The Qatar Blockade – Who Should We Support?

On June 5th, many Gulf (GCC) countries – led by Saudi Arabia – cut ties with Qatar. This includes banning all travel by land, air, and sea, as well as reduced economic ties, and expulsion of all Qatari citizens from the GCC countries participating in the blockade.

This attack can have a significant impact on Qatar, who relies on its Gulf neighbors for most of its food and supplies. There are also an estimated 6,000 families in GCC countries where one spouse is a Qatari national, and will therefore be forced to leave.

The GCC nations participating in this blockade accuse Qatar of funding terrorism, promoting regional instability through its media apparatus Al-Jazeera, and siding with Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood against the United States. Qatar has denied these claims, asserted its close relationship with the United States, and distanced itself from Iran. Turkey has seemingly stood on Qatar’s side in the standoff.

The Ummah’s response

Many in the Ummah are rightfully disturbed by the notion of creating further disunity in the Muslim lands. Muslims remember a time when our lands were united under the rule of Islam, and are correct to point out how far of a departure this blockade is. Muslims are correct to point out that the real cause of militant violence is the terror inflicted upon our Ummah by the merciless foreign policy of colonial nations, and the real cause of the instability in the Muslim lands is the interference by the Capitalist nations and their local loyal puppets.

Thus, it is understandable that some in the Ummah feel the need to side with Turkey and Qatar against the GCC nations. Muslims realize that Saudi Arabia had recently hosted Donald Trump, and are quick to make the connection between this blockade and US meddling. Siding with Qatar is therefore seen as siding against a foreign plot to further weaken our Ummah, and as siding with the Palestinian resistance in the form of Hamas, and as siding with Islam as a political force.

However, allying ourselves with a particular political entity is a serious matter in Islam, and we should not fall prey to devious and deceptive political ploys.

Allah (swt) reminds us in His Book:

“Help one another Birr (good deeds) and Taqwa (consciousness of the commands of Allah), and do not help one another in sin and transgression. And fear Allah; truly, Allah is severe in punishment” [5:2]

Does standing with Qatar helps this Ummah achieve Birr and Taqwa? Or does it inadvertently make us guilty of supporting sin and transgression?

The reality of modern-day political alliances
Under the Capitalist order under which we live, alliances are not built on the aforementioned Islamic standard of achieving Taqwa; rather, Capitalist politics are built on the premise of achieving the most material benefit regardless of the cost or consequences. Principles are compromised and the well-being of entire nations is bartered away for the material interest of the Mala’ (the ruling elite).

The US government will ally with the French to lay waste to Vietnam; the Kenyan government will ally with the Ethiopians to bring destruction to Somalia; and the Canadian government will arm the Saudis to aid them in their annihilation of Yemen.

And are Turkey and Qatar really any different? Qatar is the nerve center of all US airstrike operations in the Arab world, due to its eager hosting of the US Central Command at its Al-Udeid Air Base. Turkey is also hosting American airplanes in its Incirlik Air Base. Both countries’ leaders are complicit in the bloodied plunder of our lands at the hands of the US war machine.

The Turkish people have been highly vocal regarding their desire to be ruled by Islam. They have marched through the streets and used their own bodies to shield their land from being taken over by a secular coup. They have offered their wealth and homes to the millions of their brothers and sisters fleeing from Assad’s butchery in Syria, and they have been adamant in their support of Palestine. Yet to what end has Erdogan used this enthusiasm?

It is one thing to make a good speech and extend verbal sympathies to Muslim causes; Erdogan has done this well. But all those words have neither value nor meaning if they are followed with treacherous actions, such as standing by and doing nothing as Aleppo falls, or normalizing relations with the Zionist entity, or seeking a working relationship with the Russians as they wreak havoc on Syria, or allying with NATO and the US army.

Politics in Islam

In order to rise above the cruel and dishonest power brokering that is at the core of the Capitalist political order, we – as a community – must rise above the narrow definition of politics imposed upon us by the Capitalist nations, and embrace the Islamic political worldview.

According to Islam, politics is defined as the management the public affairs of the people, as RasulAllah (saw) said:

“Bani Isra’eel used to have their political affairs managed by the Prophets; every time a Prophet died, another was sent after him. But there will be no Prophet after me, rather there will be Khulafaa, and they will number many.” [Al-Bukhari]

Allah (swt) has commanded us to manage our political affairs according to His commands and prohibitions. Allah (swt) is the Law-Giver, and He (swt) is the only One who is qualified to prescribe solutions to human problems, as He is the Designer of man and all of the systems of life.

According to the commands of Allah (swt), political leaders must only be chosen based on their understanding and dedication to the commands of Allah (swt), and they must fulfill their duty of applying only the systems of Islam on Muslims and non-Muslims alike who choose to live under Islamic rule. These leaders are called Khulafaa (plural of Khaleefah), and they are followed and obeyed as long as they fulfill their duty to implement Islam, and held accountable if they do not.

This Islamic system of governance is based on a clear outline of rights and responsibilities, with a focus on the responsibilities. Political allegiances – which are a part of political actions – are thus viewed within this framework.

Redefining Hikmah (wisdom)
Those who seek to justify the corrupt Muslim leaders will often claim that political leaders need to show “Hikmah” in how they engage with political issues. Their argument is that compromising on our principles in order to achieve some material gain is justified, since this material gain will ultimately aid the Muslims in the end.

Based on this logic, they claim that if Turkey allies with NATO, that will eventually help them liberate Palestine; or if Saudi Arabia decimates Yemen, that will enable them to defeat the threat of sectarian conflict.

This logic is flawed for a simple reason: It contradicts the fact that we are bound by the commands and prohibitions of Allah (swt) in this world. Allah (swt) tells us:

“It is not for a believing man or woman, if Allah and His Messenger have decreed a matter, to have any option in the matter. And whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger has indeed strayed in a plain error” [33:36]

This makes it clear that our own political calculations and our perceptions of benefit and harm must not have any bearing on our decisions if Allah (swt) has already revealed a ruling on the matter. Allah’s commands are absolute, and departing from them for whatever reason – however well intentioned – is misguidance. Allah (swt) said:

“And whoever turns away from my reminder/guidance, for him is a life of hardship.” [20:124]

And history has proven that we have gained nothing but pain and failure due to our departure from the political solutions of Allah (swt). This Ummah has suffered unIslamic leadership for the past century, and what victories have we witnessed? Which lands have been liberated due to it? What strong or independent Muslim leadership has emerged because of it?

This “Hikmah” of abandoning the true Hikmah of Allah (swt) has brought us nothing but ruin. The glory of this Ummah has only ever been achieved through the Wisdom of the guidance of Allah (swt). This Ummah needs leaders like Umar Al-Farooq and Salahuddin Al-Ayubi – men who refuse to compromise on the implementation of Islam – not spineless puppets who seek nothing more than to please their Western masters.

The way forward – enjoining good and forbidding evil

The Ummah is justified in its desire to stand with a political authority that reflects our deeply held convictions, but neither Turkey and Qatar, nor the UAE and Saudi Arabia are such an authority. The Ummah is also justified in standing against any blockades against any members of our Ummah.
If the Ummah must stand, let it stand to raise the call to the return of Islam as a way of life, through the establishment of the Khilafah in the Muslim lands – a political authority that holds Allah (swt) as its sovereign Legislator.

It is the Khilafah that will form its allegiances upon the enjoining of good and forbidding of evil, and will dismantle the corrupt political order that infests the Muslim lands, free the Muslims from the shackles of the colonialist Capitalists. It is the Khilafah that will erase these artificial borders, unite the Ummah, and prevent such blockades on Muslims – whether they are living in Qatar, Syria, Yemen, Gaza, or anywhere else.

Only the Khilafah state can liberate mankind – Muslim and non-Muslim – from the darkness of man’s solutions, and bring them into the Light of the Hikma of Allah (swt). May Allah (swt) give us His victory to re-establish it soon.