Indeed, you will be dealing with a people who worship God, Fire and the Devil.

Submitted by Michael S (United States), May 13, 2016 at 03:15

Thanks for the clarification, Daniel.

To be sure, the Middle East is in a horrible way. My contention, as I posted elsewhere, is that Sykes and Picot had little to do with its misery. Since the beginning of the Modern Age (officially 1484, according to Colin McEvedy), Islam has been on the decline vis-a-vis the West. The Sykes-Picot era was perhaps the acme of direct European control over the region (and for that matter, of the whole world). Since 1945, the great powers have devolved their control to external pressure (such as interventions by NATO strike forces), with the US being the chief controller. The old colonial boundaries largely define the new quasi-independent states and statelets that have arisen; but if anything, these have HELPED orderly regimes to maintain control over some pretty unruly people.

Of the Muslims, the allegorical Sons of Ishmael, the Bible says:

Genesis 16:
[12] And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.

This prophecy is true. Even in modern times,

" The first (Syrian) president after French rule, Shukri al-Quwatli, governed over a deeply fractured parliament and at a troubled time.

"His leadership was constantly contested and he is reported to have warned Egyptian leader Gamal Abdul Nasser on the eve of the Syrian-Egyptian union in 1958 that the Syrian state was nearly ungovernable.

""You have no idea, Mr. President, of the immensity of the task entrusted to you," al-Quwalti is said to have told Nasser. "You have just become a leader of a people all of whom think they are politicians, half of whom think they are national leaders, one quarter that they are prophets, and one tenth that they are gods. Indeed, you will be dealing with a people whom worship God, Fire and the Devil.""

-- http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/middle_east-july-dec06-syria-national_09-14/

That saying is also true.

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