The Role of the Establishment of the Khilafah State in the Current International Conflict over who will Rule the World

International conflicts have existed throughout human history and have only deteriorated in the current times. As time progressed, the modern world witnessed some of the most gruesome conflicts in human history, killing millions in cold blood due to the advancement of weaponry, due to the tough economic sanctions being imposed by the superpowers on the inferior nations, and due to the falling ethical standards of the world leaders.

Dynamics of international conflict under the nation-state world order

International Conflicts are generally understood as conflicts between different nation-states. They can be classified into many types-subtypes depending on the underlying cause of the conflict. A careful look at the current situation of the nation-state structure reveals that there are following types of conflicts:

The root-cause of conflicts

At the core of this issue is a deeply-rooted disease of nationalism. It is therefore important to understand the correlation between nationalism and conflicts, and then reach a conclusion about how this chaos can be tackled. The revered figures amongst both the nationalists and secularists were well aware of the fact that nationalism is a destructive bond. Let us look at how the revered figures among the masses perceived nationalism in the context of India as an example-

“Yes, this is the logic of the Nation. And it will never heed the voice of truth and goodness. It will go on in its ring-dance of moral corruption, linking steel unto steel, and machine unto machine; trampling under its tread all the sweet flowers of simple faith and the living ideals of man.” - Rabindranath, composer of the National Anthem of India

“Patriotism can’t be our final spiritual shelter. I will not buy glass for the price of diamonds and I will never allow patriotism to triumph over humanity as long as I live.” - Rabindranath

“Whenever there is any conflict of interest between the country and the untouchables, so far as I am concerned, the untouchables’ interests will take precedence over the interests of the country”. - Ambedkar, Father of India’s secular constitution

“The individual has to die for the family, the family has to die for the village, the village for the district, the district for the province, and the province for the country, even so a country has to die, if necessary, for the benefit of the world.” - Gandhi

As Colin Flint, author of “Introduction to Geopolitics”, mentions - A nation-state would be a sovereign territory with one group of individuals who share a common history. Nationalism leverages the shared sense of attachment to a particular nation and uses it to justify political action. Nationalism is the belief that every nation has a right to control a piece of territory. Basically, if a group of people has a shared sense of nationalism, they form a “nation.”  The idea of nationalism believes that once a group has defined itself as a nation they have a “natural right” to territory necessary to live in and govern in. In other words, nationalism is the belief that a nation should have its own state…Many people use nationalism to justify conflict, as each nation fights for its right to territory in which to live and govern…The geopolitics of nationalism have resulted in millions of deaths as people fought to establish a state for their nation…The United States continues to use nationalism as justification to protect the current territory it now holds…”

All of them knew about the evils of nationalism but were very diplomatic when speaking about it in the public sphere. They thought of it more like a necessary evil and deceived the world to adopt nationalism whole-heartedly, just to keep the nation-state arrangement intact in line with their European masters. This nation-state structure gave birth to the desire of maintaining dominance among the big ones and no cost was big enough to stop them. The scale of conflicts under the nation-state structure, in terms of destruction, has been severe, the death tolls unimaginable, and the ethical standards of war unfathomably low. The data narrates the story:

- US’ attack on Hiroshima-Nagasaki - The two bombings killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people - mostly civilians including new-born babies, children, and women.

- Rohingya crisis - 43,000 Rohingya parents were reported lost, presumed dead. Out of which, 28,300 Rohingya children have lost at least one parent. 7,700 children reported having lost both parents.

- Uyghur crisis - Between 2015 and 2018, population growth in the largely Uyghur areas of Kashgar and Hotan fell by a staggering 84%. In 2014, a little over 200,000 Intra-Uterine devices (IUDs) were inserted in Xinjiang. That number rose to almost 330,000 IUDs by 2018 — a growth of more than 60%. This was a new low even for the secular and communist society.

- Syria vs Bashar al-Assad - Estimated death toll between 470,000 - 610,000. The Human Rights Watch estimates that at least 85 confirmed chemical attacks occurred between 21-Aug-2013 and 25-Feb-2018, and the Syrian government was responsible for the majority of the attacks. HRW said the actual number of attacks was likely higher than 85. According to a Global Public Policy Institute study, at least 336 attacks have occurred.

- Yemen War: Estimated 377,000 deaths by the end of 2021, including those killed as a result of indirect and direct causes. 70% of those killed would be children under the age of five.

Both Muslims and non-Muslims have suffered as a result of these conflicts. However, the toll on the Muslim world has been incomparably high because of the use of Muslim lands as proxy battlefield by the competing world powers, and their desire to stop new challengers ,like the Khilafah, from being reborn. From the macro perspective, three major aggressors are involved in most of the international conflicts of last few decades, either directly or indirectly - USA, Russia and China.

The dynamics between US, China, and Russia

The US-led post-cold war world order has started to reveal some fault lines. The satellite nations are now more freely choosing their allies, without much influence from the US. Even the award-winning American agents like the Saudi royal family are now more freely choosing their new allies. India is comfortably importing oil from Russia, and despite Ukrainian leaders’ calling for secondary sanctions against India, US lawmakers decide not to sanction India, revealing their weakening bargaining position in international politics. The US also had to face big embarrassment on the international stage because of losing Afghanistan to few hundred guerilla warriors. US’ allies have stopped trusting it as they used to once and are looking for alternate masters or partners. Regardless, the US dominates the current world order with its dollar dominance, controlling about 750 bases in at least 80 countries worldwide, and with an unmatched spending on its military equivalent to the spending of the next 10 countries combined.

The threats posed to the US, the current world leader, by Russia and China are very distinct in nature. Russia happens to be a militarily aggressive nation with a very fragile economy compared to the US. However, neutralizing a militarily rogue nation with nuclear deterrents poses a strong threat, even if the nation is as fragile and small as North Korea. Russia is more like a muscle-man who wants to protect its own house from the world order which it cannot dominate because of a very negative public opinion against itself in the international arena.

China, on the other hand, is not a rogue nation like Russia. Its steps are much more calculated, which is clearly visible from the way they have occupied more territory from India and maintained its control over Tibet and Hong Kong, and significant influence over Taiwan. China, in contrast to Russia, is much more strategic in flexing its muscle and expanding its territory. While Russia is much more known for war, assassination attempts, and meddling with election campaigns on foreign lands, China is known for manufacturing, trade, technology and investments, thereby making it a more suitable candidate for leading the world in the absence of the USA. China’s military capabilities have increased over time and continue to grow in East Asia with very little resistance. India as an agent of the USA has not been able to provide any significant resistance to China, and ended up losing some of its own territory.

Adding Khilafah to the power mix

The concern of a new challenger being reborn and challenging the status quo has now become US’ biggest nightmare. Russia and China are imminent threats, but the Khilafah is threatening the US even without existing. No wonder why it had to spend $8 trillion on its war on terror, just to keep the giant sleeping. What if the giant woke up?

The Khilafah will unite the 57 Muslim countries as one ideological state. Even if it were to unite 3 Muslim nations, the power would be unimaginable. And it is not an overstated statement for two reasons. First, the US could not defeat the ill-equipped Taliban, so what about an economically strong, tech-savvy state which has nuclear capabilities. Second, Russia with all its might still could not occupy Ukraine, so how could they possibly challenge a state which on its first day of being born is probably (at-least) 3 times more powerful than Ukraine, and probably 30 times more powerful than Ukraine in 6 months.

Ukraine’s armed forces has ~200,000 active soldiers, and ~250,000 reserved forces. Number of tanks in Ukraine: 953. Number of aircraft: 312. No nuclear arsenal.

Pakistan Army has ~654,000 active-duty personnel plus 550,000 reserve forces and 185,000 National Guard, ready to be deployed at any point of time. Number of tanks: 3742. Number of aircraft: 970. Estimated 165 warheads.

If the Ukrainian army could resist and give a tough time to Russia with such a small pack, what could Pakistan do to Russia? And if Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran were to unite under the Khilafah state, who could dominate it? And if all of the Muslim world was to unite under the Khilafah state, who could dare even look at the Muslims.

Khilafah’s policies - Key highlights

Once the Khilafah state’s economic and military might are well understood, it becomes easy to comprehend how the new world-order is going to be dominated by the Khilafah state. However, this domination is not the kind of domination that generates out of greed for accumulating resources, but the kind of domination that is necessary to carry the dawah of Islam, to protect the Muslim and the non-Muslim subjects, to spread peace, to stop the bloodshed that started due to the initiation of nation-state theory. A summary of the top priorities of the Khilafah state is presented below:

1)The Khilafah will liberate the Blessed Land. Abu Umamah (ra) narrates that the Prophet (saw) said: «لا تزالُ طائفةٌ من أُمَّتِي منصورينَ لا يَضُرُّهُمْ من خَذَلَهُمْ حتى تقومَ الساعةُ»“A group from my Ummah will continue to help each other in [matters] of religion; they will prevail over all their enemies except for hunger and [other such] difficulties, until the Day of Resurrection”. The Companions asked: “Where will they be, O Messenger of Allah?” The Prophet (saw) said:«ببيت المقدس وأكناف بيت المقدس»“In Jerusalem and around it”

2)The Khilafah state will focus on developing immediate deterrents against aggressors. `Abd Allah ibn Omar (ra) said :“I saw the Messenger of Allah (saw) performing tawaf around the Holy Ka`ba saying to it: «ما أطيبك وأطيب ريحك، ما أعظمك وأعظم حُرْمَتك. والذي نفس محمَّد بيده، لحُرْمَة المؤمن أعظم عند الله حرْمَة منكِ، ماله ودمه، وأن نظنَّ به إلَّا خيرًا»‘How pure and good you are! how pure and good your fragrance is! how great and exalted you are! and how great and exalted your sanctity is! But by Him in Whose hand is Muhammad’s soul, the sanctity of a believer’s blood and property in the sight of Allah is greater than your sanctity!’”

The Khilafah will develop the most powerful deterrents including weapons of mass destruction (WMD) to make the current world leaders think twice if they can afford a war with a nation to whom death is dearer than worldly pleasures. The Khilafah will not tolerate any aggression against the Muslims in its own land or on foreign lands.

3)The Khilafah will develop a new world order, the Islamic world order. The Khilafah will submit to the laws of Allah and operate the world on its own terms for the well- being of Muslims as well as non-Muslims. The international laws will not be binding on the Khilafah. The Khilafah will not allow the foreign powers to influence its policies with the UN charters. Rather, the Khilafah will dictate its own terms in international space.

4)The Khilafah will grant protection to the weak. If the non-Muslim subjects of a non-Muslim country seeks help, The Khilafah will help as it helped the Spanish Christians. Justice is universal and it will reach the non-Muslim lands eventually. This essentially means that any social, political or economic injustice will be dealt with by the Khilafah. If a satellite nation asks the Khilafah state for help against an aggressor, the Khilafah will grant protection to it under the terms dictated by Shariah, thereby gaining more allies along the way.

With such strong and determinant policies in place, the Khilafah would bring peace to the Muslim World and also in the entire international sphere. Without the Khilafah, the nation-states are like stray dogs barking at each other. The Khilafah will control them and discipline them. Once these puny states are disciplined, there shall be no more humanitarian crisis like the one in Rohingya or Syria or Yemen. And there shall be no more Hiroshima or Iraq or Afghanistan like situation.