Headlines:
- OIC Calls for End to Hate Campaigns against Islam
- Turkey’s Erdogan Opens Germany’s Largest Mosque Amid Security Lockdown
- Pakistan Civil Servant Caught on CCTV Stealing Wallet from Visiting Foreign Delegation
- Russian Foreign Minister Attacks US and the West at UN but then calls for Cooperation
- China Reaffirms its anti-Muslim Stance over Rohingya Issue
- Iran makes Idle Threat against America
OIC Calls for End to Hate Campaigns against Islam
The foreign ministers of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member countries adopted a strongly worded statement — sponsored by Pakistan and Turkey — denouncing the increasing attacks on Islam, its revered personalities and symbols, and called for an immediate end to such campaigns. The ministers met on Friday on the margins of the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly being held in New York. Speaking at the meeting, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi expressed deep concern over the misrepresentation of Islam as well as at the activities that have hurt the feelings of Muslims all over the world, especially the disrespect shown to the most revered personality of Islam. In the statement, which was approved by the ministerial meeting, serious concern was expressed on the intensification of hate campaigns which were deliberately targeting Muslims and the Islamic religious symbols. The joint statement rejected provocative acts like the holding of the caricature contest to ridicule Islam, “which was clearly aimed at inciting violence”. Ever since the competition was announced, Pakistan raised the issue at the diplomatic level with the United Nations, OIC, and European Union and sensitised world leaders. Foreign Minister Qureshi wrote to the OIC Secretary-General, the UN Secretary-General, the Dutch foreign minister and foreign ministers of Islamic countries to jointly act against Islamophobic acts. Pakistan also requested the convening of an emergency session of the OIC Executive Committee to take stock of the situation arising from the acts denigrating Islam. Prime Minister Imran Khan on assuming office expressed serious concern regarding this issue during his very first cabinet meeting. The cabinet adopted a resolution condemning the campaign of ridiculing Islam. Later, both houses of the parliament also adopted resolutions, calling for halting such activities. PM Khan had assured the parliament that matter will be raised during the OIC Ministerial Meeting in New York. [Source: The Dawn]
No matter how hard the OIC tries to stop the vilification of Islam, the West will continue to denigrate Muslims. Empty statements not backed up by force will only embolden the West to be more aggressive in their attacks against Islam.
Turkey’s Erdogan Opens Germany’s Largest Mosque amid Security Lockdown
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan finished his three-day visit to Germany by opening the country’s largest mosque in Cologne. Police snipers stationed on rooftops were part of a security lockdown to keep both supporters and protesters away from the opening ceremony. The area was cordoned off after the city authorities cancelled plans for up to 25,000 people to attend the opening of the Central Mosque. “We will continue to protect our citizens regardless of wherever they are,” said Erdogan, “We will not allow a group of incompetent FETO (members of US-based cleric Fetullah Gulen’s network) and PKK sympathisers to unsettle our citizens and damage Turkish-German friendship.” The building of the mosque was funded by the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DITIB) an Islamic religious orgnaisation with close ties to Turkey. Around 1,000 protesters gathered on the opposite bank of the River Rhine after being denied permission to march through the city centre. Cologne is a pivotal centre for the more than 3 million Turks living in Germany. Both Cologne mayor Henriette Reker and the state’s premier Armin Laschet declined to attend the mosque ceremony. President Erdogan had been invited to Germany in an attempt to repair ties with Berlin after two years of tensions following a failed coup attempt July 2016. Many of his critics have found refuge in Germany since attempting to overthrow his government. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said after meeting Erdogan on Friday that “deep divisions” remain between the two countries. Syria was reported amoung the main topics discussed between Merkel and Erdogan on his visit, due to both countries feeling major repercussions from the Syrian Civil War. Turkey is hosting more than 3.5 million refugees from the conflict, while Germany has brought in more Syrian refugees than any other European Union member. Turkey has seen its currency plummet after US trade sanctions were implemented from Washington. These economic struggles have been front in centre in Ankara since Erdogan consolidated immense power into an executive presidency without the safeguards of checks and balances. Dr. Soner Cagaptay, of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told Euronews following Erdogan’s reelection in June, that Erdogan now has de-facto control of the judicial and legislative branches, as well as being head of state, head of police, and head of the military. [Source: Euronews]
Germany’s Muslims do not need more masjids. They need a strong Turkey to put fear into the heart of the West and prevent them from disparaging Islam. For that Erdogan need to look at the Ottoman state and not Europe for inspiration on how to protect Muslims of Europe.
Pakistan Civil Servant Caught on CCTV Stealing Wallet from Visiting Foreign Delegation
A senior Pakistani civil servant sparked an embarrassing diplomatic incident when he was allegedly caught on CCTV stealing the wallet of a visiting Kuwaiti delegate. The Kuwaitis made a complaint to Pakistani officials during a mission to discuss investment plans when one visitor said his wallet had gone missing during the meeting. Officials searched the Economic Affairs Division of the finance ministry and frisked employees in the hunt for the wallet, Dawn, a leading Pakistani newspaper reported. It was only when CCTV in the meeting hall was checked that a senior bureaucrat with the Pakistan Administrative Services was seen taking the wallet. A six-second clip said to show the incident was widely shared on social media. The clip showed a man taking a wallet from a conference table and putting it in his pocket. The official reportedly denied involvement until he was confronted with the video and then produced the missing wallet. Pakistani officials at first refused to tell their guests who the culprit was, until the furious Kuwaitis insisted and were shown the film. Sources in the ministry told the paper an internal inquiry was now underway against the bureaucrat and further action would be taken according to its conclusions. Pakistan’s new prime minister, Imran Khan, has long pledged to clean up government and has for years railed against the graft and corruption among senior politicians and officials. When questioned about the incident, Fawad Chaudhry, information minister, told a press conference that most of the civil service had their “moral training” during the previous governments. [Source: The Telegraph]
Imran Khan made a huge hue and cry about eradicating government corruption and once again his government has been embroiled in another embarrassing scandal. Blaming corruption on the previous government is not only a poor excuse but demonstrates that his government is bankrupt of ideas.
Russian Foreign Minister Attacks US and the West at UN but then calls for Cooperation
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov strikingly attacked the West and the US at the UN General Assembly but simply followed this up with calls for cooperation, according to CBS News:
“We observe the offensive of belligerent revisionism against the modern system of international law,” he said. Lavrov cited the violations of the U.N. Middle East agreements, the Iran nuclear deal also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the World Trade Organization (WTO) framework and the climate agreement.
Western nations, Lavrov said, are substituting a “rules based order” for the “supremacy of law,” and he attacked the “parochial, selfserving ambitions of a small group of countries.”
At the press conference with reporters, after his General Assembly address, Lavrov said that U.S.-Russian relations “are bad and probably at their all-time low.”
On the Middle East peace process, he “warned against unilateral approaches and attempts to monopolize this settlement process.”
To NATO and Eastern Europe, he delivered a warning: “We are concerned about the desire to open yet another line of confrontation in Europe – this time in the Balkans. The states of the region are being insistently drawn into NATO.”
Lavrov went on to list what he characterized as misguided U.S. policy in Iran, Syria, and Venezuela. On Syria, he confirmed that Russia has begun to deliver the air-defense systems known as the advanced S-300.
He accused the U.S. of “political blackmail, economic pressure and brute force.”
At times, though, the tone shifted.
Lavrov called for cooperation between the U.S. and Russia on cybersecurity and on negotiations in the Middle East, in Iran and for the end-game in Syria.
Richard V. Gowan, senior fellow at U.N. University, saw the Lavrov speech as two-pronged. “He is maintaining criticism of Trump but fishing for opportunities,” Gowan said.
“Moscow realizes they have overreached in the last couple of years and they would like to strike a more cooperative tone,” Gowan said, because they want the West involved in Syria’s reconstruction and because they want sanctions against Russia lifted.
America’s opponents, such as Russia and China, are well aware of the nature of American hegemony as America exploits every issue in the world for its own benefit. But at the same time, Russia and China both seek cooperation with America as a means to securing their own national interests. The scholar and thinker Sheikh Taqiuddin an-Nabahani (rh) explained more than fifty years ago in his book Political Concepts that the only secure way for a country to protect its interests is to challenge the leading state, and not cooperate with it. This is because, although cooperation can sometimes work, any country seeking cooperation with a more powerful state is in effect making itself dependent on that state. On the other hand, by challenging the leading state one is able to maintain one’s own independence while at the same time forcing the leading state to make concessions to deflect the challenge against it.
Lavrov’s immediate concern is the Syrian war, in which Russia has become entrapped in pursuit of cooperation with the American plan to defeat the Syrian revolution. Russia lusted for some benefits in return but now that America thinks the revolution is at an end, it has little further need for the Russian presence.
With Allah’s permission, the revolution in Syria is far from over, and the world will soon see the re-established Islamic Khilafah (Caliphate) State on the method of the Prophet ﷺ led by capable, indigenous, ideological leadership fully cognisant of how to secure the interests of the Ummah without attempting futile cooperation with other world powers.
China Reaffirms its anti-Muslim Stance over Rohingya issue
Not content with imprisoning a million Muslims in its Xinjiang province, China is seeking to supress the catastrophe of Rohingya Muslims also. According to Reuters:
The Rohingya issue should not be complicated, expanded or “internationalized”, China’s top diplomat said, as the United Nations prepares to set up a body to prepare evidence of human rights abuses in Myanmar.
The U.N. Human Rights Council voted on Thursday to establish the body, which will also look into possible genocide in Myanmar’s western state of Rakhine.
China, the Philippines and Burundi voted against the move, whose backers said it was supported by more than 100 countries.
Over the last year, more than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled the Buddhist-majority country to neighboring Bangladesh following a military response to attacks on security posts by Rohingya insurgents.
The United Nations has called Myanmar’s actions “ethnic cleansing”, a charge Myanmar rejects, blaming Rohingya “terrorists” for most accounts of atrocities.
China has close relations with Myanmar, and backs what Myanmar officials call a legitimate counter-insurgency operation in Rakhine. Beijing has helped to block a resolution on the crisis at the U.N. Security Council.
It has become common amongst some Muslims to view China as a benevolent alternative to American imperialism, just as a previous generation used to view the Soviet Union as an alternate. But Allah (swt) says about the disbelievers: وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلِيَاءُ بَعْضٍ “And those who disbelieved are allies of one another.” [Al-Anfal: 73]
The Muslim Ummah will never escape the calamities facing it until Muslims depend on Allah (swt) alone, obey Him, and implement fully the Deen revealed by Him through our master Mohammad ﷺ. The Ummah lacks nothing of abilities, lands and resources; all that is needed is its unification, which can only be achieved on the basis of the Islamic creed, after rejecting the Western creeds, thoughts and systems that have kept us divided and still subject to Western domination even after the end of formal colonialism.
Iran Makes Idle Threat against America
Iran continues to present itself as opposed to America even though it has been fully cooperating with American objectives throughout the region. According to Reuters:
A senior Iranian cleric said on Friday that U.S. regional bases would not remain secure if Washington sought confrontation with Tehran.
“If America does anything wrong, their bases around Iran would not remain secure,” Tehran Friday prayer leader Ayatollah Mohammadali Movahedi Kermani was quoted as saying by Mizan news agency.
He did not elaborate, but Tehran has warned Washington in the past against any military confrontation.
How does Iran threaten US bases now, fifteen years after America began its wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, which both lie on Iran’s borders? Furthermore, Iran has cooperated fully with American objectives for supporting the brutal Assad regime in crushing the Syrian revolution. Sincere Muslims can never accept to involve disbelievers in their struggles. Even Amir Mu’awiyah, who was in rebellion against the righteous Khilafah (Caliphate) of Imam Ali (r.a.) refused to take the help of the then world superpower:
From Caesar of the Romans to Muawiyah:
“We know what occurred between you and Ali, and we see that you are more worthy of the Khilafah, so if you order me, I will send you an army that will bring you the head of Ali.”
From Muawiyah to Heraql:
“Two brothers dispute and what is it to you to enter between them? If you are not silent, I will send you an army that starts with you and ends with me, that will bring me your head so I can gift it to Ali.”