What’s happening in the Arab world today gives one cause for concern.
Are we seeing a resurgence of Islamist groups determined to put the clock back and do away with the little reforms that one was hoping for as a result of what we now call the ‘Arab Spring’?
The omens are not good.
Although Egypt, the largest and most powerful Arab country in the region, has so far succeeded in democratically electing a civil administration, the signs are that the Islamist movement is now overwhelmingly in control and will, in no time, turn the country into a strict Muslim entity and all that that would entail.
If this were to occur, the much-hated dictatorship of the last three decades will surface again under a more sinister face.
The Christian minorities are bound to suffer in the process, feeling that their voice matters very little in the affairs of state.
Nowhere in the Arab world are we seeing reforms which will give comfort to the Christian minorities and ensure their future. The turbulence throughout the region is threatening the entire structure of every Arab nation; particularly the Lebanon because of the Syrian carnage, the reverberations of which will eventually affect the stability of all its neighbours.
The world at large must exert every conceivable effort to use its influence in defusing the dangers of anarchy. Religious extremists must be stopped at all costs from causing havoc and running amok with any nation’s destiny.
We should learn from the past. Zealots only do irreparable harm when they use religion in its most virulent context. The crusaders of the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries – as well as the Muslims - turned barbarians in their long-drawn battles that took place in the Holy Land during the terrible wars of attrition.
We must never allow history to repeat itself.
