In 1916 Britain and France hatched a secret agreement to divide the lands of the Khilafah between them. This plan became known as the Sykes-Picot agreement, named after French diplomat François Georges-Picot and British diplomatic advisor Mark Sykes. Under the agreement Britain was allocated control of Jordan, Iraq and a small area around Haifa. France was allocated control of South-eastern Turkey, Northern Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. The controlling powers were left free to decide on state boundaries within these areas. The Middle Eastern map today is the legacy of Sykes-Picot with the borders matching Mr Sykes and Mr Picot’s lines drawn using a ruler over the former lands of the Khilafah. The Middle East turned from a once united area under one state into a multitude of small and weak states unable to challenge the western powers till this day.
In June 2006 a retired US army colonel Ralph Peters proposed a new ‘Sykes-Picot’ plan for the Middle East and Pakistan in order to divide the Muslim world further still along ethnic lines. The full article ‘Blood Borders’ published in the Armed Forces Journal can be viewed here. Recently his map of a divided Pakistan has been making the rounds among Parliamentarians in Pakistan.
Focussing on the proposed plan for Pakistan Ralph Peters states:
‘What Afghanistan would lose to Persia in the west, it would gain in the east, as Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier tribes would be reunited with their Afghan brethren (the point of this exercise is not to draw maps as we would like them but as local populations would prefer them). Pakistan, another unnatural state, would also lose its Baluch territory to Free Baluchistan. The remaining “natural” Pakistan would lie entirely east of the Indus, except for a westward spur near Karachi.’
Maps of his before and after plan for Pakistan can be seen below.
The Muslims of Pakistan, those in the army, government and judiciary need to make a stand and start taking steps to remove all western interference in the region, and unite the country under the banner of La ilaha illAllah on which Pakistan was supposed to have been established.
As described in Khilafah.com’s special report on ‘America’s Undeclared War on Pakistan,’ America has made it clear that Pakistan is squarely in its sights. President Bush has already signed an executive order allowing attacks inside Pakistan and President-elect Obama has openly stated that, “the most important thing we’re going to have to do with respect to Afghanistan, is actually deal with Pakistan.”
If action is not undertaken soon then further division and infighting between Muslims is to be expected as we have witnessed in Iraq. It’s no coincidence that General Petraeus, the former commander of US-forces in Iraq is now in command of CENTCOM (US Central Command) whose forces are currently deployed in Afghanistan. Forces from CENTCOM would be deployed in any military action against the FATA tribal areas.
Instead of waiting for the Balkanisation of Pakistan we should create our own plans and redraw the map of the entire region based upon Islam.
Allah سبحانه وتعالى says in Surah al-Anfal, ayah 30:
وَيَمْكُرُونَ وَيَمْكُرُ اللّهُ وَاللّهُ خَيْرُ الْمَاكِرِينَ
“They plot and plan, and Allah too plans; but the best of planners is Allah.”
One possible scenario for redrawing the maps of the region is shown below.
{gallery}Places/pakistan-borders{/gallery}
The natural situation of Muslims in South-East Asia is not to be divided along ethnic lines. Rather they must be united on the one thing they all believe in and love – Islam. This is their heritage and as history as shown, the power of Islam as a unifying force is unparalleled in history.
Before Islam, the Arab tribes Aws and Khazraj were enemies and fought countless bloody battles. However, once they embraced Islam they became brothers who united together to become the Ansar (supporters) of Islam, who stood with the Messenger صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم to unite the entire Arabian Peninsula under Islam. The next generations then spread Islam further afield to the land of Hind under the great general Muhammad bin Qasim.
Today, all the armies and mujahideen groups in the region would be united together into one army under the leadership of a Khaleefah who is the Commander in-Chief. Instead of fighting to secure American interests in the region this army would be used to secure Islamic interests. The fixed nation-state borders would be removed and in their place expanding frontier lines established.
Allah سبحانه وتعالى says in Surah al-Imran, ayah 103:
وَاعْتَصِمُواْ بِحَبْلِ اللّهِ جَمِيعًا وَلاَ تَفَرَّقُواْ وَاذْكُرُواْ نِعْمَتَ اللّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ إِذْ كُنتُمْ أَعْدَاء فَأَلَّفَ بَيْنَ قُلُوبِكُمْ فَأَصْبَحْتُم بِنِعْمَتِهِ إِخْوَانًا وَكُنتُمْ عَلَىَ شَفَا حُفْرَةٍ مِّنَ النَّارِ فَأَنقَذَكُم مِّنْهَا كَذَلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ اللّهُ لَكُمْ آيَاتِهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَهْتَدُونَ
“Hold fast to Allah’s rope altogether; do not split into factions. Remember Allah’s favour to you: you were enemies and then He brought your hearts together and you became brothers by His grace; you were about to fall into a pit of Fire and He saved you from it – in this way Allah makes His revelations clear to you so that you may be rightly guided.”
This new Khilafah would become a launching point for unifying the rest of the Muslim lands. Northwards into Central Asia; Eastwards into South East Asia; South into India; and West into the Middle East.
Ibn Qutaybah (renowned scholar from Iraq 213 – 276 AH) said: “The people of Khurasan are the people of Da’wah and helpers of the state of Islam.”
The Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه و سلم said:
عِصَابَتَانِ مِنْ أُمَّتِي أَحْرَزَهُمَا اللَّهُ مِنْ النَّارِ عِصَابَةٌ تَغْزُو الْهِنْدَ وَعِصَابَةٌ تَكُونُ مَعَ عِيسَى ابْنِ مَرْيَمَ عَلَيْهِمَا السَّلَام
“Allah will protect two groups of my Ummah from the Fire: a group that will Open Hind, and a group that will be with Esa ibn Maryam عليه السلام.” [An-Nisa’i, Ahmad]
Al-Hakim in his book al-Mustadrak reported from Thawban رضي الله عنه who said that Allah’s Messenger صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم said: “There will be a war between three persons about your treasure, all of them are sons of rulers; none of them will hold authority. Then, the bearers of black flags will come out from the east, who will fight you fiercely. He added saying: If you see him, you have to pay homage to him even if you creep on snow since he is the Khalifah of Allah, al-Mahdi.”
The Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم said: “Indeed Allah gathered up the earth for me so that I saw its eastern and western parts, and indeed the dominion of my Ummah will reach what was gathered up for me from it.” [Saheeh Muslim narrated by Thawbaan رضي الله عنه]