In October 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump issued a proclamation reinstating Columbus Day as a national holiday in recognition of Christopher Columbus’s legacy. In the proclamation, Trump praised Columbus as a “giant of Western civilization” and implied that his travels helped lay the foundations for the eventual emergence of a strong, independent United States.

The mainstream narrative is that Columbus bravely attempted to sail west across the Atlantic ocean in the year 1492, to seek faster trade routes to Asia to access silk, spices, and luxury goods. His goal was to secure new territories and expand Spain’s power and influence. Outdated myths about Columbus’s motives—such as proving the earth was round rather than flat—continue to be shared to this day.

This version of history only seeks to promote the image of the U.S. as a “land of opportunity,” while downplaying the deaths and diseases set upon the native population. More broadly, it conceals the role of the powerful Uthmani Islamic Caliphate (Khilafah) which dominated Columbus’s region at the time. 

A deeper look into our history shows how Islam’s dominance as a leading global power, led to Europe’s centuries-long fear and contempt for the Caliphate. This in fact, motivated Columbus’s accidental journey to the Americas – which was to sail westward to avoid the might of the Muslims directly and to seek alliances to fight Islam and Muslims, This helps us put in perspective how the Ummah was feared by the Western Nations.

Europe’s Long-Standing War with Islam

Columbus was just two years old when Sultan Muhammad al-Faatih (RA) conquered Constantinople in 1453, ending more than 1000 years of Byzantine rule. By the 1480s, Muslim forces had advanced as far as southern Italy and were pushing westward through the Balkans toward Venice, sending shockwaves of fear across Europe. Uthmani control of key waterways and Eastern trade routes—combined with strong land and naval power—left European rulers, merchants and explorers eager to avoid any direct confrontation with the Muslims.

In this context, Columbus aggressively sought financial backing from King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, with the collective intent to fight against the Muslims both internally in Iberia and to expel Muslims from Grenada often called the Reconquista (re-conquest of Iberia from the Muslims). As well, the ambition to recapture Jerusalem from the Mamluks was always present.

As Yale historian, Alan Mikhail writes in his book, God’s Shadow: 

“He (Columbus) would sail westward to the court of the Grand Khan of the East, convince him to join forces with Christian Europe against the Ottomans, and together they would retake Jerusalem in an epic battle that would destroy Islam forever.”

It is clear from these events that it was the might and power of the Caliphate that shaped global events – going as far as forcing adventurers like Columbus to seek out new paths and alliances to strengthen a weak and divided Europe.

The State of the Ummah Today

The reality is that the Caliphate was the most powerful state that the world has ever witnessed. From the time of the Prophet (SAW) who first established the state in Medina, to its fall 1400 years later, Islam was always implemented as a complete system and a way of life which only increased in power and might through dawah, conquest and Jihad. Unlike today, the power and might of the Caliphate shaped monumental moments in history, such as Columbus’s journey west to the Americas which laid the foundations for the current United States. Yet today, our Muslims lands are used as bases for the kuffar, our resources are stolen by the capitalist elites, and the rulers do the bidding of the colonialists. 

We witnessed how the traitor rulers abandoned Gaza and recently, have been siphoning off trillions of dollars of wealth from the Ummah to the United States and other colonial powers. Qatar and the UAE have committed to investing trillions of dollars in the United States, while on Tuesday, November 18th, Saudi ruler Mohammed bin Salman told Trump he was raising his investment from $600 billion to $1 trillion!

Unlike our glorious past, we find our lands are ruled by puppets who have sold their Deen for the Dunya for their colonialist masters. We find that more than 90 years have passed since the destruction of the Khilafah, which the West feared and dared not to confront directly. We find today, the Ummah is divided across more than 50 states.

We witness that there has been occupation and crimes committed by the Zionist entity, the United States, China, India, Russia, Myanmar against entire populations of the Ummah.

How far have we fallen from dictating world affairs to being at the bottom of it? What is the cause of our astonishing decline?

Losing our Shield 

As Muslims, we have seen much tragedy since the fall of the Khilafah. We observe the enemies of Islam spilling our blood across the Muslim lands – from the mountains of the Philippines, to the valleys of Kashmir, and the forests of Crimea. We observe one of our holiest places, Al-Quds, occupied by the illegal Zionist entity, and the cries of its people as they are being massacred daily.

We see how the “free world” imposes its ruinous economic models and its hollow social systems upon our lands, plundering our resources and weakening our social institutions, while it was the Khilafah that dictated all the terms for others.

What is worse is that unlike the leaders of the Ummah in the past, we find the worst amongst us in the ruling elites in the Muslim lands – men who lack the courage and moral backbone to stand up to the enemies of this Ummah – who are more than willing to help our enemies in their campaign of theft and destruction over our lands, and who are easily bribed with promises of power and wealth while betraying the promise this Ummah made to Allah (SWT) and His Messenger (SAW).

Amid all this chaos, Muslims are desperately seeking a solution. Let us not forget that the Caliphate was once a mighty state that stretched from one side of the earth to another and it put fear into the hearts of its enemies. Let us not forget that our Lord Allah (SWT) dignified us with the message of the Qur’an. The beloved Messenger (SAW) tells us:

“Truly, the Imam is a shield, you fight behind him and find protection in him” [Muslim]

The challenge for this Ummah is not to invent some new method of revival or to recreate the Ummayad, Abbasid or Uthmani Caliphate. Rather, our challenge as an Ummah is to raise our shield once again by following the guidance of the Prophet (SAW) on how to re-establish the Khilafah Rashida (Rightly guided Caliphate) and resume the complete Islamic way of life in the Muslim lands.

Let us work together to fulfill the promise of the Prophet (SAW) and re-establish the promised Khilafah as Rasul’Allah (SAW) said “and then there will be Khilafah on the method of the Prophet and then he was quiet.” [Ahmed]