When most of us hear the name of Iraq it reminds of us Saddam Hussein and Isis. a war torn country a failed state is what most of us think of this place but in reality all of this, our perception is built around what has happen in the last 15 years which is true.
it has seen grater oppression and has seen its sovereignty violated it has experienced its rivers run red with the blood of fallen martyrs. like its mystical past almost ironic Iraq will surly rise from the rubble and heal its wounds of war like its has done for the past 5000 years.
To understand the fabric of this region one needs to go back before america, before Saddam, before the mongols and even Islam.
The history of Iraq begins ever since the start of human civilisation thus earning it the title of 'the cradle of civilisation' numerous times this area has experienced periods of utopia from the pre-historic ubaid period when this area advanced in architecture innovating new tools and methods of agriculture only to be conquered by the priest king of umma being destroyed only to make a way for a more civilised and advanced society, throughout the bronze, iron and middle ages this would be a repeating process where Iraq would reach a pinnacle of development only to be conquered and the process being repeated.
On the advent of Islam, Iraq experienced the greatest tragedy in Islamic history it is without doubt the event of karbala when mentioned even today brings anger and sorrow in eyes of millions of Muslims around the world.Where members of the prophet Muhammad's (sallahualayhiwassalm) family including his grandson were killed, small children martyred resulting in widespread chaos and war.
after the situation normalised the Islamic world was experiencing peace, the lands ruled by Muslims stretched from Spain in the west to India in the east.
Every field of science was being dominated by Muslim scholars, astronomy, physics, geography biology, major breakthroughs and medical equipment being manufactured, a scientific revolution, a golden age was overcoming Islam and Iraq would be at the centre of it all.
Being situated on the ancient silk road a road connecting china with the west already made Iraq's position and economy very strong amongst the ancient city the paper industry of Baghdad was a an international market trading paper from buyers t seller from around the world. .
Science, technology and poetry would transform Baghdad in to a true middle age metropolis and would remain so for the next 500 years.having a population of over one million and also being one of the fist city's in the world to be master planned .
Artists and intellectuals from all around the world would come to Baghdad from the bazaars to the court of the king the talk of the day would be regarding the branches of science and knowledge. translators would be paid the weight of the book in gold if they translated from ancient Greek in to Arabic. Europe was going through its dark ages so the intellectuals of Baghdad rushed to preserve these manuscripts. the caliph at the time established a library calling it 'bayt ul hikmat' or 'the house of wisdom' housing millions of manuscripts.
As destiny would have it the Mongolians under the leadership of hulagu khan invaded Iraq as they had heard of its riches and beauty. not caring for the manuscripts that had consumed so many resources to accumulate indiscriminately killing whoever trod there path.books thrown in to the river and the library burnt, what had taken centuries to accomplish had taken just under a week to be reduced to rubble.
As we come forward after the Ottoman rule the British would implement there own choice of ruler and as a voice from the people against the administration grew, the baath party managed to gain power whilst its leader would be Saddam Hussein.
Under Saddam, Iraq would become a fairly wealthy country being a close ally of the U.S Iraq developed problems with Iran, pressure from the U.S resulted in Iraq and Iran going to war leading to economic downturn after 9/11 america decided it would remove Saddam as he was accused of using chemical weapons again Kurds and possessing "weapons of mass destruction" .
2003 was when the war began and 2006 was when Saddam was convicted and hanged. after the deaths of 1.2 million Iraqis infrastructure ruined and no sense of safety america and its allys withdrew leaving a vacuum of power left for anyone one with a some power to overtake since then we have seen a constant shift of territory being controlled by I.S.I.S., rebels and whats left of the administration.
It has been almost 15 years since the fall of Saddam and the destruction of Iraq many people have been left thinking will the situation ever become normal? like how it used to be?.
Analysing the past and the history of Iraq we can say for certain a day will come where once again the people of Iraq will be safe and free. innovating and engineering new ideas and methods like they have done for the past five thousand years.
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