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Fictional Scenario - A New Caliphate

Private Letter to a Relative from Sa'id Muhammad Bin Ladin, June 3, 2020

Grandfather would have been frustrated. The proclamation of the Caliphate has not yet turned out to be our Deliverance. As you know, dear brother, Grandfather believed in the return to the period of the Rightly Guided Caliphs when the leaders of Islam ruled over an empire as true Defenders of the Faith. He envisaged the Caliphate holding sway again over the Muslim world, reconquering lost lands in Palestine and Asia, and rooting out the infidel Western influences or "globalization" as the Crusaders so euphemistically call it. The spiritual and temporal world would once again be in single obedience to the will of Allah, refuting the West's division of Church and State. In the end, as we've seen, the proclamation has not yet overcome these divisions even if the emergence of the Caliphate has put the fear of Allah in the Crusader powers (and Grandfather would have been pleased at this). Westernization has certainly lost its luster with many Muslims, and the Caliphate has rent asunder a number of contrived nation-states that were figments of the colonizers' imagination.

Suicide Bombings - Book Review

‘War is hell’. Thus spake General Sherman. He would say that, wouldn’t he? The ruthless author of a cruel scorched earth policy against the South in the American Civil War, he much aggravated the viciousness of conflict. I worry that Yamin Zakaria, author of Suicide Bombings – Jihad or Terrorism, may, no doubt unwittingly, run the same risk.

Suicide bombers are not the exclusive prerogative of Muslims. Yamin is right to point that out. Tamils and others have engaged in it, too. Also, terrorism is perpetrated by states, not just by non state movements and individuals. I agree. Then self-defence is justified. Resistance to oppression, invasion, persecution and the like are morally righteous ends. But what about the means to those ends? Their status must be scrutinised, also. And that is where Yamin’s arguments fall grievously short.

Palestine: Two-State solution of Hamas or wait for the Caliphate

Hamas, the elected government of Palestine recently stated that it is prepared to accept the two-state solution¹, according to the UN resolution, which demands total withdrawal of Israeli troops to the 1967 borders, and the implementation of resolution 194, meaning repatriation of the Palestinian refugees. East Jerusalem with the holy cites of Masjid Al-Aqsa would be under the control of Hamas. The other major party, the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO), also concurs on this viewpoint; thus, a two-state solution seems to be representative of the vast majority of Palestinians living in the occupied territories.

This is contested by the minority view that opposes any form of agreement with Israel, and calls for a military solution: removal of Israel as an entity going back to pre 1948 borders. In practical terms, only a state can remove another state. To match the strength of Israel backed by the mighty US forces will require a strong unified state or an alliance of Muslim states. In Arab-Islamic history, such unity existed only under the Caliphate; the current nationalistic and secular regimes have been a total disaster in terms of confronting Israel.

The US Foreign Policy: Disarm the Muslim World and Arm the Israelis

By disarming the Muslim countries one by one, the neo-conservative US policy serves the Israeli objective of ‘securing’ its expanding borders, which at present is confined to building settlements (land theft) in the occupied territories. When this episode is forgotten, Israel will try to occupy another piece of land using the pretext of security, no doubt the world will be told, Israel was compelled to act in self-defence; thus, creeping towards its ultimate dream of creating Ertez (greater) Israel that runs from the Nile, to the Euphrates. The latest attempts to intimidate nuclear-free Iran by nuclear Israel, reflects that long term Israeli ambition.

Anti-Islamic Legislation and the Case for Participation

With the rise of the rightwing Conservative Party, there is a real danger that the Muslims in UK may face anti-Islamic legislation that specifically targets them; the trend has already been set in motion by the ban on the Burka (Niqab) in Belgium, the Minaret in Switzerland, and now France is on the verge of banning the Niqab. To halt these types of legislation, one has to engage the system somehow, particularly focus on influencing the legislative process.

Even in the absence of the danger of anti-Islamic laws becoming real here, there is a need to participate in order to ensure the following:

Twelve Reasons for the International Community to Bomb Israel

“Maybe because we all grew used to seeing the Israelis kill Arabs, maybe the Israelis grew used to killing Arabs. Now they kill Turks” – (Robert Fisk)

Letter - To the British deputy prime minister:

Dear Nick Clegg,

This is a request for action speaking louder than words by the new coalition. I welcome your early commitment to the restoration of civil rights as part of the mainstream agenda for the UK. However, there is a civil rights crisis in the Middle East. Both these situations were seriously ignored by the previous Labour administration.

I appreciate that you are well aware that the humanitarian disaster occurring on a daily basis in Palestine has been brought about by the well-recognised and documented unlawful activities of the Israel state. Your article in the Guardian last December admirably exposes the iniquity of the Gaza blockade. There are of course many other examples – illegal settlements, the separation wall, the demolition of Palestinian homes, sequestration of water supplies, destruction of olive groves, etc.