The Cycle of Crisis Must End for the Ummah

The Ummah has been in a cycle of crisis for 105 Years. The cycle of crisis that has affected the Ummah is one that has been intentional and precise in inflicting various forms of oppression and suffering on people and the environment. Today, we are bearing witness to several genocides: Gaza & Palestine, Kashmir, East Turkistan, Sudan, and perpetual acts of violence in Nigeria, Ethiopia, Syria, Lebanon, Congo, and Venezuela. This list can go on because everyday a new city or country is pushed closer to a full-blown disaster by the colonial West, namely America, that plunder and destabilize country after country in order to ensure that her dominance remains tight.

When we look at what is currently happening across the lands of the Muslims, we cannot imagine how it can get any worse. Yet, in Gaza alone, over the past two years, UN Rapporteur Francesca Albanese recently said that the approximate death toll is likely 680,000 compared to the officially released number of 70,000. The war in Syria made at least 1.2 million children orphans. Catastrophic levels of famine are currently happening in Gaza, Sudan, and Yemen. Our sisters across Sudan, Palestine, Kashmir, East Turkistan, Myanmar, India, and beyond are under constant fear of being sexually assaulted or raped. Just a few days ago, a Muslim woman in Mumbai was threatened by a Hindutva extremist who, standing alongside his wife, said, “you are a Muslim woman, right? Come out, I will call men and have you raped” over an altercation in a crowded grocery store! This is a daily occurrence in India. According to UNICEF, 3 in every 5 children under 5 years old in the MENA (Middle East North Africa) region are suffering from food poverty. The rise of Islamophobia in Western nations is alarming as well. Muslims in America, Canada, the UK, Europe, and Australia are being subjected to laws banning hijab, verbal insults, physical altercations, and damage to mosques and Islamic centers. Politicians across those nations are very comfortable in making Muslims and Islam the scapegoat for the endless wars (i.e., terrorism) and failed economic security in their own lands leading to the significant increase of Islamophobic incidences. To add fuel to this man-made fire, we have rulers in our lands who are not of us. They are men and women who prefer the life of this world and defy the ahkam of Allah (swt). They are implanted to do the work of the wicked West to maintain their hegemony and fill the pockets of the capitalist elite. What is worse, is that these numbers and these crimes are just a tip of the iceberg. The pain and suffering that has been inflicted on the ummah, especially since Rajab 28,1342 AH, is because we lost our shield and our Imam, the binding force that kept the ummah together and defended our honor and protected our security.

It is dire and frightening when we look at these numbers and how vast the suffering is. It seems almost impossible to find a way out, due to the intruders from the outside and the conspirators from the inside who built walls between us and called them borders. They infected our minds with nationalism to break our bonds. We started to put our efforts in the systems created by Karl Marx–the father of Communism–or Adam Smith–the father of Capitalism–and our hopes in leaders like Joe Biden, or even in those Muslims who become elected officials in these systems of kufr. Instead, we should sit back and reflect on our glorious history and confirm for ourselves just how Islam came and not only unified the Muslims, but wiped out racism, classism, and misogyny from being systemically ingrained in the society as it is under man-made systems.

It was the Khilafah (Caliphate) state which provided peace and security for the Muslims, allowing them to live in harmony together as a single state, regardless of their language or race. Islam made us brothers and sisters–Arab, non-Arab, black, or white–and commanded us to live together with mercy and compassion. Prophet Muhammed (saw) said, «المُسْلِمُ أَخُو المُسْلِمِ لَا يَظْلِمُهُ وَلَا يُسَلِّمُه»ُ “The Muslim is the brother of the Muslim, he does not oppress him and he does not hand him to others” (Agreed upon).  The Khilafah (Caliphate) provided sanctuary for those who were persecuted, as when the Jews fled Spain after the Reconquista to the shade of the Islamic Dtate. The Khilafah was the leading state in the world for over a thousand years in science and technology. Its armies defended Muslims when they were attacked and opened new lands for the Deen of Islam, unlike today where the wretched implanted rulers of the Muslim lands keep a tight leash on the armed forces, so they ignore the multiple genocides, the cries of our starving children, and the pleas of our sisters who are being repeatedly violated. Close your eyes for a moment to just imagine how the state of the Muslims would be if the Khilafah reemerged during these last two years. The colonial borders would melt away–as would any lingering feeling of nationalism–uniting us without passports and visas. The Caliph, who would rule over the vast lands of Islam, would lead our millions-strong armed forces to chase out the Western occupiers to liberate Palestine, Kashmir, and others. The stolen resources of our rich lands would be back in the hands of the Muslims to be used to ensure that our citizens would not go hungry and live with dignity. Our children would be in school, learning about their Deen and to be the next leading ulema and academics that will lead the world for the sake of Allah (swt). It will only be after the reestablishment of the system of Allah (swt) that we will see the cycle of crisis end.

Though today it may seem like a distant dream, we must remember that nothing is impossible for the Muslims who put firm faith and reliance on Allah (swt). Allah (swt) opened the doors for our beloved Prophet (saw) to lay the foundations of the Khilafah state in Madinah, for the four rightly guided Khulafaa (ra) who opened lands against the mighty empires of their day–the Persians and the Romans–and the Khulafaa who followed through the next 1000 years, while not always perfect, but that Allah (swt) made steadfast on His Path to bring Islam across the world and uphold the system of Islam.

[وَعَدَ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مِنْكُمْ وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ لَيَسْتَخْلِفَنَّهُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ كَمَا اسْتَخْلَفَ الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِمْ وَلَيُمَكِّنَنَّ لَهُمْ دِينَهُمُ الَّذِي ارْتَضَىٰ لَهُمْ وَلَيُبَدِّلَنَّهُمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ خَوْفِهِمْ أَمْنًا]

“Allah has promised such of you who believe and do good deeds that He will surely make them to succeed (the present rulers) in the earth even as He caused those before them to succeed (others); and He will surely establish for them their religion which He has approved for them, and will give in exchange safety after their fear.” [Surah An-Nur:55]