My Apology to the Shi’a

Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim

President Mubarak recently stated in an interview on the Al-Arabia channel that “the Shi’ites only allegiance is to Iran rather than to their own countries,” a declaration which provoked significant indignation among Arab Shi’a who saw the interview.  Arab Sunnis living in the Gulf region, who have peacefully co-existed with the Shi’a communities for more than 1400 years, have also condemned Mubarak’s comment.

        Had such a statement been released by even a low-profile political figure, he would have been labeled as being both fanatic and ignorant. Coming from the president of Egypt, the repercussions are much greater.

        Consequently, President Mubarak should apologize to both the Shi’a and the Sunni Arabs of the Gulf for his irresponsible comment.  By defining allegiance in the context of ethnicity and race, Mubarak goes against the findings provided by history, sociology and current politics.

        As an Egyptian Arab Muslim, I wish to apologize on behalf of Mubarak, who does not possess the virtue of contrition. Most Egyptians—including myself—did not entrust Mubarak with the right to issue such a statement questioning the loyalty of the Shi’a.  Only Mubarak’s broad imagination gave him the license to pronounce it.

       In both history and sociology the Arab Shi’a have been shown to be fiercely loyal to their respective countries. For example, the Iraqi Shi’a, who compose 60% of the population, formed the vanguard of the 1920 revolution against the British. These same Arab Shi’a were also at the forefront of most of the national and the progressive movements in Iraq during the 20th century. Their membership reached as high as 7% in both the Ba’ath Arab Socialist Party and the Iraqi Communist Party, the latter of which contributed thousands of individuals to the Iraqi socio-political scene. In such manners, they have either forcefully or electively paid the blood tax in all wars that Iraq entered.

        Furthermore, the Iran-Iraq War that erupted in the 1980 was a good litmus test of Iraqi Shi’ite loyalty, demonstrating their fidelity to the nation in which they grew up and continued to live.  Indeed it is instructive that, despite the unrelenting effort that the Shi’ite state of Iran exerted to try and drive a wedge between the Iraqi Shi’a and their Sunni government, we never heard of cases where Iraqi soldiers and officers defected to Iran. Similarly, Saddam Hussein could not attract Iranian Shi’a of Arab origin to his side, not even those who lived in the border region along the two states. No cases of defection or spying were recorded.  In short, the Iraqi Shi’a paid allegiance solely to Iraq, and the Arab tribesmen who had their land forcefully annexed to Iran last century remained loyal to Iran.

        In spite of all of this evidence, neither Mubarak nor his counselors will acknowledge the reality of the matter, since they actually know very little about the peoples of the Middle East. Moreover, what is applicable to the Shi’a of Iraq and their allegiance to their homeland is similarly cogent with regard to the Shi’a of Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Lebanon. 

            Also, there is a significant difference between allegiance with a people and sympathy for their situation.  A clear example of this is the Egyptian—as Arab Sunnis—sympathy for the Iranian people’s troubles, most notably their natural crises and foreign harassment, and I believe that the Iranian people harbor similar feelings towards Egypt.  Such empathy is natural, yet we must recognize that it is distinct from the phenomenon of choosing sides in an argument or struggle.

        In my opinion, President Mubarak’s statement was offered in the context of his unjustifiable enmity towards those who rule Iran. Iranian-Egyptian relations have been rocky throughout the past 25 years, and while many efforts have been exerted to normalize relations between the two countries, the time - and effort - intensive improvements that have been achieved are reversed by such statements.

        Lastly, so that President Mubarak does not misunderstand my motivation, I must clearly voice my opposition to the Iranian regime because of its human rights violations, its invasion of the Arab Gulf islands (Abu Mosa, Greater Tunb, and Lesser Tunb), and its intervention in Iraqi internal affairs.  Still, despite such points of contention, it is essential that relations between Iran and the Arab states take place within a framework of mutual respect. In closing, I want to elucidate my intentions by mentioning that this article was not written to taunt the Iranian regime, but rather both to apologize for President Mubarak’s unjustifiable and baseless statement, and to express my respect for my brothers, “the Shi’a,” everywhere.