News Right Now: Smoke and Mirrors

Welcome to today’s episode of News Right Now – Smoke and Mirrors.

Prince Hamzah, the former Crown Prince of Jordan was accused of plotting a coup against King Abdullah II, his half-brother. Known for disagreeing with his brother's policies and way of leading, he was arrested in his home where he released a video stating ‘It has reached a point where no one is able to speak or express opinion on anything without being bullied, arrested, harassed and threatened.’ Authorities alleged that Prince Hamza was part of a plot backed by unnamed foreign entities to destabilize the kingdom, something which he of course denies. It is not surprising that many experts on the Middle East believe King Abdullah may have engineered this crisis. It’s a time right now for the king and his regime where not only do his critics need silencing but also the Jordanian public’s increasing dissent against the crown needs stifling.

Regardless of all the drama we see around the Hashemites in their internal family feud, what’s clear is that it’s not only the same blood that flows through these brothers but the same strong beliefs and values!! Those beliefs and values which seek only power, position and might. That overlooks the sayings of Allah (swt) and Muhammad SAW on the the rulings in Islam, That couldn't care less about the well-being of their nation and those beliefs and values that pumps life into this colonial project known as Jordan.

The economic situation in the Kingdom has for long been desperate. Unemployment is running at 30% whilst poverty in the Kingdom is 20% - where people suffer greatly from the high cost of water and electricity and the lack of revenues by the government has led to higher taxes against the public. The people crowd at the doors of hospitals and do not find beds to shelter them from illness. Amman has - proudly - turned into the most expensive city in the Middle East and North Africa according to the Economist magazine. The Jordanians suffer and languish in poverty daily due to the lack of care, help and protection from its leadership. All the while, the King earns millions from his investments in the West and his wife Queen Rania has long been famous for spending millions on her annual wardrobe. Jordan, with a struggling Ummah and without an ounce shame, shows no remorse in displaying its friendship with the open enemies of Islam. While her Ummah cries, it has given full access of military bases, airports, the port of Aqaba, and lands in Jordan to America and its military air, land and sea forces, to use. Allah (swt) says

(بَشِّرِ الْمُنَافِقِينَ بِأَنَّ لَهُمْ عَذَابًا أَلِيمًا* الَّذِينَ يَتَّخِذُونَ الْكَافِرِينَ أَوْلِيَاء مِن دُونِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ أَيَبْتَغُونَ عِندَهُمُ الْعِزَّةَ فَإِنَّ العِزَّةَ لِلّهِ جَمِيعًا )

“Give tidings to the hypocrites that there is for them a painful punishment * Those who take disbelievers as allies instead of the believers. Do they seek with them honor [through power]? But indeed, honor belongs to Allah entirely.” [An-Nisa verse 138-139]

Although the Jordanian state is over 70 years old – ultimately it was and remains an artificial construct. It was British strategy to make Jordan a buffer zone in the region, especially for regional conflicts. Jordan has played this role for the Palestinian conflict since 1948. It played that role when the civil war devastated Lebanon in the 1980s. Since 1991 it has become a buffer zone for the Iraq conflict as well as a location for a number of rebel groups in the uprising in Syria. All the Hashemites needed to do was manage the artificial country domestically in order to play this regional role. However it can’t even do that - the global economic crisis from 2008 as well as long term corruption and now the COVID pandemic has turned many ordinary Jordanians against the monarchy.

Jordan’s existence is very weak and only survives on the crumbs of its Masters in the West. It was a region further divided to disunite the Muslims in the Middle East and to fulfill a pledge for the rebellion of the ottoman Caliphate. The true honour and protection for the Muslims in the region will only come through the reestablishment of the Islamic Khilafah system – which will unite all the Muslims of the world and give back their rights and attend to their needs.

May Allah hasten the victory for our Ummah. Ameen

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