Has the Muslim world lost its bearings? -By Labaran Yusuf

As the Zionist state of Israel is set to illegally annex large swaths of the last remaining land of Palestine in the occupied West Bank and Jordan Valley, key Muslim nations like Turkey and Egypt are preparing to fight each other in Libya. This will make the North African country become the newest proxy war battleground in the Muslim world.

In normal times, when there was global Muslim solidarity and not the antagonism seen today, Muslim nations will by now be at the United Nations leading the argument on why Israel’s land grab is against international laws and agreements. They will also be hosting meetings and reaching out to allies to vehemently protest this latest illegal move by Israel, which for over 50 years – with the support of the United States – have continued to disregard international laws and conventions in its occupation of Palestine.

But times have changed. Global Muslim solidarity is not only at its lowest today, influential Muslim nations are also bogged down in one rivalry or the other. From Syria to Yemen, from Iraq to Lebanon, the blood and property of innocent people are continually being lost to the ego and “who’s boss battle” of these key Muslim nations that are supposed to champion the rights of Muslims worldwide.

To the author, it’s because of this in-house bickering that Muslims have lost their dignity worldwide and are being persecuted by different actors, who wouldn’t only happily watch from the sidelines as Muslim nations undermine each other but would rather use the infighting to their own advantage.

And this was to be expected: if we cannot put our house in order and also show that we care for our brothers and sisters elsewhere, how do we think then other nations will respect us and regard us in high esteem? But no, we’re only good at fighting and plotting against each other. We spend our money on buying weapons to use against one another and not defend ourselves or oppressed Muslims elsewhere.

Most Muslim nations today don’t help those in their times of need. They instead create problems through conflicts and leave the victims of such conflicts to international aid organizations to take care of them. Our enemies must have noticed this long time ago. If not why would Israel continue to persecute the Palestinians in the heart of the Muslim World? Or how would even poor Myanmar not be tempted to commit genocide against the Rohingya?

Then how about India and China that have now become the new epicenters of anti-Muslim persecution around the world? At least China could be said to have a huge economic influence on many nations and so uses this leverage to silence Muslim nations while it persecutes Uighurs and other Muslim minorities. But how low could we have stooped to continue to allow India persecute its Muslim populations and Kashmiris?

In the opinion of this writer, the Muslim World has not only failed the Palestinians and Rohingya Muslims, but it’s also now failing the Uighurs being persecuted by China; the Kashmiris being strangled by India; the poor children of Yemen dying of hunger and preventable diseases; and the refugees fleeing war-torn Iraq, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, and other conflict zones.

We really need to get our acts done and fix our house, at least to restore some dignity to ourselves and other oppressed Muslims elsewhere. If not, the Muslim World will continue to be the joke it is today – one that seems to have lost its bearings due to in-house fighting and rivalries.

As the wise will say, a house divided against itself cannot stand. The Muslim World needs to wake up from the current slumber before it’s too late.

Labaran Yusuf, freelance writer and researcher, writes in from Jos, Plateau State.