In the second part of the interview to Mehr News, Imam Abdul Alim Musa addressed the power politics in America and the general trend of decline in the US after the founding fathers made the country so heavily dependent on its constitution; the imam believed that a systematically unchangeable structure rules the American politics which is highly resistant and resilient in the face of attempts to change it. He has provided a comparison between Iran’s new position in the Middle East which is a rise to dominance, and American equally important decline vis-à-vis its great rivals such as China.
Mr. Musa also believes no black or white president could save the general public in the US who invest much hope in changes of the status quo, where only the great wealthy people who comprise only 1 per cent of the population, rule the country an decides the grand policies:
The situation in the region is that Saudi tries to make into a sectarian conflict, will they be successful?
I don’t think so. It is less sectarian now that it was before. For many years, Saudi tried to fuel conflict between Sunnis and Shi’ites in Iran and Iraq. It made Sunnis not support Iran against Iraq. Although Quranically Iraq violated every principle in the Quran.
Does the public opinion knows what Saudi Arabia is doing?
The Westerners know. They say the Saudi Arabia’s policy is incoherent. They say Saudi Arabia is trying to start a war with Iran, Saudi Arabia is making the whole region unlivable, Saudi Arabia supports ISIL, and these are the western news in recent days. They say Saudi Arabia spent $1.5bn last year, along with UK and US, and has been giving many weapons to ISIL. The rest of weapons are used against Yemen.
The Quran has a statement: “And the disbelievers planned, but Allah planned. And Allah is the best of planners.” (3:54). The situation we have right now in the world; we didn’t plan it. We didn’t organize it. The position of Iran, Saddam fought against the Islamic Republic, a few years later, the United States came and removed Saddam, not Iran. The Taliban, when I was in Pakistan years ago, in Mazar Sharif captured and killed 12 Iranian diplomats and two of them got away. And Iran wanted to go to war with Afghanistan but it didn’t. A few years later, came the Americans, they got to the Taliban. You didn’t do it, the Americans did. You and I could not manipulate it this way. A Providence helped organize this. We believe ISIL is a passing phenomenon. Saudi Arabia created it. The US has bombed them for two years and not one ISIL is killed. Russia bombed for two weeks and they are almost finished. That makes the America look so stupid. America lost in Afghanistan, it lost in Iraq, and it came in with big bravado and slipped out the back door. I believe Iran has put a jinx on America, unbeknownst to all involved.
The American power has been in a declining trend. Now China is big while America has been rendered small; the de-industrialization of America. America has the same symptoms of the Roman Empire, the British Empire, all the same symptoms before they die. Everything that is alive has four basic stages: we are born, we grow, we decline and then we die; whether it’s a nation or an individual or a tree or an organization. So America was born, it developed on its Constitution. No matter how many crimes it committed, it stole lands from Indians, worked us to death as slaves, it grew. It won its wars: WW I, WW II. Those were colonial wars but America was so far away. In WW I, from 1914 to 1917, Europe was fighting but America was resting. When everybody else was tired, America came in and stole everything. Same thing happened during the WW II. 1939 to 1941, Europe and Asia were fighting but America was not. America came in, no bombs had been dropped on America, and that was the dawn of America’s growth and expansion period. Now in the last 35, 40 years, America can’t do anything right. It hasn’t won any wars. With all the killings in Afghanistan, it lost. With all the stuff in Iraq, again it lost. It’s declining. Despite all of the sanctions and boycotts against Iran, Iran is still here. Iran is on ascendency while America is on the decline. Nobody, except Iran, in this region is independent. Everybody is a puppet but not Iran. The proof of it is the negotiations with the 5+1. In WWI there was no negotiation. America and England dictated to Germany because they won. In WWII the victors dictated to Japan and Germany, because they won, clear and simple. You don’t negotiate when you win. You negotiate when you are dealing with equal people. Does America negotiate with any other country? No, it had to negotiate with Iran. That proves that Iran has independence.
Is there any ways Iranians could help Muslims in the United States?
In America, we are separated from what we call the circuit of speakers that are controlled by Saudi Arabia. We have told certain things to people for decades they know they are true. But if they have a gathering of 40- or 50,000 Muslims in a conference in America, we are not allowed to speak. We used to, a long time ago but when Saudis started to paying them money that means they isolate us, they try to cut us off. As news agencies, there are a lot of good issues right now not only on Muslims and Islamophobia, but you have immigration issues, the Mexican, Latino population. Their population is much more than the blacks now. You can hear people like Donald Trump talking. He says ‘oh we’re going close the borders, we’re going do this.’ In another 20 years, white people will be a minority all over America. There will be a minority immigrants, Mexicans or another Latinos, blacks, all of us are growing.
The next question pertains to the upcoming presidential elections of the US. We hear all the time that US authorities talk about democracy. Can we consider the electoral system in the US to be based on Democracy?
No. The whole system is a criminal system. They used to have the popular vote and now it has changed to electoral system. One US candidate got more votes than Bush but he lost due to the electoral system. Anyway, it makes no difference because generally those who have the money and the power and the position will win. And it does not make any difference who wins since policy makers are the same. The president might have only 5 percent of his own ideas if he is lucky. Generally, whoever is elected, they say they plan to do this and that but they never do it because they cannot do it. The American President Obama cannot do anything because they block whatever he decides to do. And everybody thought if they got a black president it would be better but it was worse. They could oppress us more because they could say ‘you are not oppressed because you have a black president.’ We have more oppression now than the time of George Bush because if he had caused oppression people could call him a racist but if Obama oppresses they say alright you have a black president, you have a black attorney general, and you have a black representative everywhere so how can you be oppressed? You cannot fix the problem because people who are millionaires and billionaires run the country. They are going to arrange everything for them to get more money. The middle class in America used to be very powerful after the World War II. The middle class in the US had two cars, a nice house. They do not have it now. Whoever you bring as the president including Donald Trump, it won’t work. They are mad. Democrats bring Sanders and say he is for the people. Is this all over? He says Hillary Clinton is a nice lady and I support her. This is what the system says. They bring people like Sanders to the people who are made into the system. He tells people that ‘I am going to help you, I love you’. And people say great. Similar to the time they brought Obama in. All black people who hated the system jumped into the street because of the black president. And many black people rushed to Washington DC for the inauguration ceremony but I went to California because I could not stand it. Because I knew it was a lie. Now my black friends know it is a lie, too. He cannot help people. It is similar to the Roman Empire and the time of Juliet Cesar. It is all about decline and you cannot help it.
End of Part Two