God repeatedly warns us in the Qur'an by utilizing a phrase that should mean a great deal to all of us, a phrase that should be embedded in our very consciousness. God warns us against causing “corruption on earth.” God tells us in Surah al-Rum that we will always find human beings corrupting existence on earth.
[Since they have become oblivious of God,] corruption has appeared on land and in the sea as an outcome of what men's hands have wrought: and so He will let them taste [the evil of] some of their doings, so that they might return (to the right path] (Q 30:41).
In Surah al-Rum, God reminds us that these patterns of corruption are clear evidence of what people's hands have sowed and what people themselves have earned. God then tells us elsewhere, in Surah Hud, that this corruption only becomes meaningful if this corruption and suffering become a path for people to remember and return to God.
BUT, ALAS, among those generations [whom We destroyed] before your time there were no people endowed with any virtue - [people] who would speak out against the [spread of] corruption on earth - except the few of them whom We saved [because of their righteousness], whereas those who were bent on evildoing only pursued pleasures which corrupted their whole being, and so lost themselves in sinning. (Q 11: 116)
In Surah Hud, God reminds us of the reality that what maintains the balance of existence, what allows for life to persist, and what allows for what we commonly refer to as social life or civil life is a minority of people who become the living conscience of humanity. These are the people who “speak out against the corruption on earth.” It is this small minority that always battles evil, stands up to evil, and resists evil.
What follows in Surah Hud is fascinating. God tells us that the unjust, which the context clearly shows is the majority, always follow the vain and those who “only pursued pleasures.” Their very criminality is their indulgence. It is not that they are evil in a caricatured, Hollywood sense. They are not evil folk who laugh maniacally and intend to do maniacal things. No, the unjust majority are unjust because of their indulgences. They have grown accustomed to taking care of themselves. They have grown accustomed to thinking of their own problems and their own comforts. That is the majority. The majority knows that there is evil and corruption on earth, but they think that if they simply ignore it and focus on their own lives, everything will be okay. In reality, their neglect is nothing short of criminal because the very persistence of life on earth, of any measure of civility, morality, ethics, goodness, and beauty, relies on the small minority that dedicates itself to warding off evil, fighting evil, and insisting on a firm footing in goodness. The criminality of the majority is that they are leeches and free riders. They enjoy the fruits of the minority that sacrifices everything for life to be maintained and for existence to persist.
The extent to which Muslims need the lessons of their Qur’an is remarkable. If only they would re-educate themselves, as Muslims, and commit themselves all over again as Muslims.
Once again, the United States and Britain have bombed, destroyed, and killed. This time, the target was Muslims in Yemen. Of course, we did not need to go through the facade of first going to the UN Security Council. When the U.S. played a pioneering role in drafting and establishing the UN Charter, the U.S. added the rule that a nation cannot use violence as a form of self-help. According to the rules established by the U.S. and Britain in the Charter, nations are supposed to take issues to the Security Council, and the Security Council is supposed to act either in an advisory capacity or in a compulsory capacity. The rules of the game that the U.S. and Britain established is that a nation must complain to the Security Council about a breach of peace, or, in Islamic terms, a “corruption on earth.” They must first make an argument that this breach of peace represents a threat to world peace, and the Security Council can then either authorize or not authorize military action.
Yet again, for the millionth time, the U.S., Britain, and all the countries that supported them could not be bothered by the rules of the game they established. They did not bother going to the Security Council. They did not bother having any significant or insignificant discussions in the Security Council. They did not bother to present any evidence. They did not bother with any legalities, and they directly resorted to violence, yet again against a Muslim state. Of course, the U.S. and Britain can argue, "Well, these Yemenis are attacking commerce, and that is a threat to the world system." In other words, their argument is that the Yemenis are causing “corruption on earth,” and that they have appointed themselves as those who fight corruption on earth, so that is why they bombed Yemen.
It is interesting, however, because the Yemenis have consistently argued that they are not interested in interrupting world trade or the freedom of transportation and movement in the world. They only target ships that are Israeli, carrying the Israeli flag, or carrying merchandise to Israel, and their argument is also quite straightforward: "Israel is engaging in genocide in Gaza, and we will do everything possible to make this genocide stop." The U.S. did not bother with a presentation of evidence. The U.S. did not bother with arguments made by various countries, like Russia or China, at the Security Council. The U.S. did not even bother allowing the Yemeni representative to speak for himself in the United Nations. "We are not interested in what the Yemenis have to say. What we are interested in is, how dare you threaten the movement of merchandise to and from Israel? In retaliation, we will bomb you and then claim self-defense."
Any international lawyer or law professor knows that the self-defense argument offered by the U.S. and Britain is nonsense. That is not how self-defense works. This has nothing to do with the self-defense doctrine recognized by the UN Charter. Lest we forget, it was not that long ago when the U.S. itself was doing what the Yemenis did in the Persian Gulf. Some may remember when the U.S. appointed itself the policeman of the Persian Gulf and stopped, searched, and sometimes attacked ships to and from Iran. At that time, the U.S. claimed, "We have an absolute right to interfere with the shipping to and from an outlaw country. If anyone dares tell us otherwise, we will fight them. We will destroy them. We will make them disappear."
Apparently, according to the logic of the international system that we work in, the U.S.has the right to interfere with shipments to and from Cuba, Nicaragua, and Iran. But if anyone dares to interfere with shipping to or from Israel to end a genocide, the U.S. will recognize no such right. Not only that, but the U.S. will attack them and use violence against them. The U.S. will do what Israel is doing right now, and what they did when they invaded Iraq and Afghanistan. The U.S. will say, “The rules of the game do not matter. We will talk about international law when we want to say that Iran, North Korea, Cuba, or Venezuela is an outlaw, but international law is entirely irrelevant when it comes to what we want to do.”
“Corruption on earth.” It is truly a fascinating concept.
For me, there is nothing new about the hypocrisy of colonial states building an international order and then putting it aside whenever they want to persist in their colonial aims. But what struck me about the bombardment of Yemen is something else. Western countries, led by the U.S., in the last 20 years or so, have made it a habit to use violence against Muslim populations. Look around the world, and tell me anywhere in the world, against any people in the world, where the U.S. uses violence with absolute impunity, except against Muslims. Violence against Muslims has become a ploy so institutionalized and embedded that it has become part and parcel of the paradigms of Islamophobia,which is easily exported to and utilized by all types of people around the world, from Burma to China to India; the U.S., accompanied by Israel, has institutionalized the idea of violence against Muslims in the world as legitimate, reasonable, and meaningful. “We do not need to go to the Security Council if we are using violence against Muslims. We do not need to present evidence. We do not need to engage in arguments.” But pause and think of something else.
We notice, time and again, the West acting like a single Ummah. If one member of the West is threatened, the entire West reacts as if a single body, precisely like the Prophet encouraged us to do. The West is the fulfillment of our Prophet's description of an Ummah. They are but a single body. Canada knows the U.S. has no legal right to bomb Yemen, but it does not matter because they act like a single body. It is the same with France. Britain has not deviated from American policy once since the 1960s. Britain always has America’s back, so to speak. Whatever America decides, Britain is there to support its buddy. A single Ummah, a single people. The languages do not matter, the religions do not matter, nothing matters except a single strategic goal of dominating the world in the name of the West, whatever the West is.
What is the lesson affirmed and confirmed for Muslims? The lesson is remarkable and absolutely repetitive, and it has been the same since the days of colonialism. "We get to act as a single Ummah. We get to define ‘corruption on earth’ and respond to it. But you, Muslims, do not even dare think to act like a single Ummah. We can slaughter the people of Gaza and the only option that is open to you, Muslims, is to watch, talk about international law, and talk about peace with us. India can slaughter the people of Kashmir and you, Muslims, better not dare act as a single Ummah."
The reason the U.S. and Britain bombed Yemen is because Yemen set a very dangerous precedent. Yemen was reacting to the genocide in Gaza in a way that reminds us of the idea of an Ummah. “We hurt for the people of Gaza. If you attack the people of Gaza, you are attacking us, so we will take action.” The U.S. and its imperial friends say, "Do not even dare. A united Muslim Ummah? Dream on. You are not allowed." But the ironies do not stop here. The U.S. went out of its way to tell the world that Bahrain, ostensibly a Muslim country, helped in the bombing of Yemen. The Saudis did what they have always done since World War II: in public, they expressed concern; in private, they offered all the help the U.S. wanted. As the U.S. was bombing Yemen, Antony Blinken even told the media, "I have had private conversations with Muslim leaders, and nothing that has happened in Gaza or in Yemen is an obstacle to the normalization of relations with Israel. I just came from talking to the Emiratis, the Saudis, the Egyptians, the Moroccans, the Sudanese, and they all assure me that the genocide is not going to hamper the Abraham Accords."
It is remarkable. We keep yapping on about meaningless concepts like the two-state solution, but it does not exist anymore. We can keep talking for the next hundred years about whether Israel would ever allow for a Palestinian state. Meanwhile, we move ahead with the Abraham Accords and the normalization of relations between Arab and Muslim countries and Israel. We continue to reward Israel for its genocide. The sad thing is that I completely believe Blinken when he says that these countries are eager to normalize relations with Israel, and that neither the genocide nor the bombing of Yemen matters.
Shall we add to the irony? Some of the worst massacres committed against Palestinians in Gaza are by Indian soldiers serving in the Israeli army. Indian Hindu nationalists are volunteering to fight in the Israeli army for the joy of killing Muslims. Not a single Muslim country is capable of sending volunteers to fight the Israelis. They would not ever dare, but India has. India has opened the doors to volunteering, and Hindu nationalists are volunteering to go fight in Gaza.
In a horrible video that some of you might have seen, Indian soldiers serving in the Israeli army, after having killed a family, including small Palestinian children, are laughing and joking as they lay in the bed of the dead Palestinian children. They are mocking the dead Palestinians. This is part of what Netanyahu referred to as “the most moral army in the world.” But what blows one’s mind is that Hindu nationalists openly celebrate what Israel is doing to Palestinians. They are loudly proclaiming, "Israel is giving us lessons in ethnic cleansing, because this is precisely what we are going to do to Muslims in Kashmir. Thank you, Israel, for sharing intelligence with us. Thank you for the military cooperation. We will send Hindu fanatics to fight side-by-side, ready to rape and murder, because this is what we intend to do to Muslims.”
If you want to learn more about this, just watch CJ Werleman, who exposes much of this as he covers in detail the collusion between Israel and India as India plans the next genocide against Muslims. In a further sickening twist, one of the most Islamophobic individuals on the face of this earth is an Indian minister, a woman named Smriti Zubin Irani, who is the Minister of Women and Child Development in India. She is on record openly calling for a genocide against Muslims. As Yemen is bombed and as Antony Blinken tells the world that the Abraham Accords are safe and secure, what happened with Smriti Zubin Irani? She was welcomed by Mohammed bin Salman in Saudi Arabia. Not only does she tweet about her visit to Saudi Arabia, but she brags that MBS allowed her to go to Medina and be filmed outside the Prophet's mosque in Medina. Amazing. Yemen is being bombed, a genocide is going on Palestine, India is gearing up for a genocide in Kashmir, and what does our great Muslim “Guardian of the Two Holy Sites” do? Not just assure Antony Blinken that nothing has changed, but also invite an extremist Indian nationalist to Medina.
Meanwhile, what are Muslims busy with? Muslims choose this time to talk about, "Wait, but the Houthis are Shi'a, they are Zaydi. We do not care if they support Palestine." We are told that their support for Palestine; their putting their lives on the line; their allowing themselves to be killed is just part of a Shi'a conspiracy to dominate the world. They are seen as agents of Iran, which is seen as “evil” and worse than Israel itself. “We do not care if Hezbollah keeps attacking Israel and losing martyrs every day.” At least Hezbollah is doing something. Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, what are they doing? It is apparently all an act. “The Shi'a, once again, are launching a conspiracy to kill Sunni Islam.” It is true that Sunni Islam produced Daesh and that Daesh never shot a single bullet against the Israeli occupation, and it is true that Sunni Daesh was only interested in butchering Muslims, but somehow, it is Iran and the Shi'a who are the real danger to our existence.
A friend showed me a journal called the Sahih which is distributed in Khalil, Palestine. The journal does nothing but ignite sectarian hate among Muslims. The journal is dedicated to telling Sunni Muslims that Hamas is pro-Shi'a. “Do not be impressed by Hamas' resistance. Do not even sympathize with Hamas. Do not sympathize with Hezbollah, and do not sympathize with the Houthis, because they are all Shi'a. Remember, Sunni Muslims, there is no worse enemy than the Shi'a. They have their own secret Qur'an, trust us.” The same people responsible for this are responsible for another very different form of distribution in Ramallah: pornography. Studies have shown that pornography makes men less religious, creates a problem in peoples’ relationships with God, makes people have crises of faith, and makes people pray less and think of things like martyrdom less. So, the Israelis took over Palestinian channels in Khalil and broadcasted pornography to be consumed by Palestinians.
So, lesson number one is “hate the Shi'a.” Lesson number two is “pay attention to pornography.” And lesson number three is to “obey the rulers.” Obey Sisi of Egypt, obey MBS, and obey MBZ. I heard a most fascinating lecture on Israeli television by a former Director of the Mossad. He lays out, in very clear term, that the form of Islam the UAE, the Saudis, and the Egyptians want is the same Islam that Israel wants. He says, "I have traveled wide in the Muslim world. I have met all these leaders, and you know what? We are all agreed on the form of Islam that we want. We want a Jami and a Madkhali Islam." Though he did not say so, what he wants is a Hamza Yusuf Islam. For that was, in effect, what he was describing.
He wants an Islam that loves to talk about dead scholars, piety, and the Sunna; an Islam that loves to put on shows of beards, robes, and garbs; but also an Islam that is viciously sectarian and hates the Shi'a with a passion. He wants an Islam that says, "Whatever the ruler says, goes," because to them, the ruler is God's shadow on earth. So, do not ever defy the ruler, even if the ruler brings a Hindu genocidal nationalist to the heart of Medina. Remember that Trump, Sisi, and the King of Saudi Arabia have already created a center for this Islam, an institution with a huge budget, called Markaz al-Etidal. Remember this, for Markaz al-Etidal is going to play a huge role in the coming years. Markaz al-Etidal is funded by millions of dollars. Remember the famous picture with Trump, the King of Saudi Arabia, and Sisi; all with their hands on a globe. That was taken at the opening of Markaz al-Etidal.
Etidal means “moderation” in Arabic, and yet Markaz al-Etidal does not teach moderation when it comes to the Shi'a. When it comes to the Shi'a, Markaz al-Etidal is affirmatively homicidal. To them, the only good Shi'a is a dead Shi'a. That is Markaz al-Etidal.
But what does Markaz al-Etidal do? It talks about the evils of Hamas and resistance, and the goodness of “true” scholars like Bin Bayyah, Hamza Yusuf's teacher. It talks about the evils of Yusuf Qaradawi, the evils of Salman Ouda, the evils of all the scholars who are rotting in prison, all the while it talks about how wonderful, learned, and enlightened are those who teach obedience. According to Markaz al-Etidal, Muslims should not care if Israel transfers Palestinians out of Gaza or the West Bank. In fact, Muslims should make the sacrifice so that Israelis can feel safe and secure. Muslims should embrace the Israelis with open arms. According to them, the Abraham Accords is God's true will on earth, and the resistance of Hamas is not. I am not worried about the literature of Markaz al-Etidal, but I am worried about the millions of dollars that come from Markaz al-Etidal to sponsor pseudo-scholars and pseudo-imams everywhere in the U.S., France, and Britain.
Look around. Was it a Muslim nation that brought the case before the International Court of Justice? No, it was South Africa. Muslims are busy talking about how evil the Shi'a are and how evil Iran is. The Persian people have been part of this region for thousands of years, and we are talking as if somehow, the Persians came from a foreign planet. They have been in this region as long as the Arabs and Egyptians, and longer than the Israelis. We better figure out a way to coexist in a single Ummah, otherwise we will remain a laughingstock to our enemy. Otherwise, genocides will continue against Muslims, decade after decade. Otherwise non-Muslim countries, like South Africa, will be the only ones to vindicate the rights of Muslims. What is the collective effect of all this on the Muslim psyche, on the feeling of being a defeated and broken people?
I read a news item that the Israeli Zionist organizations have marked $100 million to be spent in this coming election. I have read articles about an important two-volume book titled, One Nation Under Blackmail, that details how the man described as “Israel's super spy,” Robert Maxwell, and his daughter, Ghislaine Maxwell, along with the pedophile, Jeffrey Epstein, dedicated their efforts to creating files of sexual improprieties to blackmail world leaders, offering them the most beautiful girls, who were often underage, to then blackmail them for Israel's best interest.
There is a book called Return to Mecca by a man named Dennis Avi Lipkin. Lipkin is an U.S. citizen and an Israeli fanatic who says that Israel should not just be “Eretz Israel” from the Nile to the Euphrates. Rather, the only way Israel can be safe, he says, is if, in due time, they occupy Mecca and Medina itself. Lipkin has published books and created organizations in Israel. He has given lectures attended by hundreds and thousands. His books are bestsellers because Israelis, unlike Muslims, support their authors. We cannot get a Muslim to just spend $10 or $20 in supporting a book, but Lipkin is supported by millions of dollars.
I remember reading in the diaries of Theodor Herzl his complaints about how his Zionist dream was such an outlier, and how Jews would always ignore him and consider him a crazy dreamer. Lipkin, in his writings, says the same thing. "Yes, I know that right now, the majority of Zionists do not buy the idea that the only way we can truly be safe in this region is to embrace the idea of becoming a superpower." Lipkin says as much in a book that you can easily buy and read. He goes on to say, "We know that these are paper armies. We can defeat the Egyptian army in two days; they are corrupt to the core. They do not even know how to use the weapons they own. The thing they worry about most is sending their kids to school and filling their bellies. We know this about the Egyptians, Jordanians, and Syrians. In due time, we should overrun all this territory and end the cancer of Islam once and for all."
“The cancer of Islam.” Does that remind you of anything? It is the same thing we hear from Hindu nationalists. It is the same thing we heard from Serbian fanatics and war criminals as they opened the rape camps of Bosnia. It is the same thing we heard from the Burmese military as it slaughtered thousands of Rohingya. It is the same thing we hear from Chinese officials as they harvest the organs of Muslims.
Anyone who indulges in a single moment of Shi'a-Sunni rhetoric is a traitor to God and His Prophet. Anyone who indulges in a single moment of listening to someone who tells you to obey criminal rulers is a traitor. Anyone who does not understand that the idea of Muslims as a cancer is a common element in every genocide in this world, from India to China to Burma, is a traitor to God and the Prophet. You are not a brother. You are not a sister. You are part of the “corruption of the earth.” You are part of those criminals who tolerate “corruption on earth” through their indulgences, vanities, and ignorance (Q 11:116). May God have mercy on us all.