When Allah (swt) wanted to grant victory to His Deen, Islam, He (swt) paved the way for the emergence of the Islamic State in Al Madinah by making the internal and external situations ready for its birth.
In terms of the internal situation, A’ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, reported that Allah (swt) paved the way for the victory of His religion by the Bua’ath War which resulted in the death of the old leaders of Al-Aws and Al-Khazraj; unlike Makkah and Taif.
In terms of the external situations, there was an ongoing conflict between the Persian Empire and the Roman Empire. Moreover, there was corruption, injustice and poverty caused by those states.
Although the birth of the Khilafah today is expected anytime under any regional or international situation, one would be astonished by the events that Allah (swt) is paving towards the birth of the Khilafah again. These events and situations include:
(1) the decline of our enemies
(2) the rise of the Muslim Ummah
(3) the progress of Hizb ut Tahrir (the “Hizb”).
This article is meant to address these three points in details; and is not meant to address the Ayat and Ahadeeths that give glad tidings for the return of the Khilafah.
1- As for the decline of our enemies:
Many writers, such as Noam Chomsky and Emmanuel Todd, started calling America “the sick man” and others started talking openly about the collapse of America and discussing the political situation post the Empire. This is due to the following:
1- The West, and mainly the United States of America, deviated from the basis of the capitalist ideology where the slogans about freedom, human rights and democratization appeared to be fake. For example:
(a) The killing of half a million Iraqi children in 1991, not to mention the millions of men and women in 2003,
(b) Bush Jr. said in many occasions that God talked to him and told him to do such and such. This is despite the fact that the USA is a capitalist state that ideologically is supposed to separate life from religion,
(c) The inhuman treatment in the prisons of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo in 2003,
(d) The US monitors the phone calls, not only of its citizens, but also of Merkel and other leaders,
(e) Recently Theresa May was asked if she would authorize a nuclear strike that would kill hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women and children. She responded with “Yes”.
The falsity of the American slogans made the American people to begin to feel hated worldwide due to the intervention of their government in the affairs of other countries. This is evident in the non-Muslim nations marching and demonstrating against the US president or officials attending international conferences or meetings. For example:
(a) In 2014, a poll was conducted in 65 countries, both friends and non-friends countries of the USA, and the poll concluded that USA represents the biggest threat to the peace in the world,
(b) In March 2016, Cuban President Raul Castro lifted away President Obama’s arm at the conclusion of their joint news conference in Havana, Cuba,
(c) In September 2016, Barak Obama was forced to exit from the back door of the airplane when he visited China because the Chinese did not arrange the standard red-carpet staircase,
(d) Barak Obama cancelled his meeting in Laos with the Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte because he called Barak Obama an expletive,
(e) A few months ago, the angry masses in Brussels went out against Trump’s visit and they had drawings of him with long nose indicating that he is a liar.
As for the internal situation inside the USA, it is not any better. For example:
(a) In 2011, and for the first time in the history of America, demonstrators and protestors cried out (Occupy Wall Street) and demanded to change the capitalist system,
(b) In 2012, more than 15 states of the USA requested to secede from the Federal government of the USA,
(c) In 2016, people rallied against violence towards black people,
(d) Soon after announcing Trump as the president, people went out holding banners written on them, “You are not my president”.
2- The USA, the first country of the world, failed militarily in Afghanistan and Iraq and consequently lost most of its military might even though Afghanistan was weak as a state and Iraq was handed over. This is evident in what the Army Chief of Staff General Ray Odierno said, “We’re at the lowest readiness levels in our Army since I have been serving for 37 years”. Also, in an article dated 16 July 2017 in the National Interest Magazine, Douglas Macgregor, a retired Colonel, said, “The Army is on track to lose more than money unless President Trump appoints a forceful and informed Secretary of the Army—one who is prepared to impose accountability on his generals and demand sweeping change. It’s going to lose the first battle of the next war. And, in the twenty-first century, Americans may not get a chance to fight a second battle.”
This had a great negative impact on the Americans themselves where nowadays they think a thousand times before they send their troops to other parts of the Muslim world. This was clear in Libya in 2011 where the US did not send its troops to Libya, but merely participated in the aerial bombardment within the NATO Alliance.
On the other hand, it should be noted that the military force is not measured by the numbers or equipment (the Soviet Union collapsed with a military arsenal) but rather is measured by the motive and the sacrifice. For example, the US soldiers in Iraq thought that they are on a holiday and will return to their families and take their material rewards with them to live the rest of their lives happily, but that wasn’t the case. The US soldiers in Iraq reached a point of wearing diapers for fear of leaving their tanks to meet their needs, not to mention those who have returned to their families complaining of indescribable psychological illnesses.
3- The global financial crisis was a bullet in the heart of the US (and the world). The global financial crisis has weakened the grip of America (directly or indirectly) on Muslims and Muslim rulers, resulting in a weak grip of the rulers themselves and their security services on their people. Especially that the high military costs exhausted America since the US 737 military bases in 130 countries in addition to 6,000 bases inside the USA, which require huge expenses, as well as the costs of fighting in the global war against terrorism, foreign military assistance, other programs borne by the US public budget, and the costs of long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Walter Andrusyszyn, professor of international business at the University of South Florida, said “America’s spiral of debt isn’t just hurting our economy, it’s weakening our national security and making the world a more dangerous place. No nation can maintain its power or projection of power if its economy is weak. That holds for Sparta, Rome, and the United States”.
Therefore, the current US administration has decided to drop its development aids by 30%, which will have a negative impact on the US as such aids are considered one of the three pillars that contribute to the US presence in the world, besides defense and diplomacy. Moreover, recently, Trump visited Saudi Arabia and took the wealth of the Ummah in a cowboy style.
As a result of the above, the US is unable to enforce any political solution in the Middle East, be it Syria or Afghanistan or Iraq or others. Clearly, US foreign policy today is flounder. For example, Trump changed his views of NATO as an outdated alliance, as he described, and then retreated from these positions publicly. He also withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement, and then offered to renegotiate it, and he stood on the brink of war with North Korea, and then backtracked. Moreover, he held a negative view of China, and then stood with it waiting for its outcome in North Korea’s file, and he made strong statements on the Syrian arena, and then left things to its neighbors in Astana and Geneva.
For the above and more, Fukuyama reconsidered his earlier thoughts about the End of History. Furthermore, it was not surprising to see President Obama reading a book titled “The Post-American World”.
In summary, the above proves that the US is getting weaker. Zbigniew Brzezinski confirmed this when he said, “The United States is still the world’s politically, economically, and militarily most powerful entity but, given complex geopolitical shifts in regional balances, it is no longer the globally imperial power”.
The decline of the US has created a multipolar world order after it was a single-polar presented by the US after the collapse of the Soviet Union. But the good news for the Ummah is that none of the countries are strong enough as explained below.
4- As for Europe, the description of Europe as an “old man” became a fact today. Weakness. Their weakness lies in their inability to act internationally, conflicting interests and different policies that may amount to contradiction in many issues. For example, while Germany is going against the US policies, France is getting closer to the US, whereas the UK is still unsure about Brexit.
Not to mention the Europe’s weakness due to the global financial crisis, putting the European Union in a critical situation.
On the other hand, the decreasing rates of both the birth and youth rates impose a retreat to the Europeans in politics and economy and threaten the future of the continent strategically.
5- The Soviet Union, which was the second powerful state in the world has collapsed.
As for Russia, it does not have the same strengths that the Soviet Union had. This explains why Russia sells itself cheap in assisting the US in Syria without being able to stop the US interventions in the Russian neighborhood such as in Ukraine or to lift the sanctions imposed on it by the US.
6- As for China, although it has become an economic giant and has a strong military, this alone is not enough to qualify it to replace the US as the first state in the world. Nevertheless, the rise of China and the increasing tension between US and China can be useful for the Ummah and the birth of the Khilafah.
3- As for the rise of the Ummah:
Allah (swt) said:
وْ كَالَّذِي مَرَّ عَلَىٰ قَرْيَةٍ وَهِيَ خَاوِيَةٌ عَلَىٰ عُرُوشِهَا قَالَ أَنَّىٰ يُحْيِي هَـٰذِهِ اللَّهُ بَعْدَ مَوْتِهَا فَأَمَاتَهُ اللَّـهُ مِائَةَ عَامٍ ثُمَّ بَعَثَهُ
“Or [consider such an example] as the one who passed by a township which had fallen into ruin. He said, “How will Allah bring this to life after its death?” So Allah caused him to die for a hundred years; then He revived him.”
(al-Baqara: 2:259)
1- The deep rootedness of Islam in the hearts of Muslims became a fact despite the serious attempts to keep Muslims far from Islam. Examples are found in Uzbekistan, Iraq, Tunisia and Syria where the rulers ruled with an iron fist to keep the people away from Islam, yet they failed in their attempts.
2- Practicing Islam at the individual level became dominant today, after not being exactly so 70 years ago or so. Praying, reciting of Quran, following up of religious TV channels, and the wearing of hijab are all visible all over the world today. The photo which was published by Al Jazeera channel for an Egyptian street taken in the middle of last century compared with a photo for the same street taken a few years ago is a good example of strong individual adherence to Islam.
3- The socialist, communist, and nationalist ideas together with al-Nasiriyah and other ideas have proven wrong to the minds of the Muslims. And whoever is still carrying these ideas has to now cover up by Islam to be accepted. Examples of these are the Iranian revolution, King Husain growing his beard, the case of Erdogan, democracy being promoted as Shura, and the election campaigns in most of the Muslim World etc.
In fact, the events in Algeria, Egypt, Syria and other countries are good examples of Muslims wanting only Islam.
Another example is when the injured Libyan (caused by the war) in the hospitals of Jordan refused to hand over the Rayah [banner] (given to them by the members of Hizb ut Tahrir when the Hizb visited them in the hospitals) to the intelligent services of Jordan and told them that this Rayah is what we (the Libyans) fought for in Libya.
Moreover, and putting the political analysis aside for now, the idea of peace with the Jewish entity clearly vanished when the huge fire took place in Nov 2016. This proves that peace with “Israel” is just ink on paper and the Ummah would love to see the end of this entity.
4- Jihad for the sake of Allah became a demand for young Muslims after crushing the Muslims in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kashmir, Chechnya, Somalia, Libya and Syria. Also, the mothers of the martyrs in all these countries revived great stories similar to the brave Muslim elderly women such as Al Khansa’. And the recent issue of the gates in Jerusalem (Al-Quds) is a good example of that. It is also noteworthy that those martyrs were young and “normal” Muslims who don’t look religious in the traditional sense. Hence, the Muslims are recovering from the disease that our Prophet ﷺ warned us from when he said, «حُبُّ الدُّنْيَا وَكَرَاهِيَةُ الْمَوْتِ» “Loving Dunya and fearing death”.
5- Keeping in mind the fact that the military might of US was damaged in Afghanistan and Iraq and that the military power of “Israel” was damaged in 2006, the Muslims in general and the army officers in particular started realizing that they can defeat the West and its allies, be it Bashar or Iran or Russia as long as they depend on Allah (swt(
6- Some Muslim army officers and soldiers did excellent acts denoting the goodness inherent in them. In Egypt, Sadat was assassinated by faithful Muslims. In Jordan, a soldier shot down Jewish tourists because they were mocking him performing prayer. In Syria, the intelligent services were interrogating many army officers for not informing them about receiving the Call from Hizb ut Tahrir of 2005. In Sudan, a senior Sudanese army officer put the Rayah, which was handed over to him by a delegation of Hizb ut Tahrir, over his military base. In Yemen, one of the soldiers shot his foot in order not to participate in the killing of Muslim civilians, and so on.
7- The West returned to colonize the Muslim lands militarily in 2001 and 2003. This in itself is an indication that the Ummah is still alive, otherwise why would the West fight a dead nation especially if they already control our politics, economy, media, curriculum, etc.? So what does the West fear? The West fears the return of the Khilafah. Evidences of that are:
(a) President Bush, on October 11, 2006, said that America’s presence in Iraq was to prevent the establishment of the Caliphate.
(b) Henry Kissinger, a former US Secretary of State, wrote an article published in the International Herald Tribune Newspaper on 2 April 2012, explaining that American policy towards our region was based on two pillars: maintaining oil and keeping “Israel” secure. However, he said we now added a third pillar which is to prevent the emergence of any regional power that may unite the entire region under it.
(c) Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, said that the collapse of Assad means the emergence of a Sunni state; he certainly, does not mean a Sunni state similar to Jordan or Saudi Arabia.
8- The revolutions (Arab Spring) that took place in parts of the Muslim world had several positive results including:
(a) Energized the Islamic Ummah and risen the Ummah’s confidence in itself,
(b) Broke the barrier of fear,
(c) Embodied the unity of the Ummah,
(d) Stumbled the paid scholars as well as the idea of self-reform,
(e) Deepen the realization that the problem of the Ummah lies with the rulers (i.e. how can the shade be straight if the stick is not straight),
(f) Elevated the demands of Muslims to calling for Khilafah as in Yemen, rallying for Sharia in millions as in Egypt, challenging the seculars as in Tunisia, crying out “Allah Akbar” as in Libya, and crying out “to Paradise we will go, as millions of martyrs”, “Oh Allah we have no one else except You”, and “We kneel only to Allah” as in Syria.
(g) Many Muslim scholars in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Yemen, Jordan and other countries started preaching for the second righteous Khilafah.
Thus, the Islamic character of these blessed people’s revolutions emerged, despite the fact that the media tried to blur out this character. And the Islamic awakening continues to rise.
9- Several reports were issued by the West indicating the support of the Muslim to the return of the Khilafah, such as:
(a) The report predicted that by the year 2020 Khilafah will be reestablished.
(b) A poll conducted by the Gallup Organization of America, mentioned that the majority of the Egyptian people support the ruling by Sharia and that about two thirds of Egyptians are demanding to make Sharia the only source of legislation.
(c) The Maryland report indicated that Muslims in Pakistan, Indonesia, Morocco and Egypt favor Sharia over democracy.
This is why the West used ISIS as a last resort to deviate the Muslims from calling for Khilafah. However, by the grace of Allah (swt), day by day, the Khilafah of ISIS has proven to be just words in the air.
3- As for the progress of Hizb ut Tahrir:
1- There are serious dawah carriers working for this cause. And any call will, sooner or later, become a reality as long as there are dawah carriers working for it. And Alhamdulillah the dawah of Hizb ut Tahrir has spread from Australia eastward until America westward. Moreover, Alhamdulillah, the Hizb has influenced many scholars, politicians, parties, and the public that hundreds of pages would not be enough to cover.
The vast spread of the Hizb has infuriated all the western countries, to the point that, for example, a two-day conference was held in Turkey in September 2004 entitled: “The Challenge of Hizb ut-Tahrir: Deciphering and Combating Radical Islamist Ideology” sponsored by the American Nixon Center. The results of the conference were documented in a report of 157 pages.
2- The Hizb explained all the Islamic thoughts related to the Khilafah and carrying the dawah in such a way that Muslims regain their confidence in Islam, to the point that the Communist Party in the Soviet Union asked their followers in Palestine / Jordan not to have any discussions with the Hizb for their strong reasoning.
The Hizb also distinguished itself from other Islamic groups by preparing the draft constitution to the point that one of the leaders of the Islamic Salvation Front in Algeria was once asked: If you get the authority to rule, do you have a constitution ready for application? His answer was that we have the constitution of our brothers in Hizb ut Tahrir. Hence, the Hizb is so ready for the Khilafah to the extent that even the school curriculums are ready.
3- The Hizb is steadfast on its idea and methodology, despite what its member endured of torture that sometimes led to martyrdom, while members of other parties were weak in front of the political and intellectual erosion or rather in front of stick and carrot. Moreover, the ideas and methodology of the Hizb were proven to be correct during the Arab Spring, especially regarding seeking support from the people of power, which other groups used to mock the Hizb for.
4- The Hizb succeeded in destroying the relationship between the rulers and the people. While many people defended the rulers such as Arafat, Nasser, Saddam and others, and while some top Islamic movements saw no harm in establishing friendly relations with the rulers, the Hizb was fighting the rulers politically to the degree that the presidents of Uzbekistan and Pakistan, for example, complained of Hizb ut Tahrir to Britain.
5- The Hizb held several important conferences, such as the Scholars Conference, the Economic Conference, the Media Conference, and several Women’s Conference, where the media had no choice but to cover them. This is in addition to the marches and protests that the Hizb held before all other groups are evident in the long history of the Hizb including the ones held in Jordan to support the people of Syria and Libya and the one in Indonesia in March 2017 where 3 million people gathered against the Governor of Jakarta who insulted the Quran and Islam.
6- Hizb ut Tahrir requested and still requests the support of the people of power such as in Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Iraq, Pakistan and others. The positive response of some of the people of power to the Hizb became well known and publicly mentioned by the media.
Finally, these events and situations that pave the way for the birth of the Khilafah shouldn’t keep us idle and waiting, but rather inspire, encourage and motivate those who are already working or interested to work for the establishment of the second rightly guided Khilafah. This is how the companions of Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) dealt with the glad tidings. The Prophet ﷺ predicted the opening of the city of Constantinople; The companions did not wait for fulfilling the promise of Allah’s Messenger without work, but rather tried several times to have the honor of opening the city until it was opened by Mohammad Al Fateh (the Conqueror). Similarly, Hizb ut Tahrir decided, as the companions of the Prophet ﷺ did, to keep working with the Ummah and for the sake of the Ummah, until the moment in which Allah orders for the re-establishment of the Khilafah (Caliphate) upon the method of the Prophethood comes.
فَسَيُنْغِضُونَ إِلَيْكَ رُءُوسَهُمْ وَيَقُولُونَ مَتَىٰ هُوَ قُلْ عَسَىٰ أَن يَكُونَ قَرِيبًا
“Then they will nod their heads toward you and say, “When is that?” Say, “Perhaps it will be soon.”
(17:51)
Ghassan Kaswani