Human Dignity in the Arab World

Ahmed H. Al-Rahim, who teaches Arabic language and literature at Harvard, addresses (in a subscriber-only article from today's WSJ) the logical implications of the death of 251 pilgrims, mostly Indonesians and Pakistanis, who were trampled to death in Mecca over the weekend. Hundreds die each year during the annual celebration of Eid al-Adha, the Muslim holiday that marks the end of the Hajj period--in 1990, 1,426 pilgrims died in a single incident.

The thread that connects the recurring stampedes in Mecca, the suicide bombings in Iraq, and the lopsided exchanges between Israel and Hezbollah is the deficit of respect for the individual in the Arab world. This erosion has occurred in a political context, where too many governments in the region deny their citizens basic individual rights in order to maintain a tight grip on society. When societies trample over the individual, human life is debased.

Where celebration and terrorism are indistinguishable, can the government be considered legitimate? Is such a government entitled to be treated as sovereign in international relations?