Jazib Mehmood, Ghana
We’ve all seen the hypocrisy yet again. While Gaza is being levelled to the ground and plans for “New Gaza” are being unveiled at Davos, there’s an outcry when Trump decides Greenland is his to take. When it comes to Gaza, a “Board of Peace” is set up to decide the fate of a people and their land, but when it comes to Greenland, only they have the right to decide.
This is nothing new. Earlier in 2022, when Russia attacked Ukraine, there were frank admissions that the war was deplorable because the victims of Ukraine were not like the victims of Iraq, Afghanistan or other countries, whose deaths didn’t matter as much.
This is probably why the gaslit people of the world were rather stunned to hear Mark Carney recognise that justice was not applied proportionally. In his rather candid speech at Davos, he admitted:
“We knew the story of the international rules-based order was partially false that the strongest would exempt themselves when convenient, that trade rules were enforced asymmetrically. And we knew that international law applied with varying rigour depending on the identity of the accused or the victim.”
The Canadian Prime Minister’s admission that race and wealth have always determined where the law is applied is no secret to the rest of the world. This is perhaps why we can’t really be surprised when The New York Times reports that Danes are feeling “betrayed” and “bewildered” that Trump is subjecting them to this fate when Danish soldiers died in Iraq and Afghanistan fighting America’s wars. What this really means, as one journalist colloquially put it, is “We helped you kill Arabs and Muslims on the other side of the planet. Why are you being like this, master?”
Macron’s private message to Trump was arguably much more distasteful. When Trump refused to budge from his position on Greenland, the French president texted him: “My friend, we are totally in line on Syria. We can do great things on Iran. I do not understand what you are doing on Greenland.”
Translation: We support you on whatever injustices you committed in Syria. We can do the same in Iran. But let’s not bring those rules over here.
What really blows my mind is how the Holy Quran speaks of this exact set of circumstances, which were to occur in the Latter Days. Allah the Almighty talks about the fleeting nature of time, and states in the next verse:
إِنَّ الْإِنْسَانَ لَفِي خُسْرٍ
“Surely, man is in [a state of] loss.” (Surah al-Asr, Ch.103: V.3)
Hazrat Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmud Ahmadra has written a detailed commentary on these verses. He has described the different meanings of “insan” (human) that can be applied here. At one instance, he writes about the ruling class of the West:
“Thus, now that the second advent of the Holy Prophetsa has taken place in the person of the Promised Messiahas, in this era too, there exist nations who think that they alone are ‘human.’
“Hence, when they use the word ‘humanitarian,’ what they mean is that the people of Europe should not be harsh toward the people of Europe, or that the people of America should not be harsh toward the people of America – beyond that, it carries no other meaning for them.
“Similarly, when they raise slogans of liberty and equality, by that ‘liberty and freedom,’ they only mean that the people of the West should have freedom. […] So [Allah] says that the time will come again when one class of the world, considering itself to be ‘human,’ will declare the rest of the world to be contemptible.” (Tafsir-e-Kabir, 2023, Vol. 14, p. 227)
At such a time, the Holy Quran informs us that these individuals are ultimately in a state of loss. Huzoorra explains that this verse tells us that, “these very people – who declare themselves to be ‘human’ and exclude others from the circle of humanity – are rushing along the path of ruin and destruction.” (Ibid., p. 221)
When Trump brazenly took out Maduro in Venezuela, most Western countries supported this action – an action that clearly went against international law. This is no new step. Evidently, the only time Europe protests is when the same rules which are applied elsewhere are applied at home.
Such actions of wanton injustice bear grave consequences. This is exactly what Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmadaa, Khalifatul Masih V, warned leaders in his address at Capitol Hill in 2012. He noted that a division exists between the powerful nations and the weaker nations in the world today. This division, he said, causes unrest, which would remain and ultimately spread. The cruelty and injustice they perpetrate elsewhere could come to their own doorsteps.
He advised that the Holy Quran teaches justice as a foundational principle for peace to prevail in the world. He stated: “Powerful and rich countries should not usurp the rights of the poor and weaker countries in an effort to preserve their own rights, and nor should they deal with the poorer nations in an unjust fashion.” (World Crisis and the Pathway to Peace, 2016, p. 88)
He succinctly stated:
“Thus, Islam has drawn our attention to various means for peace. It requires absolute justice. It requires truthful testimony to always be given. It requires that our glances are not cast enviously in the direction of the wealth of others. It requires that the developed nations put aside their vested interests, and instead help and serve the less developed and poorer nations with a truly selfless attitude and spirit. If all of these factors are observed, then true peace will be established.” (Ibid., p. 89)
The world today fails to understand that without turning to God, it cannot succeed in establishing peace. The majority of the people in the world today know that we are heading towards a path of destruction, but this knowledge has done them no good.
But the Holy Quran, after declaring “man” to be in a state of loss, also provides the solution. Allah has stated in the next verse: “Except those who believe and do good works, and exhort one another to [accept] truth, and exhort one another to be steadfast.” (Surah al-Asr, Ch.103: V.4)
This is why Huzooraa keeps reminding us that the only path to save ourselves and the world from destruction is to believe in Allah, perform righteous deeds at their appropriate time and place, and be just in our speech and actions. May Allah enable us and the world to do so. Amin!