THE UNITED STATES has slapped harsh tariffs on several Muslim-majority countries: Iraq (39%), Bangladesh (37%), Indonesia (32%), Algeria (30%), Pakistan (30%), Tunisia (28%), Malaysia (24%)… the list goes on.
And how have we responded?
Bangladesh’s interim government has pleaded for a three-month pause to “smoothly implement its initiative to substantially increase US exports to Bangladesh,” the office of interim leader Muhammad Yunus said. They’ve already promised to buy more American goods: energy, cotton, and wheat.
Many took pride in the Bangladeshi garments factory, the third-largest (after China and Vietnam) clothing supplier to the US, seeing it as a way to take us out of poverty. That pride is now trembling. Entire industries hang by a thread. Millions of jobs are on the line.
Why? Because we built our economies to serve others. We became dependent on Western markets. We made ourselves vulnerable — and now we’re paying the price.
This is the cost of dependency. This is the bitter price of disunity.
We are scattered — small, weak, begging for access to markets we do not control.
But what if… we weren’t?
What if the Muslim world stood as one Ummah — united, dignified, and strong?
Imagine the revival of the Khilafah.
No borders. No begging. No dependency. Our oil, our gas, our resources — shared among us, not sold off for scraps. Our wealth circulating within the Ummah. Our industries protected and not dismantled by foreign tariffs. Our fate in our hands and not dictated by the US or EU.
Because today, the Muslim world isn’t weak — we’re just divided.
We have:
- 1.9 billion people — one out of every four humans on Earth
- A combined $8.7 trillion GDP
- A staggering $26.4 trillion in purchasing power
- The largest oil and gas reserves in the world
- And a massive youth generation brimming with energy, ambition, and potential
We have everything — except unity.
And without unity, we are exposed to every storm — tariffs, sanctions, exploitation, humiliation.
But Allah ﷻ has already shown us the way:
Allah says:
وَلَن يَجْعَلَ ٱللَّهُ لِلْكَـٰفِرِينَ عَلَى ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ سَبِيلًا
And Allah will never grant the disbelievers a way over the believers. (an-Nisa 141)
The Messenger ﷺ said: “The upper hand is better than the lower hand.” (Bukhari)
So why are we still begging? Why are we still at the mercy of those who never had mercy for us? Or as Trump puts it vulgarly ‘lining up to kiss my a**.’
This Ummah does not need fear. It needs courage. Not short-term deals but a long-term vision. Not reform but revival. Not surrender but sovereignty.
Our system is rooted in self-sufficiency, justice, collective strength, and obedience to Allah alone. Our system is rooted in self-sufficiency, justice, collective strength, and obedience to Allah alone.
Trump’s tariffs are not the real problem. Disunity is. And the Khilafah is the only cure.
(Inspired by a post by Ustadh Abu Yusuf)
