يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آَمَنُوا لِمَ تَقُولُونَ مَا لَا تَفْعَلُونَ

“O you who believe! why do you say that which you do not do?”

(As-Saff, 61:2)

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister of Turkey stormed out of the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday after an argument with Israeli President Shimon Peres. Peres spoke for 25 minutes attempting to justify the Gaza massacre. Erdogan then declared to Peres “You are killing people.”

An arrogant, finger-pointing Peres then told Erdogan that he would have done the same thing as Israel if rockets had been fired at Istanbul. This was met with an enthusiastic applause from the forum’s audience. Erdogan then responded saying: “I remember two former prime ministers in your country who said they felt very happy when they were able to enter Palestine on tanks. I find it very sad that people applaud what you said. There have been many people killed. And I think that it is very wrong and it’s not humanitarian.”

He was then cut off by the conference moderator who refused to let him finish his speech. Erdogan then stormed out of the meeting saying, “Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. I don’t think I will come back to Davos after this.”

On his return to Turkey Erdogan was met by a crowd of 5,000 waving Turkish and Palestinian flags in support of his stance at the conference.

The Muslims of Gaza don’t need nice words from the Turkish leader they want action. If Erdogan is sincere in condemning Israel then why does he not tear up the military and economic treaties Turkey has with Israel and break off diplomatic relations?

In fact, Erdogan was asked this very question. “They ask us why we don’t cut ties with Israel… We are running the Turkish Republic, not a grocery store,” Erdogan said.

This worthless statement shows Erdogan’s true colours towards Islam and the Ummah. He may give lip service to Islam to win the Muslim vote but his actions speak louder than his empty words.

Erdogan is in no position to attack Israel for its brutal assault on Gaza when Turkey provides economic and military assistance to Israel. In 1997 Turkey signed a Free Trade Area agreement with Israel. In 2007 the volume of trade with Israel reached almost three billion US dollars. In the first nine months of 2008 the trade increased more than 30% in comparison to 2007.

From 1994 to 1996 Turkey signed four military cooperation agreements with Israel including the use of Turkish airspace by Israel for training its fighter pilots. These are the same fighter pilots that bombed mosques, women, children and schools in Gaza. All of these agreements remain firmly in place despite the empty rhetoric and theatrics of the Turkish PM.

This is not the first time Erdogan has spoken “nice words” seemingly attacking Israel. On 12 December 1997, whilst Mayor of Istanbul he recited the following poem in public in support of Palestinians.

“Mosques are our barracks,
domes our helmets,
minarets our bayonets,
believers our soldiers.
This holy army guards my religion.
Almighty our journey is our destiny,
the end is martyrdom”

He was convicted of inciting “religious hatred” in 1998 and sentenced to 10 months in prison for reading out the above poem. He was also banned from holding political office.

After his conviction, Erdogan’s popularity increased among Muslims and so did his Justice and Development Party (AKP). In the 2002 election the AKP swept to power with 34% of the vote.

The Prophet ﷺ said: “A believer is not stung from the same hole twice.” [Bukhari, Muslim]

The Muslim Ummah is sick and tired of the empty promises and inaction of their so-called Muslim leaders. These leaders who give lip service to Islam or pretend to have secret “Islamic” agendas in order for the Ummah to support them, yet in practise they do nothing for the interests of Islam. Thousands are killed in the occupied lands of Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya and Kashmir without any Muslim regime lifting a finger to help. Even worse they actively support the occupation through opening up their airspace, lands and borders to the occupiers.

Islam is not a religion like Christianity or Judaism that only has laws governing the personal beliefs, worships and morals. Islam is a deen (ideology) that contains shari’ah rules governing all aspects of life and society. The shari’ah not only contains solutions to problems but details the practical method (tareeqa) of implementing these solutions on society. This method is the Khilafah that practically implements the Islamic belief of La ilaha ilAllah onto life’s affairs.

The Khilafah will not just be Islamic in name or on paper. Rather it will practically show the Muslims and the world the superiority of the shari’ah and how it resolves life’s problems.

When the Ummah sees the oil wealth removed from the personal bank accounts of the Kings and Sultans to the Bait ul-Mal (state treasury) as a public property for the benefit of the entire Ummah, they will see the practical manifestation of the hadith:

The Prophet ﷺ said: “People share in three things: Water, Pasture lands, and Fire.” [Ahmed] Fire here refers to fire based fuels such as oil.

When the Muslims of Darfur and Somalia see the vast natural resources in the Middle East and Central Asia used for alleviating their poverty and building much needed infrastructure, they will see practically the concept mentioned by the Prophet ﷺ in his last sermon: “All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over a black nor a black has any superiority over white except by piety and good action.”

When the Muslims under occupation in Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan see the army of the Khilafah marching to protect them and expel the occupiers they will see the practical implementation of the verse of Qur’an:

وَقَاتِلُوهُمْ حَتَّى لاَ تَكُونَ فِتْنَةٌ وَيَكُونَ الدِّينُ كُلُّهُ لِلّه فَإِنِ انتَهَوْاْ

“Fight them until there is no more persecution, and all worship is devoted to Allah alone.”

(Al-Anfaal, 8:39)

Compare Erdogan’s response to Israel with that of the Abbasid Khaleefah Haroon Al-Rashid’s response to Byzantine Emperor Nicephorus refusal to abide by its treaty obligations with the Khilafah.

Haroon Al-Rashid sent a letter to Constantinople saying: “From Haroon Al Rashid, Khaleefah of the Faithful to Nicephorus, the Roman dog: I have read your letter. You will not hear, you will see my reply.” The Khaleefah then sent a huge army to the Byzantine Empire and forced Nicephorus to abide by the treaty.

The absence of a Khilafah to protect, implement and propagate Islam is at the root of all the Muslim Ummah’s problems today. Only with its re-establishment can we begin to resolve these problems and make Allah’s سبحانه وتعالى word the highest on the earth once again.