Opinion Editorials, September 2007
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CNN God's Warriors
By Mohammed Khaku
ccun.org, September 4, 2007
After having seen much publicized preview of “God’s Warriors” on CNN international in Dubai, I was looking forward with some reservation to view one more documentary bashing Islam. However, I was very wrong in that assumption. CNN's three-part, six-hour documentary series "God's Warriors" by Christiana Amanpour was an interesting thought provoking and outstanding investigating reporting. The documentary was not easy on Muslims and did not dishonor any faith, but did bring about the main argument that violence is not an Islamic monopoly and nor should one link violence committed by person to their faith. We should pursue to fight all violence everywhere, and we should fight them not just by military might but more by winning the hearts and minds of the people, so as to reduce support for acts of violence and to reduce the attraction of acts of terror for those who see no means to redress due to oppression and suffering.
I enjoyed watching this wonderful documentary, which illustrated the common grounds of all three Abrahamic faiths, especially Christianity and Islam with the echoes of similarity in the message. There is so much to learn from and to be said about God's Warriors. Christiana Amanpour hit some large vein of truth that is not aired by western media due to special interest groups and lobbyist. CNN should be applauded for such a non-propagandistic monumental undertaking and did a fine job on the series. Hats off to CNN. As for Christiana Amanpour, she won't win friends with this documentary, but will the target of boycott and intimidation.
While the documentary was informative and impartial there were numerous omissions. Missing from the entire series was any mentioning of Zionism and hundreds of violations of UN resolution by Israel, nor any mentioning of Veto power used by US in favor of the Zionist state. CNN chose to devote much time to the illegal settlements, but failed to reveal that the state of Israel was established with the same way of thinking, as shown in the documentary. Yet the focus of the documentary was that settlements were hindrance to "peace process". Mrs. Amanpour failed to mention that the hindrance to the peace process is Zionism, which through its' "God's Warriors" actions, evicted and dispossessed a million refugees from their homeland in 1948 known as NAKBA. No where did CNN mentioned the right to return of Palestinians to their home land, which is a right guaranteed to them under the declaration of Human Rights and UN resolution 194.
To CNN. I say, your ignoring of this fact, that the state of Israel was established upon suffering of another people, you have voiced your own bias in this matter. While attempting to educate the public about the influence of pro-Israel activities and relationship with Christian Zionists in US, CNN also failed to state that America's foreign policy and billions of tax dollars aid to Israel for the last four decades is detrimental to all nations in the region and especially to the Palestinian people.
One of the most misleading aspects of the program was the conflict between Shi'is and Sunnis, which was overblown by Mrs. Amanpour. She failed to mention that the majority of Shi'i Muslims share all the core beliefs of Sunni Islam. Shi'is and Sunnis have many things in common. They both believe in One God (Allah), follow the same Prophet Muhammad as the last Prophet, offer five daily prayers, perform the fast in the month of Ramadan, go to Mecca for pilgrimage (Hajj), recite the same Qur'an (Holy scriptures) and give alms – Charity (Zakat). There is no theological or spiritual dispute between Shi'is and Sunnis; the differences are really political. While in the matter of Islamic jurisprudence, differences are minor. Sunnis and Shi'is are considered by most to be brethren in faith. In fact, most Muslims, do not distinguish themselves by claiming relationship in any particular group, but prefer to call themselves simply “Muslims”.
Overall, having pointed out my above reservations, I found the documentary to be balanced, and covered all three religions and hopefully this documentary will create interfaith dialogue, better understanding of tolerance and respect of all religions and prevent bigotry, hatred, and stereotyping of one religion.
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