The US financial meltdown has spread to Europe as well. Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Spain (appropriately dubbed PIGS), and now Italy are all engulfed in such severe financial crises that they threaten the very survival of the euro as well as the European Union. And there is nothing the US can do to rescue its European colonial brethren. There is no possibility of a second Marshall Plan. If there is no money to get out of the mess at home, what chance is there to help others across the Atlantic? Washington politicians, in government and Congress, are clueless about how to get out of the mess. Indeed, most members of Congress, themselves millionaires, have directly contributed to the financial crisis by handing out billions to their masters on Wall Street. There is not only disappointment but also outright cynicism about American politics. This is evident in the Occupy Wall Street Movement, made worse by the manner in which peaceful protesters have been brutalized by the police on orders from city officials that in turn take their marching orders from Wall Street executives.
It is also interesting to note — and this must be the unkindest cut — that newspaper headlines ask whether China, not the US, will come to the rescue. This confirms the seismic change that has occurred in global politics.
We must, however, address the other factor that is absent from Western thinking: that of iman. It transcends military and financial power. Both in Afghanistan and Iraq, the resistance did not match US-NATO firepower or depend on astronomical sums of money. What they lacked in material terms, they more than made up for in determination and sacrifice inspired by iman. The same factor was evident in Iran’s eight-year war against Iraq, Hizbullah’s resistance against Zionist onslaught in 2006 and Hamas withstanding the three-week bombardment of tiny Ghazzah in 2008–2009. True, people cannot fight tanks and planes with their bare hands but when confronted by a hugely unbalanced situation, the first thing to do is not panic. Material considerations alone do not determine the outcome of a struggle. If this were the case, the Americans would still be in Vietnam, the Russians in Afghanistan and Israel in Lebanon. The Americans have been taught this lesson all over again in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The lesson for Muslims is clear. Material superiority alone is not enough. Muslims struggling for their rights must rely on the strength of iman. This is a far greater weapon than anything the US can muster. America’s demise proves this again.
