{"id":1332,"date":"2017-04-08T10:22:20","date_gmt":"2017-04-08T15:22:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/?p=1332"},"modified":"2017-04-08T16:44:54","modified_gmt":"2017-04-08T21:44:54","slug":"trump-syria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/trump-syria\/","title":{"rendered":"President Trump Should Not Have Had To Attack Syria"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the Name of God, The Extremely and Eternally Loving and Caring<\/i><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nThe chemical weapons attack on Syrian children was beyond heinous. This man, Assad, is beyond Satanic. He will face justice: possibly in this world, but most definitely<\/i> in the next. Something had to be done. And, all of his problems and faults notwithstanding, President Trump acted: he launched more than 50 cruise missiles<\/a> into Syria.<\/p>\n

Analysts, politicians, and pundits are debating his true motivations for the attack. Even Nicholas Kristof, no fan of Trump in the least, praised his actions<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

President Trump\u2019s air strikes against Syria were of dubious legality. They were hypocritical. They were impulsive. They may have had political motivations. They create new risks for the United States.<\/p>\n

But most of all, they were right.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Yet, President Trump should not have had to act on Syria. Muslims should have stopped him long ago.<\/p>\n

The Syrian civil war has been a disaster of monumental proportions: hundreds of thousands have been killed; millions have been displaced; vicious terrorists have been given the sanctuary to thrive in the midst of the chaos – and strike at innocents both in the Muslim world and the West.<\/p>\n

What makes this disaster all the more heinous is the fact that Muslims are fueling the fires of conflict on both sides. Muslims should know better – their Scripture tells them what to do if internecine conflict arises:<\/p>\n

\n

Hence, if two groups of believers fall to fighting, make peace between them; but then, if one of the two groups<\/em> goes on acting wrongfully towards the other, fight against the one that acts wrongfully until it reverts to God’s commandment; and if they revert, make peace between them with justice, and deal equitably with them<\/em>: for verily, God loves those who act equitably! (49:9)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Once it was clear that the Syrian uprising degenerated into a full-fledged civil war, the Muslim world should have gotten together to stop the conflict and make peace. It should not have had to come to this, if Muslims were true to their Scriptures and commandments.<\/p>\n

If you don’t know already, nerve gas such as sarin causes an overload in nerve receptors that respond to a body chemical called acetylcholine. As a result, the victim of nerve gas literally drowns in his or her own secretions. It is an horrific death.<\/p>\n

Those children, suffocating from sarin, are the children of all Muslims, not just their Syrian parents. Those parents, hysterical at the loss of their children, are Muslims’ brothers and sisters in, not only humanity, but also in faith. Even if the victims of the brutal Assad regime were Christians, or Yazidis, or Jews, or atheists, Muslims should have stood up for them, because God commanded them to stand up against any injustice, even if committed by one of their own.<\/p>\n

Am I being naive by saying this? Some may think so, and I do understand that geopolitical reality is much more complicated than the ideal world of a column. Nevertheless, this is the word of God, and it is the height of hypocrisy for the so-called “Islamic republics” to be right thick in the middle of the Syrian quagmire, making it grow much worse by the day.<\/p>\n

History will tell us what exactly motivated President Trump to strike at the Syrian regime after its barbaric chemical weapons attack. We will see if this strike is the opening salvo of escalation, or a one-time strike intended to send a message. Still, President Trump should not have had to act at all. The Muslims should have taken care of the cancer of the Syrian civil war all by themselves.<\/p>\n

—<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I\u2019d be honored to have you join me on Twitter<\/a><\/i><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If Muslims were true to their Scriptures, as they say they are, then President Trump wouldn’t have had to do anything about Syria.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":175,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[93,44],"tags":[475,837,11,6,778,786],"class_list":["post-1332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","category-religionbelief","tag-attack","tag-chemical-weapons","tag-islam","tag-quran","tag-syria","tag-trump"],"yoast_head":"\nPreident Trump Should Not Have Had To Attack Syria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Something had to be done in response to the chemical weapons attack in Syria, and President Trump acted. 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Hassaballa","description":"Hesham A. Hassaballa is a Chicago doctor and writer. He has written extensively on a freelance basis, being published in newspapers across the country and around the world. He has been a Beliefnet columnist since 2001, and has written for the Religion News Service. He is also a columnist for Patheos. His articles have been distributed worldwide by Agence Global, and he was also a guest blogger for The Chicago Tribune and has blogged on ChicagoNow\" . In addition, Dr. Hassaballa has appeared as a guest on WTTW (Channel 11) in Chicago, CNN, Fox News, BBC, and National Public Radio. Dr. Hassaballa is co-author of The Beliefnet Guide to Islam (Doubleday), and his essay, \u201cWhy I Love the Ten Commandments,\u201d was published in the award-winning book Taking Back Islam (Rodale). His latest book, Noble Brother, is the story of the Prophet Muhammad told entirely in poetry, and it is now published in its second edition. In 2007, his blog \"God, Faith, and a Pen\" was nominated for a Brass Crescent Award for a blog that is \u201cthe most stimulating, insightful, and philosophical, providing the best rebuttals to extremist ideology and making an impact whenever they post.\u201d \"God, Faith, and a Pen\" has also received an award for being one of the \"Top Muslim Blogs for 2010\" by Awarding The Web. In addition to writing, Dr. Hassaballa helped found the Chicago Chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations and currently serves on their board of directors. He also co-founded the Bayan H. 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