News:
On
February 4th 2017, US authorities rolled back a controversial travel ban on
people from seven Muslim countries after a judge suspended it. The state
department said it was reversing the cancellation of visas, 60,000 of which
were revoked after President Donald Trump's order. Will this end Trump’s
negative policies towards the Muslim world?
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What
is outrageous is not the ban in itself, but the worldwide protests that failed
to condemn America’s bombing of Muslim countries. America’s invasion of
Afghanistan and Iraq, military forays into Pakistan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen,
dismemberment of Sudan, sanctions imposed on Iran and support for Assad to
destroy the Syrian people has created the largest refugee crisis witnessed in
modern times.
Instead of exposing America’s crimes
against the Muslim world, the neoliberal elite that had orchestrated the global
public outcry against Trump was careful not to invoke condemnation of endless
Western interference in Islamic lands. This raises the disturbing prospect that
of further Western interventions.
There is little doubt, Trump’s Muslim ban is
the opening salvo, and more vitriol and horror is yet to come. Hidden from
public view, Steve Bannon—the main instigator of the Muslim ban along with
Trump— harbors some despicable views against Islam. In 2014, at a conference in
the Vatican, Bannon advocated a hard-hitting posture against Islam and praised
Europe in preventing the expansion of Islam. He said. “I believe you should
take a very, very, very aggressive stance against radical Islam... If you look
back at the long history of the Judeo-Christian West struggle against Islam, I
believe that our forefathers kept it [Islam] out of the world, whether it was
at Vienna, or Tours, or other places.”
President Trump is the first US president
to mention the world Islamic in the inauguration address and propelled Islam to
the top of the foreign policy agenda. The inclusion of Bannon’s to the National
Security Council not only gives him unlimited access to shape US foreign policy
towards the Muslim world but in addition, it is a clear sign that Bannon is to
provide ideological overtones to America’s war with Islam.
President Bush exploited the events of September
11 2001 and established the foundations of America’s 21st century crusade,
which resulted in the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq. Under
President Obama, the crusade expanded to encompass Afghanistan, Somalia, Yemen,
Pakistan, Libya and Syria. Now the Muslim world awaits to see which Islamic
country is America’s next target.
Both the crusades and the slumber amongst
Muslims to expel the West are not new. In 1095, Pope Urban II launched the
crusades, and it took a mammoth effort to unify the Muslim ummah in Levant and
banish the crusader forces in 1291. Imad ad-Din Zengi placed the basis for
Salahuddin to give the crusader forces a crushing blow in 1187 at the battle of
Hittin. However, it was not until the rise of the Mamaluks in Egypt— almost a
century later—that the crusaders and their Mongol allies were totally
vanquished from the Levant and Iraq. The Mamaluks repeated the feat of Caliph
Abu Bakr in defeating two major powers simultaneously.
After a hiatus of 600 years, the crusader
forces returned to the Islamic world, and destroyed the Caliphate in 1924. This
gave the West complete freedom to invade and pillage the Muslim world. Unless
the Muslim ummah redoubles her efforts to re-establishes the rightly guided
Islamic Caliphate, Trump and his allies will continue to plunge the crusader’s
dagger deep into the Muslim world tearing the Islamic lands from limb to limb.
Hence, intentional paralysis and
indifference is not an option. Allah
says:
﴿ يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مَنْ يَرْتَدَّ مِنْكُمْ عَنْ دِينِهِ
فَسَوْفَ يَأْتِي اللَّهُ بِقَوْمٍ يُحِبُّهُمْ وَيُحِبُّونَهُ أَذِلَّةٍ عَلَى
الْمُؤْمِنِينَ أَعِزَّةٍ عَلَى الْكَافِرِينَ يُجَاهِدُونَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ
وَلَا يَخَافُونَ لَوْمَةَ لَائِمٍ ذَلِكَ فَضْلُ اللَّهِ يُؤْتِيهِ مَنْ يَشَاءُ
وَاللَّهُ وَاسِعٌ عَلِيمٌ ﴾
﴾O you who have Iman!
Whoever turns back among you from his religion, then soon Allah (will) bring a
people whom He loves and they love Him, humble towards the believers (and)
stern towards the disbelievers; striving in (the) way (of) Allah and not
fearing the blame (of) a critic. ﴿” [TMQ: Al Maida: 54]
Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb Ut Tahrir by
Abdul Majeed Bhatti
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