Jahangir's World Times First Comprehensive Magazine for students/teachers of competitive exams and general readers as well.
The Riyadh Summit, or the US-Arab-Islamic Summit, and the ensuing events once again have highlighted the widening chasms in the Muslim world. It further reinforces the impression that Muslims are still very far from achieving the dream of the unity of Ummah. Although the summit was organised with the ostensible purpose of combating terrorism, the statements made by President Trump and King Salman and the Riyadh Declaration have presented the actual picture. They manifest that the real purpose of the Summit was to establish an anti-Iran alliance with Saudi Arabia assuming the lead role in it, thus fanning the flames of sectarianism that has plagued the Islamic world since long. On the one hand, President Trump accused Iran of fuelling “the fire of sectarian conflict and terror” while, on the other, King Salman called Iran “the spearhead of global terrorism”. The Declaration too affirms the “absolute rejection of the practices of the Iranian regime designed to destabilise the security and stability of the region and the world at large.”
At present, Muslims are under flak from all directions. They are being branded as “extremists” and “terrorists” and the omnibus phrase “Islamic extremism” has been expressly coined by those who profess that Islam is the “enemy” that needs to be subdued by any means, fair or foul. But, the leadership of Muslim countries, as a whole, is in deep slumber and is not ready to learn any lesson from history. How ironic is the fact that Donald Trump, who built his election campaign on anti-Muslim diatribes and tirades like “Islam hates us,” and “That [San Bernardino attack] looks like another Islamic disaster,” and who blamed Muslims for every terror attack in the world, went to Saudi Arabia “to broadcast a message of unity”. He now lectures the Muslim leaders that “… we must be united in pursuing the one goal … to conquer extremism and vanquish the forces of terrorism.”
After ruining the entire Middle East with perpetual wars, especially in the post-9/11 era, the President of the country that cause all this devastation i.e. the United States, now says that his country is not at war with Islam. “This is not a battle between different faiths, different sects or different civilizations. This is a battle between barbaric criminals who seek to obliterate human life, and decent people of all religions who seek to protect it,” he professes now. But, in reality, he has tried to fuel the fire of animosity and hatred between Iran and Saudi Arabia by blaming Iran for funding, arming, and training “terrorists, militias, and other extremist groups that spread destruction and chaos across the region.”
Despite his rambling speech at the Summit, Trump’s actual purpose was something else: a $110 billion defence purchases agreement which weighed heavier than any pious hope he offered to the august gathering of 30-plus Muslim leaders – Saudi Arabia, already the second biggest importer of arms, now aspires to purchase American arms to boost its “defence capabilities”.
In a more recent development, which is being seen by many experts as an aftermath of Trump’s visit, Saudi Arabia, along with its allies, has severed diplomatic relations with Qatar, accusing it of destabilizing the region with its support for Islamist groups. This act of Saudis speaks volumes about the collision course the Islamic countries are heading to. Muslim world is already mired in numerous problems that have killed hampered the prospects of its development, in spite of the fact that Muslim countries possess abounding resources and wealth that can help mitigate all their sufferings. But, the unending feuds among them have been the biggest impediment to the growth of the Islamic world. Instead of resolving their internal disputes through dialogue and talks, Muslim countries have preferred to align with the United States or Russia – the two rival superpowers. The conflicts within the world of Islam are exacerbated by overt and covert interference of these powers as they use Muslim countries for their proxy war in pursuit of their own national interests. These powers have always followed the well-known yet ignominious policy of imperialism: “divide and rule”. They just want to establish their political hegemony in the region and control its huge oil and gas resources.
A look at the present-day Islamic world, from Morocco to Indonesia, from Syria to Afghanistan, and from Iraq to Iran, reveals that Muslim Ummah is in disarray, to say the least. Our lands are being invaded by foreign nations and occupied one after another and our children are being massacred by the imperialists. And, the biggest factor behind this situation is that we are not united. So, we need to set our differences aside for the greater interest of the Muslim nation. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) should play its due role in resolving the conflicts between and among the Muslim states.
It’s time to wake up, folks!
