The Christian Caliph

Caliph Omar ordered the burning down of the Library in Alexandria, thus making doubly sure that if the Library contained something not written down in the Koran, it should be burned down for being in contradiction with Islam's Holy Book, and that if the books contained something which had already been said in the Koran, then they were superfluous as such. Jean Jacques Rousseau did not agree with the Caliph's move, and if a great Christian believer had been in the Caliph's place, i.e., if the Gospel were a book for measuring the value of all things, i.e. other books, then the move would be justified! In domestic circumstances: those who didn't see tanks and dead bodies in Kosovo (Serbian province) in 1989, could see this same armored-deadly method in their streets. Those who refused to face the agony of democratic methods, can now, with the rest of us, enjoy the fruits of a goal achieved without democracy. For them the singleness and size of the state are of greater importance than the way in which it has been arrived at. They believed that their ``Christian Caliph'' would only burn down the libraries of others, but the ingrate started throwing out those books and authors who were the spiritual--propaganda fodder of the masses. Regardless of the fact that they were linguists, historiographers or writers, they succumbed to the high aesthetics of national ideas. They did not think of the steps which would lead them to their goal, nor did they think of the consequences for their people and surrounding peoples. The nationalist truth of the ``ideologies'' of their artistic and scientific works was revealed in the chauvinist consequences. These were politically mediated, but the authors in their cabinets--even though the fulfillment of their ideas was not often to the taste of the creators (they do abhor rivers of blood)--are certainly responsible for the non-academic lives of their ideologies.

When numerous ``immortals'' finally realized that things were no longer funny and that blood was spurting from each and every one of their dreams, they started claiming that there was no other way (``preventive killing, in order that they might not kill us''), and that the matter concerned necessary victims in the achievement of higher, national-state values, etc. Even if they were to bury themselves in ashes, they will never again mean anything morally or politically. An Arab proverb says that a true ruler tries to surround himself with wise men, but that wise men shun the company of rulers.