Western narratives always portray the Muslim lands as backward and impoverished. From every movie to documentary, the picture they paint of the Muslim lands is one of barren hills, deserts, and a people who do not know or care for progress. For decades, this idea was mostly shown in media, but in recent years, we now hear these disparaging tirades from world leaders, such as Trump, who called the lands of our parents and grandparents’ “hellholes” (among other derogatory language).

Never mind the fact that these Western narratives conceal the role of US, British, European, and other foreign influence in our lands. Never mind that it is America that quite literally destroyed Iraq and Afghanistan and threatened to wipe out the entirety of Iran’s civilization. Never mind that each of the tyrannical autocrats polluting our lands is, in one way or another, created and backed by America or Britain. Never mind all the facts that show that the only reason why the Ummah immigrates to the West is because of what the West has done to her lands.

Ignore the Western narratives. They are lies. In truth, the Muslim lands are actually on the cusp of a technological and industrial breakout, one that would quickly propel the Ummah right to the top if – and only if – we remove the obstacles of the rulers and, in turn, restore the Islamic way of life through the re-establishment of the Khilafah. The signs of this breakout have been visible for decades and could be seen again if given a closer look.

1: The Nuclear Program in Pakistan 

Recently, Germany’s state-owned TV network, Deutsche Welle (DW), did a documentary on Pakistan’s nuclear program. Like most Western outlets, they portrayed it as a problem centered on bombs, chaos, and “extremists” getting hold of nuclear weapons. 

In reality, books like “Eating Grass” by Brigadier General Feroz Khan and “Pakistan’s Pathway to the Bomb” by Dr. Mansoor Ahmed document the truth of this program, showing in extensive detail how Pakistan indigenously – i.e., on its own – developed the entire nuclear fuel cycle. So, in other words, Pakistan knows how to do everything – from discovering, mining, and enriching uranium to designing and constructing reactors, extracting plutonium, and producing weapons. 

Pakistan emerged as a true nuclear power, one that can revolutionize the supply of cheap energy in its lands and throughout the other Muslim lands. And it achieved this great feat while countless sanctions were being thrown at it and with extremely limited financial means. Yet, when there was just this narrow band of sincere and capable leadership, it mobilized the people to carry out the research, design, and production work, all at home. And, most importantly, Pakistan can actually use this technology and build upon it to do much, much more – but what stops it?

The rulers and the US-led international order stop it from using nuclear energy. Internally, the rulers and their corruption force talent to leave the country and bleed resources that could have been used for nuclear and other productive work. Externally, the US (via its institutions, such as the Nuclear Suppliers Group) stops Pakistan from buying uranium from the world’s open market, sharing its nuclear expertise and technology, and becoming a nuclear competitor. Not only that, but while the US constrains Pakistan, it supports India in becoming a global nuclear player via bilateral technology transfers and access to uranium outside of US-led institutions. 

However, worse than even the internal corruption and the US antagonism, is how the rulers controlling the wider Muslim lands themselves do not leverage this low-hanging fruit. The rulers of the Gulf will, on the one hand, argue that they need US protection and that they cannot say no to the world’s leading superpower, yet, on the other hand, refuse to unlock the nuclear option. The Gulf states could, for example, fund Pakistan to advance its nuclear program by designing and building new reactors. Doing so would eliminate Pakistan’s energy needs and make it more prosperous, and, in exchange, the Gulf can use that technology to power their desalination plants, large industrial sites, and arm themselves with nuclear weapons so as to deter anyone, including the US. In fact, the Muslim lands produce 51% of the world’s total uranium (i.e., Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Niger). Thus, everything for a self-sustaining nuclear system exists within the Muslim lands – today. 

Instead, the regimes of the Muslim lands collude with the enemies of the Ummah, giving hundreds of billions of dollars of the Ummah’s wealth to the US and Europe.

2: The Stealth Fighter Program in Türkiye

Today, Türkiye is rapidly advancing in the field of aerospace, with dozens of programs in the works, from drones to satellites and satellite-launch vehicles to a stealth fighter, the KAAN. In fact, Türkiye is among only four countries today to have its very own stealth fighter program, following the US, China, and Russia. One can argue that Türkiye’s program is also currently more advanced than the Russian one.

However, the key point with the KAAN is that Türkiye is also, in tandem with the aircraft, building the industrial ecosystem to source every critical input from within. In other words, it too does not want to rely on the West or foreign powers (i.e., just like how Pakistan also maintains its nuclear program without any foreign help or support). Türkiye is developing the KAAN’s radars, avionics, weapon systems, life-support systems, airframe alloys and composites, and the engine. And the engine necessitates vast research and development in gas turbines. 

Each input of the KAAN involves massive industrial infrastructure, the kind that one would only see in so-called “first-world countries.” Türkiye is also willing to share this technology with all of the Muslim lands, including Pakistan and the Gulf States. Yet, again true to nature, the latter are persisting in taking the Ummah’s wealth and giving it to the likes of China, America, and Europe for military hardware, satellites, aircraft, and so on – when the Muslims have proven they can produce these technologies for themselves, within the Muslim lands.

Steel in the Emirates

The United Arab Emirates (UAE), particularly Abu Dhabi, hosts over 16 steel-producing plants or facilities. Steel forms the backbone of buildings, ships, and aircraft, and the Ummah, once again, already has the seeds and early stems for this critical industry. 

Moreover, the UAE and Gulf countries generally have a unique advantage thanks to their geo-strategic position (connecting both the eastern and western banks of the Muslim lands) and access to cheap energy (which, if also integrated with nuclear technology and uranium from Pakistan and Central Asia, respectively, can be made even cheaper), allowing them to produce steel or even advanced alloys at markedly lower costs than the West. This can add to the work being done in Türkiye to offer Muslim scientists and engineers cheap but advanced materials across the Muslim lands so that they can revitalize their downstream industrial output, like 

shipbuilding in Egypt and Bangladesh, nuclear reactor construction in Pakistan and Africa, and perhaps even microcontroller and radio frequency (RF) foundries down the line.

When Despair Blinds Us

The rulers and their Colonialist sponsors paint a bleak picture of our lands so that the Muslims can lose hope. If we lose our hope in the Muslim lands, which leads to losing our connection with those lands, and when we lose that connection, we become more susceptible to the pressure we face in the West. For the Capitalist elite to succeed in stripping our children or us of Islam, they need us to feel like we have no other option aside from being intellectually and emotionally subservient to the West.

However, the truth of the Muslim lands is that we already have all the ingredients there for a project, that restores the Islamic way of life and brings the Ummah back on the global stage as not just a global power, but a leading nation, one that fulfils its role as a witness over humanity. But, at the same time, we must also be aware of the role the rulers and their regimes play in preventing the Ummah from regaining its rightful spot in world affairs. 

When we look back at the Seerah of Rasul’Allah (SAW), we find that the Sahaba (RA) were able to do much more with practically very little (almost nothing). However, with that very generation, the Sahaba (RA) went from herders and traders to, themselves, builders of ships, great armies, and even new cities. What changed? They embraced and implemented Islam, and they carried the rule of Islam to other nations, spreading the borders of the Khilafah and laying all of the groundwork such that our forefathers in Africa, South Asia, ash-Shaam, Maghreb, Europe, and East Asia would become Muslims over generations.

We have been given an incredibly valuable inheritance, one that even today shows glimpses of promise when left to work naturally – until the rulers curb and stop it. It is time for us to remove those limits and unlock the Ummah’s potential, and that starts by calling the Ummah to restore the Khilafah upon the Minhaj or method of Rasul’Allah (SAW).