Intellectually Enslaved Individuals have No Right to Lead the Muslim Armies

News:

Speaking as the chief guest at a discussion organised by the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) on defence diplomacy, Chief of Army Staff of Bangladesh Army SM Shafiuddin Ahmed said, ‘We are friends to all, but to make one friend happy, we can't antagonise others. One can be a friend today, but what happens if they aren't tomorrow? He remarked that a country's intention can change overnight, but not its capabilities. Bangladesh ensured a balance between the US and China. (The Daily Star, April 19, 2024).

Comment:

The organiser of this event, the BIISS, is a statutory institution and is considered as the top think-tank of Bangladesh for international affairs, security and strategic issues. Other panellists beside the Army Chief includes the current CGS (Chief of General Staff) Lieutenant General Waker-uz-Zaman, Air Vice-Marshal (Retd) Mahmud Hussain, Major General (Retd) Main Ullah Chowdhury, BIISS Director General Abu Bakar Siddque Khan and BIISS Chairman former ambassador AFM Gousal Azam Sarker. The remarks made by the Army Chief and others in this program reflect clearly the intellectual enslavement of the military and government leadership in pursuing international relations. This intellectual enslavement towards the kuffar West also uncovers the reason of the secular leadership’s failure in protecting the interest of the people. The enslavement of the military leadership is not only utterly disgraceful; it’s enormously dangerous for the Muslims of Bangladesh and it is the only remaining obstacle that is holding the entire Muslim Ummah back from resolving all her internal and external affairs in an upright and impactful manner.

The issue of balancing between two or more conflicting major powers arose from the flawed concept of ‘Military Balance of Power’. This concept depicts that any nation with weaker military power must remain within the orbit of any of the great powers to neutralise or tackle other great military powers. This concept is a recipe of digester for the Muslim nations and this ensures that the Muslims will always remain under subjugation of one major powers or the other, which has colonial interests. The colonial West teaches this corrupt mass-hypnotic concept to some of the Muslims within the leadership circles of Military and Government and these individuals infatuated and enslaved with this idea of ‘supremacy of the West’ propagates this to the Muslim masses and dissuade the Ummah from challenging and changing her undermined and defeated position. If this concept were ever true and effective, then why should the Muslims keep their own military? What is the justification of the existence of the service life of General Shafiuddin? What does the ‘four stars’ adorned in his uniform mean to the people of Bangladesh? The truth is that the military and government leadership of Bangladesh is intellectually enslaved to the heinous West and they don’t have any right whatsoever to lead the Muslims in Bangladesh.

It is a historical fact that the earlier Muslim generations trampled the idea of ‘military balance of power’ under their feet and formed the great Islamic Ummah by defeating many powerful and proud armies. The Muslims began with the Battle of Badr, by humiliatingly defeating an enemy force with much superior number and strength. Then, from al-Ahzab or the Battle of the Trench to Mutah, Yarmuk, and Qadisiyah, the Muslims manifestly defeated one powerful army after another; some of those were against the superpowers of that era. Later generations of Muslim armies carried that legacy and seized victory at Ain-Jalut, Gaudalete (Spain), Aror (Sindh), and Nadia (Bengal) and continue to carry the light of Islam to the rest of the World. As such, throughout the history, the phrase ‘military balance of power’ never existed in the dictionary of the Muslim Armies, until recently, when, by capitalising the absence of the Caliphate (Khilafah), the Kuffar West took hold of the rein of Muslim Armies and started to brainwash the military leadership with this garbage idea. The victory of the earlier Muslim generations against much superior armies is an undeniable fact and nothing to prove about. However, we should understand the reason of those outstanding events so that the current generation of Muslim armies can emulate and repeat those super-heroic moments in the present.

‘Military balance of power’ of the ‘neorealist theory’ is based on the notion of material interest. The capitalist world calculated the trade-off between engaging in war and the associated colonial benefit, and then came up with this theory. So, they estimate the material strength of their armies in association with their sought material interest or benefit (colonial interest) and found that it’s pointless to engage in military conflict unless the gain in certain and bigger than the cost. This calculation of ‘material power’ is devoid of any moral ground, because it was based on colonial mind-set; as such any defending country with weaker military can win a battle against a much stronger invading/colonising force if the moral cause of defending the people and wealth has been aroused. So, moral strength of an army yields more power than the material strength if it is properly aroused. However, the most powerful strength is the spiritual strength of an army. The secret of the past Muslim conquests against much superior armies is the spiritual power of the Muslims. The Muslim Armies marched forth with a spiritual cause, the cause of spreading the light of Islam, the cause of purifying the lands from the filth of Kuffar. The Muslim Armies advanced with the goal of spreading divine justice and had the conviction that Allah (swt) will send divine help whenever He (swt) wills and make the Muslims victorious. The Muslim Armies perceived themselves as the ‘Deputy’ of the Almighty Allah on the face of this fleeing earth. This conviction and perceptions led the earlier Muslim generations to triumph over their foes, who only sought material benefits. So, this is the secret recipe the current Muslim Armies should emulate. Only those military officers who have this spiritual goal and conviction in the divine help must lead the Muslim Armies now; only then the Muslims will be able to re-establish their Caliphate (Khilafah) and resolve all internal and external affairs. Only then the golden history will repeat itself and the Ummah will be happy after a century-full of grief and humiliation.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Risat Ahmed
Member of the Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in Wilayah Bangladesh