بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
The confrontation with Iran has revealed that the global balance of power can no longer be measured by numbers alone. A state possessing the largest armies, most advanced weaponry, vastest military bases, and widest alliance networks may still hit a ceiling it cannot surpass; in this confrontation, America discovered the limits of its ability to translate military and technological superiority into a decisive military or political outcome.
Conversely, power is no longer confined to armies and economies; it now extends to technology, semiconductors, artificial intelligence, energy, data, supply chains, and the capacity to influence the rules and standards governing this teetering world. Thus, current events go beyond a mere shift of influence from one power to another—as some might assume—representing instead a disruption affecting the very structure of the international order. The old order’s ability to control the landscape is waning, and calls for its rescue are emerging amidst the chaos, even as the contours of an alternative have yet to take shape. This is where the term "labor pains" acquires its true meaning: a phase in which a distorted reality crumbles while the features of a new reality gestate within it, yet the newborn has not yet emerged.
At the United Nations, states convene within an institution established for the post-World War II era, even as the institution itself faces questions regarding its capacity to handle the crises of a far more complex world—and activities that fall below the threshold of armed conflict. Meanwhile, in Washington and Beijing, competition persists over trade, technology, supply chains, semiconductors, and artificial intelligence—a struggle that transcends markets to shape the rules of the future. Speaking from Washington, the Chinese President declares that the United States and China should be partners rather than rivals. Meanwhile, in Europe, concerns and questions are mounting regarding security, energy, strategic autonomy, and the continent’s position among major powers—particularly in the face of Russia’s wave of hybrid threats. As for technology, it has evolved beyond a mere economic sector to become an integral component of security, independence, and international influence. Regarding rulers of Muslims, the most typical among them is the one who feigns anguish over Palestine and criticizes the international community’s silence, all while remaining complicit in the crime; for does the liberation of Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa truly lie in groveling at the doorstep of the United Nations?
While these scenes may appear disparate, collectively they reveal that the international order is no longer sufficient to manage or contain conflicts, nor are its institutions capable of upholding the rules upon which it was founded. Wars and violations—particularly in Gaza—have exposed a widening chasm between the order’s charters and the actual capacity of its institutions to act on the ground. From within this deep rift, calls for rescue and reassessment are rising; the damage has grown beyond simple repair, and peoples everywhere are looking expectantly toward the birth of something new—an alternative international order whose contours have yet to take shape. What is certain, however, is that humanity is in dire need of a system that is more secure and just, and better equipped to confront injustice, tyranny, and the crises and catastrophes spawned by the capitalist system—disasters whose impacts are no longer confined to a single society or state, but have become a burden weighing upon the entire planet.
Since states are fundamentally built upon ideas, true power begins with the ability to establish the rules and standards that govern state behavior and international transactions. It stems from the capacity to influence international politics based on a principled idea that prioritizes human dignity.
Yet, we find major powers mired in intellectual bankruptcy and civilizational drift, entrenching themselves in a political stalemate where each seeks to derive strength merely from the decline of others. Consequently, the rivalry between major powers today is not merely a contest for influence, but a struggle to determine who possesses the capacity to shape the environment in which the world will operate tomorrow.
However, this process of transformation is not unfolding solely among major powers; it is taking place within the very structure of the world itself. While states remain the primary actors, technology companies have acquired cross-border capabilities, deriving their power from capital and global financial networks; from the monopolization of knowledge, data, and digital infrastructure; and from alliances with centers of political and security power—including networks of influence linked to the Jewish entity and the Zionist movement. This grants some of them the ability to transcend borders and evade many of the regulatory mechanisms possessed by weaker states.
The global economy remains interconnected, yet supply chains have become integral to strategic calculations. Technology advances more rapidly than political institutions can regulate it. International institutions persist, but the rules upon which they were founded are no longer sufficient, on their own, to encompass all the new transformations.
Thus, the old and the new coexist in a single moment: twentieth-century institutions alongside twenty-first-century tools; independent states alongside transnational economic and technological powers; and antiquated rules alongside hybrid warfare and constantly shifting power dynamics. Yet, if this is the labor the world is enduring—with all the brutality and the erosion of human values it entails—what kind of offspring might emerge from the womb of this pain?
The issue here transcends the mere redistribution of power among the United States, China, Europe, and others within the existing capitalist framework; it cuts deeper: Will a new order emerge—one that eradicates all forms of human exploitation and the systematic destruction of societies and human values, thereby establishing radically different paradigms of power, sovereignty, and unity? In this bleak landscape, the Islamic Ummah emerges as an integral part of the process shaping the civilizational alternative awaited by humanity—a role dictated by its very Aqeedah (creed). It is an Ummah suffering under the weight of a fractured reality, grappling with the consequences of having lost its leadership role, its leading, pioneering status, and its civilizational standing; yet, it is promised victory and harbors within itself the inherent potential for resurgence and the restoration of that role which once left an indelible mark on history.
For the Islamic Ummah—which lost its unifying political entity a century ago and was subsequently fragmented into flimsy statelets, illusory borders, and a multitude of conflicting political agendas—has neither lost its civilizational existence nor the bond of Aqeedah (creed) that unifies it. Instead, it has continued to cultivate the awareness needed to answer a single, pivotal question: How can the Ummah reclaim its unity, its autonomy, and its rightful place?
The answer lies neither in patching up capitalism nor in swapping one form of dependency for another; rather, it lies in rebuilding an all-encompassing political entity grounded in Islam—one that unifies Muslims under a single leadership, holding fast to the Deen and clinging firmly to the Sunnah. It is here that the full significance of this labor process becomes clear.
If “labor” signifies that an old reality has reached a state of impotence, while the elements of a new reality begin to take shape, then—in the view of the enlightened—the newborn represents a promise and glad tidings: a Khilafah Rashidah (rightly-guided Caliphate) on the method of the Prophethood. This entity will play an active role on the global stage, rather than serving merely as a contested arena of conflict for major powers.
The labor may be prolonged, and attempts at birth may falter, yet one certainty remains: the world is no longer what it was. The very concept of power is being reshaped, and the institutions, rules, and alliances spawned by capitalism face threats to the very foundations of their precarious structures.
This is precisely what the West fears more than ever; hence its escalating ferocity and brutality in the face of the Ummah’s rising tide—driven by the keen realization that the birth is imminent.
In conclusion, we stand at a decisive juncture between a reality that is gradually dying and one that will soon be born, by the Permission of Allah (swt). The Ummah—whose political entity some believed had been destroyed, effectively ending its role—remains present and vital. It endures so long as the Book of its Lord remains in its hands and sincere men continue to carry the call to resume life according to Islam. Allah (swt) said,
[وَمَا النَّصْرُ إِلَّا مِنْ عِنْدِ اللهِ الْعَزِيزِ الْحَكِيمِ]
“And victory is not except from Allah, the Exalted in Might, the Wise” [TMQ Surah Aali Imran: 126].