That in my mind was their greatest political success, as no other political system has ever had such an opportunity like that which the Mosque in Islam grants in the form of a political platform camouflaged as religious.

Equally significant in the Imperialist role of assisting the Salafi Wahhābi movement has been the design and implementation of a strategy to control the media, which has become, with the advent of digital communication, the most powerful tool in manipulating public opinion and consequently affecting political decisions. The setting up of satellite TV channels like Al-Jazeera, which initially portrayed independent impartial reporting to acquire the confidence of its viewers, could be cited as one example. Once the trust of the public was acquired, it was easy to use it as the powerful tool to manipulate public opinion as has been demonstrated clearly in reporting the civil war in Syria. The number of TV channels spanning the waves of satellites in the service of Salafi ideas and in every language, are too many to count. The Wahhābis bought most publishing houses ensuring no books exposing their history and politics are available to read. ⁵ I believe that there are only a few Arab dailies which are neither fully owned by one Wahhābi or another nor have a pro-Saudi editor or reporters in its staff.

It is not difficult to appreciate the scale of the Imperialist success in having enabled the Wahhābis to dominate the media in the Muslim world in general.

By the 1980s, the Soviet Union had stagnated to the extent that enabled the testing of its will. Afghanistan was a good place to do so. The Wahhābis were called upon to do their part in serving their masters the Imperialists. They recruited men from all over the Arab world; had them trained by the CIA; paid for the whole operation and sent them to fight the Soviet army which was supporting the communist government of Afghanistan.  The outcome of this operation is more serious than has been yet acknowledged. Firstly, it showed the weak resolve of the Soviet Union, which gave rise to activities that led a few years later to its early disintegration.  Secondly, it signaled the new political role of Salafi Islam. Thirdly, it created the new CIA mercenaries in the Arab world who came to be known as the Arab ‘Mujahedeen’, so much so that the word has entered the English dictionary. It was from among those Mujahedeen that Al-Qaeda was born with the Wahhābi money and the Imperialist training and equipment. Those Mujahedeen went back to their respective countries to recruit more members for Al-Qaeda and await the next move. It is not inconceivable that Osama bin Laden and his colleagues had already had or developed later their own ambition of separating themselves from the Imperialists and setting up their own Islamic state. But that does not change the fact that all those Mujahedeen and their whereabouts were known to the Zionist Imperialists. It is ludicrous to suggest, as some seem to imply today, that the CIA did not know those men who came later to be leaders of Al-Qaeda and its offshoots in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Egypt, Yemen and elsewhere. Intelligence services are not charities.

The beginning of the 21^st century and following the mystery of 9/11 witnessed the ascension of Zionism to the highest state of Imperialism, which gave birth to the Zionist Imperialism I use in this book. Zionist Imperialism indicated that its plans for the century are going to do away with the UN Charter that was drafted and agreed upon by the World States post WWII, and to breach most principles of International Law that have been agreed upon over the last two centuries. The manifestation of this policy came in the invasion, occupation and dismantling of Iraq, a founding member of the UN. Once this was achieved, the revival and activation of sectarian strife was initiated. The details of these policies as implemented by the US ruler of Iraq Paul Bremer are documented in other books. ⁶ Firstly, Bremer armed the Shi’a militia on the grounds that they fought Saddam Hussein. Once they completed the dirty work, which the US could not carry out, the US moved to arm the Sunni awakening (Sahwa) militia on the grounds that they needed to defend themselves against the Shi’a militia excesses. Between 2005 and 2007 and under US watch, some horrendous sectarian crimes were committed in Iraq by both sides. Following that short sectarian war, Al-Qaeda became an attractive recruiting network for dissatisfied Sunnis who either lost power, members of families or wealth or their homes. The sectarian appeal prevailed and Al-Qaeda, to the delight of the Imperialists and with their backing, continued to build their cells. When the time came, they defeated the not-so-professional Iraqi army, which was built by the US after having dismantled the professional Iraqi army in 2003, and succeeded in extending their control from the small enclave in Syria to include the Governorates of Mousil, Salāhuddeen, Diyāla and Anbar in Iraq.

Syria was the next country to be dismantled after Iraq as part of the Zionist plan to rewrite the borders of the Arab world, having scrapped the failed nation-state system created by the Sykes-Picot agreement. In the case of Iraq, it was possible to invade after having blockaded it for more than twelve years, depleting its military and destroying its economy and instilling desperation in its people. However, no such situation existed in Syria, which still maintained a relatively strong army with a serious arsenal of chemical weapons and a missile capability to deliver them to Israel, whose superiority in the Middle East remains the main objective of Zionist Imperialism.  Following the invasion of Iraq, the US offered President Assad of Syria a proposal, which ensured that the regime would be safe so long as it recognized the hegemony of Israel and dissociated itself from Iran. ⁷ When Assad rejected the Imperialist offer, the signal went out to the Salafi movement in Syria to go into action. This was timed with the preparation in Northern Africa for regime changes, which the Imperialists refer to as the ‘Arab Spring’, although it has been anything but a Spring. Libya, which had been a stable and prosperous state for some forty years, ceased to exist as a state and degenerated into gangs of killers and looters on tribal and town bases. Tunisia is in serious turmoil looking into the dark tunnel of fundamentalist threat. But Syria, because of a multitude of reasons, needed a more elaborate scheme than those implemented in Libya and Tunisia. The Muslim Brotherhood, Al-Qaeda and some disgruntled other groups were all activated by different outside handlers. Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar put all their resources to that effect. The result has been more than four years of massive destruction, suicide bombing and killings the like of which would have been assumed fantasies a few years earlier. Parts of Syria have since been outside the Government’s control where the Salafis run their own model of the dark ages which they call an Islamic State. But the important outcome so far has been the destruction of the Syrian economy beyond repair, the weakening of its army and the removal of chemical weapons, all for the benefit of Israel.

Fighting terrorism must assume top priority and other matters of dispute relegated to second order. The truth of the matter, which has exposed Zionist Imperialist objectives, is that it is not interested in fighting terrorism. It is only interested in eradicating Arab Nationalism and protecting the Zionist enclave.

The expansion of an Al-Qaeda offshoot, which called itself IS, then ISIS or ISIL as more commonly known, from Syria to Iraq, may not have been precisely what the Zionist Imperialists wanted when they supported it to destroy Syria. But it should be accepted that such fundamentalist movements might develop their own agendas despite the resistance of their masters and sponsors. The Imperialists planned the destruction of Syria to end the last Arab Nationalist stronghold in the Arab world. They did not intend the Salafi control to reach Iraq where the regime and Government were installed by the US as a reliable ally after the eradication of the Ba’ath Nationalist there. But the Salafi found an opportunity to expand into Iraq where corruption has become the norm and people were dissatisfied with phony democracy brought by the US. The Salafi had their own independent reason for expanding into Iraq. Iraq was being run by Shi’a Muslims for the first time since the rule of ‘Ali bin Abi Tālib between 656 and 661 AD. There is no bigger enemy for the Salafi than Shi’ism and thus once they established their rule on the Euphrates in Syria, it was a golden opportunity to link that with Iraq and set up a Salafi Caliphate to the exclusion of Shi’a, ‘Alawites and Sunni alike.

I am not going into an argument about who created Al-Qaeda and consequently the ISIL as it will not serve the purpose of this analysis. The creation of a political movement is relevant to its functions and objectives. But failing to do so does not diminish the possibility of deciding the objectives of that movement by deciding who benefits from those objectives. All that those Salafi movements have done so far has been destruction, killing and creating instability in the countries in which they have been active. Their call for the setting up of a Salafi Islamic State means the elimination of all others; something which has been demonstrated in the destruction of all religious sites, enslaving war-captive women and killing people on evidence of belonging to a sect that is not affiliated to Salafism as they define it. The natural outcome of such ideology and practices means the disintegration of these states, like Iraq, Syria and Libya today, into splinter statelets based on sectarian or ethno-sectarian bases. That is precisely the Zionist objective in the area so that Israel can lawfully be called a Jewish state as one of the many religious and sectarian entities and the most powerful and dominating among them. It also fits the Oded Yinon Plan to cause internal friction within neighboring Islamic states, thereby neutralizing their consolidated objection to the atrocities of the Zionist entity. ⁸

The theatrical display of the Imperialist in the so-called coalition fighting ISIL does not convince anyone. Fighting ISIL needs no display of air power. If the Imperialists are genuine about fighting ISIL, the method is clear and had already been tested by them before in Iraq. For the sake of brevity I shall summarize is as follows.

1. Three main clients of the Zionist Imperialists in the Middle East, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, have been supporting ISIL according to US Vice-President, Joe Biden. ⁹ Both Saudi Arabia and Qatar should be ordered and not requested, to desist and they will both comply just as fast as Hamad bin Jāsim, former PM and Foreign Minister of Qatar, packed and left without a single comment once ordered by the US to do so. ¹⁰ Once money and media support for the Salafi cease, the movement could hardly afford to recruit new fighters from among the impoverished brainwashed Muslim masses.
2. Turkey, which may not be easy to order, has to function within the rules of NATO and not is allowed to get the latter entangled in a conflict in which it has no interest. NATO could advise Turkey that it would not be in its best interest to have a fundamentalist Islamic state on its borders and that Turkey should close its borders to ISIL. It would be difficult for Turkey to refuse despite its aspiration for a revival of the Ottoman rule of the Middle East, which may not particularly be an objective of NATO.
3. Closing the Turkish borders against ISIL will end the insurrection in Iraq and Syria in a few months. ISIL needs the Turkish borders because all its supplies of equipment and men come through it. ISIL has no factories in its small enclave in Syria or Iraq to manufacture tanks, armored carriers and the thousands of four-wheel drive cars, which have to pour in from across the Turkish borders with approval and support of the Turkish authorities. As there are no indigenous Chechens, Uzbek, Tajik or their like in Iraq or Syria, then closing the Turkish borders would dry up the supply of men to ISIL.
4. The Zionist Imperialists who control the world banking system can stop the flow of money into the hands of ISIL and its affiliates. Every transaction in dollars in the world has to pass through New York. It is inconceivable that money paid by Qataris or Saudis going through that system could not be followed and verified. In the banking system of today, when the transfer of any large sum is investigated for money laundering, it would be very hard to see how the tens of millions allegedly paid by the Qatari Government to free hostages in the hands of terrorists in Turkey could not have been followed and frozen later. Stopping the flow of money to terrorist stops terrorism!
5. In the slim likelihood of the above suggestions failing, the Imperialists could resort to the Iraqi model, which worked better than their wildest dreams. The UN Security Council should be summoned within hours as happened in the case of Iraq and a solid Resolution, like (661/1990) passed, imposing total blockade against the ISIL enclave in Syria and Iraq. It worked in Iraq for twelve years and led to the easy collapse of the Iraqi state. In the case of ISIL it should work in one year. We need not talk about the war against the ISIL taking years as President Obama has been telling us.

The above clear and lawful means do not escape the attention of any observer of the situation.  So why is it that none of it has been even attempted? The answer is simple: the Imperialists are not serious about fighting the Salafi movements in the Arab world, because the objective of Salafi movements serves the Imperialist objective. So long as the Salafi movements function within these limits serving the Imperialist objective then they would be supported. Once they become a threat to Imperialism, they will be taken out with a ‘shock and awe’ attack beyond anything they have ever imagined before.

Earlier I alluded to the possibility of deviation in objectives between the Salafis and the Imperialists. One such deviation happened when ISIL expanded into Iraq encroaching on an Imperialist client state. The help given to the Salafis was for dismantling Syria. Iraq has been a staunch ally of the Zionist objective since 2003 and its puppet regime has had several treaties with the Zionists for its protection, in return for its compliance with the Zionist policies in the new Middle East. This uncalculated outcome created a dilemma for the Imperialists. On the one hand, their main objective of eliminating the last Arab Nationalist base in the Middle East is being achieved at the hands of ISIL and all other Salafi movements. While on the other hand one of these Salafi movements has encroached on the Zionist ally in Iraq. The Imperialists had to come to save their Iraqi client regime, which they left without a professional army after they occupied it in 2003. The dilemma now is that they want to protect the regime in Baghdad and in order to do so they must weaken ISIL. But weakening ISIL will be enabling Damascus to defeat the ISIL and its affiliates, which means the victory of Damascus and the failure of the plan to dismantle Arab Nationalism. This explains the half-hearted campaign by the imperialists against ISIL. I believe that if the choice is between saving the Iraqi regime leading to saving the regime in Damascus and losing the Iraqi regime and toppling the Ba’ath in Damascus, the Imperialists will opt for the latter.

Any party seriously interested in combating terrorism should support and cooperate with the only government in the World, which has been fighting terrorism for the last four years plus. Any power that does not support Damascus in its fight against terrorism is in fact an ally of the terrorist irrespective of what it does or says. Fighting terrorism must assume top priority and other matters of dispute relegated to second order. The truth of the matter, which has exposed Zionist Imperialist objectives, is that it is not interested in fighting terrorism. It is only interested in eradicating Arab Nationalism and protecting the Zionist enclave.

So far I have attended to one role of the Imperialists in the crisis in Islam, namely that of setting up or supporting fundamentalist Islamic movements. However, there is another no less serious role which the Imperialists played which has been contributing to fueling the recruitments to these movements.

The incursions of the European Imperialists ceased following the end of the Crusaders enclave in greater Syria in the thirteenth century. One reason was that going through its transformation in separating the State from the Church, which kept them busy with their own internal affairs. The other reason was that the Arab World was generally under Ottoman domination in one way or another. Europe was not ready yet to take on the Ottomans. The situation started to change at the beginning of the 19^th century when France invaded and occupied Algeria declaring it part of France until a bloody struggle costing some one million lives ended that occupation in 1962. The slow advance of other Europeans together with France led to all of Arab North Africa becoming occupied or under direct control of European Imperialists.

Similar encroachments were taking place in the Arabian Peninsula. Following the setting up of Wahhābism as explained earlier, the British Imperialists occupied South Yemen (Aden) in 1839 and stayed there until 1963. With the control of the Sultan of Muscat being nominal on the Omani coast, the whole southern coast of the Arabian Peninsula was under British control. On the eastern side of the Arabian Peninsula, the East India Company, the arm of the British Imperialists, started setting up its base on the west side of the Gulf. The 19^th century was cleverly used by the British in creating alliances between different small Bedouin clans and encouraging them to settle along the western side of the Gulf. Although officially the area extending from the Basrah coast down to the borders of Oman was under the political and military control of the Governor of the Wilayet (Governorate) of Basrah, the Ottoman rule’s weakness and corruption was so prevalent that it was not so difficult for the British Imperialist to assume a de facto control of that side of the Gulf.

On the eve of the WWI British Imperialism was not only in control of the whole Arabian Peninsula and Gulf but it had already strangled the future state of Iraq by having severed from it the district of Kuwait and its exit to the deep waters in the Gulf.

The end of WWI, which witnessed the end of the Ottomans and consequently the end of the Muslim Caliphate for the first time since 632, led to further control of the Arab World when the Sykes-Picot Agreement made between Britain and France in 1916 was implemented. In short, the whole Arab world post WWI was under control of European Imperialism either directly as in Iraq or by proxy as in Arabia.

The two decades between the major European wars of the 20^th century witnessed questioning the right of the European to be in control of the Arab World, indeed just as much as it was in other parts of the world. Communists, Arab Nationalists and Islamists all took part in the struggle seeking an end to occupation and domination. The Islamists had the easiest task among the Arab masses. The appeal was very simple and effective. Muslims had lived under Muslim Caliphate and Islamic Shari’a for twelve centuries being masters of themselves and at time prosperously.  Now they were being enslaved by the infidel Europeans. The way to salvation would be to go back to Islam. It is not difficult to see how effective such a simple call has been. The Hashemite ruling family in Jordan has never been able to rid itself of the charge that it had failed in its religious duty when it sided with British infidels against the Muslim Ottoman Caliph in WWI.

The more brutal the occupation and its oppressive measures became, the easier it was for the different Islamic movements to recruit. Equally significant was that the Islamic movements capitalized on the failure of the Arab Nationalist regimes to deliver on their promises.

The two major scenes of crimes committed by Zionist Imperialism in the Arab world stand out as the main trigger for the success of Islamic fundamentalism – Palestine and Iraq. The creation of the state of Israel and the massive cleansing of Palestine of its ethnic Arab inhabitants has been at the heart at Arab and Muslim disillusionment with Imperialism. No one, who does not attempt to understand what the Arabs call the ‘Nakba’ catastrophe of Palestine, will be able to understand the Muslim psyche today. I am not going to elaborate on the rejection by the Arabs of the expulsion of Palestinians or the failure of the Europeans to understand the refusal of the Arabs to accept ethnic cleansing as happened in Australia and the Americas. These are matters outside the scope of this book. But it suffices to say that nothing has served the cause of the Muslim fundamentalists as much as the catastrophe of Palestine has.

The genocidal blockade of Iraq between 1990 and 2003 directly and indirectly killed a percentage of Iraqis greater than any conventional war has done to a single country in the 20^th century. It was then followed by a brutal invasion and occupation which dismantled the Iraqi states; dissolved its military apparatus; killed hundreds of thousands and opened the gates to sectarian wars that killed hundreds of thousands more. This triggered so much hate among Muslims that led to recruitments for Al-Qaeda in droves from all over the Muslim world. The explanation used by Al-Qaeda has been simple: the Islamic State of Iraq was beginning to cause some irritation to the Zionist hegemony in the Middle East. The Zionist Imperialists have yet to refute that argument!

I believe that I have shown in the above presentation how the Imperialists have played two roles in fermenting the current crisis in Islam. On the one hand, the Zionist Imperialists occupied the Arab World; humiliated its people and dictated terms of surrender leading many people to find only refuge in returning to the promise which Islam gives in salvation. On the other hand, the Imperialists themselves assisted in setting up movements or in supporting existing or rising new movements calling for a return to Salafi Islam.  The two roles are not mutually exclusive so long as the rising new Islamic movement does not represent a threat to the State of Israel. There are no such indications as the Salafi movements have asserted that their objective is to build a purely Salafi state on Muslim land. That would mean cleansing that land of whoever opposes the Salafi ideals but that would not be adverse to the interest of Israel. Indeed, it may be a blessing in having such a backward state on the border of the technically advanced European enclave in the center of the Middle East.