News Review: 09/01/2021

Trump Incites Supporters to Raid Congress Certification of Biden Win

After stunning images this week of Trump’s supporters raiding the US Congress during the formal proceedings to certify the election of Joe Biden as the next president, there are calls to remove Trump just days before the end of his term. In addition to cabinet members actively discussing invoking the 25th amendment to remove the president, Congress is also looking at conducting a second impeachment of Trump.

Trump has been a difficult president from the start. The reality of Western democracy is that it is controlled by an establishment composed of serving and retired politicians and officials in the service of the Capitalist elite. US Presidents are carefully selected by the two main political parties for the loyalty to the establishment and the elite but in the 2016 election, both of the establishment choices, the Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican Jeb Bush failed spectacularly, leaving Donald Trump to become president. The American ruling system, with its numerous ‘checks and balances’, makes it impossible for a president to actively oppose the establishment, so Trump has continued to connect strongly with his electoral base to fortify his power. Until now, the establishment has used Trump’s populism to build the strength of the Republican Party. Senior Republican leaders remained mostly silent or even supportive of Trump’s populist moves. But with the election over, and the solidly establishment Biden set to become the next president, the establishment doesn’t want further trouble from Trump. Hence, even senior Republican leaders have now parted from Trump including Republican Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell.

The West is constantly berating Islam for not being ‘democratic’. But democracy is a false, materialist idea that has never been applied in practice, an idea that even the West only pays lip service to. How can man, a created, manufactured being, devise his own laws, instead of taking them from his Lord and Creator. The Islamic ruling system not only fully accords with human nature but actually existed in practice for over a millennium and influenced ruling throughout the world. Even today, many Western norms and practices can be traced back to Islamic precepts, such as the concept of tolerance, though they have failed to apply it as completely and powerfully as the Khilafah State did. With Allah’s permission, the Muslim Ummah shall overthrow their present ruling systems, inherited from Western colonialism, and return to the pure implementation of Islam, re-establishing the righteous Islamic Khilafah (Caliphate) State on the method of the Prophet (saw) that shall once again become a shining model of peace, harmony and prosperity for all of humankind.

Saudi Arabia and Qatar, Iran

This week, frankly as expected, Saudi Arabia, along with the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt, ended the three-and-a-half-year boycott of Qatar. Neither the boycott, nor the reconciliation were their own decisions but were steps taken in accordance with directives formulated in Western capitals. The Gulf is one of the last regions in the Muslim Ummah where Britain, the previous global superpower, still retains significant influence. However, with Saudi Arabia itself now firmly in the American camp after Salman’s accession to the throne, America wishes the rest of the Gulf to also switch to its side. Like Britain herself, Qatar has never opposed America directly and even hosts a major American naval base. But through indirect means, such as its control over the AlJazeera news channel, Qatar is always making difficulties for America in the region and beyond. America had Qatar boycotted to teach it a lesson. But America has more to gain from bringing Qatar back into normal relations with its principal regional agent, Saudi Arabia. And Britain also prefers to have its agents in normalised relations with others, creating trouble from the inside rather than confrontation from the outside. It is most disappointing to see Muslim countries divided under different governments instead of unified under a single leadership within a single state, as obliged by Islam. But it is even more disheartening to see how our agent rulers are so easily manipulated by Western powers, used as mere wooden pieces on their grand chess board. The rivalry amongst the Western powers is little more than game and competition for them; they continue to maintain friendly personal relationships between each other while vying for power over one another on the ground. But for the rest of the world, their callous sparring costs the lives and livelihood of millions and billions.

While this week resuming uranium processing enrichment of 20%, the Iranian leadership continues to insist that all measures are ‘reversible’ upon a full return to the JCPOA agreement that America and other great powers had concluded with Iran during the Obama presidency. Biden has talked about returning to the deal and Iran is in effect trying on its part to facilitate that. The Iranian leadership present themselves as opposed to the West but in reality they have submitted their foreign policy to American interests, an inevitable consequence of implementing legacy Western colonial systems instead of properly returning to the implementation of Islam. Muslim rulers must be judged not on their public rhetoric but instead on the shar’i legality of their actions. It has become common for Muslim rulers to make verbal pronouncements against the West while continuing to do their bidding in all matters of government and state.

EU Concludes Trade Deal with China Independently of America

In order to protect the continued access of European companies to the Chinese market, the EU has concluded a major trade deal with China’s government, not waiting for US President-elect Joe Biden to enter office despite talk of wishing to collaborate with him.

The rise of China provides valuable insights for Muslims envisaging the impact of a re-established Khilafah State on the international arena. The Khilafah State shall be a great power from its inception, because of its huge size, vast human and physical resource, strategic location and its powerful ideology. As such it will immediately pose a direct threat to the existing world order. But it will at the same time present immense potential and opportunity for other great powers to try to benefit from. With sincere, capable, indigenous leadership, there is no reason that the Khilafah State cannot be a very viable project in today’s world. Allah (swt) has revealed divine rules that are practical for all time and place; it is not difficult for the Lord of the Worlds to do so. Allah (swt) says,

(وَمَا قَدَرُواْ اللّهَ حَقَّ قَدْرِهِ إِذْ قَالُواْ مَا أَنزَلَ اللّهُ عَلَى بَشَرٍ مِّن شَيْءٍ قُلْ مَنْ أَنزَلَ الْكِتَابَ الَّذِي جَاء بِهِ مُوسَى نُورًا وَهُدًى لِّلنَّاسِ تَجْعَلُونَهُ قَرَاطِيسَ تُبْدُونَهَا وَتُخْفُونَ كَثِيرًا وَعُلِّمْتُم مَّا لَمْ تَعْلَمُواْ أَنتُمْ وَلاَ آبَاؤُكُمْ قُلِ اللّهُ ثُمَّ ذَرْهُمْ فِي خَوْضِهِمْ يَلْعَبُونَ)

“And they have not shown Allah His proper reverence when they said, “Allah has revealed nothing to any human being.” Say, O Prophet, “Who then revealed the Book brought forth by Moses as a light and guidance for people, which you split into separate sheets—revealing some and hiding much? You have been taught through this Quran˺ what neither you nor your forefathers knew.” Say, ˹O Prophet, “Allah ˹revealed it˺!” Then leave them to amuse themselves with falsehood.” [TMQ 6: 91].