The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) (formerly known as the Organization of the Islamic Conference) is the second largest inter-governmental organization after the United Nations which has a membership of 57 states spread over four continents. In its official online site, the organization states that it is “the collective voice of the Muslim world” and works to “safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony”. Other aims and objectives are listed as;
- All Member States commit themselves to the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter;
- Protect and defend the true image of Islam, to combat defamation of Islam and encourage dialogue among civilizations and religions;
- Respect the right of self-determination and non-interference in the domestic affairs and to respect sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of each Member State;
- Member States shall uphold and promote, at the national and international levels, good governance, democracy, human rights and fundamental freedoms and the rule of law.
The collective population of OIC member states is over 1.4 billion and Included in this body of nations are countries with some of the most well equipped military capabilities in the world such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt and Iran, however in its 46 years if existence the world has never known any action from this political entity to serve the needs of the millions of Muslims that have suffering under numerous western invasions, civil ethnic cleansing or attacks on the sanctity of the Prophet ﷺ and the truth of Islam. A case in point is the OIC’s complete disability to provide any solution to the oppressed Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar. When we look at the political responses given by the OIC, exactly how defunct and illegitimate it is as a political entity will be clearly revealed.
Earlier this month on the 8th of June 2015, international news sources reported that Pakistan was raising the issue of the Rohingya internally as the “Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar, PM’s Adviser on Foreign Affairs and National Security Sartaj Aziz and PM’s Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi recommend that Pakistan must priorities the protection of Rohingya Muslims in its engagement with Myanmar”. Sartaj Aziz has gone on record in The Express Tribune news source as saying “The current displacement of a large number of Muslims, who are adrift on boats in the Indian Ocean without access to food and drinking water, is worrisome,” – “worrisome???!!!!” is this a justifiable way of describing the burning alive of Muslims and destruction of entire villages of men, women and children? Does not the use of such impassive terminology reveal utter disregard for the scale of human suffering as our brothers and sisters are hunted down and slaughtered like animals?! Can we imagine the Prophet ﷺ or Umar Ibn Al Khattab (May Allah سبحانه وتعالى be pleased with him) using such grey terminology? In one Hadith narrated by `Abd Allah ibn `Amr ibn al-`As (May Allah سبحانه وتعالى be well pleased with him) the immense importance of defending the life of a Muslim was described in the most graphic way;
«رأيت رسول الله r يطوف بالكعبة ويقول ما أطيبك وما أطيب ريحك ما أعظمك وما أعظم حرمتك والذي نفس محمد بيده لحرمه المؤمن عند الله أعظم من حرمتك ماله ودمه»
“I saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ performing tawaf around the Holy Ka`ba saying to it: ‘how pure and good you are! how pure and good your fragrance is! how great and exalted you are! and how great and exalted your sanctity is! But by Him in Whose hand is Muhammad’s soul, the sanctity of a believer’s blood and property in the sight of Allah is greater than your sanctity!’”
The Pakistani leadership along with its OIC cohorts does not in any way represent the true Islamic sentiments in its protection of the life, blood and honour of Muslims. Its consistent policy to discuss the Rohingya genocide with no intention to act was repeated again this month on June the 16th when Pakistan’s Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi attended an OIC meeting where she proposed taking the plight of Rohingya Muslim to the UN Secretary General. In that meeting, it is recorded that she received full support from the other member states, indicative of the OIC performing yet another token gesture of solidarity with the Muslim’s problems.
These two recent OIC engagements with the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya should not give Muslims any sense of satisfaction or relief that progress in the cause of the weak and needy is being made, rather what should be initiated in the thinking person with any sense of humanitarian conscience is a deep sense of frustration and betrayal that those appointed to look after the interests of Muslims are completely playing with the lives of people as if it was their own personal toy to use and abuse.
What is baffling about the Pakistani response to the Rohingya plight is that their “all talk-no action” is only a carbon copy of the political “pushback” policies that neighboring Bangladesh, Malaysia and other ASEAN states have been playing. They feign care and concern for their Muslim Brothers and sisters but DO ABSOLUTELT NOTHING in terms of action to end the daily torture, murder and rapes of our sisters and children. The great question that needs to be answered is why do the OIC have to take any matter to the United Nations in the first place? Why do they not use the billions of military equipment that they buy annually from western countries, and then go and help the drowning thousands of Rohingya at sea? Why do they not open their own wide boarders to house the refugee homeless? Why do they not have their soldiers standing in front of the exposed women and children who are being cut to pieces or kidnapped and trafficked into slavery? What is it that prevents the armies and collective material ability of the OIC to act immediately when all of the world can see what is happening on their news feeds?
The principles that the OIC are committed to, give the answers as to why the OIC does not move to action on any critical issue facing the Muslim Ummah. The fact that they are signatory to the United Nation charter is the political leash that all members are tied to that restricts them from exercising any independent power to actually implement it’s agreed upon principle to “Protect and defend the true image of Islam, to combat defamation of Islam”. This explains why no actions were taken by the OIC members when there were many cartoons drawn of our beloved Prophet ﷺ or when Islamic values were lampooned and under attack such as our sisters facing Hijab bans in various countries. Through the UN, the OIC is subservient to the agendas of other western governments and cannot act to challenge any of the wars, or bloodshed organized by their colonial masters as was the case in Bosnia, Afghanistan, Iraq, China, Uzbekistan and the Central African Republic. The OIC’s collusion with each other in covering up wrongdoings the other member nation’s abuse and torture of Muslims is further evidence of their hypocritical position when dealing with the interests of Islam. Perhaps allowing the horrific treatment of the Uzbek Muslims under the tyranny of Islam Karimov, a man known for boiling Muslims alive and organizing the mass detention and physical violation of Muslim women and their children, is what they mean when they; “Respect the right of self-determination and non-interference in the domestic affairs and to respect sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of each Member State”.
The duplicity of the OIC was evident from its first inception as it was established in the aftermath of the invasion of Palestine by the Zionist Jews as described in its official site “The Organization was established upon a decision of the historical summit which took place in Rabat, Kingdom of Morocco on 12th Rajab 1389 Hijra (25 September 1969) as a result of criminal arson of Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem.”
The invasion of Palestine was one of the great shocks to ever hit the Muslim’s of the world and to absorb the intense emotions that reverberated globally the OIC (as well as other equally impotent organization’s) were established to act as a political therapist who sits and talks to you about all of your problems and you receive no comprehensive solution to any of your trials. The time has come to dissolve these diplomatic pills of poison that make us dizzy with false hope for change. The time has come to open our eyes and come out of the coma induced state of fancy speeches with many words and no meaningful content. The time has come to remove the false idols of manufactured royalty, inherited rulers and puppet presidents using the land of Islam as their personal bank account whilst the blood of the Muslims flows in endless rivers across the entire earth. The OIC has played chameleon tactics by changing its name in an attempt to remodel its position as an “all talk no action entity” and its fake politics makes it a direct partner to the oppression of the Rohingya Muslims in equal measure to the Myanmar government itself. The time has come to rename OIC once again to reflect the reality of what it really is – The OICCC, The Organization of International Cowards, Criminals and Con Men.
The Women of the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir officially express our repulsion to everything that the OIC represents and finds its deaf, dumb and blind policy to the offenses committed against the Muslim Ummah a matter that warrants the harshest accounting. The OIC can never assume to be “the collective voice of the Muslim world” when the poorest Muslims of Ache in Indonesia can recognise that it is their Islamic duty to rescue their drowning Rohingya brothers. We recognize that all the members of the OIC are indeed Cowards for living in fear of their western masters instead of fearing the Lord of the heavens and the earth Allah سبحانه وتعالى. They are indeed criminals for serving western colonialist interests and lining their pockets with payment for controlling the power of this Ummah to liberate herself from the chains of Non-Islamic politics. They are indeed con men who use lies and trick of democracy and Kufr diplomacy to win the confidence of sincere Muslims so that they live in false hope of any real change in their abysmal reality. The Women of the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir call upon the Muslims of the world to reject all of the false intuitions that exist today that are in opposition to the true model of Islamic politics based upon the tradition of the Prophet ﷺ and his noble Companions (May Allah سبحانه وتعالى be pleased with them). We as Muslim should only recognize “good governance” and the “rule of law”, as defined by the Quran and Sunnah represented by one Islamic ruler, the Khalif who unites all Muslims under one Islamic Land and flag –the Ar Rayah, as ordered by the example of our dear Prophet Mohammad ﷺ.
Pakistan’s recent comment regarding the Rohingya Muslims is part of a continuous smokescreen that will be blown into the faces of the rest of the Ummah every time a new offense is committed against the laws of Islam. The cycle of permanent problems will only be broken with the return of Khilafah political system that will never allow a single Muslim man, women or child to have their cries of pain go unheard or ignored. The example of the Uthmani Khilafah in the 16th century when Khalifah Suleyman I sent an armada of 36 ships to Spain to rescue 70,000 Muslims of Al-Andalus who were being persecuted by its Christians rulers shows how it is impossible for A real Muslim ruler to turn his back on the oppression of others, expect non-Islamic groups to solve the problem or simply talk about a solution without ensuring a victorious result for Islam. All of these afore mentioned styles are unfortunately the political norm for all or the current administrative bodies representing Muslims today and it is only the return of the Khilafah political system that will reverse this by the will and permission of Allah سبحانه وتعالى.
Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Imrana Mohammad
Member of the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir