Blinded By Corruption by Wisam Zegar
The people of the Arab world experienced a great deal of pain and suffering for many decades, and it is shameful to say that much of this can be attributed to the corrupt and ruthless leadership in the Arab world. For decades, people were denied their basic human rights and freedom of speech and association, and even the freedom of religion. The leaders actively and forcefully steered people away from practicing their faith.
Surah 1:10-11 states, “...in their hearts is a disease (of doubt and hypocrisy) and Allah has increased their disease. And when it is said to them: make not mischief on the earth, they say we are only peace-makers.” These leaders claim to be moderate and peace loving. Yet their primary interest was the accumulation of wealth and power, at the expense of the people. They spared no opportunity to use brutal force and murder to illegally obtain wealth and maintain a grip on power. These are the hypocrites who brought about poverty, despair and death to their people. At this very moment, they are using weapons (tanks, missiles) against their own people, the same weapons that are supposed to be used to protect them from outside invasions.
The so called peace-makers used brutal force and murder to accumulate wealth beyond 
belief. People worldwide were stunned to learn of the huge amounts they amassed and hoarded. It is almost comical when Ben Ali of Tunisia was found to have buried millions of dollars and jewelry in the walls of his mansion, or Qadhafi having 145 tons of gold stashed for a rainy day. We knew of the corruption and greed, but who could've imagined it to be of this magnitude! Other Arab leaders are no different. Sura 1:16 states, “These are they who have purchased error for guidance, so their commerce was fruitless.” It is beyond belief that they allowed themselves to become so corrupt.
They claimed to be fighting terrorism, when in fact they are the terrorists. They instilled fear and terror in the hearts of people, young and old. They had no compassion, and they lacked faith. They planned, but Allah is the best of planners, and He disgraced them and brought about their downfall in a most humiliating way. They stained our history, but that stain will be cleansed.
AlhamdulilAllah, the younger generation of the Arab world, through their faith, decided that enough is enough, and could no longer tolerate this madness. They decided to put an end to this chaos, and decided to proceed to bring about freedom and justice and economic prosperity. The fear in their minds disappeared, and faith began to pour out of their hearts. They craved freedom from bondage. They decided that they cannot accept the fact that the Arab people are the only people in the world who are deprived of democracy and freedom. It is heartbreaking to see so many lives being lost due to the greed and corruption of those who are entrusted to protect them. Every leader is responsible for the well-being of his people, and the Arab leaders have failed miserably with this task. There will be a day of accounting for them, and Allah (SWT) will judge them for their actions.
The Arab spring is on the rise and there is no turning back. With the help of Allah, Freedom will ring in every corner of the Arab and Muslim world. This is what we prayed for and Allah (SWT) has answered our prayers. Alhamdulil-Allah.
We pray and ask Allah (SWT) to bring victory for the courageous freedom fighters who want nothing less than dignity, freedom, justice, and the opportunity to practice their faith without fear. And we ask Allah to accept those who have lost their lives as Shuhadaa, and forgive them of their sins and shower them with His infinite mercy. Ameen.