Wake up!

I have posted this before in the form of a YouTube video but when I reviewed the previous post recently, found out that the video had been removed for terms of violation. Since I like the post so much, I've decided to repost it in the form of a written statement.

Why the removal of the video? Only Allah knows why.. Hm, maybe some Arabs' pride may be hurt due to it but it's a true reflection of reality in the Arab world and for me, it is a wake up call. They should take the criticism seriously and do something about it. And other Muslims could take this as a reminder and as a motivation factor to spur ourselves to be better.

For now, the video can be found on MEMRITV.org:type 645 into search

Anyway just for your info, MEMRI is a pro-Israeli Middle Eastern press monitoring organization. Their work has been attacked on three grounds: that their work is biased; that they choose articles to translate selectively so as to give an unrepresentative view of the media they are reporting on; and that their translations are sometimes inaccurate.

Brian Whitaker, the Middle East editor for the Guardian newspaper in the United Kingdom, has been one of the most outspoken critics of MEMRI, writing: "My problem with Memri is that it poses as a research institute when it's basically a propaganda operation," and that "the stories selected by Memri for translation follow a familiar pattern: either they reflect badly on the character of Arabs or they in some way further the political agenda of Israel."

Go Wiki it for more information on this. Anyway, here's the said speech..

The following are excerpts from a Friday sermon on Qatar TV by Sheikh Dr. Yusuf Al-Qaradhawi :

Dr. Yusuf Al-Qaradhawi: We use trains and planes, but they are not our trains or planes. The (Westerners) manufacture them and export them to us. True, we can buy the most magnificent things in the world products for our homes and for ourselves. Our people can buy the most luxurious cars, Rolls-Royce or Mercedes 500 or 700, models S, M, and L with all the luxuries. We own them, but we don’t manufacture them. We don’t even produce a single nail in any of these cars. Others do this for us.

The income of the entire Arab world, including the oil-producing countries, does not reach the that of a European country, such as Spain. Spain!? let alone Germany, France, Britain, or Italy. Just Spain, which is at the bottom of the list of industrial countries… The income of the entire Arab world does not reach it. How come? Because we don’t work, and if we do work, we don’t do it professionally.

They conducted a survey of the average time that a government employee spends working in a certain Arab country. The average was 27 minutes a day. 27 minutes! The rest of the time he drinks coffee, reads newspapers, and goes on errands here and there. Only a small number of people work. The rest do not.

In the mid 1970s I went to Germany. We arrived during in the morning. I asked the guy who took me from the airport to the convention hall. As I was passing through the empty streets, I asked him how come the streets were not busy, like in our countries. He said: “People are at work.” After 7 p.m. he took me back to the hotel, and the streets were empty. I said to him: “What’s going on, the streets are empty again.” He said: people are back home from work, and they are exhausted. All they want is to eat their dinner, watch the news, and then go to bed, because early next morning they have to wake up for hard work. They commute more than an hour to work and back, and spend an hour at lunch. They work non-stop.

We are a nation that doesn’t work. How can we develop if we don’t work? When we do work, we don’t do it professionally. We keep saying “Don’t worry, later, later!” Islam teaches us to do things professionally. Doing things professionally is a religious duty. The Prophet said that Allah ordered to excel in everything. He imposed excellence and professionalism. Professionalism must be followed in everything. “If you kill, do it properly, and if you slaughter, do it properly.” Even when killing, you must do well.

Unfortunately, we do not excel in either military or civil industries. We import everything from needles to missiles. This is our nation. We still haven’t manufactured an engine in our Arab countries. We assemble parts, but have no manufacturing industries. India has manufactured a car, and even a plane, while we still go around in circles like a bull in who turns a grinding mill or a water weal until it reaches exactly where it started.

How come the Zionist gang has managed to be superior to us, despite being so few? It has become superior through knowledge, through technology, and through strength. It has become superior to us through work. We had the desert before our eyes but we didn’t do anything with it. When they took over, they turned it into a green oasis. "How can a nation that does not work progress? How can it grow?