Muslims’ Victim Mentality

by Amil Imani

As a group, Muslims are paranoid and suffer chronically from the disease of victimization. That is, they either victimize the helpless whenever and wherever they can, or scream murder against the strong. This mentality is one of the many bequests that Muhammad left for his Ummah.

Recall that Muhammad himself bemoaned his victim plight in Mecca, packed his bags and flew to Medina where the Jews were not as vicious as his own Quraish tribe operating the lucrative tourist business of the idolaters.

Then the infighting started in earnest among the various factions, as soon as Muhammad died. People began jockeying for power and doing their Muslim-best to destroy their competition. Ali, Muhammad’s son-in-law was elbowed out of the way by the more powerful disciples of the Prophet and had to wait his turn to head the already fractured and feuding Ummah.

A number of the faithful resented the fact that Ali was not allowed to take over the reign. Some felt victimized by Omar and his powerful conspirators and hated Ali for not standing and fighting like a man. Some real stand-and-fight Muslims decided that Ali should be punished and he was knifed to death on his way to the mosque.

The death of Ali was the real stirring of the hornet’s nest, so to speak. All kinds of power struggle, infighting and bloodletting started among the followers of the religion of peace.

Ali’s boys, namely Hassan and Hussein, decided to salvage their dad’s honor by standing and fighting like a good Muslim should, as well as enjoying the perks that come with being the leaders of the gang.

So, a real fight was joined. On the one side was Yazid with his mighty army and wealth, and on the other side were Hassan and Hussein with their rag-tag band of followers. Hassan was killed unceremoniously in short order, but Hussein was not about to bow out. Hussein started a dialogue with his adversary, Yazid.

Hussein: I am the rightful inheritor of the house of Muhammad. I demand that all believers, including you Yazid, accept me (bayat) as the head of the Ummeh.

Yazid: Nothing doing man. Muhammad’s Ummah is not a family business. It is the faith of Allah that must follow his laws. The people select the most righteous man as the head of the faith, just the way the Caliphs did. The faith of Allah is based on meritocracy and not heredity.

Hussein: You are wrong, Yazid. My granddaddy started the business, my daddy gave his life for it, my brother was murdered to claim it, and I intend to take what is rightfully mine.

Yazid: Hussein, you seem to be just as stubborn as Hassan. You are not amenable to reason, so let the sword of justice settle our dispute.

So, you know the rest of the story. Hussein stubbornly refused to relinquish his claim to the powerful Yazid and ended up with his head cut by Shimr, impaled on a spear and presented to Yazid as a trophy.

The followers of the house of Ali and his lineage, a minority of about 10 percent of the Muslims, felt victimized by the evil Yazid. Since there was very little these lovers of Ali’s house could do to materially change things, they assumed the role of victim. Year after year, century after century, they commemorated the victimization events of the time of Hussein, have beaten and slashed themselves bloody for their ancestors not going to the aid of Hussein, and bloodied themselves all aimed to atone for their ancestral sins.

Well, the Yazid-Hussein bloody drama was some 1400 years ago. Isn’t it time to let go? Why is it, particularly to Iranian Shias, that they just keep on continuing and promoting the tragic events associated with two Arabs fighting for personal power?

We Iranians don’t have a dog in this fight. In fact we should rid ourselves of all Islamic stains, Shia, Sunni, or whatever, and with it stop playing victims of one power or another. Playing victim may give psychological relief but doesn’t solve any problems on the ground. And problems of the ground we have aplenty.

Again, give it up my countrymen. Enough playing victim: victims of the Jews, our perennial excuse that we have been using to victimize them whenever we can; victims of America; victims of the Crusaders. We are victims alright: victims of Islam that invaded our land and implanted a raft of pathological ideas in our heads.

Victimization is an Islamic disease. Islam, irrespective of sects, either victimizes the people it can, or plays victim to the real or imagined oppressors. This victimization mentality is at the root of Muslim’s backwardness and primitiveness.

We Iranians are descendants of an optimistic, enlightened, and positive people. We are the children of Cyrus the Great and not blind slaves of an Arab cult called Islam. Islam has brought us nothing but misery. Let go of Islam; bury it along with the memories of two Arabs, Yazid and Hussein, who fought for leadership. Don’t bloody yourselves for ten days every year to bemoan Hussein’s plight. All of Islam is not worth one drop of an Iranian’s blood. And blood we have given to this blood-sucker Islam by barrels-full.



Islam Watch