Dear brothers and sisters, as you know, there is currently a man-made humanitarian catastrophe affecting the Muslims of Yemen due to this 3-year senseless war between the Saudi-led coalition of Muslim states and pro-government forces on one-side and the Iranian backed Houthi rebels on the other. A war born from the struggle for power and influence in this land between the colonial US and British governments who are both supporting their own regional agents with weapons and intelligence in this brutal conflict.
Brothers and sisters, as a result of this conscienceless colonial political game, our Ummah in Yemen is enduring an unimaginable scale of suffering due to the bombing, the fighting and the blockade of food, medicines, fuel and other essentials into the country. And it is the children of Yemen who are the primary victims of this ferocious, futile war. They are being starved, and they are being slaughtered, and they are being held hostage to the selfish political interests of each of the players in this war! As the UNICEF Regional Director, Geert Cappelaera described it….Yemen is a “living-hell” for children. Hasbunnallah wa ni’mal wakeel!
The images that are coming out of the country of emaciated, skeleton-like, dying children and babies are unbearable to see. They haunt the mind. Mothers and fathers have resorted to feeding their children crumbs of rotten bread or the boiled leaves of plants in a desperate attempt to keep them alive. All the while, their screams from hunger pierce the heart. As a parent myself…..I cannot imagine seeing my child wasting away in front of my eyes and being able to do absolutely NOTHING to help them or ease their suffering.
According to the United Nations, 30,000 of this Ummah’s children in Yemen are dying each year in the country from malnutrition due to this man-made famine; half of Yemen’s children under 5 are chronically malnourished – 400,000 of these are so acutely malnourished that they will die without intervention; and every 10 minutes a child dies from preventable diseases or war-caused starvation. Aid agencies have said that if the fighting does not stop then famine could engulf the country within 3 months putting around half the population at risk of starvation; and predicted to be the worst famine in the world in 100 years! La hawla wala quwatta illah billah!
Shortages of clean water as well as the breakdown of Yemen’s vaccination and medical system due to the fighting has also caused fatal outbreaks of measles, diphtheria and cholera to which children are most vulnerable. The cholera outbreak alone has infected around 1.2 million people and caused 2,400 deaths. In addition, UNICEF has warned that intense fighting is now “dangerously close to al-Thawra hospital” in Hodeidah city, placing dozens of children being treated in the hospital at “imminent risk of death”. La hawla wala quwatta illah billah! Children who are starving to death cannot even seek treatment because of this horrendous reality. Alongside this catastrophic situation, thousands of innocent civilians and children are trapped in the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah where fighting is most intensive at the moment – caught between the airstrikes of the Saudi-led coalition and the gunfire of the Houthi rebels.
Dear brothers and sisters, the current capitalist world-order has washed its hands of, closed its eyes to, and been complicit in this crime against humanity. These gruesome statistics and image after image of emaciated dying children has not been enough to shake its conscience. It is clear that there is not a single government today, not a single leadership, not a single ruler who sincerely cares for the children and Muslims of Yemen…. they just don’t care! Just like they care nothing for the suffering of the Muslims of Syria, of Myanmar, of the Blessed Land – Palestine, of Kashmir and elsewhere…WHY? Because in their warped capitalist calculation, there is nothing for them to gain politically or economically by ending the murder of innocent children and civilians.
Indeed, the western colonial powers of America and Britain have been playing games with the lives of Yemen’s children in this horrific war for the sake of their selfish political and economic gains – for their capitalist foreign policy is based on one main principle – “Follow the Money!” They condemn the war on one hand while feeding it with weapons on the other. Utter hypocrisy! Meanwhile the slavish regimes of Saudi Arabia and the blood-stained coalition such as the UAE, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt and others – have slaughtered the Muslim children of this Ummah in a war fought on the behest of their western masters. Indeed ALL parties in this senseless conflict, including the Iranian regime and Houthi militia have the blood of the children of Yemen on their hands!
Astaghfiruallah! It is truly beggars belief that in the 21st century, millions of innocent men, women and children can be starved to death and bombed into oblivion in full view of the world, and yet not a single government moves to their defense. In fact, even talk of a ceasefire is met with more ferocious fighting by both sides of this war, hoping to gain more political leverage before any possible future talks, in the knowledge that there is no power today that will hold them to account for their crimes against the innocent Muslims of Yemen.
Dear brothers and sisters, the international community has abandoned the Muslim children of Yemen, the criminal and defunct rulers of the Muslim world have abandoned the Muslim children of Yemen….but we their Ummah CANNOT, for the Prophet ﷺ said, «الْمُسْلِمُ أَخُوْ الْمُسْلِمِ، لا يَظْلِمُهُ، وَلا يَخْذُلُهُ» “A Muslim is the brother of a Muslim: he does not oppress him, nor does he abandon him.”
Not abandoning our Ummah means that we as Muslims NEED to take this matter of ending the genocide against our brothers and sisters in Yemen into our own hands and NOT put misplaced hopes in redundant organisations such as the UN, or self-serving Western powers or the cowardly governments of the Muslim world to protect the blood of the Muslims – for they are the ones who caused, fueled and ignored this mass murder!
Brothers and sisters, if we TRULY want to SAVE the children of Yemen we MUST work for a solution from our Deen, Islam, that will TRULY put an end to this living-hell. To do otherwise is extreme negligence on our part towards our brothers and sisters for it only prolongs and worsens their suffering.
Tears are NOT enough….for tears will not shield and feed our suffering Ummah! Giving money and aid is NOT enough….for this aid cannot even reach those in need due to the war and blockade!
Brothers and sisters, can there be any doubt that ONLY having a leadership and state that represents the TRUE interests of Islam and this Ummah can save the children of Yemen from this living nightmare and provide for them protection and a good life. This leadership based purely upon Islam that fights for its cause, champions its aims, and fulfils ALL its obligations, including defending the blood of the Believers….is the Khilafah (Caliphate) based upon the method of the Prophethood, for the Prophet ﷺ said, «إِنَّمَا الْإِمَامُ جُنَّةٌ يُقَاتَلُ مِنْ وَرَائِهِ وَيُتَّقَى بِهِ» “Verily the Imam (Khaleefah) is a shield from behind whom you fight and by whom you are protected.”
ONLY the Khilafah has the moral backbone and the political will to put an end to this brutal war and protect our Ummah!
ONLY the Khilafah will be the guardian for all its citizens – Sunni or Shia, Muslim or non-Muslim – as obliged by Allah (swt) – providing their needs, ensuring for them a dignified standard of living and guaranteeing for them protection of their blood, belief, honour and property without discrimination; for this is a political system which is for ALL human beings regardless of creed, race or ethnicity, under which all people enjoy the same rights of citizenship.
We remember for example the great history of prosperity that Yemen enjoyed under this state. During the Khilafah of Umar bin Al Khattab (ra), he sent Mu’adh ibn Jabal (ra) as his envoy to Yemen. One year Muadh (ra) sent the Khalifah one third of the zakat of the people of Yemen but Umar denounced that saying, “I have not sent you as a tax collector, I sent you to take from the rich and give to the poor”. Muadh replied, “I could not find anyone to accept it.” The next year Muadh sent him half of the zakat, and in the 3rd year, he sent him all of the zakat, and Umar said something similar to him. And Muadh replied, “I could not find anyone to take anything from me.” Subhaanallah!
Brothers and sisters, ONLY the Khilafah is a truly independent state, whose leader will take care of the affairs of his people independently and genuinely seek that which is best for them, rather than doing the bidding of foreign powers; a state under which the meddling of the colonialists in our lands will end and where they will no longer be able to use our armed forces as pawns in their political games!
And ONLY the Khilafah will do everything within its means to heal any divisions between the hearts of the believers, bringing them together as brothers under the rule of Islam. We saw for example how the Sunni and Shia Muslims in Yemen, Iraq and elsewhere lived side by side in PEACE in the same neighbourhoods for centuries, prayed in the same mosques, and fought together against the enemies of the state under the Islamic rule of the Khilafah.
Therefore, if we TRULY want to save the children of Yemen, we MUST, MUST place our full efforts on the urgent establishment of this Khilafah state. We cannot see achieving this vision as a dream brothers and sisters….NO! It is something we MUST make a REALITY to save our Ummah, and because it is a COMMAND from Allah (swt)! Nor can we see it as an option for the distant future….NO! It is an URGENT NEED to end the nightmare affecting so many Muslims across the world today.
So as Hizb ut Tahrir, we call you, our dear brothers and sisters, to join us in this VITAL dawah to establish the command of Allah, the Islamic state. We call you to carry this message for the urgent need of this state to all you know – especially those in the Muslim armies, urging them to give their Nussrah, their material support for the establishment of the Khilafah without delay so that they will become the defenders of the blood of this Ummah rather than those who are ordered to spill it by criminal rulers or foreign powers.
Let’s not allow our busy lives, our jobs, our studies, our children, our other interests hold us back from this dawah and be an excuse for why we failed our Ummah and turned our back on the dying children of Yemen – for this will NOT be a valid excuse in the Eyes of Allah (swt) for why we neglected our duty to our brothers and sisters. Allah (swt) says,
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ اسْتَجِيبُواْ لِلّهِ وَلِلرَّسُولِ إِذَا دَعَاكُم لِمَا يُحْيِيكُمْ وَاعْلَمُواْ أَنَّ اللّهَ يَحُولُ بَيْنَ الْمَرْءِ وَقَلْبِهِ وَأَنَّهُ إِلَيْهِ تُحْشَرُونَ
“O you who believe! answer (the call of) Allah and His Messenger when he calls you to that which gives you life; and know that Allah intervenes between man and his heart, and that to Him you shall be gathered.”
[Al-Anfal: 24]
Dr. Nazreen Nawaz
Director of the Women’s Section in the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir