The Calamity of Autocracy & Demilitarisation in the Muslim World

The strategy of de-empowerment

Militarisation of the enemy and the strict demilitarisation of the Islamist Muslims are indeed the two-prong strategy towards de-empowerment of the ummah. The ongoing down-fall of the Muslims and the current calamity in the whole Muslim World indeed owe to quick successes of such an enemy strategy. In fact, it started much earlier than the colonial occupation of the Muslim lands by the Europeans. Such an awful demilitarisation of the ummah was accomplished by the home-grown ruling despots. It shows how the enemies of Islam –whether with the Muslim names or the non-Muslims, take similar route to damage Islam. The calamity indeed started with the monopolisation of war by the enemies with the Muslim name. Such a project severely de-empowered the common Muslims and made them incapable to play their divinely assigned role as the defender of Islam. Hence, most of the individuals of the ummah thus made mere silent observers of the wars and the process of their own enslavement. The defence of the Muslim countries thus made hostage to the whims of the tyrannical selfish despots. A wolf never preys on another wolf; it only looks for a weaker target. The enemies of Islam too, hunt for the Muslim countries with demilitarised cum de-empowered people. And that job was done by the enemies inside. Thus, the de-militarisation policy of the tyrannical despots prompted the enemies to invade the Muslim lands and helped them to take over quickly almost the whole Muslim World.

In the golden days of Islam, the defence of a Muslim state has never been an exclusive domain of the rulers and their cronies. It used to be considered the most crucial issue for every Muslim citizen. According to Qur’anic doctrine, any kuffar aggression against a Muslim land makes jihad obligatory on every believer on the first day of the aggression. But how a Muslim can play such an obligatory role of jihad effectively if he is de-militarised by the ruler? It is indeed the ugliest crime that the despotic Muslim rulers have committed against Islam and the Muslim ummah. They have turned the whole Muslim World into prisons cells for their own citizens. The people in prison cells can’t defend themselves if attacked or get fire. Thus, they are made hostage in their own land by their own rulers. This is why, while the European imperialists invaded a Muslim country, its people couldn’t play any defensive role. They could only stare at them with silent awe.

In the midst of successive debacles in the Muslim World, only the Afghan Muslims could stand as an exception. Since they were not de-weaponised and de-empowered by the rulers. In fact, the per capita weapons in Afghanistan stood highest in the whole world. Hence, they could rightly fulfil the religious obligation in defending Islam and their country. This is why, the poor Afghans could show the most spectacular miracles by defeating three contemporary World Powers like the British, the Russian and the Americans. The same policy could help Hamas and Hizbullah to stand against the Israeli aggressions. The history has repeatedly showed that staying armed with effective weapons is the best deterrence against enemy offence. Keeping such readiness is indeed a Qur’anic obligation. Therefore, it is the religious duty of a Muslim ruler not only to equip his citizens with the necessary weapons and training, but also to mobilise them to the war field so that they can play their desired role against any enemy invasion. But the enemies of Islam –both native and foreign, do not like such militarisation of the common people. They know that such militarisation cum empowerment of the common Muslims makes it difficult to sustain their own selfish occupation. They want that the weapons should work only as the tool of occupation; and must not fall in the hand of common people. As if, the common Muslims have no right or obligation to engage in the defence of Islam and their own country.

In order to give sustenance to colonial occupation, the monopolisation of war by the colonialists and the de-empowerment of the Muslim citizens were used as the key strategies since day one of their occupation. The British colonialists raised more than five hundred princely states in India only to execute such a policy. The rulers of these so-called states were not allowed to have any effective army or frame any war strategy. They were used only as tool to collect revenues, keep people de-empowered, and protect the British monopoly of warfare and the British goods. They could stay in power only because of their full submission to the colonial hegemony. Now, the direct colonial rule has ended; but the same policy of monopolisation of war by the despots and the de-empowerment of people still continues. Serving the interest of the US-led global coalition and keeping the Qur’anic principle away from the affairs of governance, education, culture and judiciary still work as the parts of the same agenda. Like the Indian princely states of the British era, the imperialists have raised 22 states in the Middle East and 57 Muslim States globally. The matters of war policy, warfare and raising new political maps or flags in the Islamic World still remain in the imperialists’ hands. The presence of US-led coalition in Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Yemen, and Mali adds enough evidence to such an ongoing policy of imperialists’ hegemony.

The calamity of autocracy

Defending the frontiers of a Muslim country is no one’s monopoly. Nor is it the exclusive domain of a despot and his pet army. It is also crucial that the commanding authority of the Muslims’ defence force must not stay in the hands of the non-Muslims at any point of time –as it became the norm under the European occupation. It must stay as an all-time exclusive domain of the Muslims –as was the rule during the golden days of Islam. Most importantly, it is the religious duty, as well the solemn right of every believer. Moreover, fighting in the way of Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’la is the highest ibadah in Islam. As per prophetic narration, spending a moment on the frontier as defender of the Islamic state is more rewarding than standing the whole night in prayer. And, jihad -the greatest ibdah, does not take place in mosque or on a prayer mat; it happens only when one stands in a war face to face against the enemies in a combat zone. A man can’t be a prophet anymore. But he can attain the status of a highly esteemed shahid and can stay very near to the prophets in paradise by taking part in jihad. This is why, most of the companions of the prophet (peace be upon him) took that highly accredited route. Hence, during the golden days of Islam, there was no need of any professional army or any cantonment. Instead, the whole ummah worked as a solidified army and every Muslim was a soldier. And, the whole land of Muslim ummah grew up as the largest cantonment in history. The downfall of the Muslim indeed started at a time when such tradition of the early Muslims was forgotten and the ummah stood de-militarised. It is indeed the ugliest calamity of the autocracy that has engulfed the whole Muslim World over the centuries.

The fundamental right cum duty of a believer for defending his faith and country is usurped not only by the non-Muslim imperialist occupiers, but also by the so-called Muslim despots. A believer is thus prevented coercively from fulfilling his obligatory duty to fight against the enemies of Islam. This way, he is prevented from taking part in jihad. It is indeed one of the most catastrophic consequences of occupation by the external or internal enemies of Islam. Then a coercive prohibition is imposed on the promised route to the paradise. The Jihadi spirit and the war-skills of the common people are perceived as a serious threat to their own rule. In order to condemn such an original Islamic spirit, they even put a tag of terrorism on it. Whereas, the most terrorising forces in the whole Muslim World are not the Islamists; they are the tyrannical despots. The main concern of these despots is not to defend Islam or any Muslim country; but to give sustenance only to their own rule. They allow people to grow up only as submissive cowards, and not as death-defying fighters with the Islamic spirit. This way, the brave people are deliberately kept out of the country’s security or military corridors. This is why, the foreign invaders found it very easy to conquer the countries ruled by the most brutal dictators. The army of such despots show their skills only in quick surrender to the enemies or fleeing from the warfronts. The Arab despots’ wars in 1948, 1967 and 1973 against Israel give ample testimony to that.

For an autocratic ruler, war means a battle between two contestant ruling cliques and their pet armies. The common people are kept away from the scene. So, the history books hardly make any mention of the common people. The story of kings, amirs, shahs, sheikhs, presidents and other despots occupy the most part of it. Only the palaces of these despots could show their existence; and the dwellings of the common people show no traces of their presence. Apart from bearing the financial burden of the extravagant corrupt despots, the common citizens are given no political role and responsibility vis-à-vis governance and defence of any Muslim country. Hence, the common people are seldom equipped to do anything else in any war. Whereas, jihad against any kuffar occupation is a Qur’anic obligation on every believer. But, such teaching of Islam stand deeply hidden in the Muslim World. Even the imams of mosques and the teachers of the religious schools seldom mention such Qur’an prescriptions. The ruling despots frame laws, install courts and set media only to sanitise their oppression, suppression and even the genocidal massacres. They deploy huge team of police, prosecution and pet judges only to punish those who stand against their rule.

The autocratic despots have caused awful other calamities, too. It has turned all the value-adding institutions for the common men and women highly dysfunctional, non-functional or corruptive. Hence, the life changing social engineering institutions like schools, colleges and universities, mosques, madrasah, police academies, civil and military staff colleges are doing more damages to the ummah than any good. Instead of promoting an enabling environment for the people, they are generating a culture of de-motivation, de-moralisation and de-empowerment. As a result, the social capital stands very low in almost all of the Muslim countries. The military defeats, the endemic Army coups, the internal strife and other political calamities indeed owe to failures of these institutions. This is why, despite trillions of dollars of unearned money from petroleum, gas, and other resources, the Arab Muslims stay most powerless and defenceless in the world. The despotic rulers in the Muslim world survives only because of the powerlessness of the common people. If these autocrats were put as ruler in any of the western countries, they would have been beheaded or dethroned instantly by the empowered native people –as happened to many of their kings in the past. But, these Muslim despots –since they are the promoters of the enemy agenda, receive constant protection from the western and the eastern imperialists. These slave rulers of the Muslim World have proven their enough competence by keeping the Muslims confined in their heavily protected prison cells -called states. In absence of such servile rulers, the exploitative interest of the imperialists would have been in great peril. This is why the western powers are so strongly behinds these brutal autocrats.

Moreover, the monopolisation of war in the hand of a power-grabbing professional army also has its own catastrophic consequence. If the army betray or collapse against the enemy, there existed no second line of defence. In the Muslim history, the failure of these so-called professional armies is huge. They caused awful disasters even in recent years. The secular Army has minimal appetite to fight any war to the end. In war of 1948, 1967 and 1973 with Israel, the coalition of Arab Armies were badly defeated by the tiny Israeli Army. The whole Sinai Valley, the West Bank and the Golan Heights were quickly lost to Israel. Whereas, few thousand Hamas fighters could resist the Israeli advance under continuous air attacks in Gaza for about 50 days. The coalition of Arab Armies couldn’t withstand that even for a week. In 1971, the Pakistan Army had the same disgraceful failure in East Pakistan. India did much less bombing in Dhaka and other parts of East Pakistan than the Israeli bombing in Gaza or the US bombing on Mosul. Mosul didn’t fall in 9 months, but Pakistan Army with its 45 thousands soldiers surrendered to infidel Indian army in less than 3 weeks. These so-called professional armies could show their skills only in conquering their own countries. In Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt and many other Muslim countries they could do that for many times. The army could also grab huge number of residential areas for its officers in major cities.

The Muslim history reveals some amazing truths. All the great victories of the early Muslims against the world powers like the Roman and the Persian Empires were not the works of so-called professional armies raised in barracks or cantonments. These owe to the death-defying common Muslims. Those who defeated the British Army twice in the Afghan soil were not any professional army either, they were the Afghan common Muslims. In the last few decades, the two world powers like the USSR and the USA were also defeated in the Afghan soils by the same common people. The USA was also defeated in Vietnam by the same type of volunteer fighters. On the contrary, the defeat of the professional Bengal Army against the tiny private army of the British East India Company sets an example how they are useless to serve any Muslim cause. The Army of Nawab Sirajuddaulah –the last Muslim ruler of Bengal, had 50 thousand soldiers, 40 canons and 10 war-elephants in the battle field of Palashy. Whereas the East India Company had only three thousand soldiers under Col. Robert Clive. But the Nawab lost the war before it was started. The betrayal of Mir Zafar –the Commander of the Muslim Army caused the catastrophe. When an army is raised out of the people with no commitment to Islam, such a disaster is natural. They change the paymaster if receive a bigger promise. Due to such betrayal, the Nawab’s Army didn’t fight any real war against the enemy. No shot was fired from any canon. Thus, the British East India got an easy victory over a huge area of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa; and the fleeing Nawab was captured and killed. It was one of the fateful day not only for the Bengali Muslims but also for the Indian Muslims as a whole. The disastrous consequence of the Muslim ummah indeed started from there. When the common people are de-empowered and kept out of the fateful scene such terrible consequence is the most common outcome.