Islam, Iran, and the World

This morning I took a little time to read from http://quran.com to get some perspective on the news and world events. Listening to stories on Qur'an burning, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and the dispute over Israel. You might think it's crazy, but the Islam scripture is not that different from reading the Bible. If you know your Old and New Testament, you can follow along pretty well. Some of it reads like commentary from pastors I've heard on TV. Throw in a newspaper and a world map (like http://maps.google.com ) and you get some interesting perspective on current events.

Back to my title, I was interested that the Qur'an goes in depth to lay out the covenant the LORD made with his people through Abraham, Moses, and Jesus to make them righteous and their consistent rejection of the agreement. The text in Surah 2.62 even clarifies that anyone -- Jew, Christian, or Muslim -- who truly seeks to live a right life before the LORD will inherit Paradise at the Resurrection of the Dead. It seems to me this can help us come from a good starting point to share our perspectives. Indeed, Jesus even said, "there will be a time when it doesn't matter what city you worship in, but God desires people who worship him in spirit and in truth." The committed Jew, Christian and Muslim have a lot in common.

When I looked up Jerusalem and Mecca on the map, I panned out to see the region. Jerusalem is on the western end of the Middle East (with Egypt as a Afro-Eastern nation); Mecca, in Saudi Arabia, is to the south; Pakistan is to the east; and Iran is in the bulls-eye. Flanking Iran are Iraq and Afghanistan (with Pakistan to the southeast). To its north are the former Soviet states.

Now, the role Iran plays in the region is clear to me. Far from being a rogue player in world affairs, Iran is central to the stability of relationships in the Middle East. This center of Muslim and Arabic/Persian culture is stable and established. While they have policies and practices Europeans find backwards, they serve as a heavy influence on the three nations where the United States has our money and military invested: Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. In the wake of the World Trade Center attack, Ahmadinejad offered his support. We gave him the cold shoulder, alienated him politically, and took out his biggest regional opponent anyway -- Saddam Hussein. With nowhere to go, the Iranian leader became more entrenched and isolated, working to accomplish regional stability as he knew. His government worked in the region with religious leaders and organizations with militias to establish a distinctly Muslim footprint in the region that the U.S. has been trying to westernize.

So, the U.S. took this fight to Iran. We put their leader in a corner and despised his partnership. It is a scary reminder of the Cold War with the Communists. This one has deeply religious undertones that appeal to extremists on all sides. We have mixed guns and God, entering a holy war that was not of our making. The zealots who wanted to bring in a reign of terror and usher in the last days have instigated the nations to senseless conflict. Until the U.S. takes a more humble position and respects the interests of all people in the region -- despite distinct differences -- we will not see the stability we desire. Iran, the Taliban, and other regional players who truly have vested interests in the outcome of a post-coalition Middle East have to be given a seat at the table in the light of day where we acknowledge and work with each other, If the U.S. can work with Pakistan and Mahmoud Abbas, we can work with these others in the interests of our common interest.