By Rafiq Tasal
For nearly fourteen centuries, from the emergence of Islam onward, Muslims continuously maintained caliphates, emirates, and Islamic systems as ruling authorities on earth. During this period, eras of development emerged in human languages, customs, culture, civilization, and the advancement of the conveniences of life. Muslims abolished forms of slavery and subjugation that had arisen within societies due to aristocratic classes, powerful elites, and certain religious systems. As a result, the canopy of humanity, human dignity, and moral values expanded and flourished across the earth.
The eras of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, the Umayyad, Abbasid, and Ottoman Caliphates are examples that established principles and pathways of humanity, morality, and human dignity in a world dominated by the followers of falsehood. During this historical process, Muslims understood the various needs of human life and presented them to the world in the form of discoveries and inventions, which to this day remain sources of inspiration and emulation for both Muslim and non-Muslim nations.
The question is this: for nearly a century, no Islamic Caliphate, Emirate, or Islamic system had ruled over the lands of the Muslims. Today, with the emergence of the Islamic Emirate on Afghan soil, what have been its negative effects upon the non-Muslim world, its positive effects upon Muslims, and, in general, what message does it convey?
When, about a century ago, the Islamic lands and states were fragmented and occupied, the Muslim world was divided on the basis of borders, languages, sects, and various political ideologies. The aim of the Jewish occupiers and their allies was to separate religion from politics and to confine Islam to the sphere of individual worship and personal judgment. This situation continued for nearly a century.
In order to preserve this state of affairs, Jews, Christians, and other non-Muslim powers united in such a way that they established political, intellectual, economic, and military organizations to confront their opponents, such as NATO and the United Nations, with the objective of preventing the revival of that axis of Muslim unity and cohesion represented by the Islamic Caliphate, Emirate, and Islamic system.
Praise be to Allah, and again praise be to Allah, as a result of a twenty-year struggle whose objective was the establishment of the religion of Allah and the rule of Islamic law, the Islamic Emirate came to power following the defeat of the United States, NATO, and their allies and their withdrawal from Afghanistan, and it made Sharia-based governance part of religion.
This very victory and honor compelled the non-Muslim world, after suffering military and political defeat, to resort to economic sanctions and pressure. These are pressures similar to those endured by Muslims in the past during events such as the boycott and siege of Shaʿb Abi Talib, and today we are experiencing them as well. However, under the present circumstances, these sanctions also create challenges for those imposing them, because they must either prove their claims of humanitarianism and non-interference to be false, or face internal disagreements and weaknesses among themselves.
Today, praise be to Allah, our law is the Sharia revealed by Allah Almighty, and the Islamic Emirate, whose establishment had been considered a crime for a hundred years, has once again emerged and been firmly established. The most important point is that the emergence of the Islamic Emirate has conveyed to Muslims the message that liberation from Western and non-Muslim occupation is possible. This emergence also demonstrates that the strength and independence of Muslims are impossible to achieve under the shadow of foreign occupation. Under the political and intellectual influence of the West and disbelief, neither the complete implementation of religion nor genuine political, economic, and military progress is possible.
For this reason, with the emergence of the Emirate, international reactions and concerns intensified immediately, because they understood that it would awaken Muslims and strengthen the spirit of resistance and independence against living under occupation. InshaAllah, the land of Afghanistan and the ruling Islamic Emirate will become the call to prayer of Bilal for the Islamic Ummah. This call will bring an end to the long, dark night deprived of the light of dawn. Today, when we observe the condition of Muslims, signs of awakening are becoming more visible with each passing day in place of heedlessness. The sense of belonging to the Ummah is beginning to emerge in place of attachment to nation, language, and borders. May Allah Almighty make the Islamic Emirate a means of honor, unity, and victory for the Muslims.
