Table of Contents

The Author

1. Background

1.1 The idea for this paper came about in 2019, as a result of discussions with friends and supporters who were receptive to ideas that were discussed in private, about the current predicament of Muslims globally; and possible actions/solutions to address them, and stressing the importance of working on them. They have encouraged me to write this paper and start looking at positive ideas and thinking to address the situation in practical terms.

1.2 After an initial briefing paper was prepared outlining my thoughts in August 2019, an action plan was prepared. The briefing paper was shared with selected individuals who were asked to provide some feedback and ideas.

1.3 A first draft paper was published in October 2019 and again sent to selected individuals for comments and thoughts. Some of those individuals took time out to respond with particularly useful comments.

1.4 Further discussion on related topics was instigated on social media and messenger groups to get people’s thoughts on issues, often without people knowing, to gauge thinking and reactions. This was supplemented by research thinking and further discussion.

1.5 One of the comments on the draft paper was that it needed to be more ambitious and needed a UK-based product as its outcome to progress its recommendations. Initially the thinking was that the paper would be launched around March/April of this year, after visiting individuals overseas in different countries to develop it further. However due to the COVID-19 outbreak this was not possible.

1.6 As a result of the pandemic crisis, it was decided that the end product, a new think tank devoted to unification of the Muslim world, the Ayaan Institute, should be launched at around the same time as the paper, and it should continue to be developed over time.

1.7 This working paper is a summary of the thinking discussed to date with some key issues and areas for development. The paper also incorporates my own thinking, based on decades of practical expertise of social, human, political organisation /management, working with local government on social/economic policy, around communities and organisational/political development. My experience of being involved in Islamic activism for over 25 years, during which I have studied Islamic and Jihad movements extensively, has also provided useful background understanding of the issues involved and direction needed.

1.8 In this paper, I have chosen to use the word Unification rather than Unity. Unity is an end goal, whereas unification is more about a process toward attaining the end condition.

1.9 With commitment from friends and supporters, the think tank is being launched. This includes our website which will be rich with fresh content with an aim to develop it over the coming years. In due course, we aim to develop an Advisory Group and further build our team of researchers. Once people have read the paper and wish to be part of our vision of working toward a Muslim world that is united, independent, prosperous, and strong, more will be invited to work with us.

1.10 The audience for this paper is diverse. As well as activists and Muslim civil society, religious organisation’s, we are confident academics, media, businesspeople, and those who work in or are representatives of Muslim governments will be inspired by it.

1.11 We recognise that current Muslim nation states will continue to exist for the foreseeable future, and many of them may even be opposed to the ideas presented in this paper. However, the work of creating a unified Ummah and developing what I call a practical Ummah Centric approach to the Muslim world’s problems, and thus fulfilling the goals of Islam, cannot be left unattended to and must continue even in the absence of a political structure working towards that goal.

1.12 The ideas and thinking in this paper, which are around developing and working on a Ummah Centric approach to global Muslim affairs, will likely take decades or even centuries to come to fruition, but nevertheless Muslims will need to work towards them with energy and commitment.

1.13 I would like to thank all those who have contributed to the project, those who have contributed feedback, and those who have put time and resources into the project to develop it thus far. In particular, I would like to thank Saqib Sattar and his colleagues, who have put their energy and resources into the project and pushed me all the way to focus on this work, to completing it, in the midst of our busy work schedules.

1.14 The paper includes summarized ideas and thinking after a great deal of reading and discussion. It is still a work-in-progress for the team. We hope to develop its ideas further. All good in this paper is from Allah (swt), and all mistakes and errors are mine alone.

2. Introduction: Fresh Thinking and Ideas

2.1 The Muslim world, a once proud civilization of Islam has been in decline for centuries and is now in critical condition. It is riddled with conflicts, refugees, lack of independence, poverty, economic and political underdevelopment. There is a need for fresh thinking on how to address its problems, with new ideas, and strategies for renewal. This rise and fall of nations, is part of part of Allah (swt’s) divine plan for different people. Perhaps the wisdom behind it is best expressed in the following verse in the Qur’an from the first wars of Muslims with their opponents.

2.2 Skeptics might argue what good would generating fresh ideas and strategies achieve with the current state of the Muslim Ummah. However, history is full of examples of new ideas and a focused vision leading to major change, if worked at consistently with determination. Indeed, one can say that the vision of Islam revealed to Prophet Muhammad ﷺ initially supported by just a handful of followers, went on to change the world.

2.3 Similarly, the Ottoman State was created with the determination of a few leaders of one Turkic tribal clan, who unified other tribes and created a powerful state that lasted 624 years (1299-1923). The enemies of the early Turks would mock these early tribal people as “goat herders”. Yet these “goat herders” managed not only to unite different tribes, but also ruled over other religions and people under a long-lasting multiethnic and multicultural state, where different people co-existed.

2.4 This historical method of change is not limited to Muslims. After the end of the Ottoman State, another individual, Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) and his non-Islamic ideas moved Turkey and its people to an entirely different direction. He also managed to create a socio-political order and identity based on Turkish ethnicity which has shaped today’s Republic. Karl Marx also generated his ideas from Britain and inspired revolutionary political change through much of the world in the last century. Theodor Herzl dreamt of a Zionist State of Israel based on racial solidarity, and within 50 years of the most sustained effort and political activity his dream was achieved.

2.5 What all these examples highlight is that having ideas and a vision are important but not enough, they need to be implanted in a wide section of society. This allows for the creation of a certain consciousness, especially among those intellectual and political elites who can change the direction of society, as well as the middle class and masses. Here it is worth noting that it was the ruling interests in the Ottoman State; the military, the administrators, and even some of the Sultans themselves, who adopted and propagated the new political ideas emerging in Europe; which ultimately led to the overthrow of the Ottoman State. Without the embedding of those ideas, Ataturk would not have found much support for his political vision. Not only do new ideas need to be propagated and implanted, but they also need an effective strategy or programme of action, aimed at achieving the desired change.

2.6 The easiest political ideas to implant in relation to a nation and human organisation are those based on common race, ethnicity, language, and culture. The most difficult are those based on an ideology or vision that overrides those powerful factors.

2.7 Change and ideas also do not occur in a vacuum. They are often not new but are usually an accumulation of current ideas and thinking from previous social political learning and experiences, which are simply developed within a certain context. They are simply brought into greater focus, conveyed more concisely, and given a clearer direction of travel. Even the basic principles of Islam were not new; however, they became focused, complete, and clear, but conveyed at a time when human experience was deemed to be more receptive to them. The Qur’an is considered a miracle because of its sheer clarity about the Creator and creation, among other reasons. Its references to historical human experience and transformation support the change in ideas, principles, and behaviour that it sets out for humanity.

2.8 Radical change usually comes after a longer period of sustained smaller changes, or when society or ruling elites reach a consensus on an issue and begin a new course of action. The completion of divine revelation took 124,000 plus Prophets. The final product – the Qur’an – contained two things: a) the establishment of Islamic leadership and governance in Mecca and Medina and b) a complete code of life and guidance both at individual and government level (the modern concept of “state” emerged only in the 16th century). Those that followed the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ sought to continue this form of governance, and in doing so expanded it way beyond the borders of Arabia. They considered themselves Khalifat -ar- Rasul (successors to the Prophet).

2.9 After the rightly guided successors, dynastic rulers emerged. These leaders maintained the title khalifah and claimed their rule was Khilafah, no matter what form of Muslim governance was in place. This continued until the 20th century when the Ottoman State (the last to claim the title of Khilafah) collapsed in the era of the “end of empires”. At that time, the world was faced with new nationalist and constitutionalist movements arising from the ruins of the First World War. Many in the Ottoman ruling elite had already adopted the ideas of European inspired nationalism and rights long before the Ottoman rule collapsed. Notions of removing absolute rule of Kings or Sultans took hold, and consequently the last Muslim ruling system ended, and in its place “Muslim nation-states” were born. ¹A State is defined as an independent sovereign government exercising control over a certain spatially defined and bounded area, whose borders are clearly defined and internationally recognized by … Continue reading

2.10 The end of empires bought about a new form of organising human socio-political affairs, around the control of defined borders based on ethnic or racial bonds (or in the case of the Muslim world, these borders were decided for them). This form of human social organisation known as the nation-state is now well established among both the non-Muslim and Muslim world, even though some states have begun to fall apart as the borders were not natural to their people.

2.11 Since that time, for the last century in the Muslim world, there have been movements trying to revive Islamic forms of governance modelled on previous history. In the Sunni world all these movements have failed. In Iran, the religious scholars claimed to have formed such an “Islamic Government”, but it is rejected by most Sunni’s and some Shi’a groups too.

2.12 However, the desire for unity among Muslims, and the need for governance based on Islam that protects Muslims and their religion remains an aspiration. There is even some agreement on the centrality of the concept of Khilafah. However, there is no real consensus or roadmap on how to get there, and what such a rule would look like in practice in the contemporary world.

2.13 When political ideas and strategies do not achieve the desired end goal, it becomes imperative to re-examine them, identify the roadblocks, refine or find an alternative route, rather than carrying on hoping that one day the desired outcome may emerge. Knowledge and versatility are key; conditions in the world and around us, change constantly. Knowledge of political conditions and thought provides new insights, and direction. Our understanding and knowledge of issues also increases when old movements fail. Learning from failure is part of the method of attaining future success.

2.14 One of the handicaps of the last century has been limited independent and fresh thinking and new activism. Much of this is due to groupism and the need to create followership. Many Islamic movements, organisation’s have also been limited in their thinking and approach by funding from donor states, notably from the Middle East. Since livelihoods of key officials are often attached and dependent on these movements, they end up reproducing ideas and thinking that are aligned with the interests of the states who fund them. Or, less obviously, they may defend them and their policies as Islamic. Fresh, courageous, and independent thinking has been curtailed in this way.

2.15 Some Islamic movements have been intimately linked to independence movements that were often socialist or nationalist in thinking. Others are still attached to the past, continuing to reproduce the ideas of their founders, leaders, groups, unable to step outside their existing paradigms despite rapidly changing contexts. Some of this thinking is still bound up in ideas that seemed appropriate at that time, such as the Islamic nation-state, the Islamic political party, Islamic socialism, Islamic revolution, and Islamic state via military coup. Even some of the organisation and structures of these groups are distinctive of that period in history in which their ideals remain embedded.

2.16 For these reasons, there is always a need for review and fresh independent thinking and ideas to help refocus, in accordance with a changed world and experiences.

2.17 It is to stimulate this independent thinking and debate that this paper has been produced and the Ayaan Institute has been initiated. The Institute is not to be dependent on funding from any state, nor does it wish to be tied into previous modes of analysis and thought. It is open to fresh analysis and thinking, but with a defined purpose and object; namely working toward creating a unified, independent, powerful, and prosperous Muslim world, that can help establish Islam as the solution to humanity’s problems.

2.18 A premise in this paper is that the debate about Khilafah will continue, however for the foreseeable future, nation-based Muslim states will not disappear from the map, nor from people’s outlooks. It is unlikely that any of the current Muslim states will abandon their national group identity and solidarity based on race, ethnicity or nation; and pledge their allegiance to a another state in another part of the Muslim world, let alone a single leader or khalifah. As an example, is it possible to think that a Pakistani State or its people would ever hand over command of their nuclear weapons to an Arab or Turkish Khalif in another part of the world? Equally, is it likely that an Arab country would ever accept Pakistani leadership? Would Sunni’s ever accept Shi’i/Iranian leadership or vice versa? The organisation and leadership of a Muslim population of 100,000 people in Mecca and Medina, or even some millions (15 million Muslims at the end of the Ottoman State, 1914); is going to be by the nature of its size and spread, different from that of the organisation and leadership of a global Muslim population of around 1.8 billion, almost a quarter of the world’s population. Therefore, we must remain open to the possibility that our ideas of thinking and solutions about how the Muslim world should organize to achieve unification, and avoid conflict may have to be reconsidered, and could be different from the past.

2.19 Perhaps we have been seeking an ideal state of human organisation as an end goal which is not practically achievable given the urgency of our context. Can bonds of ethnic and national loyalties ever truly be eliminated? Has there ever been a society where that has been achieved? Was tribalism ended even in Medina? In totalitarian communist states, where a single ideology subsumed ethnicities, religions, and worked practically to eliminate such differences, suppressed identities simply re-emerged after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Nor has Chinese Communist rule been able to successfully eliminate ethnic differences and religious communities.

2.20 Whilst Muslims are still debating the validity/nature of older historical models of human social organisation and polity; they must at some point meet the reality that the world has moved onto even more complex models of human and business organisation, transactions and governance.

2.21 There are those who have even analysed and predicted the end of the nation-state in the face of new technology and a globally interconnected world. Two books both called “The End of the Nation State” by diplomat Jean-Marie Guéhenno, and the other by the Japanese organisational theorist Kenichi published in 1995, both predicted power would move towards multinational bodies such as the European Union or the United Nations, or down to regions and cities. Whilst these predictions have not fully materialised there is a clear trajectory towards international business corporations, and governance in blocs of countries. Others have argued that we will see the rise of city states more powerful than many nation-states.²A city state is a city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. and has the capacity to become an independent sovereign city. It is often … Continue reading

2.22 It is already the case today, that global multinational corporations are bigger and more powerful than many countries and states. Some cities are now more powerful than nations; ³Fleming, S, (2019, June 17) “These are the most powerful cities in the world”, World Economic Forum. Retrieved from, World Economic Forum and global financial and international bodies control and subjugate other countries. Similarly, trans-cultural, transnational global movements are transcending borders, emerging as strong fronts that consist of people who are often more loyal to these movements than to their national leaders and governments. These present great challenges for the future of the nation-state paradigm.

2.23 A nation-state is an organised political system which has sovereignty over a defined geographical area with borders recognised by other states. If a state can no longer exercise control of, or, within its borders, or no longer demand the loyalty and allegiance of its people; then one may question whether that nation state really exists? When trade, capital, cultural exchange, communication, labour, defence are all global, do states and their governments really have control? As even former US President Donald Trump stated before he was elected in 2016, “A nation without borders, is not a nation”. ⁴Chappell, B. (2017, January 25) “A Nation without borders Is not A nation’: Trump Moves Forward with U.S.-Mexico Wall”, NPR. Retrieved from, npr.org

2.24 Although his comments were made about the lack of controlled Mexican borders to stop migrants coming into the United States (US) for work, he was right in one sense; he knew that the ethnic composition of the US is changing rapidly, with current minorities set to become a majority in the coming decades; each bringing with them their own bonds of solidarity. ⁵Dudley, P. (2020, February 1) “3-ways that the US population will change over the next decade, PBS. Retrieved from, pbs.org This will fundamentally change and challenge the present power structures in the US, which are based on racial supremacy. Since this has been presented as a threat, instead of an opportunity, the result has been the rise of a white identitarian movement. This polarisation of society along racial identity lines, poses a challenge for such states. In the absence of a higher unifying ideology, most states divided along those lines will simply fragment into their base ethnic/cultural constituencies.

2.25 What we can also see clearly now is that states are grouping into different power blocs, and increasingly smaller countries will find it difficult to survive and prosper if they are not part of, or attached to, a larger bloc of nation-states.

2.26 For Muslims and their states, it is a time to reflect on their own condition, the world around them, and the direction in which they should be travelling. Maybe it is time to go back to the drawing board with wisdom from the Qur’an and the Sirah/Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, to find fresh guidance and direction in a globally complex world.

3. The Muslim Situation

3.1 The Muslim world appears to be in crisis. Divided into 53 Muslim nation-states, seemingly powerless, permanently dependent on the West, Russia, or China, and unable to tread independent political, economic or policy strategies or directions.

3.2 In recent years, some of these nation-states, in places like Sudan, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Libya and Yemen, are further fracturing, or turning into mini statelets along ethnic or sectarian lines. Ethnic, racial, tribal, national, and sectarian divisions are causing tensions even within states where Muslims are a majority. Muslim states internally are pre-occupied with how different ethnic communities and even faiths and sects can co-exist.

3.3 In some ways there is an inevitability about this fragmentation. Most of the nation-states we see today were political creations whose borders were drawn arbitrarily, with complete disregard for the cultural, ethnic, political, religious, and social divides that already existed among indigenous and native peoples for centuries. As such, there is an incongruence between different peoples of the world and many of the national borders demarcated by maps today. In the age of empires strong centralised authority and rule extended over a mosaic of people who were nearly always connected to their historical roots and lands.

3.4 After the end of empires, ideas about the nation-state have embedded the belief that every ethno-national group should govern itself and that government should be representative of the majority group.

3.5 Nationalism’s or ethno-nationalism’s and sectarian tribalism have become enshrined amongst the Muslim psyche and behaviour. This has happened despite an increasing outward appearance of religiosity and even alongside decades of Islamic education, practice and dawah. In many Muslim states, notions (and even laws) based on racial or tribal supremacy operate and exhibit themselves in public discourse and conflicts. Sometimes these hatreds are also deeply rooted in historical conflicts, pre-colonial as well as colonial.

3.6 In Muslim states that claim to work towards an Islamic direction, Islam is often presented in nationalist terms and through national narratives, symbols, and practices. In countries like Iraq, groups have emerged whose politics are focused on historical religious differences and rivalries and have generated new sectarian hatreds and are being propagated internationally via satellite channels and social media. These emotionally charged sectarian appeals referenced to history, affect Muslim populations in other countries, including in the West.

3.7 In the UK as well as elsewhere, the practice and expression of Islam, and the organisational structure of Muslim communities, reflects those very same divisions; along lines of, ethnicity, nationality, sectarianism, or other forms of groupism. Everything from mosque, charity, bookshops, to TV stations, media, and even online social media, reflects these divisions.

3.8 Muslim institutions in the UK, continue with the task of day-to-day management within their group framework, with little thought or foresight towards a long-term vision for the community, unity or Ummah.

3.9 In practical terms, and sadly, it is difficult to find something called Muslim Unity or even a Muslim Ummah globally or locally.

3.10 The organisation of Muslim people into nation-states has not worked out as well as in European societies. This was partly to be expected for a number of reasons: –

3.11 This condition has now reached a crisis point. Most Muslims seem to simply pay lip service to the idea of Unity, whilst in practice having given it up in favour of other forms of social political identity.

3.12 We can either accept this as our permanent condition with little hope of change, or we can identify the problems that have led to this situation and find ways of addressing them. Arguing that the absence of Khilafah is the sole reason for our condition detracts from the complexity of reasons for our current situation. It also ignores the historical reality, that even during the existence of the Ottoman State, considered by some as the last Khilafah, Muslim regions were being colonised, and the Ottoman State was powerless to stop that process. The current Western financial model of controlling Muslim countries through loans, debt interest, and taking control of assets or privatisation, when loans cannot be paid, was first tested on the Ottoman State. By the time Sultan Abdul Hamid II came to power in 1876, the Ottoman state was already economically bankrupt. The Sultan defaulted on debts and the Ottoman State was formally declared bankrupt in 1879. The Sultan had to restructure debt payments to Europeans ⁶House of Lords. (1924 May24) “Ottoman Public Debt Bondholders Rights”, Hansard. Retrieved from Parliment UK, by handing chunks of the economy and tax collection to them ⁷Ferguson, N. (2008, January 1), “An Ottoman warning for indebted America”, Financial Times. Retrieved from, Financial Times. This meant that the Ottoman State was already dependent on Europeans for survival before it was dismantled. In fact, Ottoman debts to European states were taken on by the Turkish Republic and not fully repaid until much later in the 20th century.

3.13 It is obvious to most, that defeat and colonisation have led not only to dismemberment, disempowerment, and fragmentation among Muslims, but also economic impoverishment. This situation in fact has been going on since at least the period of European colonisation.

3.14 Yet our current condition and divisions are the very opposite of what Allah (swt) has commanded us to be in the Qur’an, in his book of guidance.

3.15 In some ways the current condition is not new. The verse in the Qur’an (3:103) refers to the past history of Arab tribes at war with each other and divided along tribal/clan lines; but they were brought together in Medina under the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ who established a covenant or charter. In this treaty, previous lower level bonds of social and political organisation and solidarity, were subsumed under a new socio-political order based on Ummah (an Islamic community of brotherhood, which also included non-Muslims). However, the treaty did not aim to eliminate previous tribal authority/leadership and organisation. The old bonds of loyalty also remained and in fact re-emerged after the death of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. The debate about who should then lead the community to become the Khalifah also included claims based on tribe and lineage. In Arabia and most of the Muslim world, bonds of tribalism and race, ethnicity have outlived all Muslim dynasties.

An Oppressed Ummah

3.16 This division and disunity of the Ummah is exacerbated by the suffering and oppression of Muslims all over the globe, and what appears to be a dire lack of any meaningful or practical ability to end this suffering. In some areas of the world that suffering has continued for over 70 years, without end.

3.17 The scale of that oppression has increased, with reports of a million Uyghurs in concentration camps in China, Muslims under military occupation in Kashmir and Palestine, or being bombed in places such as Syria and Afghanistan. The sheer numbers of Muslims being oppressed in the last 20 years is now in the tens of millions and in many cases impacts whole populations of countries.

3.18 A recent study found that the “War on Terror”, had created 37 million refugees. ⁸Watson, Brown. ND. “Costs of war”, Brown University. Retrieved from, Watson Brown University Since the primary target of this war are Muslims, most of these refugees are likely to be our brethren. Many countries now have such a campaign, be it of overt aggression or “counter-terrorism” and “counter extremism” measures, which mostly target Muslims.

3.19 Despite all these wars and conflicts, Institutions established by Muslims such as the Organisation of Islamic Co-Operation (OIC), or the efforts of Muslim states at the United Nations have failed to protect the lives and property of Muslims. Nor have they been able to bring peace. There is now even a recognition of this failure, and discussions towards creating a new body took place at a conference in Malaysia in December 2019.

3.20 The rise in the ideas of nationalism in the 19th century and before the First World War, also led to an adoption of and rise of nationalism amongst Muslims; in some cases that nationalism was extreme and racialized, as in the case of Turkey, or Iran and some Arab states.

3.21 Muslim States adhering to various forms of nationalism, naturally have ended up pursuing their own nationalist, tribal interests at the expense of central Islamic polity goals such as brotherhood, common alliance, the protection of Muslim life and property, and promoting Islam to humanity. This despite those states allowing the free practice of core aspects of the faith, Islamic education and even dawah.

3.22 Often, instead of being allied with each other, such Muslim states have ended up allying with non-Muslim states against other Muslim states and people.

3.23 Increasing wars and bloodshed, resulting from struggles for meaningful social and economic and political change, as well as lack of basic rights have impacted the Muslim psyche and confidence. Pessimism and frustration are widespread among Muslims, unable to see a way forward out of this condition.

3.24 This condition of separation/segmentation of the Muslim Ummah, was in some ways an inevitable consequence of the end of the era of empires and dynasties, as well as the continued growth of the Muslim population to 1.8 billion people who are spread across much of the world. This is a much more complex Muslim Ummah than that of nearly 1400 years ago at the death of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ in a small geographical part of the world (875 square kilometres, covering around 500,000 people). It is important to acknowledge it was common, even during the age of Muslim dynasties, for rulers in different areas to compete, and even to go to war with each other. It is not that colonialism and the nation-state introduced difference and division, but they exacerbated existing ones, and encapsulated them in novel forms.

3.25 This separation of people into nation-states was as predictable as the rise and fall of empires. One only needs to read the works of the famous Muslim historian Ibn Khaldun (27 May 1332-17 March 1406) and his analysis of asabiyyah (group affinity or solidarity) among the Arab dynasties, discussed in the next chapter, to understand this. In his works he looks at the nature and function of group bonds from its positive aspects.

3.26 Asabiyyah also has its negative aspects in the form of racial or ethno-national supremacy, prejudice, racism leading to unfair and unjust behaviour arising out of those natural differences and society building bonds. It is this unjust behaviour, where it is a case of supporting “my group right or wrong” which is condemned as jahiliyyah by the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.

3.27 Nation-states viewed from this perspective were also bound to be problematic as pointed out in works of the great Islamic thinker and poet Muhammad Iqbal (9 November 1877-21 April 1938) in his poem on nationalism, just as it emerged as a political force. He predicted many of the problems we are now discussing especially in his poem Wataniyat :- ⁹Iqbal, Urdu, ND. “Patriotism”, Allama Iqbal Poetry. Retrieved from Iqbal Urdu

3.28 Yet separation into different states does not necessarily need to lead to division and disunity. In fact, the Qur’an acknowledges that this separation into tribes and people (nations) will happen, and that it should lead to getting to “know one another”, which is in fact a counter to human division, and attitudes of racial or nationalist supremacy. In the Qur’an, Allah (swt) does not deny bonds of natural solidarity of people. Prophet Musa (AS) addresses the Israelites as my people, “ya qaumi” often translated also as nation. Had the Prophets been sent to other than their own people, few would have accepted their authority or message of submission to Allah (swt). An exception to this rule was the Prophet Yusuf (AS) who ended up as a slave in Egypt. In fact, the Jewish rejection of the Prophet Muhammed ﷺ was largely because he was an Arab and not from among the Jewish people.

3.29 Bonds of race, religion, or shared persecution can serve to solidify people, and help to make them secure. The Jewish people who have been persecuted through history are an example of this. In the last century, the emergence of Jewish nationalism in the form of Zionism, supported by key global powers, led to the creation of the colonial Jewish state of Israel in Palestine.

3.30 Similarly, amongst descendants of former African slaves in the USA, and in the West, attempts have been made to re-create organisational solidarity around Black or Pan- African identity; in the face of a terrible legacy of slavery, racism, destruction of culture, history, and mass poverty. This was a natural response to their situation, based on the human instinct for survival. It is one of the key functional aspects of asabiyyah, which is the inclination to help those with which one shares strong natural bonds or persecution.

3.31 What the Qur’an does, is reject the notion of supremacy or superiority of one people over another based on those natural divisions and bonds; and seeks to draw humanity to a moral code and forms of human solidarity of a higher level than race, ethnicity, and kinship alone. In the Qur’an, Allah (swt) outlines in detail how past societies and people fell into the trap of racial (national) supremacy. Judgment of people and nations should be made based on their right conduct and Taqwa (God consciousness) not based on their origins, ethnicity, history, or nationality. However, this is perhaps the most difficult thing of all to do.

3.32 From the Muslim perspective the Qur’an also warns of the consequences of Muslims being separated, and not in alliance or connected with each other. The consequences of failure to do this are not just for Muslims but humanity as a whole; it leads to corruption on the earth and decline of civilisation. This is in fact the current global situation.

3.33 Allah (swt) requires that Muslims should be in an alliance with one another, and unified, even though there is recognition that human beings will become separated into tribes, and nations/peoples, with differing languages, cultures, and traditions. Allah (swt) requires that we come together through the process of “Lita’arafu” (getting to know one another), and the practical examples set by the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ in Medina and Mecca.

3.34 A lack of practical understanding of these verses and how they are applicable, and a failure to achieve unification/alliance, perhaps explain the reasons for our current situation in the world. The Muslim world appears not yet to have found a way of coming to terms with the vast complexity and diversity of its 1.8 billion followers, and how Islam can unite them practically, instead of simply making statements of unity and anti-racism.

Muslim Minorities in Non-Muslim majority lands

3.35 Another contemporary challenge for the Muslim community is the existence of large communities of Muslim minorities in non-Muslim majority lands who are being targeted and persecuted due to their race or faith. The rise in “Islamophobia” and successive War on Terror policies and legislation, has also begun to erode Muslim rights and freedoms in these lands. In fact, a significant percentage of the world’s Muslim population live as minorities in non-Muslim majority states.

3.36 These minority Muslim communities now exist in Europe, the USA, but also in places like India, China, and Russia among other places. These are not insignificant numbers. For example, 60 million Muslims live in China, 15-22 million in Russia, and 172 million in India. In many African and Asian countries, even European countries, Muslims form anything from 10-50% of the populations. For example, in Bulgaria, Muslims constitute 13.4% of the population.

3.37 The recent persecution of Muslim minorities in some of these countries highlights the need for them to be interconnected to Muslim majority countries.

3.38 In the West, in places like the UK, the Muslim minority communities are from diverse backgrounds, unlike their countries of origin, where such a diversity of nationalities may not exist, and there may be little contact with Muslims from other parts of the world. Although in a world where there are globalised communications such connections remain fluid and dynamic, opening possibilities for greater connections.

3.39 In the past under Muslim rule, even where Muslims were a minority, they tended to be a ruling power, and so the notion of being a powerless Muslim minority community among non-Muslim communities is something that is relatively new, and it is a reality in which Muslims are still grappling to find a unified voice. It is worth pointing out here, that the concept of minority itself is a modern descriptor and product of; (a) nation-state formation and (b) democratic notions of majorities and minorities. Under Muslim rule the tendency was to see different people as communities. It is possible that the democratic descriptors of people as majority and minority, serve to further divisions in society. Political parties tend to exacerbate these differences.

3.40 Western Muslim minorities are in a privileged position, in that they tend to be able to observe events and issues from a distance, in an atmosphere of relative economic and political freedom. From this vantage point, and with the benefit of education, they can see and study things from an independent perspective. They are also able to view the Muslim world from a position rooted in rich experiences and a diverse knowledge base of community and political development. These benefits are mostly not available to those in the developing Muslim world, who lack the existence of diverse communities and remain less aware and practised in dealing (or not dealing) with diversity, contemporary techniques of governance, accountability or business formation.

3.41 In the West, Muslims are also being brought up in countries where discrimination on the grounds of ethnicity, nationality, race is considered wrong, and racism offensive. This also means they are often more alert to the need for being anti-racist and to nurture tolerance among different Muslims groups, especially in activist circles.

3.42 However, that privilege also means that we may be seeing things through a lens of unreasonable judgment and unrealistic expectations, given the development and economic challenges many Muslim countries and Muslims in the majority world face, which we can seldom experience ourselves. The sheer economic pressures of survival and dealing with poor governance and bureaucracies means that the wider Ummah and Unity is not likely to be a pressing priority. The vast majority of the Muslim Ummah, possibly have much less interactions with a diversity of Muslims from many other lands outside of the Hajj, and so unifying the Ummah may not even be a concern.

3.43 The advantages that that Muslim minority communities in the West have however, can be utilised to the benefit of the Muslim world, especially in terms of intellectual political and theological thought, and access to the latest business, governance and other expertise and knowledge, as well as developing trade and cultural links. This is underlined by the fact that London and Europe have been the locus for many of the great intellectual and revolutionary ideas that have changed the world.

3.44 Additionally, some Muslim majority countries are struggling to deal with divisions based on race, ethnicity, sectarianism, and the increasing racism in their societies. Muslim communities in the West can also contribute to this area by passing on their experience of policies on how to deal with racism in society. This can be those policies that are successful, as well as those that may have failed in the West, and the learning acquired from those failures.

3.45 It is important that Muslim minorities in Europe and elsewhere are linked culturally and through trade to each other and the wider Muslim world. They have the potential to be the stimulus for greater inter connectivity, trade, and knowledge transfer.

3.46 Being a minority also should not limit our ambitions. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ established his politics, Ummah and leadership in Medina when the Muslims were still a persecuted minority. Vision and direction thrive in an atmosphere of freedom to think, debate, and express oneself. The UK is ideally placed to provide thought leadership and analysis for the Muslim world than other parts of Europe.

4. Human Societies and Organisation

“Evil is the quality that is closest to man when he fails to improve his customs and when religion is not used as the model to improve him. The great mass of mankind is in that condition… Evil qualities in man are injustice and mutual aggression. He who casts his eye upon the property of his brother will lay his hand upon it to take it, unless there is a restraining influence to hold him back”. (Ibn Khaldun) ¹⁰The Muqaddimah: An Introduction to History, translated and edited by Franz Rosenthal (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005). II 7, p. 97.

4.1 Why has the Muslim world, once at the heart of a global civilization declined and fallen? Why does any civilization or empire rise and fall? How can it rise again? It is not the first time these questions have been asked. It was a Muslim, who was one of the first to attempt to answer these questions in the 14th century. These were the central questions addressed by Ibn Khaldun in his work, Al Muqaddimah. This work was a mere introduction to his epic Kitab al- ‘Ibar, the book of the history of civilization, and was an attempt to study human social organisation and its rise and fall.

4.2 It is not the purpose of this paper to discuss Ibn Khaldun’s work in depth here. For anyone interested in understanding the history of social transformation, his Al Muqaddimah is essential reading. His works and ideas are now being discussed in the context of helping Western societies understand contemporary issues of ethnicity and identity, even economic behaviour better.

4.3 For Khaldun human behaviour is shaped by the environment and customs as well as the will of Allah (swt). Khaldun also places Prophets and religion as factors within the development of human organisation, history and prosperity. Certain people have been chosen to lead human society and guide them, with the last being the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. For Khaldun Islam, its scriptures, guidance are superior to all others. The authority and leadership of Prophets are not based on lineage but on religious and moral authority, derived from Allah (swt).

4.4 For Khaldun it is the ability of human beings to think, rather than to fight, which has always enabled them to survive in a world of much stronger animals. This is what gives human beings power and strength. Thought allows human beings to organise socially to defend themselves against threats, and to find the means of feeding themselves, survival, or prosperity. Humans are naturally collective and co-operative. They can form communities in large numbers for the survival of mankind and to create civilizations. It is thought which makes man superior to all other species and the reason that Allah (swt) made us his representatives on earth. This is beautifully explained in verses of the Qur’an:-

4.5 Nonetheless for Khaldun, humans also have the same instincts for survival, aggression, to subdue others and to fight, as animals do, and the capacity to commit injustice, unless restrained. Looking at the history of mankind, we can see that it has in fact been full of wars and violence as well as of development. Peace has been in place for relatively short periods of history. The ability to think, has enabled human beings to create science and technology, but also weapons that can inflict mass suffering and death upon each other; even to the extent of wiping out the whole species including humanity itself. Thought of course also allows us to choose to reject Allah (swt) and his guidance as well, who endowed us with this very quality.

4.6 There is no doubt that violence and the ability to fight and defend oneself from threats is a fundamental human and animal predisposition, as well as being a force for change that shapes history. Whilst the detractors of Islam claim it is a religion which endorses and speaks of violence, one could argue it is the very references to human capacity for violence and defence, in the Qur’an, that prove it is from the Creator. How could the Creator not understand the instinct of His creation for aggression and injustice and not offer guidance on such an important matter?

4.7 For Khaldun the basic building block of socio-political organisation or solidarity, is the group feeling/belonging, or asabiyyah. Khaldun gives asabiyyah a much wider meaning than the commonly held contemporary Muslim usage of it as racism, prejudice, or nationalism. Those sentiments may well be an outcome of asabiyyah. It refers to any ties of kinship, tribe, clan, race, religion, or nationalism. Asabiyyah is “group feeling”- meaning solidarity or social cohesion, the “nerve” or glue by which a group is held together. It is the basic force of history, responsible for the rise and fall of kingdoms, dynasties and civilisations. It is this group sentiment and identity which creates the base solidarity among people coming together and forming social organisation and ruling systems. In that sense asabiyyah in the form of family and lineage, ethnicity, or other group mind, are the foundation of tribal leadership, empires, states and even nation-states. This instinct helps people to become a collective and ward off threats from others, help fight others, overthrow unjust rulers, and to create new civilizations.

4.8 Khaldun’s cyclical theory of human change argues that sovereign powers are like living organisms, they are born, grow up, mature, and die, usually in 120-year cycles in his study. He explains this pattern, by using the concepts of asabiyya and umran (prosperity), which are the bonds that hold those societies together.

4.9 Nations or powerful groups come into existence, will get stronger, lose their strength, and are conquered by other powers over time. Every community is uncivilized at the beginning and tries to acquire power around its own territory. The power depends on a stronger asabiyya than other communities. Asabiyya is powerful because people from the same asabiyyat tend to protect each other at all cost, and thus they are strong and become a competent resistance or courageous and unified fighters. We can see this in past and present history where different people continue to fight for their own independent states based on ethnicity, despite overwhelming odds against them.

4.10 Khaldun talks about the various types of socio/political organisation levels that constitute stages in human development called qaryah (village) and misr (city). The combination of several qaryah and misr are described by him as bilad (land/area) or dawlah (state). The combination of all the countries he refers to as “alam” (global/universal). Prosperity at this global level is described as “Umran al-alam” (universal prosperity). The Muslim philosopher Abu Nasr al Farabi (870-950) also defines similar forms or organisation and refers to global political organisation as Ahl al-Ma’murah (citizens of the world) which is more a citizen or rights-based approach.

4.11 Khaldun identifies three main types of society, primitive (badawi) which he considered rural societies, civilised (hadari) which he considered to be urban life, and prosperous (Umrani) which he considered country or large sovereign rule. Khaldun addresses the transition to a society and prosperous country at the global level which he termed as “`Umran al-Alam”. Whilst he acknowledges that asabiyyah has more influence on a society than religion, and other factors contribute to prosperous societies, it is for him ultimately religion and morals that are at the core of an Umrani society.

4.12 Asabiyyah may lead people and nations to become stronger and stronger. A society based on asabiyyah may even become prosperous. However, eventually such empires will become weak and collapse, especially if their rule is not based on higher moral values. The less civilised (in terms of organization and prosperity) and overpowered societies are always prone to imitate the more civilised and powerful, and as such the differences between them erode over time, leading to a weakening of those very bonds, intermixing, and the formation of new asabiyyah. As more powerful societies and rulers start to live luxurious lives, they follow their desires, so the society starts to decline and fall and is replaced by stronger powers.

4.13 Most Muslims tend to have a simplistic notion of the reasons for the decline and failure of the Muslim Ummah, and the way out of it. It is often presented as a glorious Islamic past with decline as entirely the fault of external enemies. However, we rarely look at it from a social scientific point of view with a critical analysis of our ruling structures, or the weaknesses that have existed in past societies, and which still plague the present. Whilst undoubtedly colonialism played its part, we must also accept that part of the problem has been the failure of governance, and critical Muslim political thought about governance, so that Muslims have been unable to counter forces which were more powerful or better organised.

4.14 This cyclical notion of a people becoming powerful and then declining is also consistent with the guidance in the Qur’an, as opposed to the essentially Darwinian linear one, which sees societies and human social organisation moving from one form to another, more civilised and advanced than previous.

4.15 The Ottoman Sultanate lasted 624 years (longer than Khaldun’s 120-year rule) with a ruling family whose authority and claim to lead was based on lineage. It started from one Turkic clan, establishing a principality and leadership, (the Kayi tribe of Oghuz Turks) and then united other Turkic tribes to create a larger state. The prime motive was based on a desire for common security from threats, and economic survival and prosperity. Bonds of racial and tribal loyalties were what brought the tribes together and solidified them, but Islam was their belief system, part of their culture and moral framework (i.e. their higher values).

4.16 Whilst they were aware of their Islamic identity they were motivated primarily by the need for tribal survival, prosperity, and glory, in the aftermath of Mongol and Christian invasions and devastations. Asabiyyah played an important part in helping the Turkic Muslims create the solidarity that led to the formation of that state. How did it survive for so long, given it contained under its authority Christians, Jews and other different ethnicities, sects, in different regions of Europe, Africa and Arabia? These were tribal nomads who managed to establish efficient administrative systems based on a tolerance for differences among subjects, and in effect saw them as their subjects of the empire and Sultan, rather than minority communities. The Ottomans expanded and ruled with a combination of military strength, co-option of leaders from other areas, treaties, and compromise. This allowed leaders of tribes and people elsewhere to remain in charge of their communities whilst recognizing the authority of the Ottomans. Even in the Hijaz, the two families that had been historically in charge of that area for centuries were permitted to retain control of the area. It was a relationship of suzerainty, where those who were ruled over, could in effect be considered tribute states. Underpinning this were strong notions of justice and fairness in ruling over the people, even if not always met.

4.17 Whilst the Sultans lived in luxury and opulence, and the ethnic Turkic bonds of the Ottomans eventually weakened, decline was inevitable. Their behaviour, lifestyle and rule, began to lose the respect of their own administrators, military, and interest groups that were closest to them. Wars could no longer be maintained as debts increased. New ideas about the relationships between rulers and ruled emerged and became popularised in Europe and were taken up inside the Ottoman state and the Muslim world.

4.18 The Mughals in India are another example of Muslims who ruled over vast ethnically diverse peoples, pretty much using the same model of co-option, and allowing people to retain their distinct cultures and religion. In the case of the Mughals however, they created a much more prosperous economy, which made them a prime target for European occupation and colonialism.

4.19 As the ruling systems in the Muslim world disintegrated new forms of human organisation in the form of nation – states replaced them. Today’s nations states consist of different arrangements of much older asabiyyah in the form of tribes, ethnicities, or group bonds of solidarity. It was that same solidarity that led to the mobilisation of people for the wars of independence, and people sacrificing their life. One Muslim state that was not born out of a nationalist ethnic sentiment in the Muslim world appears to be Pakistan (East and West at the time). It was created based on the premises of Islam, a separate homeland for Muslims, under the inspiration and vision of Muhammad Iqbal.

4.20 Throughout history, those with the strongest bond of ethnic/racial solidarity have been able to mobilise more strength and solidarity than others. Even in recent history we see that this is the case. However, bonds of race and ethnicity alone will ultimately decline unless working towards higher ideals, values, principles, and politics.

4.21 What is also true is that the rulers and governments in these new Muslim nation-states have at the same time been based on the past, even where they are democratically elected as in Pakistan. Rulership has been either based on primitive tribal leadership as in parts of the Arab world or family rule in places like Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Pakistan, or with the power of brute force (military rule) in places like Egypt or Algeria. These types of rulership and governance have been inadequate either to protect Muslim life and property, or provide people with prosperity in large numbers, or sound governance.

4.22 When studying the history of human societies, the evidence of conflicts and wars points to the fact the world has always been divided into many people, groups, classes separate from one another, following their own paths. As soon as one group of people organises itself politically and becomes prosperous, it attracts greed, envy, aggression from others which often has led to war and occupation by them. A study of the human history might lead one to conclude that the natural condition of human beings is war. Perhaps this is summed up by the conversation of the Allah (swt), with the Angels, in the Qur’an. However, Allah (swt) the creator had a different plan and test for humanity.

4.23 Muslim peoples have now developed new bonds of solidarity based on nation-states that are unlikely to disappear. We are therefore going to have to rethink ideas of unity and brotherhood, and the pursuit of the goals of Islam in the contemporary age.

5. How Did the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ Unify His Society?

5.1 Did the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ create a political entity and is Islam political? These have become much debated questions recently. As well as completing the transmission of the divine message of Allah (swt) to man for all times, there is no doubt the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ also left behind a political structure, or way of organising the believers, and co-existing with non-believers. He also established a code of living/conduct for social and human affairs based on divine guidance, initially for Muslims, but meant for the best interests of all humanity. This was to be conveyed by Muslims to others.

5.2 The Prophet’s ﷺ life after divine revelation commenced, was marked by three distinct phases. The Meccan phase, the Medina phase and finally a shorter phase where he became leader of both Mecca and Medina and some areas beyond, towards the end of his life. The verses of the Qur’an were revealed across all these periods, but primarily in Mecca and a good number in Medina. Some 28 whole surahs (chapters) out of 114 in the Qur’an, were revealed in Medina. However, because of the way the Qur’anic Surahs have been arranged, many Madani verses have been placed in Meccan Surahs (See Annex E). This is important to provide an understanding of many injunctions related to social organisation and legal practice.

5.3 In the Meccan period the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, lived under the rule of the Quraysh, a powerful merchant tribe of pagans (there were ten separate clans in this tribe and the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was from the Banu Hashim clan). Quraysh authority was tribal, but it also resulted from Mecca becoming a prosperous centre of trade in Arabia, as well as being trusted as custodians of the Kaaba, the focal point for Pagan ritual worship. It was therefore power based on a combination of kinship, wealth, and control of the Kaaba (religion).

5.4 It was in this situation that Islam was introduced, and a new community grouping was formed, with bonds of solidarity based on Islamic brotherhood (Ummah) not tribal loyalty. Fearing this new leader and his ideas, the Quraishi leadership offered the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ marriage into leading tribal families and a position of power in the tribal system. This he rejected since it required him to abandon his divine mission and accept idolatry. In 13 years of preaching in Mecca, no more than 300 hundred followers embraced the new faith. In this first phase, the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ had failed to widely persuade the Meccans and Quraysh to accept the belief in Allah (swt), his Prophethood, and allow him to preach this divine message freely. Here it is worth noting that the wealth and power of the Meccan rulers was intimately tied to pagan rituals at the Kaaba.

5.5 Whilst in Mecca, the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ received delegations from 12 people from the tribes of Yathrib (Medina) in 621 AD, and in the following year more people came to hear the message. These individuals and tribal leaders agreed to accept him as the messenger of Allah, their leader, and embraced Islam). They also asked him to help bring an end to the blood feuds and warfare that had plagued tribes in Medina for a 100 years, and to help unify their society.

5.6 After persecution in Mecca and a plot against his life, the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and his followers left for Medina in 622 AD. One might call them political asylum seekers. The Quraysh were not going to leave the Muslims in peace even in Medina. The Muslims had failed to establish Islam in Mecca. Medina on the other hand was a city of around 10,000 people with Jewish and pagan tribes, and now a tiny community of Muslims too. There was some familiarity with monotheistic beliefs, as the Jewish community had a presence, and were actively expecting a Prophet of Allah (swt) to appear. However, Medina was divided into different warring tribes and it was less prosperous than Mecca.

5.7 The Muslims in Medina consisted of two groups: the Ansar (helpers) who were those who were from the city and had embraced Islam, and had firm roots there; and those who had left from Mecca to seek refuge in Medina, the Muhajireen (migrants). The Muhajireen were obviously without shelter, livelihood, and any funds, as they were migrants. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ began organising his community into new bonds of solidarity based on brotherhood between the two groups of Muslims, where the Ansar looked after the Muhajireen and shared their wealth and property with them until they had become established and could look after themselves. It was a practical economic brotherhood based on faith.

5.8 The Muslims needed a place to live, and safety to preach their message. The people of Medina needed someone to be head of their society, who could be the ultimate arbitrator over their feuds and disputes and help bring peace. The tribal system of leadership and organisation had not been working for a long time and had failed.

5.9 After arriving in Medina in 622 the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ did not neglect the basic needs of his followers for survival, establishing the bonds of economic brotherhood between the Ansar and the Muhajireen. He also instilled in the Muslims the ethics of working for their livelihood and survival. Whilst one of his first acts in Medina was the establishment of a mosque (it was in fact also to be the offices of his political leadership), he also did not neglect the development of the economic base of the Muslims.

5.10 What is less well known or studied by Muslims, is that the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ established the Market or the Souq of Medina, after establishing the mosque. Initially this was established next to the Jewish Souq. However, this upset the Jews and it was eventually moved, and whilst the Jewish Souq levied taxes on those who traded in their market, the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ prohibited taxes in his market to give traders the competitive edge over rival ones. His followers could trade and make a living in the market. Trade and obstacles to the Muslims trading freely, primarily from the Quraysh, were to become a cause of many military encounters whilst in Medina.

Prophet Muhammad ﷺ The Peace Maker

5.11 The Prophet Muhammad’s ﷺ main act upon arriving in Medina in the first year, was to establish peace among warring tribes/clans – the reason for which he was invited to Medina – as well as establishing his leadership. His leadership and political authority were established on what was for that society a remarkable act of diplomacy and statesmanship, the Treaty of Medina (Al Wathiqa or Mithaq al Medina). The was a set of agreements between the different tribal leaders and the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ as the leader of the Muslim community and ultimate authority over other tribes.

5.12 The treaty was not itself a constitution as often stated. However, taking together the Qur’an along with other treaties, the Farewell Sermon, and the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, we can see the trajectory towards the rights and obligations of different communities, toward each other and government. The polity of Muslims and the basis for an Islamic constitution is being shaped.

5.13 Without the Treaty of Medina, an Islamic polity would not have been possible. It is not the purpose here to discuss when the document was agreed, before the battle of Badr, after it, or in stages. The articles in the treaty provided the basis for peace and establishing the Islamic political order, so in this sense it is a defining moment in the history of Islam. It is also apparent that verses of the Qur’an revealed in Medina, confirm, or relate to the treaty and events arising from it. The 47-clause treaty is presented in Annex A.

5.14 The treaty is in essence a political and military alliance, to consolidate both the Muslim community and wider community in Medina and fight collectively against military threats from the Quraysh and other enemies. It also offers a code of conduct and mutual rights and obligations for Muslims, Jews, and others for coexisting together as a single wider community (ummah). The tribes of Medina had been fighting and divided for generations, some report for 100 years. A deeply ingrained culture of tribal revenge and blood feuds had taken root. People supported their own, right or wrong, and so no person was trusted to be an impartial and honest leader or broker. Yet no sooner had the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ arrived in Medina, in a short space of time, he had made a pact to unify the society. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ became recognised as an impartial, trustworthy, and just leader who brought peace and was building a society based on the rule of law.

5.15 There are a few points of significance: –

5.16 Having established the security of the Muslim community, the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was also focused on the liberation of the Kaaba, removing the idols inside it, and returning the area to its historical focus for monotheistic faith (at Medina divine revelation had made the Kaaba the Qibla for Muslim prayers instead of Al Aqsa in Jerusalem).

5.17 At Medina, the efforts of Muslims to trade and prosper were hampered by their enemies, the Quraysh of Mecca. Trading routes to other parts of Arabia were controlled by them. Inside Medina, some Jewish tribes were economically strong and felt their interests were threatened and started to breach agreements and secretly work with the Quraysh to undermine the agreements. After a few battles, the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ once again turned to diplomacy. He embarked on a route to perform Umrah at Mecca with 1400 unarmed Muslims dressed as pilgrims. The Meccans prevented the Muslims from entering the city, and after a brief exchange and negotiations, a 10-year peace treaty was formalised. In 628 AD the Treaty of Hudaibiya was signed with the Quraysh of Mecca (See Annex B)

5.18 The terms of the Treaty appeared more favourable to the Quraysh than the Muslims, and some of the companions were not happy about them. The Quraysh had objected to the terms “in the name of Allah “and “Muhammed Messenger of Allah” in the original proposal. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ struck out “the Messenger of Allah”, even though his companions strongly opposed it.

5.19 However, the treaty in terms of the bigger picture contained much wisdom. It allowed the Muslims to live and trade in security for a while. The Quraysh had effectively recognised the Muslims and the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ as a political leader and allowed his followers to come and perform the pilgrimage, visit their families, and continue with their da’wah. This meant many more people embraced Islam. However, the terms of the treaty were questioned by some companions and as such, it was confirmed as a victory by Allah (swt) in the Qur’an (48:1-5).

5.20 The treaty was eventually breached by a tribe affiliated to the Quraysh, the opening verses in Sura Al Tawba confirm this and granted Muslims the permission to fight specifically those pagans who had breached the treaty. The believers were guided when to fight them, whilst (Allah swt) reiterating that those who had not breached it, or were not enemies, should not be fought. The verses also specify the importance of Muslims fulfilling treaty obligations if the other party does not breach terms and conditions.

5.21 In 630 AD an army of 10,000 Muslims marched on Mecca. Apart from a short skirmish in which 12 pagans and 2 Muslims were killed, the Meccans surrendered, and the conquest was achieved peacefully. Instead of seeking vengeance, the Prophet Muhammadﷺ provided amnesty to all except a handful of people. This was unexpected and the magnanimous act endeared many pagans to embrace Islam.

5.22 Eight years after entering Medina, the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ had established his leadership and political order over both Mecca and Medina through largely peaceful means, whilst fighting those who were determined to fight and kill him and his followers, or who were intent to prevent them spreading the message of Islam, or from trading or making a just living.

5.23 In those eight years the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ had established a) an alternative leadership b) a new system of social solidarity/organisation based on brotherhood or ummah c) a political/military unification of tribes and communities under his leadership, ending wars and blood feuds d) peace and security for the believers as well as others (e) prosperity for the community. All these conditions were necessary for establishing the right environment for the eventual goal of establishing the divine laws and guidance of Islam and facilitating its spread to humanity.

5.24 In Mecca, the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ had very few followers and few wanted to join him and abandon the cultural beliefs, traditions, and ways of their ancestors, even though they understood he was an upright and honest person with the best conduct among them. However, in Medina, he established his political power base and thousands embraced Islam, and after the conquest of Mecca, tens of thousands more joined. Ibn Khaldun in his analysis of human behaviour noted that people tend to emulate the culture and habits of those who are the victors or rule over them. This was certainly the case with Islam. Islam became a living practical political expression and a form of honourable daily conduct, that brought people to Islam in their masses.

5.25 In Europe for centuries and currently, there have been widespread attempts to label the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ as a man of violence. Yet when we analyse major political change movements throughout history in the West, we find the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ brought about his political order with limited violence, and that mainly against those who waged war against him and his followers.

5.26 What the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ had managed to do in a short space of time was to create new bonds of social organisation and solidarity above lower level ties of lineage and tribe; without first doing away with or overthrowing the old tribal links and authority. The bonds of solidarity that had now been created were those of a divine nature and at a much higher level, since they were based on monotheism, morality, righteous conduct, and divine guidance. It was no longer about racial, cultural, or national supremacy and injustices arising from them.

5.27 The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ reaffirmed these ties of solidarity, morality, and divinely ordained values as the basis of human social organisation, during his last hajj. In 632, at Mount Arafat, the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ delivered his final sermon, a summary of issues that would afflict humanity throughout history, and a statement of the rights and obligations that should bond the new ummah, that were to be the basis of its subsequent polity. Tribal injustice and revenge were once again rejected. The Sermon is presented in Annex C. My comments are added in brackets.

5.28 Muslims are once again divided into tribes and clans but today these divisions run along the lines of nation state, race, ethnic group, and sect. We are separated from, divided, and at war with each other. This makes us weak, and as such Muslims living mostly in economically impoverished countries are being slaughtered by others outside the faith, while the ummah they appeal to for help, does not exist. We are more in brotherhood with non-Muslim states than each other. Today we do not judge people based on notions of their goodness, conduct or justice, but on who they are and if they are part of our group or not. This is an injustice in our approach to each other.

5.29 If this condition continues to exist, we cannot refer to ourselves as an Ummah. Ummah in the context of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ refers to the concrete practical political/economic expression created at Medina and Mecca. It means the creation of a practical social organisation built on deep ties of the heart, brotherhood and facilitated by shared belief, not mere words, and slogans. It means we sincerely want to improve the economic conditions of our brothers and sisters as much as for ourselves, and we are conscious of the guidance of Allah (swt) on these matters, and mindful of the Prophet Muhammad’s ﷺ conduct on this.

5.30 The challenge for today’s Muslims and leaders is to somehow, find the same political genius and wisdom as the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ to create a practical political unification of the Muslim world. The creation of a new civilization based on Islam will not happen until we rediscover the spirit, wisdom, love, forbearance, ingenuity of its founder, and commit ourselves to practically working on and changing our collective condition.

6. Factors that Unify A People

6.1 To understand how to unify Muslims and their countries we must also understand human behaviour and social political organisation; as well as understanding the divine method as demonstrated by our exemplar Prophet Muhammed ﷺ.

6.2 FAMILY AND KINSHIP – As explained by Ibn Khaldun the basis of human social organisation are ties of family, lineage, kinship, and tribe. These will always remain the bedrock of any society and we see for example, even in Muslim businesses, the family or extended blood ties are the main model of Muslim business organisation, in early stages.

6.3 RACE OR ETHNICITY – Bonds of racial and ethnic solidarity can be the most powerful of all bonds. They can survive throughout history, no matter what system or ruler a people live under, or how much time passes. They are also the driving force for resistance to oppression and independence and we can see that no matter what the ideology of the people at a point in time, people can fight for centuries to become free from persecution, for example the Palestinians, Kashmiri’s, Uyghurs, Kurds and many other people. All the nation states formed in the 20th century had some past links and relationship to the history and identity of their people.

6.4 LANGUAGE – There is no doubt that a common language and culture can solidify groups of people. Language can become central to social solidarity and even cause for breakup of larger states into new ones. Language also helps to transmit a culture and history of a people. Two 20th century examples of one group of Muslim peoples attempting to impose a language on another people, and the consequences of this, illustrates just how much language is central to social solidarity.

6.5 We see how language was central to the policy of the Young Turks, by creating a common Ottoman language across the lands they controlled. This process was known as Turkification, and it was implemented with force after they had deposed Sultan Abdul Hamid II, in 1909. However, attempts to impose Turkish on the Arab regions in schools and administration simply led to calls for independence from the Ottoman state. When Ataturk came to power, the creation of a new language was central to his racial theories of Turkish nationalism. The new language effectively cut Turkish people off from their Islamic and Arab/Persian cultural history and took them back to their pre-Islamic Turkic roots.

6.6 Another more recent example is the creation of Bangladesh as an independent state from the state of Pakistan. They were one country after the partition of India under British rule. But the attempts to impose Urdu as the official state language on Bangla speaking East Pakistan, by those in power in West Pakistan, was a major factor that led to the rise of ethnic and nationalist sentiments for independence.

6.7 There are many more examples in history of failed attempts to repress a people’s natural language, history, and culture. One that concerns Muslims currently, is what China is doing to the Muslim Uyghurs in camps. This is actually a strategy of Sinicisation (the attempt to make the non-Chinese populations of China conform to Han-Chinese language, culture, societal norms and ethnic identity), and is as much an ideology of Han-Chinese racial supremacy as it is of Communist ideological repression.

6.8 CULTURE AND TRADITIONS – Common traditions and culture tend to be transmitted over generations and can be binding factors, but on their own they are not enough to create a nation. Social and cultural traditions like language, are usually the product of social organisation based on other building blocks such as tribe or race, ethnicity. Culture and tradition can be either from higher moral values or quests for higher values of justice. Muslims in diverse states have developed many of these customs based on Islam, even though the state itself may not be considered Islamic. These can include civility, respect, manners, ways of dressing, behaving and much more. However, they can also be those traditions that stem from ignorance, human or material desires, or existing unjust social or human relations. In that case they tend to lead to more social problems, injustice, and a weakening of society eventually.

6.9 COMMON CAUSE OR SUFFERING – A common sense of suffering, discrimination and persecution can be the stimulus for the birth of new nations/politics. People in faraway lands can have strong emotional ties and bonds to each other based on common suffering or a shared sense of injustice. The state of Israel is one example of a 20th century state that was justified almost exclusively on the persecution of its people throughout history, and especially in Europe. There have of course been others.

6.10 A HIGHER CAUSE OR MORAL CONSCIOUSNESS – A commitment to what people believe to be a higher set of values or ideology can, and has, forged social and state organisation above lower level loyalties. It is a belief that capitalist, and liberal democratic values are superior to all other models of social and political organisation, that is the current basis of the state formation strategy of Western states towards the Muslim world. Even though that may be unjust and oppressive. The attempt to impose democracy and liberal values on Iraq, Afghanistan and many other places are examples of that belief. The Chinese communist state also is based on a belief of its ideological superiority. Whilst both are rooted in historical racial supremacy, it is the aspiration to an identified set of what are believed to be higher values, which is the engine of their bonding, global energy, and superpower status.

6.11 It is at this level of higher moral calling, and under divine guidance, that the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ created a new political order. That order was based on the higher moral consciousness of tauhid, good conduct, rights and obligations, and justice. It is a belief in the supremacy and authority of (Allah swt) from whose guidance Islamic values, morals and concepts of justice are located. At the time of its establishment, a community based this type of conduct and value driven social organisation was ahead of its time; even though others before it had thought and wrote about a higher calling or philosophy.

6.12 However, creating a society based around social solidarity, based on such a higher calling, values and justice is probably also the most difficult change to make. It requires an abandonment of deeply embedded practices, habits, traditions, values, and relationships that may have existed for centuries and generations, and challenging interests and power structures established around them.

6.13 Whilst countries in the West, have aspired to move away from the older ethno-national leadership and governance and have adopted models of organisation ostensibly aimed at equality and unifying differing people and communities; Many Muslim countries are lagging behind and struggling to cope with notions of the rights of those being ruled, and equality and fairness. Some are still based on tribal and family rule. Nobody in the West would entertain a serious debate about the rights of a monarch or family to rule, notions of dynastic or absolute rule, or military legitimacy. Yet we have plenty of “Islamic” religious debates that talk about the rights of such families and rulers over the ruled.

6.14 The structures of society in many Muslim countries are even built on preserving the interests of a tribe, family, or preservation of ethnic rule. They are not built upon concepts of either economic, social, and political equality or justice. This situation cannot be maintained and will lead eventually to even more injustice and violence. Sadly, some scholars have helped to legitimise these structures, using Islam as a cover.

7. Economy, Prosperity and Independence

7.1 The desire for economic stability and prosperity is a basic instinct of all human beings. People who are poor and faced with a daily struggle to survive are unlikely to be thinking of global political strategies and action. Survival and poverty have also been a driver of social protest and action throughout history. The fuel for the revolutionary movements known as the Arab Spring were either poverty, inability of human beings to meet their basic needs for livelihood, or oppression and injustice by governments and rulers.

7.2 A people pre-occupied with their day-to-day needs and survival are unlikely to be able to pursue the higher goals of Islam.

7.3 There are many reports from think tanks on the economic situation of Muslim countries and the under-development of what is called “human capital”. These reports are almost always presented without a political structural context. Few, if any, consider the link between the concentration of wealth in the hands of ruling families or elites and poverty and under-development. Nor do they link corruption and money laundering of a nation’s wealth, and transfer of wealth to European countries, to poverty. The nature of the government, or rulers, and its impact on under-development is rarely discussed. Religious scholars and Islamic political parties rarely talk about these issues or the centrality of sound economic prosperity to Islamic development unless it is the promotion of a “sharia-based” business product.

7.4 It is not surprising therefore that a non-religious party in Pakistan led by Imran Khan, based on Insaaf (Urdu for justice) has attracted huge popular support, and gained victory by focusing on issues of corruption by rulers, and basic injustices leading to underdevelopment and impoverishment.

7.5 The focus of development reports produced by the United Nations about Muslim countries, and by some Muslim governments themselves, also rarely touch on the relationships with former colonial countries. The impact of past colonisation, or existing relationships linked to coloniser countries that continue to cause economic under-development and dependency, are seldom addressed. Although some leftist analysis and critiques sometimes do consider them. Muslim think tanks linked to Muslim states or the West, likewise, do not highlight a condition based on a holistic socio-political framework of analysis and understanding.

7.6 As well as these political factors, there are others to do with culture which affect business growth. Just as the nature of political organisation in Muslim countries hinders growth and development potential, so too does the nature of Muslim business organisation which remains at a low level, since they tend to be primarily based on the family (often family capital) and group trust and loyalties and not on more corporate models of growth (within an Islamic context). At the other end whilst in the West there is at least an attempt in theory, if not practice, to control mergers and prevent harmful monopolies of business developing in society, there appear to be few controls of monopolies in many countries. In some cases, it is the opposite, a ruling family, or interests, such as the military and others, are monopolising wealth and certain sectors of economies.

7.7 Francis Fukuyama in his book Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity asks why some societies do better than others in creating wealth. He argues that economic and business success cannot be put down simply to abundance of natural resources, brilliance of business acumen, good laws, and institutions. It also depends on the culture of society and, significantly, by the level of trust in both social and business relationships between its people.

7.8 Most economic enterprises start in families because of the high level of trust between members. This makes them successful. However, they may then become limited because of the incapacity to develop trusting relationships outside the family group in key business roles. Without trust, businesses must move to more legal and contractual relationships which also have a limiting effect, due to transaction costs, conflicts but usually often result in quicker and more growth.

7.9 Could it be that small to medium Muslim businesses are also failing to grow beyond the family, because they are limited in their ability to develop a framework of trust outside their immediate family or cultural group? In addition, there are many examples of Muslim business partnerships or joint investment ventures, that this author has dealt with or is aware of, where there is no formal contractual agreement between the parties (a core Islamic principle) and which then collapse, and end up in legal conflicts. The ability and capacity to employ in key business roles, only those who can be trusted solely within the family or ethnic group, can limit expansion and growth potential.

7.10 The Qur’an seems to already have addressed this issue. The longest verse in the Qur’an relates to committing transactions to written contracts.

7.11 Additionally, in the case of Muslim majority countries, the nature of governance and corruption among state officials is not conducive to business growth, because it destroys trust between the rulers and ruled. In places like Pakistan, there is effectively a formal and informal economy. People find it easier to get things done in the informal economy, which tends to be dependent on informal networks of friendship, trust, or contacts, for example the cash economy, or matters to do with land, and other day-to-day administrative matters to do with property and business.

7.12 Several other factors continue to hold Muslim societies back from personal and economic development and growth: –

7.13 The last two are particularly relevant as obstacles to the unification of the Muslim world. If you are economically more tied into the West and its international agencies, your ability to tread independent political paths are severely curtailed.

7.14 Most Muslim majority countries have more import and exports with non-Muslim countries than Muslim countries. This makes the practical development of brotherhood and unity near impossible. Even if one state becomes more independent, it is impossible to survive on its own if others are still tied in economically to the West. This dependency also means Muslims are tied into capitalist modes of economic thinking and behaviour instead of building on Islamic ideals and principles.

7.15 An examination of some Muslim majority nation states and their trade relationships highlights just how dependent they have become on the West. We take some examples here to illustrate the points, and hope in future to do more detailed analysis on the state of dependency of Muslim countries.

7.16 The information in the table below is for five Muslim majority countries from UN Statistical data for 2018. ¹³Department economic and social affairs. (2019), “Statistical Yearbook 2019 edition”, United Nations, New York. Retrieved from, UN Stats It shows that most of their top three trading partners for export and import are mainly non-Muslim countries. One can go through a list of all the Muslim majority countries and a pattern emerges which shows Muslim countries are not actually connected much to each other economically at all, let alone politically. Compare this with most Western and European countries, whose largest trading partners are among each other, rather than Muslim or African countries.

  Understanding the role economics plays in political and ideological dominance is important. Western states have established protectionist measures and institutions to keep trade controlled and essentially between themselves (for example the EU among others).

7.17 The World Investment Report 2020 shows that for 2019, there is only one Muslim majority country among the top 20 countries with incoming flows of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), and that is Indonesia. This shows that Muslim majority countries do not tend to attract large inflows of foreign investment. ¹⁴UNCTAD. (2020), “World Investment Report 2020 Chapter 1”, United Nations, New York. Retrieved from, UN Conference on Trade and Development

7.18 In Muslim majority countries, the balance of payments tends to favour imports rather than exports, i.e. most are in deficit which means debt repayments and interest payments end up reaching more critical peaks. A state like Turkey has been continuously excluded from the economic benefits of the European Union. This appears to be a deliberate policy to exclude a Muslim majority nation from the economic opportunities of “joining te club”. Generally, most Muslim countries have low export bases.

7.19 The OIC Economic Outlook report for 2019, which examines the year 2018, shows how the economic situation for OIC members appears to be worsening. It states: –

7.20 The manufacturing and sales of arms is one of the largest global industries and a key generator of export profits for the West and countries like Russia, China and even Israel. Muslim majority countries, on the other hand, are the biggest importers of arms from these countries. The tables below show how among the top arms sale countries, not one is a Muslim majority country. They are however some of the largest purchasers of arms. Whilst three Muslim countries have started to develop indigenous military manufacturing (Iran, Turkey, and Pakistan), they are still largely dependent for components from other countries.

7.21 Data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), shows that the largest arms exporters from 2015-2019, were the US, Russia, France, Germany, and China. Whilst Muslim majority countries made up 11 out of the 22 top purchasers of arms. ¹⁶Mader, G & Elliott, S. (2020, March 12) “Biggest arms exporters and importers”, SIPRI. Retrieved at, Euro SD

7.22 Shockingly, Muslim majority countries pour vast amounts of the ummah’s wealth into purchasing military equipment from the West, which means they are funding the very source of the instability in their lands. ¹⁷Deghan, Saeed Kamali. (2018, March 12), “Nearly half of all US arms go to the Middle East”, The Guardian UK. Retrieved from, The Guardian

¹⁸Bowler, T. (2018 May 9), “Which country dominates the global arms trade?”, BBC, BBC News

7.23 Until Muslim majority countries become self-sufficient in the arms trade and establish just trade among themselves, they will remain permanently dependent for their survival and security on the West. They will also remain unable to take up independent political issues relating to the ummah, or even unite with each other.

Towards an Economy of Brotherhood

7.24 The decline of Muslims on the economic front is tragic for the ummah. Until the 15th century, Muslims dominated world trading, and the cities in the Muslim world were the hub of global business, cultural and intellectual exchange.

7.25 Trade is the basis of prosperity in Islam. Trading must be promoted as the means to increase the wealth of the ummah. There were a few economic principles established at Medina from which Muslims must learn and try to re-establish: –

7.26 When Muslim communities first arrived in the UK, they embodied many of these principles. It was these which helped them collectively develop mosques, buy homes, build businesses, bring over families, despite facing discrimination and obstacles in all walks of life. Over the years these ideals have been eroded, with a much more capitalist and individualistic orientated attitude toward wealth and prosperity.

7.27 Islamic community and business ideals are also being modelled on Western notions of growth, competitive spirit, and relationships, rather than those based on Islamic concepts of brotherhood, fairness, non-exploitation, and elimination of poverty.

7.28 A major obstacle to Muslim economic growth are the borders of Muslim majority countries themselves, this limits opportunity and growth. The notions of other Muslims from outside the country having no right to or limited citizenship in some countries, or limits on outsiders investing or acquiring property . These principles are nation-state principles foreign to Islam – which emphasize freedom to trade, and travel. They prevent both internal and external investment, as well as property acquisition or business acquisition, and limit connectivity.

7.29 A major source of economic growth is further and higher education. The modern global economy is knowledge based and requires educated labour in all fields, including in business, sport, culture, and media.

7.30 Muslims established the oldest University in the world (Al-Qarawiyyin in Morocco, established by a woman, Fatmiah Al-Fihri 859 AD). They also established advanced centres of learning and education in Islamic Spain. Europeans used come to the Muslim world to learn, today it is the opposite. We now have a situation where we do not have a single university in the Muslim world in the top 100. ¹⁹Ireland, S. (2020 May 24), “Revealed: Best universities in the world for 2020”, CEOWORLD. Retrieved at, CEO World Most Muslims who want an advanced education, go to universities in the West. Many then tend to get jobs in the West as there are limited opportunities, or low paid opportunities for them in their home countries. They may also marry in the West. This skilled labour is then lost to Muslim countries.

The Global Halal Trade

7.31 One area in which there has been growth has been the global halal products market, and this perhaps shows the potential for trade between Muslims.

7.32 The State of the Global Islamic Economy Report 2019/20 produced by Dinar Standard estimates that Muslims spent US$2.2 trillion in 2018 across several faith-inspired lifestyle sectors. This spending reflects a healthy 5.2% year-on-year growth and is forecasted to reach US $3.2 trillion by 2024 at a Cumulative Annual Growth Rate (“CAGR”) of 6.2%. In addition, Islamic finance assets were reported to have reached $2.5 trillion in 2018.

7.33 The halal economy sectors estimated value for 2018 were: –

Halal Food $1.369bn

Modest Fashion $283bn

Media and Recreation $220bn

Muslim Friendly Travel $189bn

Halal Pharmaceuticals $92bn

Halal Cosmetics $64bn

Islamic Finance (assets) $2,524bn

7.34 The top ten countries for the halal market for 2018 in order were: –

Investments & Donations by Muslim Minority Communities Overseas

7.35 A major source of investment in some Muslim majority countries are remittances from Muslim communities overseas, especially in European countries, or the US. The Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Indian Muslim communities in particular send money “back home” primarily to support relatives. This can be for education, healthcare or dealing with poverty, in the absence of a health and social welfare system in those countries. The social and economic development of Muslim majority countries in solving their own problems would also provide a benefit to those communities living in Europe or the US. The amount of money they send overseas can then be available to invest or spend on other needs or investments.

7.36 The remittances of overseas Muslims can be significant and even help provide much needed currency reserves for a country like Pakistan struggling with debts. For example, overseas Pakistanis remitted $13.3 billion between July 2019 to January 2020, according to the state bank of Pakistan. This was at a time when Pakistan was in much need of foreign currency reserves. ²⁰Internews. (2020, February 2), “Overseas Pakistanis remit $13.3bn in July-Jan period”, reported in Gulf News P4, Doha.

7.37 As well as remittances to countries of origin, Muslim communities in the UK for example, donate large amounts to Muslim charities for humanitarian relief. Although an accurate sum cannot be given, it is estimated that around £130 million is donated by Muslims just in Ramadan. ²¹Charity Commission UK. (2020, April 23) “Generous donors urged to give safely to registered charities in Ramadan”, Charity Commission. Retrieved at, Gov UK

8. Approaches and Solutions

8.1 The solutions that Muslims tend to put forward to the current situation and predicament come mainly in the form of Islamic religious responses that are divorced from context, and omit social, economic, or organisational guidance. Even the political arguments tend to be essentially theological narrative, rather than based on social scientific understanding or fact based. This tends to limit the ability to think beyond repeated narratives and statements.

8.2 The Muslim understanding and approach to solving global Muslim problems have historically been encompassed within the following traditions.

8.3 Whilst all these approaches may be necessary for the preaching and transmission of Islam, they bear little resemblance to the reality or complexity of the problem facing Muslims, and indeed the world. The assumption that at some point the solution or an end goal (of political unity) will come about automatically, or the notion that merely adopting the right type of Islam, political or religious outlook, in personal life, will automatically result in a solution, unification, unity and an end to racism and nationalism, are unrealistic – and indeed divorced from Islam’s basis as a way of both faith and good action. However, in all these notions the situation still requires to be changed.

8.4 Our argument is that: –

  A 100 years of modern-day nationalism, racism and subdivision will not simply be overcome
with increased piety, ritualistic practice, or even the espousing of the correct politics.

8.5 At the inter-nation state level, practical efforts at co-operation such as the OIC, African Union, Maghreb Union, and a host of others, including economic integration bodies have already been established. These initiatives have largely failed because they are rooted in the concept of either Arabism and Arab or African unity, and as such they are not practically suited to the need for a wider Muslim brotherhood, and essentially do not seek to transform the existing ruling elites and government frameworks. They have also been hampered by proxy wars and politics between Saudi Arabia and Iran in the Middle East. It is not the remit of this report to analyse the reasons for the failings of these initiatives in detail, but it has become clear that the current structures cannot deliver the unification that is needed.

8.6 In December 2019, the Kuala Lumpur conference in Malaysia convened with 20 Muslim countries attending to discuss issues of unity and co-operation among Muslims, seemingly as a new bloc breaking away from the OIC. Billed as a platform for Muslim unity, it met with resistance from some members of the OIC. It is expected that there will be resistance from existing states to any change in a new direction. For this reason, the strategy in this paper is directed at the global ummah. ²²22 Reuters. (2019 December 18), “Muslim leaders gather in Malaysia for summit shunned by Saudi”, News Republic. Retrievable at, News Republic

8.7 Those who attended the Malaysia conference reported that there was not much in the way of practical solutions, but more of a desire for Muslim countries to come together, to share problems, and look at revitalising the ummah. Commendable ideas such as developing bartering and other ways to bypass trading in dollars and building on the notion of keeping the money within the ummah were raised. This is in response to the US pushing other countries to sanction and cripple Muslim majority countries, using the international banking system and the dollar as the central currency of the global economy. Hopefully, more of these conferences will take place in the Muslim majority world, and not just among states, but among non-state actors.

8.8 It is likely that some states are going to have to take the initiative and push forward. Those states could be those linked to those of the Malaysia initiative or others, for example, the Pakistan-Afghanistan region with Turkey, or perhaps even those that tend to be overlooked such as Muslim countries in Africa.

9. Towards Unification of Muslims

9.1 The condition of the Muslim majority world today reflects a picture of violence and bloodshed and economic and political weakness. The conflicts taking place and struggles for political reform are painful for all Muslims to witness. Whilst this may be depressing, it is perhaps an inevitable outcome of our history of political disintegration or lack of political renewal. However, political violence has been part of human nature and the history of socio-political change, throughout time, and for the Muslims, our change in condition will also come, Insha’Allah.

9.2 Whilst the West and the Countering Violent Extremism agenda (CVE) portray violence and suffering as uniquely Muslim, and related to Islam, political violence has not been exclusive to Muslims. Such violence, as in Syria, tends to be of a nationalistic/political nature but is deliberately presented as “Islamist inspired”. The unaccountable and outmoded governance structures in the Muslim majority world, propped up by some Western nations have a high potential to lead to political violence, which is then used as evidence to tarnish the image of Islam.

9.3 The West has also been through prolonged periods of political violence in its history, in the form of competing empires, and then the wars of nationalism (including two destructive world wars). In fact, Europeans have been at war and in conflict throughout most of their history until recently.

9.4 It was only after the devastation of the Second World War that Europeans decided to take practical steps to minimise future bloodshed (amongst themselves at least). European minds put their heads together and came up with several economic based treaties, which eventually led to the European Union. The thinking was quite simple, that economic and social interdependence will reduce the likelihood of future wars, and eventually translate into political dependence and Union. European integration was seen correctly as an antidote to the extreme nationalism that led to both world wars.

9.5 The idea of the European Union and Pan Europeanism in fact were not new ideas, they had been discussed and thought of much earlier. It was during the International Peace Congress of Paris in 1849 that the idea of a United States of Europe was first floated by Victor Hugo.

9.6 The European Union has successfully worked to prevent the scourge of war and nationalist division in Western Europe for the last 75 years and reduced and contained nationalist tensions. It has even helped create a common European identity among the people of different European countries. It managed to integrate the former Eastern European countries and helped to develop them economically. The Union has largely been successful because it embraced people of the same cultural and Christian heritage, and now appears to be challenged by the presence of a large body of Muslims in Europe. Recently the EU has started to fracture with the bankruptcy of Greece, the UK leaving the EU, and the rise of white identitarian movements. The US is also facing division and strife along racial and ethnic lines. Whilst Europe and the US are busy with their own domestic issues and renewal, this presents an opportunity for Muslim majority countries to get their own houses in order and come together.

9.7 In the 21st century there is also a realisation that economic and political power will rest with large blocs of nations. Smaller nations not aligned to the bigger blocs, will inevitably become satellites, or subjugates of these larger power blocs. Under those circumstances many smaller Muslim majority states will simply be swallowed up economically or disappear, if they do not come together.

9.8 The current power blocs that exist, or are emerging are, the United States, Russia, China, India, the European Union, an emerging Iran-aligned bloc in the Middle East, and an Australasian bloc. The potential for a power bloc around Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the Caucasus regions also exists.

9.9 When it comes to fighting wars and self-defense, Europeans, and the US, tend to act collectively, either via NATO or European allies of the US, or through the United Nations. They seldom fight alone. Muslim majority countries on the other hand fight individually and up until now have had little chance of success.

9.10 In short, the economic and political survival of the Muslim majority world will depend on looking beyond current nation-states towards a larger political and economic bloc. Working towards a “new civilization of Islam” will first require that Muslims come together as a global political and economic force before they can become an intellectual and cultural force.

9.11 Our condition today is not unlike that of Europe at the end of the Second World War. Devastated by war and in need of rebuilding. There is a need for unification to bring about an end to wars and self-interest. There are sufficient human and natural resources in the Muslim world to satisfy everyone’s requirements. Muslim states need to come together around trade and military alliance initially. A failure to do so is bound to lead to more wars, economic exploitation, and Western domination of Muslim majority countries.

9.12 Just as European minds put their heads together and came up with practical ideas to prevent a repetition of the past, so too Muslim minds must come together. It cannot be beyond the imagination of Muslims, a once proud civilisation to find solutions to their common problems.

9.13 Islam does not accept Muslims to either adopt inaction or an attitude of defeat and pessimism. Allah (swt) has blessed us with the final revealed paradigm for a divinely ordained order, and given that Prophethood has ended, in His wisdom, Muslims possess the necessary guidance capacity for self-correction and rejuvenation, now or in the future.

9.14 Perhaps we have been working from the wrong end. Maybe we have been seeing political unity as the starting point rather than the end point. Unity also does not need to mean uniformity, but more a practical brotherhood (friendship, trust, co-operation, mutual assistance, and support) based on the universality of Islam. Perhaps we can develop practical policy options, proposals, projects, and initiatives/agreements that can start to actualise unification and non-nationalism on the ground. If they are presented in a manner that ensures Muslims take on board some of the ideas and projects, we have made a solid start. They may then be implemented by some states and communities. These will over time transform people’s lower level loyalties into bonds of brotherhood and unification, which will eventually lead to the type of political and social unity and order that Islam requires, appropriate to our contemporary reality, Insha’Allah.

9.15 Our approach is a bottom-up practical approach rather than a top down approach. Just because change is not coming from the top, does not mean Muslims should not do anything, and it can’t come from other quarters such as the ordinary people, civil society organisation’s, entrepreneurs, academics, policy makers, even the masses.

9.16 Here we repeat the Qur’anic verse which instructs us to become allies of one another as other communities have become.

9.17 In fact, such a foreign policy approach of Muslim unification, known as (itihad i-Islam) was started by the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II (ra). Faced with a disintegration of the Ottoman empire, and a loss of Christian communities and colonialism, he began the movement for greater unification of the Muslim world with the Ottoman state. The project was ended when he was overthrown by the Young Turks in 1909. Many Muslim thinkers in the 19th century had already realised that they could not meet the rise of a powerful Europe without Muslims coming together and being tied economically and politically to each other, and also discussed this as part of Itihad i-Islam. They also realised they had to modernise their economy and ways of governance.

9.18 In this initial discussion paper, we identify some broad principles of thinking and areas for development and some projects which can be, or should be, prioritised and that can be discussed or developed further.

10. Practical Working Principles

10.1 Here we outline some broad principles/approaches that should be adopted to guide policy and project development.

10.2 1. Unity Through Connectivity – Unity cannot occur if Muslims remain isolated and distant from each other in separate groupings, or if little or no effort is put into changing this situation. Practical ways and means must be found in which Muslims across countries can become more connected to each other. This applies locally as well as internationally and is the overarching principle which cuts across all others. This is also about getting to know one another and appreciate each other’s history, culture, and good values.

10.3 2. Unification Through Alliances – Muslims must become allies of each other as required by the Qur’an. It is not enough simply to do this in word; this must be bound in deed, in writing, or in treaties which then become binding particularly among Muslim majority states, but also Muslim communities across borders. We see how the political order of the Prophet Muhammadﷺ came about because of such a treaty. The Qur’an also places great emphasis on putting things in writing and honouring such agreements.

10.4 3. The Economy of Brotherhood – Economic development and trade is central to brotherhood and prosperity. Muslims who are struggling to make a living are less likely to have time to reflect on issues of wider brotherhood and unity. Freedom to trade and invest across borders should be an essential goal for Muslims. Those areas of trade/economy which will lead to the greatest economic benefit should be identified and developed. The overarching aim should be to be able to produce everything the Muslim world needs within Muslim majority countries. Restrictions on inter country trade and investments should be limited to those necessary, with more freedom to trade. Muslim charities need to consider how they can further the goals of self-sufficiency and development, rather than just focusing mainly on providing food aid and emergency needs. Models of investment and development based on true awqaf and trade based on bartering also need to be examined. Developing trade is aid.

10.5 4. Self Defence and Protection are no Offence – Security and protection of life, liberty and property matters to Muslims as it does to all humankind. The ability of nations and individuals in communities to acquire the skills and means to protect themselves, in case of threat, is a necessity in our current conditions. Muslim majority countries need to come together in military unions and act as mediators to solve the problems of other Muslim states. Muslims must build arms capacity for themselves and sell military equipment to each other and engage in science and research around defense and security.

10.6 5. Intra Faith more than Inter Faith – There is currently interest by Muslims at both a global and local level to get involved in interfaith dialogue. This is pushed by Western countries. Yet despite deep rooted sectarianism, there is no push to develop intra-faith understanding. Muslims need to engage in intra-faith dialogue within themselves and build understanding across cultural and racial divides, within the community, more than participating in inter- faith initiatives.

10.7 6. Common Language Binds – Most allied blocs have a common language which helps to bind the separate states/people together. This does not mean abandoning indigenous languages or not prioritising them. Arabic seems the obvious choice to become the common language for Muslims; and in Arab speaking countries efforts should be made to learn other Muslim languages. Muslims have been focused on learning European languages more than that of other Muslim nations, primarily for education and economic reasons. The language of most significant importance for global business is English and Muslims states need to consider what priority should be given to teaching this language.

10.8 Priority must also be given to literacy projects, and schooling to end illiteracy in the Muslim majority world.

10.9 The importance of the Arabic language was highlighted in a Rand Report “the Muslim world after 911” published in 2004.

10.10 7. Knowledge and learning has no boundaries – Muslims should be able to critically interrogate, attain and convey knowledge across the world. It is imperative that Muslims gain knowledge across boundaries and not restrict themselves to the West. Learning and the availability of knowledge today is also global, and not confined to physical institutions. Much learning can be done online globally. First rate universities need to be developed throughout the Muslim world, which will attract Muslims from other countries. Currently Muslims primarily go to universities in the Muslim world to learn theology or obtain alim qualifications. There is not a single University in the Muslim world in the top 100 global universities, a damming indictment of a civilisation once at the heart of knowledge and education in the world. It was a Muslim, Ibn Khaldun who is accredited with founding social sciences. Muslim universities need to become leaders in offering social science courses not just science and theology.

10.11 8. Thinking beyond Borders – Thinking about Muslims issues should transcend borders. Investing in critical research in all fields of thinking, analysis and planning are necessary for development. Muslims must become specialists on Muslim majority countries, peoples and their issues, as well as Muslim minority communities. Muslims in the West are ideally placed to develop this area of work.

10.12 9. Media and Culture Matters – Global media can play an important role in conveying history and culture of other people and understanding issues, as well as imparting values. We have seen this with the popular Turkish drama Ertugrul which has been shown and appreciated in so many Muslim majority countries, as well as in the West. It has demonstrated a global appetite from Muslims to learn about Islamic history, culture, and polity.

10.13 10. Understanding Nationalism and Racism – Muslims in the West are uniquely placed to be able to analyse/understand the nature or racism and extreme forms of nationalism and how to practically develop policies to undermine/manage them. They are also at the epi-centre of anti-Muslim and anti-Islam narratives and propaganda (Islamophobia). Anti-racist and anti-Islam hate education and awareness is something that needs to be taught in all parts of the Muslim world, including schools.

10.14 11. The Rights of the Ruled – There is a lot of Muslim discourse on rulers and rulership among Muslims and Muslim majority countries. This tends to focus on the rights and powers of the rulers, as it has done historically. Toward the 19th century a discourse started in the Muslim world, and among the Ottoman state, known as constitutionalism. Whilst this was in part influenced by developments in Europe, there was also a genuine internal desire to curb the luxurious and wasteful lifestyle of rulers, and injustices against people. This led to the demand to replace their absolute powers with more accountable forms of government which would guarantee rights to citizens; not just to be left to the discretion of the ruler or an appointed religious Qazi (the demand was that rights should be written down in law and guaranteed). This debate and process needs to continue based on Islamic foundations, but with a contemporary understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of modern governance and accountability and methods of holding power to account.

10.15 12. Justice is Central to Islam – There needs to be a practical focus as to how to achieve justice in Muslim majority states, and in the fair treatment of individuals and communities in society. A society where the privileged and rich have more right to justice, and to avoid criminal sanctions, than the weak and poor can never be considered a developed or just one, let alone an Islamic one. Projects based on identifying injustices and establishing principles of justice, such as due process, rule of law, fair trial, anti-corruption, need to be developed and widely understood and become part of the Muslim public consciousness and culture. This also needs to be coupled with a movement against those individuals and groups who consider mob and vigilante justice to be a correct Islamic method.

11. Project Ideas and Proposals

11.1 This section sets out in some more detail those key ideas and areas where new thinking and effort can be directed. It will also set out some thinking on political and economic projects that can develop the Muslim ummah in a direction towards greater unification.

11.2 The paper, once published, will be circulated for wider discussion with stakeholders and even representatives of Muslim majority countries who are willing to listen, although many may initially be resistant.

11.3 However, for this work to continue, one area which is largely absent in the Muslim world are strategic think tanks not linked to Western or Muslim majority countries, which can further develop the Muslim world in the direction suggested in this paper.

11.4 The principles adopted in the last chapter help us to inform strategy and project development. Some thoughts on what they might be are presented below.

11.5 Some Muslim nation states are already beginning to think in the direction of projects outlined here, as was stated by the leaders of Turkey, Malaysia and Pakistan who had discussed launching a joint Islamic TV station project to tackle global Islamophobia and promote Islam. ²⁴The News. (2019, September 26), “Pakistan, Turkey, Malaysia, to jointly launch Islamic TV channel: PM Imran”, Jang
Group. Retrievable at, The International News This was followed by the Unity Conference held in Malaysia. In addition to such conferences, individuals and countries may develop or dedicate resources to these Ummah Centric Projects.

Trade, Travel and Economy

11.6 Muslim states are under-developed and busy focused on economic development. Even oil rich countries are busy trying to reconstruct their economies around tourism and investment for future development, directed mainly at the non-Muslim or Western market. This is in addition to having to deal with foreign debt or aid, and their accompanying repayments.

11.7 Most of this trade and investment is directed at non-Muslim or Western markets and not between Muslim countries. There is little trade even between OIC countries. The focus of the economy of OIC countries is towards trade with the OECD countries. This economic dependence on the West or bloc countries, means that it is difficult for countries to tread independent political paths; or even, as we are currently seeing, speak out or assist fellow Muslims oppressed in those countries, for example in China and India. Yet even with all this emphasis on trade with non-Muslim countries, very few Muslim states have managed to become major trading partners of non-Muslim states (except in a handful of cases).

11.8 Trade brings countries/people together as we have seen with the EU. The EU has assisted in forging a pan European identity, by people working and holidaying or buying second homes in other European countries. As well as preventing wars between those countries. We have also seen throughout history how Muslim traders encountered other people in different parts of the world, even in Africa and Far East, and positively influenced other people and societies. In many cases they were the main source of the spread of Islam through their character, the way they traded and universalist approach to others, over a narrow-minded one. However, colonialism and subsequent governments have orientated and linked Muslim economies and relationships of Muslims countries towards former colonial countries of the West, not at a positive level, but at an exploitative level. This means they are more linked to the West and are inter-dependent on them for economic and political survival. This process needs to be reversed with a shift towards Muslim countries trading with each other, and other oppressed non-Muslim countries such as in Latin America.

11.9 The late Sultan Abdul Hamid II (ra) had reached similar conclusions during his rule and tried to save the Ottoman Caliphate by reorientation towards the Muslim world instead of Europe. One of his great Ummah Centric projects was to link the Ottoman state with the Arab/Muslim world through trade via his railway projects. He built the Hijaz Railway line from Istanbul to Damascus and Medina, and to Haifa. This was partly economic, and religious, but it was also a military strategy. The railway was to be used to move soldiers quickly to the Middle East area to defend against threats by European powers, whose navies were far superior. There is no reason why such road and rail links should not be built today for the trade benefit of Muslims. The China Belt and Road initiative in Pakistan, is an example of cross border linkages, but this is being built by the Chinese also for the benefit of their economy. However, this will no doubt provide some greater linkages between Muslim countries and possibly Muslims in China.

11.10 The former colonial countries built roads and rail links for the benefit of their economies and countries. Pakistan and other Muslim states that link to it, now need to see how transport can be used to bring them closer together through trade. The development of inter-Muslim infrastructure projects will increase trade and produce jobs providing an economic boost.

11.11 Turkey is one of many countries where the obsession with Europe has meant that it has effectively become dependent on the West economically. This dependence is reinforced by it becoming a Western NATO member. In recent times, President Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AK party) have used the concept of “economic Jihad” together with a revival of Ottoman history and culture to partially reverse the loss of Islamic identity imposed by Kemalism. Turkey has also tried to develop “halal tourism” directed at the Muslim world, with some success.

11.12 Travel and Tourism between Muslim countries is one way to increase trade. Muslims from different Muslim majority countries seldom travel from one to another for the purpose of visit and holidays. This not only reduces capacity for trade links to be built, but it also precipitates ongoing cultural and racial divides, which are best dissolved through the knowledge gained in travel. Rather, Muslims tend to travel to their home countries or to parts of Europe. Although travel to Muslim majority countries is now increasing among Muslim minorities in Europe, more should be done to encourage travel to appreciate the culture and history of other Muslims and help people to get to “know one another”.

11.13 Muslim majority countries are dependent on the West and Russia for security and defence. This is a major obstacle to Muslim independence and unification. It is a major reason for foreign debt and the dire inability to meet the local requirements of welfare and government spending on economic projects. Globally, the arms trade is one of the largest industries in the world and helps keep many Western economies afloat. ²⁵Loc. Cit. note 18. Several Muslim countries, such as Iran, Turkey and Pakistan, are now developing their own arms industry. Turkey and Pakistan have both developed tanks and fighter jets and Turkey has now developed fighter drones. Iran has developed missiles and drones. This is an industry and trade that needs to be rapidly developed to move Muslim majority countries away from dependence on the West, Russia, or China for their own defense from the very nations who often attack them. This will require Muslim countries to collaborate with each other. There are also no reasons why Muslim countries should not collaborate to help stabilise and bring peace to conflict zones. Equally, the more powerful military countries like Turkey and Pakistan can provide defence security to smaller Muslim countries. As an example, Libya’s call to Turkey to help stabilise and defend the country from factions armed and funded by different states for their own economic benefits, has helped stabilise the situation there.

11.14 Most Muslim countries purchase motor vehicles from the West. This represents a huge market. Yet there have been few attempts to develop indigenous Muslim made car and public transport vehicles as India has successfully done (although Malaysia tried, and Turkey has made some effort in this direction with vehicle sales now one of its key exports). This should be one of the key economic sectors for growth in the Muslim world, which would help them move away from Western dependency.

11.15 There should be more trade shows and conferences from Muslims, to highlight business opportunities in different Muslim countries. These can take place in the West or in Muslim majority countries. In an online world there is much scope for showcasing and trading between Muslim countries. Products from China sold online offer a perfect example of how trading can take place anywhere in the world. Online markets for Muslim goods from different countries can also be established, as can platforms for bartering and truly Islamic trading networks.

Unification Through Alliances and Associations

11.16 Treaties, agreements, and alliances in writing between countries and even amongst local mosques/organisation’s are the starting point for co-operation and working together. They have an important history such as during the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and even later. The EU started simply with several limited economic treaties between a handful of countries. Some limited ones exist in parts of the Muslim world and they need to be reviewed.

11.17 Treaties can be economic, but are important as military treaties. In a world of competing power blocs, it is not possible for countries to fight wars alone. NATO, and Europe, even the UN fight as allies together often alongside the United States. Sometimes Muslim states have also allied against them, or with them. Aside from Iran and Syria having a military alliance to fight jointly against any threats to each other, it is highly doubtful whether any other treaties exist between Muslim nations to fight conflicts or enemies as allies of other Muslim states. Muslim countries in fact seem to find it easier to ally with non-Muslim countries than with each other.

11.18 At some point these agreements can also include easier travel, less visa and residency requirements between countries. Currently the standard for Muslim majority countries seems to be to try to prevent freedom of movement for visitors from other Muslim majority countries, whilst easing restrictions on Western country visitors. Part of the reason is that there is an obsession with Western tourism but also a lack of trust between Muslim majority countries as well as within them.

11.19 The creation of a Muslim Commonwealth should be discussed (A political association with a common heritage for common goals and good). Thought should be given to the establishment of such a political association not necessarily under the auspices of heads of state but consisting of Muslim civil society, universities or Muslim NGO’s or professional bodies – the forces more likely to cross colonial, nation-state boundaries. Although the OIC was established to be the voice of the Muslim world and a forum for peace and harmony in the Muslim world, it has failed primarily because of interstate rivalry and because the structure of government in those countries was not prepared to change to meet the challenges of Muslims or the future.

11.20 In civil society, a leadership model needs to be developed around the Islamic decision-making concept of Ahlul Hal Wal Aqd. This is often translated as those people who can “loosen and bind”, but in practical terms it means those who have the ability to take a situation apart and put it back together again. This means they can analyse and understand social political problems and come up with solutions. Unless the Muslim world produces people and leaders with these skills, they will not be able to provide solutions to the problems of their societies. The Islamic concept of Shura mutual consultation needs to be built into our method of working and organising our affairs. We also need to invest in producing future leaders with critical and problem-solving leadership skills. A global network of such leaders needs to exist.

Knowledge and Learning beyond boundaries

11.21 We live in a world where knowledge and learning are at the core of political and economic success. Education systems are still under-developed in most Muslim countries, even at the university level. Some countries such as Turkey, Malaysia and Iran are now making big strides in developing their universities, but there is a long way to go. The university experience in the West offers good opportunities for intercultural and ethnic exchange.

11.22 Wealthy and middle-class Muslims, in Muslim countries still travel abroad for their education. To date this has mainly been restricted to education in the West, although there is some move towards Eastern European countries. However, it is important that Muslims do not just restrict themselves to European countries.

11.23 Students are another important element in inter-Muslim connectivity. Often, they will meet Muslims from other countries and sometimes settle, some marry, and others obtain work in those countries. Some may return home to become future leaders of industry or government.

11.24 Knowledge and education are moving away from physical locations and more to online and short courses. This represents a great opportunity for cross country interactions and learning, as well as the transmission of knowledge and experiences from each country. More online courses with blocks of short-term residence and attendance will provide opportunities for more people to participate and make them more affordable. Possibilities of Muslim universities offering short and long courses online in a global context need to be examined and developed.

11.25 There needs to be a greater common emphasis on educational development NGOs in parts of the Muslim world to end illiteracy. Muslims in the West are ideally placed to help in the transfer of knowledge and establishment of educational systems and schools in the Muslim world. They are also ideally placed to deliver the transfer of online knowledge in short courses. These can be in such areas as understanding racism, extreme nationalism, Islamophobia, and critical political thought. Think tanks can produce work on economic issues, conflict resolution and strategy, the situation of Muslim minorities and other matters of contemporary knowledge; as well as learning of languages, can all be done online across boundaries. To date Muslim communities have concentrated primarily on the transmission of faith from their own school of thought, as a means of creating more followers rather than knowledge in its wider sense, and this has simply reinforced sectarianism.

11.26 There are now many Islamic schools and madrassahs in Western countries that can contribute to overseas development work by twinning, or sponsored project visits between schools in Muslim countries and in the UK or other Western countries. This will help raise standards overseas. Developing schooling, key skills and the quality of schooling in the Muslim world should be a focus of Muslim charity work.

Media and Culture Matters

11.27 In an age of global media, culture and values can be transmitted via mainstream media and social media. Muslim majority countries have traditionally been consumers of Western, Indian, and particularly US media/movies. Media brings with it, culture, values, identity, and adoption of narratives and propaganda. This represents a huge opportunity for Muslim connectivity.

11.28 More recently the growth of media from Muslim countries such as Aljazeera and TRT have brought some alternative perspectives on news, even though they may come with a nationalist agenda. Aljazeera English has set standards as probably being one of the most informative English news channels in the world and provides a different news and documentary perspective on many international contexts.

11.29 Turkish movies seeking to revive Ottoman culture via drama series like Dirilis Ertugrul have had a major global impact on the Muslim world. They have demonstrated a real passion from Muslims for learning about history and cross-country consumption of culture and Islamic identity. Turkey, Malaysia, and Pakistan have pledged to jointly build an Islamic TV station based on past Islamic achievements and a sound understanding of Islam. Whilst these may come with nationalist or party-political agendas, they can still act as drivers of Muslim connectivity. Such cultural initiatives do not have to be from movies, they can include short documentaries, educational films and other media formats should be encouraged among young people, in parallel with sound Islamic education too. These types of initiatives should not be restricted to mainstream media and can be expanded by private initiative to online media.

11.30 Most news media come with nationalist or party-political agendas, and in Muslim countries political expression and critique are also censored. This means that in the West, the production of alternative and critical news perspectives on Muslim issues can be an important source of news and information to enhance understanding.

11.31 There is need for more independent online media news and critical analysis sites on social media, to counter the constant narrative of Muslim division and promotion of unification. However, such news outlets need to have high standards of journalism not just propaganda or fake news, or sect-based outlets. Muslims in the West can play a key role in helping to set and establish sound journalistic and media ethical standards, and in the Muslim world.

Intra Faith more than Inter Faith

11.32 It is a sad reality that Muslim communities and organisation’s, even in a minority situation in places like the UK, have little interaction or connectivity between schools of thought, sects, or nationalities. Yet the same people and organizations will interact easily with other faiths, communities, or non-Muslim political parties, and groups. How can this be considered anything akin to brotherhood? Brotherhood in Islam, as this paper has attempted to highlight, is not mere words but a practical effort and pressing need that we must address in our current reality.

11.33 Groupism is deeply entrenched in most Muslims, to the extent that many people will defend their own group or individuals even if they have engaged in wrongdoing. This is not an approach based on fairness or justice as required by Islam. We need to develop a culture based on truth and justice, in word as well as deed.

11.34 Currently some Muslim states now promote inter-faith dialogue and co-existence conferences. Yet the same states have fueled sectarianism and hate between Muslims and will not engage with members of other sects. Once again, the driver here is economic and political. Those states and their economies are intimately tied to members of other faiths, and because of that dependency, or a push from the West, they want to promote tolerance and coexistence.

11.35 The problem of not promoting intra-faith understanding, tolerance, and coexistence, is that when followers of one particular sect gain the upper hand over another politically, in a particular country, they will nearly always end up being unjust, or at worse oppressing members of other sects. The result is then more division of the ummah, and continued persecution and dominance, by others.

Self Defence and Protection.

11.36 Of all the issues that cause most pain to Muslims, it is the lack of a response at an international level to suffering, oppression and bloodshed of Muslims overseas. Faced with suffering, there have been two main responses amongst Muslims; to provide humanitarian aid (mainly food and medicines) to the afflicted; and among a tiny number, to go off to join a military “jihad”. These freelance jihadis often go unattached to any group or movement but are motivated by the desire to protect and defend fellow Muslim, in places like Syria. In some instances once there, they become naively attracted to groups who target the West (as in the case of Syria) and end up wrongly promoting/committing acts of politically motivated violence in the West. These actions are not supported by most Muslim scholars or Muslims around the world. These few acts have caused great damage to Muslim communities in the West, and around the world and have negatively impacted relationships between non-Muslims and Muslims. These acts have provided the justification for more oppressive policies and terrorism laws that violate basic principles of due process, to be used against Muslims in the West, and even more devastatingly, Muslims in Muslim majority countries.

11.37 In any society there will always be a proportion of people who believe a violent defence is what they can contribute to a cause. The root motivation for this is the suffering and oppression taking place against Muslims overseas.

11.38 However, the religious obligation of military Jihad rests first and foremost with those closest to the oppressed. In this case, there is a need for the militaries of the Muslim majority world to discuss ways and means of how they should protect such oppressed people. Muslim majority countries should develop a Muslim international peace keeping force ready to intervene to stop conflicts and keep the peace.

11.39 For Muslims at a distance from conflict zones, our failure has been the lack of ability to promote and provide protection and defence of targeted communities through means of non-military Jihad, to help reduce casualties. For example, Muslims were unaware of or unable to combat the media and propaganda warfare of the Assad regime, or promote sanctions on the Syrian regime. Nor were we able to consider the provision of non-military protective aid to Syrian civilians, which would have saved many more lives and reduced disability and injury. There was virtually no non-charitable political or advocacy activity on the Syria conflict.

11.40 Similarly, until the deadly attack on the Christchurch mosque in New Zealand, little or no thought was given to the security of Muslim institutions among minority Muslim communities in Europe. We now see large Muslim minority communities in India under attack, unable to defend themselves against attacks from RSS inspired vigilantes barging into mosques, madrassahs, homes, and lynching of Muslims in the streets. Lack of interest from Western international authorities is exasperating, but it should be an opportunity to look towards each other for joint action.

11.41 The last few decades should have taught Muslims communities that the ability to defend oneself and protect family and community should always be an important community consideration, and wherever possible security and self-defense training should be available to communities.

11.42 In Muslim countries, military service should be mandatory, and dual nationals overseas should also be allowed to choose to attend military service in their countries of origin should they wish. We have seen in our lifetime that the Bosnian Muslim community could defend themselves and survived primarily because most of its community had received training in the former Yugoslav army. Similarly, in Syria, the Free Syrian Army was formed of defectors from the Syrian army, who were the first ones who established units to protect civilians.

Charity and Community Development

11.43 Muslims in the West now have numerous charities, but few internationally recognised or registered NGOs. Whilst many charities are doing useful aid work or religious activities, there is little diversity or creativity in this work. Most charities do virtually the same projects and activities as others and are therefore in competition with each other. For example, the most common form of support for Syria was food packs or container aid of second-hand clothes/goods.

11.44 There is little joint working or attempts to work on defined ummah centric or unification goals, and wider needs. Like many mosques, charities are in competition with other Muslim charities for funds or followers, with little thought as to where all this work is all heading. Most charities move from one disaster to another without reflecting on the long-term impact or sustainability of their aid.

11.45 The focus on charity and aid organisation’s, has meant that there are hardly any political/advocacy or rights organisation’s, or think tanks, to help constantly re-define strategies, goals and direction of the community or charities. Even where they exist, these organisation’s are not seen as a funding priority. This has meant that issues close to the heart of the Muslim community such as the detention and imprisonment and torture of Muslims in countries around the world, in large numbers, abuse of rights, and justice issues, seldom get raised in public, let alone become the object of effective global campaigns.

11.46 As far as aid work is concerned, donors simply make their donations, and see this as discharging their duty. Muslim brotherhood is seen simply as discharging our obligation to donate religious dues. However, donors and communities need to be actively involved in questioning aid projects and asking to see the work firsthand via online or through visits, where they can witness the situation of Muslims, in other parts of the world.

11.47 Muslim states should also create a Muslim treasury fund (Bayt al Maal), so that Muslims around the world, who want to contribute to a development project or aim, can donate their Sadaqah or Zakat into it. States should advertise any development projects such as an education system or rail, road, linking to other countries so Muslims around the world can donate to them, and not restrict projects to just their own citizens. Some of these projects can be waqf projects. This was a precedent that Sultan Abdul Hamid II (ra) started with the Hejaz railway line, where Muslims around the world were asked to contribute, and they did so in huge numbers.

12. Conclusion

12.1 Most great works start from small ideas and proposals at some point in history. Ideas and thoughts have shaped the world we live in, especially political ideas. At some point, small steps are needed in the right direction to start a process that will lead to an end goal. However, ideas and theory are not enough; practical measures are required to start moving in the right direction.

12.2 Even ideas and thoughts that are not divinely inspired start from an unexpected place. Few would have believed that Karl Marx’s ideas written mainly in the British Library would have transformed the world politically. Nor would those who dreamed of a Zionist State have believed that they would achieve it within 50 years of the birth of the idea. The revolution in Iran was nurtured by an Iranian exile from Paris.

12.3 If unification and an alliance of the Muslim world is the goal, then practical ideas, steps, mobilising of resources, as well as a network of global interconnected leaders, are needed to start along the road to achieve that goal.

12.4 This paper is merely the starting point of a discussion with some practical ideas and thoughts on how Muslims can move from their current predicament towards an end goal of unification and empowerment along the lines suggested by our Creator.

12.5 If our condition today is painful, it is because we have drifted far from the guidance in the Qur’an, on matters of unification and division. The way out of that misery is to bring to an end to that which is causing the pain, and follow the guidance of Allah (swt).

12.6 Naturally, this is going to be a long and ongoing process to which others might wish to contribute Insha’Allah. Much learning occurs through trial and error. Muslims should not feel that the current situation is one that is beyond their capability to change, or beyond our creative abilities. We can only strive and leave the results to Allah (swt).

12.7 Our first key project towards that direction is this paper. Following on from it, is the establishment of a think tank focused on unification. The Ayaan Institute is being established with this purpose in mind with the following objectives: –

Annex A
A Translation of the Treaty of Medina

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent and the Merciful

(1) This is a prescript of Muhammad ﷺ, the Prophet and Messenger of God (to operate) between the faithful and the followers of Islam from among the Quraish and the people of Medina and those who may be under them, may join them and take part in wars in their company.

(2) They shall constitute a separate political unit (Ummah) as distinguished from all the people (of the world).

(3) The emigrants from the Quraish shall be (responsible) for their own ward; and shall pay their blood-money in mutual collaboration and shall secure the release of their own prisoners by paying their ransom from themselves, so that the mutual dealings between the believers be in accordance with the principles of goodness and justice.

(4) And Banu ‘Awf shall be responsible for their own ward and shall pay their blood-money in mutual collaboration, and every group shall secure the release of its own prisoners by paying their ransom from themselves so that the dealings between the believers be in accordance with the principles of goodness and justice.

(5) And Banu Al-Harith-ibn-Khazraj shall be responsible for their own ward and shall pay their blood-money in mutual collaboration and every group shall secure the release of its own prisoners by paying their ransom from themselves, so that the dealings between the believers be in accordance with the principles of goodness and justice.

(6) And Banu Sa’ida shall be responsible for their own ward, and shall pay their blood-money in mutual collaboration and every group shall secure the release of its own prisoners by paying their ransom from themselves, so that the dealings between the believers be in accordance with the principles of goodness and justice.

(7) And Banu Jusham shall be responsible for their own ward and shall pay their blood-money in mutual collaboration and every group shall secure the release of its own prisoners by paying their ransom so that the dealings between the believers be in accordance with the principles of goodness and justice.

(8) And Banu an-Najjar shall be responsible for their own ward and shall pay their blood-money in mutual collaboration and every group shall secure the release of its own prisoners by paying their ransom so that the dealings between the believers be in accordance with the principles of goodness and justice.

(9) And Banu ‘Amr-ibn-‘Awf shall be responsible for their own ward and shall pay their blood-money in mutual collaboration and every group shall secure the release of its own prisoners by paying their ransom, so that the dealings between the believers be in accordance with the principles of goodness and justice.

(10) And Banu-al-Nabit shall be responsible for their own ward and shall pay their blood-money in mutual collaboration and every group shall secure the release of its own prisoners by paying their ransom so that the dealings between the believers be in accordance with the principles of goodness and justice.

(11) And Banu-al-Aws shall be responsible for their own ward and shall pay their blood-money in mutual collaboration and every group shall secure the release of its own prisoners by paying their ransom, so that the dealings between the believers be in accordance with the principles of goodness and justice.

(12) (a) And the believers shall not leave anyone, hard-pressed with debts, without affording him some relief, in order that the dealings between the believers be in accordance with the principles of goodness and justice. (b) Also no believer shall enter into a contract of clientage with one who is already in such a contract with another believer.

(13) And the hands of pious believers shall be raised against every such person as rises in rebellion or attempts to acquire anything by force or is guilty of any sin or excess or attempts to spread mischief among the believers ; their hands shall be raised all together against such a person, even if he be a son to any one of them.

(14) And no believer shall kill another believer in retaliation for an unbeliever, nor shall he help an unbeliever against a believer.

(15) And the protection of God is one. The humblest of them (believers) can, by extending his protection to anyone, put the obligation on all; and the believers are brothers to one another as against all the people (of the world).

(16) And that those who will obey us among the Jews, will have help and equality. Neither shall they be oppressed nor will any help be given against them.

(17) And the peace of the believers shall be one. If there be any war in the way of God, no believer shall be under any peace (with the enemy) apart from other believers, unless it (this peace) be the same and equally binding on all.

(18) And all those detachments that will fight on our side will be relieved by turns.

(19) And the believers as a body shall take blood vengeance in the way of God.

(20) (a) And undoubtedly pious believers are the best and in the rightest course. (b) And that no associator (non-Muslim subject) shall give any protection to the life and property of a Quraishite, nor shall he come in the way of any believer in this matter.

(21) And if any one intentionally murders a believer, and it is proved, he shall be killed in retaliation, unless the heir of the murdered person be satisfied with blood-money. And all believers shall actually stand for this ordinance and nothing else shall be proper for them to do.

(22) And it shall not be lawful for any one, who has agreed to carry out the provisions laid down in this code and has affixed his faith in God and the Day of Judgment, to give help or protection to any murderer, and if he gives any help or protection to such a person, God’s curse and wrath shall be on him on the Day of Resurrection, and no money or compensation shall be accepted from such a person.

(23) And that whenever you differ about anything, refer it to God and to Muhammad ﷺ.

(24) And the Jews shall share with the believers the expenses of war so long as they fight in conjunction,

(25) And the Jews of Banu ‘Awf shall be considered as one political community (Ummat) along with the believers—for the Jews their religion, and for the Muslims theirs, be one client or patron. He, however, who is guilty of oppression or breach of treaty, shall suffer the resultant trouble as also his family, but no one besides.

(26) And the Jews of Banu-an-Najjar shall have the same rights as the Jews of Banu ‘Awf.

(27) And the Jews of Banu-al-Harith shall have the same rights as the Jews of Banu ‘Awf.

(28) And the Jews of Banu Sa’ida shall have the same rights as the Jews of Banu ‘Awf

(29) And the Jews of Banu Jusham shall have the same rights as the Jews of Banu ‘Awf.

(30) And the Jews of Banu al-Aws shall have the same rights as the Jews of Banu ‘Awf.

(31) And the Jews of Banu Tha’laba shall have the same rights as the Jews of Banu ‘Awf. Of course, whoever is found guilty of oppression or violation of treaty, shall himself suffer the consequent trouble as also his family, but no one besides.

(32) And Jafna, who are a branch of the Tha’laba tribe, shall have the same rights as the mother tribes.

(33) And Banu-ash-Shutaiba shall have the same rights as the Jews of Banu ‘Awf; and they shall be faithful to, and not violators of, treaty.

(34) And the mawlas (clients) of Tha’laba shall have the same rights as those of the original members of it.

(35) And the sub-branches of the Jewish tribes shall have the same rights as the mother tribes.

(36) (a) And that none of them shall go out to fight as a soldier of the Muslim army, without the per-mission of Muhammad ﷺ (b) And no obstruction shall be placed in the way of any one’s retaliation for beating or injuries; and whoever sheds blood shall be personally responsible for it as well as his family; or else (i.e., any step beyond this) will be of oppression; and God will be with him who will most faithfully follow this code (sahifdh) in action.

(37) (a) And the Jews shall bear the burden of their expenses and the Muslims theirs. (b) And if any one fights against the people of this code, their (i.e., of the Jews and Muslims) mutual help shall come into operation, and there shall be friendly counsel and sincere behaviour between them; and faithfulness and no breach of covenant.

(38) And the Jews shall be bearing their own expenses so long as they shall be fighting in conjunction with the believers.

(39) And the Valley of Yathrib (Medina) shall be a Haram (sacred place) for the people of this code.

(40) The clients (mawla) shall have the same treatment as the original persons (i.e., persons accepting clientage). He shall neither be harmed nor shall he himself break the covenant.

(41) And no refuge shall be given to anyone without the permission of the people of the place (i.e., the refugee shall have no right of giving refuge to others).

(42) And that if any murder or quarrel takes place among the people of this code, from which any trouble may be feared, it shall be referred to God and God’s Messenger, Muhammad ﷺ; and God will be with him who will be most particular about what is written in this code and act on it most faithfully.

(43) The Quraish shall be given no protection nor shall they who help them.

(44) And they (i.e., Jews and Muslims) shall have each other’s help in the event of any one invading Yathrib.

(45) (a) And if they (i.e., the Jews) are invited to any peace, they also shall offer peace and shall be a party to it; and if they invite the believers to some such affairs, it shall be their (Muslims) duty as well to reciprocate the dealings, excepting that any one makes a religious war. (b) On every group shall rest the responsibility of (repulsing) the enemy from the place which faces its part of the city.

(46) And the Jews of the tribe of al-Aws, clients as well as original members, shall have the same rights as the people of this code: and shall behave sincerely and faithfully towards the latter, not perpetrating any breach of covenant. As one shall sow so shall he reap. And God is with him who will most sincerely and faithfully carry out the provisions of this code.

(47) And this prescript shall not be of any avail to any oppressor or breaker of covenant. And one shall have security whether one goes out to a campaign or remains in Medina, or else it will be an oppression and breach of covenant. And God is the Protector of him who performs the obligations with faithfulness and care, as also His Messenger Muhammad ﷺ $nbsp; ²⁶Cited in English translation of Dr. Hamidullah Muhammad (1941) The First Written Constitution of the World pp 31-42

Annex B
The Treaty of Hudaybiyah

1. In your name, O God!
2. This is the treaty of peace between Muhammad ibn Abdullah and Suhail ibn Amr.
3. They have agreed to ceasefire for ten years. During this time each party shall be secure, and neither shall harm the other. No secret damage – theft or betrayal – shall be inflicted.
4. The people of Muhammad may visit Makkah for Haj, Umra or trade and their life and belongings shall be secure, likewise people of Quraysh may visit or pass through Medina to Egypt or Syria for trade and their life and belongings shall be secure.
5. And if a man from Quraysh comes, without the permission of his guardian, to Muhammad, he shall be returned to them; but if, on the other hand, one of Muhammad’s people comes to the Quraysh, he shall not be returned.
6. Whoever in Arabia wishes to enter into a treaty or covenant with Muhammad can do so, and whoever wishes to enter into a treaty or covenant with the Quraysh can do so.
7. This year, Muhammad, with his companions, must retract from Makkah, but next year, he, with his companions, may come to Makkah and remain for three days, yet without their weapons except those of a traveler i.e. the swords remaining in their sheaths. 27

Annex C
The Farewell Sermon of Muhammad

Annex D
Letters of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ

Sent to Najashi, Christian king of Ethiopia in the Meccan period.

Response from Najashi accepting Islam.

Letter to Muqawqas (Binyamin) Governor of Egypt who did not embrace Islam.

Muqawqas did not embrace Islam.

Letter to Chosroes King of Persia who tore the letter to shreds.

Letter to Hercules King of Byzantines Who did not Embrace Islam.

Letter from Governor of Bahrain Who embraced Islam.

The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ wrote the following letter in reply Mundhir.

Letter to Haudha bin ‘Ali, Governor of Yamama whose condition for embracing Islam was rejected.

Letter to Harith bin Abi Shamir AlGhassani, King of Damascus who rejected Islam.

Letter to the King of ‘Oman, Jaifer, and his Brother ‘Abd Al-Jalandi (the latter had already
embraced Islam.

Reproduced in “The Letters of the Prophet Muhammad To the Kings of Beyond Arabia “by Abu al-Qasim Muhammad ibn’Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Muttalib ibn Hashim (sourced from the works of Dr. Hamidullah and Za’d Al Mad)

Annex E
Order of Qur’anic Verses

Qur’an Revelation Order Makki and Madani Suras.
All the information below is sourced at http://tanzil.net/docs/revelation_order

The chronological order of suras (i.e., the order in which Qur’an suras are revealed to the holy prophet) is specified in several reliable sources, most of which are based on the narrations received from the great prophet’s companion, Ibn Abbas.

The traditional order of revelation is provided in the table below. The detailed information is extracted from “The History of the Qur’an” by Allamah Abu Abd Allah al-Zanjani 1)2). Professor Noldeke in his famous work “Geschichte des Korans” 3) has provided an ordering which is slightly different from the traditional order in the following two items:

Note that the order of a sura is specified based on the revelation of the first ayahs of the sura, not the revelation of the whole sura.

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