Archived: Dr.Mohamad Habash: Refugees are wealth, not a crisis

?Dr.Mohamad Habash: Refugees are wealth, not a crisis.. Will the new Islamic TransArea in Europe create the New Silk Roa

The speech of Dr.Mohamad Habash in Rostock University Conference

Rostock – Germany – 23/06/2016

Dearly gathered,

Today, we meet at Rostock to study the Islamic Refuge to Europe considering it a TransArea Case that promises a new Silk Road connecting different civilizations and cultures.

This paper considers the coming challenge one that is full of hope in spite of the bitter tragedies associated with terrible displacement and a cognitively unique cultural exchange that can be invested in building an international humanistic understanding; however, it can lead to destructively negative outcomes if we acted selfishly, out of rage, and ignorant of the mutual humanistic traits especially between the Mediterranean shores.

The paper will also speak of the traits connected to the Muslim Refugees especially those of Syria and Iraq to Europe and other hosting countries; The statements in the paper have come from a truly positive perspective carrying realistic and objective reasons for building the collective humanistic culture.

Through Islamic History, Islamic societies had witnessed two types of immigration, negative and positive:

Firstly: Political wars that would emerge every once in a while aiming for political and military victory and would always result in devastating conflict had unfortunately very effectively raised banners portraying the religion in ways that contradicts its true essence of peace and freedom.

We needn’t narrate the military conflict which surrounded the Mediterranean: Iskandar’s invasions, the movement of the Romanian Empire to Byzantium, and the Islamic conquest which waged a national war forcing the Romans and Persians outside the Arabian Peninsula. Although the Arab countries had obtained their independence, repercussions of these wars between the Arabs, the Persians, and the Romans continued to exist infrequently.

Through history those confrontations evolved, and Muslims rushed with a military base towards the East and the West aiming for Jihad conquests; bear in mind that these wars never resembled the actions of the Holy Prophet. The Prophet peace be upon him had never taught that Jihad is an assault; it is rather a way of defense against assault. “Fight in the way of Allah those who fight you but do not transgress. Indeed. Allah does not like transgressors” – Quran – Al Baqara 190

In a serious development, the world witnessed the Crusades which were devoted to creating estrangement between the East and the West. These wars had lasted for 200 years and were followed by the wars of Turks in Europe for another 200 years, and at last there were the Colonial wars which were resisted valiantly by the Muslims and which ended with the departure of the European occupiers from the Arab Land.

Secondly: Opposed these war movements were movements that connected the Arab World with Europe for mutual benefits and common interests without the need of military involvement, those movements succeeded in establishing a great understanding and civilized relationship between the two parts of the world. Worthy of mentioning are the embassies between the Abbasids and the Romans and Andalusia, the Romanian Empire, and the pope; those relationships had culminated in the reign of Pope Sylvester II and the Umayyad caliphate in Andalusia, had established a cultural exchange which thousands of orientalists and westerners contributed to, and had a generation of Arab Elites travel to Europe for the purpose of constructive cooperation on both sides of the Mediterranean.

I believe that we are witnessing the great possibility of realistic positive development between the East and the West and the possibility of elevating the TransArea into a unique educational and civilized interactive area because of the refugees of the Arab World residing in Europe.

To mention the basic characteristics of asylum in Europe: 

Immigration to Europe began in the shape of masses right after the civil wars that ravaged Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq. They were internal wars that had no intentional influence nor hate at all towards Europe, unlike the Colonial wars, Muslims look at Europe as an asylum not armies of colonization.
Yes, There may have been an Iraqi hatred against The United States of America because their involvement in the war; however, the main European countries did not participate in the wars of Iraq and al-Sham, which gives them credibility and acceptability.

The position of the European countries towards the refugees issue is good and satisfactory and cannot be compared to the shameful positions some Arab countries have adopted (for example: Egypt). The countries which have welcomed refugees and are surely thanked for it like Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey could not provide sufficient basic services for them such as medical, educational, security, and housing. In Europe, the rules ensure protection and security for the refugees and their residences.

The freedom that the European society provides for its people and residents are acceptable and satisfactory even when it comes to religious views, and it cannot be compared to the restricted and violated rights in some Arabian Countries.

This conclusion pushes me to assert that we can look at the refugees as a wealth and not a crisis and as an important European event that is not in any way disastrous, that our responsibility is great in providing emotional and moral support to those refugees that had to flee death and oppression in order for them to contribute positively in the social integration and interaction of great civilizations.

In the wake of the US-led war in Iraq in 2003 about 2 million displaced Iraqis fled to Syria and had to reset their lives harshly in Syrian homes as guests or tenants. Our brothers and sisters from Iraq dramatically spread in all of Syria’s neighborhoods, towns, and villages which raised several economic and social problems because of the unexpected demographic development. However, I believe that those refugees were a true fortune in our society, and we had to benefit and make them benefit from their stay in Syria. I, with the help of some of my associates in the parliament, had established a committee to find Iraqi scientists and Iraqi talents in the midst of the hell of war. Indeed, we had met hundreds of rare Iraqi talents that had to live in asylum situations and could not have reached excellence programs for knowledge and peace.

Iraqis have succeeded, for example in establishing a number of universities in Syria throughout their plight; Iraqi academics found an opportunity to give better away from the circumstances of war in their countries. My conviction is that the lost Syrian and Iraqi societies in Germany are not mere numbers; they are a huge mass of scientific talent and distinctive capability that is determined to find opportunities to show through.

For us not to be mere dreamers, we must pay attention to a number of real risks in the TransArea of Europe:

The escalation of terrorist ideology that originates from injustice and oppression. We must take calculated steps, for the injustices taking place in Iraq and Syria must leave the most merciless scars to whoever lives through them.
Facing this kind of thinking requires supporting tolerance and human brotherhood, and providing programs and platforms for true Muslims to be a voice in their asylum because there must be no chance for extremists to lead the scene of religious and social discourses, and there must be no chance for them to benefit from the freedoms and equality that is provided in general.

The increased popularity of religious extremism which divides people into Muslims and infidels, imposes strict restrictions, and embraces the culture of hatred against religions on the ground that they are deviation from the doctrine of the right. The conquest behaviors which promote a culture of estrangement and prevent integration based on respect.

Infiltration of workers with past agendas into the refugee societies for the benefit of a country, a group, or a community. This sneak disservice certainly is immoral towards refugee societies; societies which main aim is to build a better life under the umbrella of rule of law and human rights. 

The absentee of the Syrian National Government role in embracing their nationals, for there are no Syrian Ambassadors in Europe. There is no doubt that the absence of an influential role is less harmful than the presence of a negative role played by diplomats working for regimes that view the refugees as a threat, a conspiracy, and a treason.

The intensified negative outlook and the sufficiency of social aid programs amongst refugees which kill ambition and the will to work among young refugees who, on the contrary, must engage effectively and actively in the national and social development programs.

These challenges require great wisdom, effort, and insight to deal with, to rehabilitate the Muslim societies in order for them to merge positively with western civilizations, to rehabilitate the European societies to own positive views on Islamic values, to identify what is common between Islam and Christianity, and to discern between real Islamic values and the behaviors practiced by some Muslim individuals and countries.

To face those risks we must focus on the following:

Reinforce the real links with the modern and enlightened Islamic Institutions  in Al Sham and Iraq which managed to stay out of violence and war, and in particular outside the Sunni-Shiite conflict, as well as Druze and Christian and maintained a safe distance from everyone.

Provide real programs through specialized universities for TransArea studies and the social environment surrounding, and involve the largest possible number of immigrants in the development and integration plans.

Addition of academic and social programs that aim to introduce Islam in the European society, to correctly adjust the negative perspective about Islam and Muslims, and to build a positive position that differentiates between Islam values in Quran, Sunnah, and Islamic Heritage and the practices of brutality and tyranny that some Islamic counties perform.

These beliefs and views which we work with today are the essence of our continuous work in The Centre of Islamic Studies in Syria for more than 15 years. We work to keep the bridges of discourse open with the West, and we have hosted in our centre hundreds of European delegations who were looking forward to building a positive discourse between Islam and the West; of course, we are tirelessly working for our goal even in the exile, even with the hardships of pursuing it.

We, in The Centre of Islamic Studies, believe in the intuition God created mankind upon, believe that all other humans were created by God and has His spirit within, and believe that what is common between men of earth is a lot. It is our firm belief and there is no doubt in it in the Holy Quran: “And We have certainly honored the children of Adam and carried them on the land and sea and provided for them of the good things and preferred them over much of what We have created” – Quran – Isra 70

In another verse of Quran, God states that humankind has God’s spirit no matter what his religion, doctrine, or belief is: “But He fashioned him in due proportion, and breathed into him something of His spirit” – Quran – Al Sajda 9

We believe that different religions were made to coexist together in peace, that the prophets are a brotherhood,  that no religion’s goal is to end another religion, and that one of the basic pillars of Islamic faith is to believe in all the prophets weather they were mentioned in the Quran or not.

We work for a nation among other nations, not a nation above them, a religion among religions not a religion above them, and a prophet among prophets but not above them. This is what the Quran stressed many times:

“We make no distinction between any of His messengers.” – Quran

“Indeed, those who believed and those who were Jews or Christians or Sabeans [before Prophet Muhammad] – those [among them] who believed in Allah and the Last Day and did righteousness – will have their reward with their Lord, and no fear will there be concerning them, nor will they grieve.” – Quran

I certainly and truly believe that the voice of moderation and brotherhood between Islam and Christianity is completely available in these new communities, and that we can build a typical community on the basis of respect and co-existence.

In a study that was conducted in 2015 by The German Federal Office for Refugees and Migration in Nuremberg, the numbers of Iraqi and Syrian refugees in Germany have reached 38000, approximately 26% of refugees in the world in 2015. The report suggests that 23% of these refugees had come from unidentified areas around the world.

And in a study that was conducted by UN Refugee Aid Office:

اقرأ:

د. محمد حبش: الصراع السني الشيعي… حلول ثورية….