Qatar- Global organisation and the vision of 2030

Why did the Yemeni negotiations in Kuwait fail and why there is no optimism that Houthis will tend towards peace during the second round of the coming negotiations? Why did Hassan Nasser-Allah risk his personal reputation, and his party’s achievements in Lebanon and throw his men into the oven of the Syrian conflict? Why did the leaders of the Dawah Party, the real rulers of Iraq, refuse to listen to their fellow citizens when they asked them to stop corruption and sectarian practices and instead dragged the country into further sectarianism and sedition? Why did the leaders of AlWefaq Party in Bahrain also refuse the alluring offers presented to them by the Crown Prince for creating areal partnership, when he engaged in dialogue with them?

The answer to these questions is as simple as that they refused all this advice and all demands because they are members of the “Iranian Global Organisation”. They are working hard with determination to realise the fundamental sectarian project, aiming to spread the influence of the “Islamic Republic of Iran” beyond its political borders. They look at this republic as a state which has no borders that are subject to international law, but rather a global system- similar to the Islamic Sunni Caliphate centuries ago.

The Islamic Caliphate, even after its collapse, and its states became disunited and independent, all Muslims from Morocco to Cairo supported the powerless Caliph. But in the case of Iran, the Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist is directly ruling and instructing from Tehran, and is involved in many activities through tens of his institutions and his representatives who are holding meetings in the neighbouring countries.

His followers took oaths to obey him in peace and war as a guardian of the Muslims. They obey him regardless of the interests of their countries. They don’t see Bahrain or Lebanon, or Syria or Iraq as their homeland but they consider themselves citizens living under the Guardianship which has no limited geographical borders. Simply, they think it is a temporary situation from where they have to move to the full guardianship system ruling the Islamic world.

This is not theoretical propaganda against the Shia fundamentalism project but these are facts available for any researcher specialised in Iranian affairs. This is information available in archives of the Iranian government and the documents of affiliated movements.

It is one of the major mistakes to limit this project to Iran. It is one of the prevailing misunderstandings to consider this an Iranian–Persian project, although Iran represents the centre point and leadership. The project is bigger than Iran- it is a pure, fundamental sectarian project whose age dates back decades.

We were busy with Sunni fundamentalism and forgot the Shia sectarian project for decades. Although there are tens of books and research papers prepared by Western authors on Shia fundamentalism, some will consider this article as sectarian par excellence. Under the current sectarian tension, Arab researchers feel discouraged to talk about this issue, although it is very important for their countries and faith. Arab secular writers- who continuously warned about Sunni fundamentalism, have a duty to warn in the same way about the Shia fundamentalism, which is full of myths and unrealistic thoughts. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei for instance is ruling the country under the Iranian constitution, in the name of an Imam who has been absent for many centuries. Nevertheless, his followers believe that the absent Imam inspires Khamenei, guides him, and instructs him directly to take the right decisions and I don’t think there is a single Sunni leader who believes in such myths.

Once there was a Shia revival and reformation movement parallel to the Sunni movement. The Shia movement emerged under the influence of Sunni movement and struggled to reconcile its Shia doctrine and the modernity. The most prominent personality of this movement was Mohamad Baqir Al Sadr, the writer of two books; Islamana (Our Islam) and Iqtisadna (Our Economy). The books became popular, even among the Islamic intellectuals in the 60s due to their modern ideology and non-denominational character.

Perhaps the last member of the Shia movement was Mohammed Husain Fazlullah who died few years ago. In Iran itself, there were several moderate scholars before the emergence of Khomeini-the late Mehdi Bazarkan and Ibrahim Yazdi among others. Yazdi is currently in prison. They were influenced by the Sunni revival movement and took part in the Iranian revolution, but they disappeared because of the monopoly of Khomeini’s ideologies and his political domination during past three decades. Khomeini’s fundamentalism imposed its influence on the minds of contemporary Shia people using all possible means- of force, money and exclusion.

Similar to the vision of 2030 that has been adopted by “Saudi Arabia”, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar and Turkey; Iran set up its own vision 20 years ago, known as “Iran Strategy 2005-2025”. This strategy aims to convert Iran into aglobal power and a source of inspiration for the Islamic World. Some details of Iran’s strategy were mentioned by a research scholar, Dr Ali Al Bakir in his paper presented at a conference organised by the Illiteracy Center at Istanbul three years ago.

The main purpose of this strategy is to make Iran a centre to dominate pluralism in the region of south west Asia. Thus, they describe our world- that includes all Arab Gulf countries, Jordon, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. They decided to make Iran the central power of the region,taking the advantage of its national power, potential, geopolitical location, economic strategy and its role in communication.

As per the strategy, Iran will lead the political, economic and security organisations in the region using its strict pragmatism and without engaging in clashes with other regional or global powers. What Muhsin Ridai, a member of the Iranian revolution who served as Chief of the Revolution Guards, said earlier is exactly what is going,such as joining hands with superpowers like the US, who is neither friend nor ally. However,the US is fighting directly beside Iran in Iraq, by making a way for them to take control of Iraqi land. Allah bless Prince Saud Al Faisal who once told Americans that “We fought together to rescue Iraq from the hands of Iran and you served Iraq to Iran on a golden platter”.

All these answer the questions I raised earlier, because understanding Iran’s strategy is key for Saudi Arabia to be able to confront the Shia extremist fundamentalist project. Saudi should revise the facts of the conflict and push its hesitant alliance to take same stand. Then we will not see the problems of Houthis and Hezbollah or the crisis in Yemen, Syria and Iraq. It is quite possible, that the solution of all the above crises could be collective and the reason behind this is that it is the same strategy that is threatening the basis of our culture and politics. It is a strategy not matching our future vision, and therefore we need a unified, integrated project to tackle the project of Iran. We should be unified and get ready for sacrifice to achieve our goal.

The writer is a Saudi Arabian journalist, columnist, author, and the General Manager and Editor-in-Chief of Al Arab News Channel.