How Did The Muslim World Go So Wrong?
You often run into people who look down upon the Muslim world, pointing at the chaos, armed terror groups, militia rule and dictatorship to conclude that there is something fundamentally wrong with Muslims and their religion. Others take the opposite view, arguing that the Muslim world's present-day turmoil owes much to the West's repeated interventions and historical injustices. Both arguments offer partial truths, but they miss the broader reality: much of the Muslim world, especially in West Asia, lies in ruins. The causes are complex and layered, but the evidence is undeniable.
From the shattered boulevards of Tripoli to the bombed-out alleys of Aleppo, from Baghdad's sectarian heartlands to Gaza's crumbled skyline, a common image emerges - of nations torn apart, societies hollowed and futures stolen. This devastation is neither natural nor inevitable. It is the cumulative result of decades of war, opportunistic foreign interventions, proxy conflicts, repressive regimes and colonial legacies. And in all of this, ordinary people, displaced, disillusioned and discarded, are the ones who suffer the most.
Aftershocks Of Empire
This is not about defending despots or absolving extremists. It is a plea for consistency, justice and memory. It is a call to understand how historical interference, political hypocrisy and selective moral outrage have turned one of the world's richest cultural regions into a perpetual battleground. The story of the Muslim world's chaos is not just about religion or governance. It is about the aftershocks of empire, the exploitation of oil and ideology, and a world order that has failed millions.
In the 1920s, Winston Churchill famously quipped that he was not in favour of allowing 'the Arab tribes' to control their own affairs in Palestine. This imperial disdain wasn't just personal opinion; it was policy. Following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, Britain and France carved up West Asia through the Sykes-Picot Agreement, drawing arbitrary borders and installing loyalist rulers. These new 'nation-states' were not crafted with local realities in mind but were designed to serve European interests - strategic positioning, oil pipelines and control of trade routes.
This era of manufactured states and manipulated societies set the stage for future instability. Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, each is a product of imperial drawing boards rather than organic nation-building. As regimes collapsed and identities clashed, these fissures widened. The West may have formally exited the region in the mid-20th century, but its legacy never left. Instead, West Asia continued to be haunted by postcolonial trauma, Cold War alignments and economic dependency.
Sea Of Ruin
Take Libya. Muammar Gaddafi ruled it for over four decades with an iron grip. He was a tyrant, but he also provided free education, healthcare and relative stability. NATO's intervention in 2011, under the guise of humanitarian protection, toppled him but offered no plan for what came next. Libya descended into chaos, with rival militias carving up the country. Weapons looted from Libyan arsenals flooded Mali and Syria, fueling other wars. Gaddafi's fall wasn't the birth of democracy; it was the opening act of a long, bloody disintegration.
Iraq offers an even starker example. The 2003 US-led invasion, based on false claims of weapons of mass destruction, dismantled not only Saddam Hussein's regime but also the entire Ba'athist (party) state structure. The de-Ba'athification programme purged thousands of civil servants and military officers, creating a vacuum that was quickly filled by sectarian militias and, eventually, the dreaded and bloodthirsty Islamic State. Iraq went from dictatorship to a failed democracy haunted by car bombs and assassinations. Once a cradle of civilisation, it now struggles to keep the lights on.
Syria, too, became a battlefield of global ambition. What began as peaceful protests in 2011 soon morphed into a full-scale civil war, drawing in Russia, the United States, Iran, Turkey, Israel and countless non-state actors. While Assad's brutality is undeniable, so too is the damage inflicted by competing foreign agendas. More than half of Syria's population has been displaced. Cities like Aleppo and Raqqa have become modern ruins.
Afghanistan was a theatre of invasion and war, resulting in total collapse of the existing system. First it was the Communist USSR that invaded the country in the late '70s. It was ultimately ousted with the American money, muscle and machine guns after a decade of misrule. Then, the US-led allied forces invaded it in 2001, claiming to install stability and democracy. The experiment failed miserably. The ousted Taliban made a dramatic comeback in 2021, with Western forces making an inglorious retreat. They have left the local population, women and children, at the mercy of the extremist Taliban.
Iran's Turn Now?
And now it is Iran, dangerously poised to be on the road to ruin. It has been subjected to cycles of isolation, sanctions sabotage, and now, open threats of regime change. Its current hardline government owes its survival not just to repression but also to an embattled nationalism born from decades of foreign pressure. From the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)-backed 1953 coup that ousted Prime Minister Mossadegh to present-day nuclear tensions, Iran's story is as much of external meddling as of internal strife.
Meanwhile, regimes like those in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar continue to enjoy Western patronage. These nations are no less autocratic, no more democratic. Yet, their wealth and alignment with Western strategic interests insulate them from criticism. Human rights violations, censorship and state-sponsored religious extremism are quietly tolerated. The West does not oppose dictatorship, it opposes defiant dictators.
This selective morality has real consequences. When Western powers punish some regimes while shielding others, they lose credibility. Worse, they stoke cynicism and anger across the Muslim world. Young people see the hypocrisy. They see the bombs dropped in the name of freedom and the silence that follows when friendly monarchs crush dissent. In that silence, extremist narratives take root; terror groups do not emerge from cultural voids, they are born in environments of injustice, humiliation and betrayal.
Even Sudan, often omitted from this conversation, has a familiar story. Its colonial past, where the British pitted ethnic groups against each other, laid the groundwork for later divisions. Post-independence governments, often backed or sanctioned by foreign powers, struggled to hold a fractured society together. The current infighting isn't just a power struggle, it is the delayed detonation of a colonial time bomb, exacerbated by modern meddling from Gulf rivals, the West, and even Russia.
Gift Of Nostalgia
Amid all this, it is the ordinary people who pay the highest price. Families displaced across generations. Children growing up without schools or safe drinking water. Doctors operating by flashlight in makeshift clinics. Artists silenced. Intellectuals exiled. Hope becomes a rare commodity. In Gaza, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen, to name just a few, the future has become just a concept.
In such an environment, the past - even a past ruled by dictators - can seem strangely preferable. Say what you will about Saddam or Gaddafi, many in their countries recall the order, security and predictability of life under their rule. That nostalgia isn't about love for tyranny but about despair at what followed.
What the Muslim world needs isn't more interventions, more bombs, or more regime-change fantasies. It needs principled action from the global community. It needs investment in peacebuilding, infrastructure and local civil society. It needs space to breathe, heal and rebuild.
The West Learns No Lessons
This is not an ode to the past. It's a warning. If history continues to repeat itself, it won't just be West Asia that suffers. Instability radiates. Refugees flee. Radical ideologies spread. And global trust erodes. The price of selective intervention is paid not just in Baghdad or Tripoli, but in Paris, London and New York, too - mostly in boats full of refugees and immigrants.
It's time to move beyond the tired binaries: West vs. East, Islam vs. modernity, stability vs. chaos. The real battle is between integrity and hypocrisy, between memory and amnesia. Only when Western powers hold themselves to the same standards they demand of others can we begin to imagine a different future for the Muslim world.
Let that future be written not in the language of conquest or control but in the vernacular of justice, sovereignty and dignity - and hope for a better future for the Muslim world.
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hindustan Times
26 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Prohibitory orders over communal tension in Paonta villages extended till June 26
Prohibitory orders imposed in the villages of Paonta Sahib area of Himachal Pradesh's Sirmaur district due to apprehensions of a communal flare-up has been extended till June 26, officials said on Friday. Two groups had clashed on June 13 over elopement of a Hindu-Muslim couple. Due to 'prevailing communal tension and volatile law and order situation' prohibitory orders already in force since June 13 in five villages -- Kiratpur, Malion, Fatehpur, Missarwala and Majra -- under the Majra police station in Poanta subdivision, has been extended till June 26 by district magistrate (DM) Priyanka Verma, an order issued on Thursday night said. According to the order issued under Section 163 of Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, there will be a complete ban on the assembly of five or more persons, carrying lethal weapons, public rally, procession or hunger strike, carrying any kind of inflammable material, pelting stones or any objectionable material in public places and delivering inflammatory speeches or communal or anti-state speeches within the boundaries of these villages. The DM said that she has received a report from district police chief Nishchint Singh Negi that despite earlier preventive measures, the law and order situation remains volatile due to communal tensions, including recent incidents of arrest and inflammatory public speeches by the political leaders in the vicinity. On June 13, prohibitory orders were imposed till June 19 after an incident of maintain law and order, police resorted to lathicharge and more than ten people, including police and women, were injured. Four people have been arrested in connection with the case so far, while the BJP state chief Rajiv Bindal and BJP MLA from Poanta, Sukhram Chaudhary have been booked for attempted murder. They have secured interim relief.
India Today
43 minutes ago
- India Today
Atmanirbhar Europe? France's Macron pushes for Rafale as alternative to US jets
French President Emmanuel Macron, in a quirky post on X, exhorted European nations to rethink their dependence on American fighter jets and positioned France's Rafale as an alternative in a push towards strategic post featured a Rafale jet on a mobile interface, with the text on the call banner reading, "Secure our Europe". The X post was captioned as, "European friends, you have a call".advertisementWhile Macron did not elaborate on the post, it is being viewed as an outreach to European countries, including NATO allies, to strengthen collective defence by buying European military hardware and reducing dependence on American technology amid the uncertainties in US foreign policy following Donald Trump's return to office. For Europe, reliance on American-made military hardware has been the cornerstone of its security needs for a vocal supporter of European strategic autonomy, had pushed his case in March as well."We must offer European alternatives to countries accustomed to American equipment... Scaling up production of these systems will lower costs and create a self-sustaining defence network across Europe," the French President told VS US F-35 JETIn recent years, countries like Poland and Finland have opted for the US-made F-35 fifth generation stealth fighter aircraft, produced by Lockheed Martin. In 2020, Poland signed a USD 4.6 billion deal for 32 F-35s. Finland also ordered 64 such aircraft in Rafale is a 4.5-generation fighter jet, developed by France's Dassault Aviation, and is capable of air-to-air combat, and ground strikes. On the other hand, the selling point of the F-35 is its stealth features, advanced electronic warfare systems and call comes at a time when speculation has swirled on social media about the potential existence of a 'kill switch' on the F-35s - a mechanism that would allow the US to remotely disable or limit the functionality of the jets sold to allies. However, the Pentagon has strongly refuted such the timing of Macron's post comes at a time when US military aid to Ukraine, which is locked in a never-ending war with Russia, has dried VS TRUMPIt also comes on the backdrop of a social media exchange between Macron and Trump over the Israel-Iran the US President left the G7 Summit a day early, Macron suggested to reporters that it was probably to negotiate a ceasefire between Israel and Iran. "There is indeed an offer to meet and exchange," Macron soon as his remarks went viral, Trump was swift to slam his "publicity-seeking" French counterpart."Macron mistakenly said that I left the G7 Summit, in Canada, to go back to DC to work on a ceasefire between Israel and Iran. Wrong! He has no idea why I am now on my way to Washington. Whether purposely or not, Emmanuel always gets it wrong," Trump said in a post on Truth Watch
News18
an hour ago
- News18
In First Litmus Test After Op Sindoor, Congress Eyes Muslim Vote Ahead Of Bihar Polls
Last Updated: Having attempted to gain ground with the Hindu vote and not found sustained success, the Congress now seems to be doubling down on its appeal to minority communities. The first big election that the Congress will face as a litmus test after Operation Sindoor will be Bihar. With a 17 per cent Muslim population, Bihar presents a crucial electoral opportunity, with the Congress, JD(U), and RJD all eyeing the same vote pie. However, this battle for the Muslim vote is not limited to Bihar. Nationally, the almost 20 per cent Muslim votebank could be a game-changer for the Congress in its broader revival strategy. In recent years, the Congress has attempted to strike a balance between wooing the Hindutva constituencies and appealing to minority voters. However, it remains acutely aware that when it comes to the Hindu votebank, the BJP continues to be the natural first choice. In areas where Congress does secure Hindu votes, it is often not for religious reasons but due to local dynamics or disenchantment with the BJP. Given this reality, the party appears to be falling back on what was once its traditional stronghold — the Muslim vote. It was not without reason that former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh once advocated for the speedy implementation of the Sachar Committee recommendations and emphasised increasing the rights of Muslims. This policy orientation underlined the Congress's commitment to minority welfare and social justice. Having attempted to gain ground with the Hindu vote and not found sustained success, the Congress now seems to be doubling down on its appeal to minority communities. But this is easier said than done. Not only does it face tough competition from regional parties such as the RJD and JD(U), it also has to deal with vote-sharing challenges with its own allies. The 17 per cent Muslim vote share in Bihar is being hotly contested, and Congress is in the race with both allies and opponents. The party's stand on the Iran-Israel conflict also reflects its evolving minority strategy. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra delivered one of the sharpest critiques of the government's silence on Gaza, accusing it of ignoring human rights violations. 'India is standing silent as Israel annihilates a nation," she said, making it clear where the Congress's sympathies lie. Her carrying a pro-Palestine tote bag in Parliament only further reinforced the message — a calculated effort to align with minority sentiment. At the state level too, groundwork has begun. The Karnataka Congress government recently announced 4 per cent reservation for Muslims in government contract jobs and proposed an increase in housing reservation for minorities from 10 per cent to 15 per cent. These decisions are not just governance moves but political signals, conveying that a Congress-led government at the Centre or in states like Bihar or Kerala would prioritise minority welfare. Looking ahead, seat-sharing talks and the Bihar elections will be a critical moment for the Congress's minority outreach strategy. Despite its alliance with the RJD, the Congress is clearly trying to carve out an independent appeal among Muslim voters. The induction of leaders like former JD(U) MP Anwar Ansari and other Pasmanda Muslim figures into its fold is part of this push. However, in its attempt to reclaim the Muslim vote while also appeasing some Hindu constituencies, the Congress often appears directionless — caught between conflicting impulses. Its struggle to choose between consolidating the Muslim vote and pursuing a soft Hindutva line leaves the party at political crossroads. First Published: June 20, 2025, 13:17 IST
