Bahrain Is Arab

by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem

One of the aides to the Guide of the Iranian Islamic Revolution recently declared that Bahrain is Iranian land, the fourteenth province of Iran. The Iranian foreign ministry responded to the statement by saying that Iran recognizes Bahrain as a sovereign state. This is not the first statement to come from Iranians regarding Bahrain, nor is it the first denial to come from the Iranian foreign ministry. The Iranian president had previously visited Bahrain to soothe feelings. It is worth noting that the foreign ministry’s statement did not say that Bahrain is Arab land; it contented itself with citing a sovereignty that does not, in fact, exist.

The repetition of statements regarding Bahrain points to premeditated Iranian intentions toward this Arab land — intentions aimed at seizing the islands. In doing so, Iran has brought upon itself the enmity of vast Arab and Muslim masses, and has driven a wedge of division and corruption into the Arab-Islamic region. This is a region that aspires to rise up and stand on its own feet in the face of invaders and colonizers, and it has no need of internal problems that drain its energies, invite feuds and enmities, and lead to wars from which no one benefits but the enemies of the nation. I do not believe that the sheikh who issued this statement was mindful of the interest of the nation, or even of the interest of Iran itself.

… and its sanctity, to me as an Arab, is like the sanctity of any other patch of Arab land from the ocean to the Gulf. The Bahraini regime will pass away, but Bahrain will remain, and its authentic Arab people will remain. And just as the peoples of this nation stand with Palestine, Iraq, Somalia, and Lebanon, they will also stand with the land of Bahrain and the people of Bahrain.

It would have been far better for the sheikh, and for all men of religion, to speak of the unity of Muslims in order to rise up and form a strong, unified body capable of surging forward toward development and construction, toward achieving independence and controlling their own wealth. It would have been far better for him to speak of the unity of the nation in confronting backwardness, ignorance, poverty, the Americans, and the Zionists. This sheikh knows, as other men of religion know, that the legitimate priority before Muslims now is to build up the nation, given the strength, protection, and elevation this brings, and its contribution to human civilization — not to sow corruption and strife, whose punishment before God is severe.

The Iranian sheikh’s statements gave an opening to Arab rulers who sell the nation and its land to the Americans and Zionists, allowing them to poke their heads up as defenders of Arab interests: Mubarak and Abdullah bin Hussein rushing to Bahrain’s rescue. I am certain that these rulers exist to sell the nation, not to defend it, and that they will be the first to abandon Bahrain should it come under attack. These rulers — an extension of such regimes — are the very same ones who patted the back of the Shah of Iran in praise when he occupied the Emirati islands in the Gulf, and they are the same ones who now support Israel against the Palestinian and Lebanese resistance.

Source: Translated from the original Arabic, “البحرين عربية” by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem.