Strangest bedfellows

Twice on this page, I had written that the world needed not to panic over the possible negative effect of a Donald Trump presidency. This is because I believe that we have reached a stage whereby we all need a global president we can read like a book. In an article I called ‘Better the […]

Twice on this page, I had written that the world needed not to panic over the possible negative effect of a Donald Trump presidency. This is because I believe that we have reached a stage whereby we all need a global president we can read like a book. In an article I called ‘Better the Trump we know’ I had argued that because the real-estate tycoon was a man whose heart was in his mouth, there was no way he could say he was working for peace when he was advancing the cause of war, like did some of his predecessors.

But it appears that the effect this one man  has on the rest of mankind has gone from dread to hatred and to something even stranger. About two weeks ago when I passed by my daughter, Ruqayya, watching TV in our sitting room, I was forced to do a double-take because I heard a lady on the screen saying ‘Assalamu alaikum’ to her audience. I asked my daughter whether the woman in the strapless, sleeveless, body-hugging evening dress was the one who did the ‘salam’ and she said yes. That was when I noticed that it was one of those annual showbiz award ceremonies. I was to learn later that the event was the Screen Actors Guild awards. 

But why, I asked Ruqayya, did the lady make the salam? Was she trying to say that she was Muslim, despite her bare shoulders and head? ‘No’ my daughter answered, and explained that ever since the event started, one screen celebrity after another had gone up the stage to show solidarity with Muslims, over Donald Trump’s anti-Muslim ban. She quoted a few that I missed, including the one who walked up the stage with a sticker on her chest saying that migrants were welcome in the US. 

There were speeches too, according to my daughter, by those screen stars who felt they had to show they had nothing to do with Mr Trump’s xenophobia. 

Needless to day, I was overwhelmed, I can accept Hollywood standing up for the cause of African-Americans, Latin-Americans, Women, the LGBT community and all other minorities they decide to have sympathy for, but for the cause of Muslims during a travel ban? This is indeed strange. But welcome.

A few days after this, I saw the Saudi foreign minister during a press conference shown on Aljazeera. I was almost certain the man was going to talk about the travel ban on nationals of seven Muslim countries into the US, by President Trump. But to my great surprise the man had nothing to say but praises for the man called Trump. He was eager to say how gladly Saudi Arabia was willing to work with the new White House administration, as if nothing at all was amiss between Muslims and the new occupant. 

Hear him at a conference in Munich where he met the new American Secretary of State Rex Tillersen “Donald Trump is a friend to everybody, potentially.’ Adel al Jubeir said and added that he was optimistic about relations with Trump. The foreign minister also declared “I have no basis to question his (Trump’s) motives. I believe he wants to do what is best for America, and this is what any leader should do for his country.’ 

Another Saudi notable, Prince Turki al Faisal also told newsmen, in reaction to Donald Trump’s actions that ‘He (Trump) wants to have peace and prosperity.’ 

And these are the custodians of the two Holy Mosques. The nominal heads of Muslims all over the world because of their custodianship of the holiest sites in Islam. Yet they see nothing wrong with the man who singled out Muslims for humiliation and castigation as soon as he assumed power.

Now compare this with the reaction of Hollywood actors and you wonder if we aren’t in a world breeding the strangest of bedfellows. At a time when hundreds of Muslims were stranded at airports all over the US, unable to reunite with their families and colleagues because they have been banned from the US by President Trump, the actors and actresses mobilised themselves and stood for them.

On the other hand, those who should be worried that their coreligionists were being targeted and punished for what they didn’t do, could not be bothered. They were not a bit concerned that this ban effectively labels all Muslims as terrorists who should be chased away. They do not care that even they could become victims if other leaders emulate Trump and decide to ban Muslims from their countries. All they care is that they are in Trump’s good books and that’s all that matters. 

I know I run the risk of being called a Shiite. These days if you say a word against the Saudis you are automatically labeled a Shiite. But I hasten to declare that I am a thoroughbred Sunni Muslim, with neither friends nor relatives that are Shiites. Still, I will not blind myself to the weaknesses of our global leaders. Indeed with leaders like these, do we see an end in sight to the problems of the Muslim world?