All across the Muslim world, ordinary Muslims are waking up to the prospect that change is possible.

The unprecedented wave of public demonstrations in recent weeks began in Tunisia, toppling the tyrant Zine al-Abedine Ben-Ali. They have since swept through the rest of the ummah shaking the thrones of oppressors. Now protests against the Egyptian regime have grabbed the world’s attention with courageous protesters openly defying the forces of one of the world’s most brutal and fearsome regimes. Images of unarmed civilians pouring out from Friday prayers to face batons, tear gas, tanks and rubber bullets with their Iman and their voices have spread throughout the globe.

The truth is that such outpouring of anger and frustration was always inevitable. The presence of these regimes ruining the lives of the people, impoverishing them and destroying their hope whilst they amass huge riches and treat the people as their slaves was always going to lead to conflict

The only question was when the ummah would rise up against their rulers, not if. Knowing this the dictators in every part of the Muslim world have always tried to subvert momentum for change so it ultimately achieves nothing of substance and the situation remains as it always was.

So when the people decide to act decisively they will face offers and proposals to buy time for the regime, to let the energy for action calm a little, to divide the people, prevent them from achieving lasting results and to maintain the existing state of affairs.

Whenever pressure builds on these regimes the ummah is routinely offered a few crumbs to appease them and buy them off, hoping they’ll settle for something cosmetic that will appear like a victory but will only uphold the status quo of the ugly regime. Perhaps the regime will offer a few reforms, some handouts of money or food, the promise of an election or even a new face to replace the old tyrant but who will continue to oppress them and prevent the real solution for the disastrous situation to emerge.

Real change does not come through a change of faces. It doesn’t come from a plodding reform. It is sudden, it is sweeping, it is uncompromising and it is comprehensive. Genuine change is to remove the systems of kufr in our lands once and for all. Genuine change is to return to what the people of the region have lived under in peace, independence and prosperity for over a thousand years. Genuine change is for the Ummah to liberate herself from the shackles of its oppressors and return again to living under the shade of the Islamic Khilafah state.

The West also fear real change in the Muslim world knowing full well what it means. The rise of Islam to power and influence in world affairs represents an ideological challenge to their dominance of global politics and finance and is utterly unacceptable to them.

This is why Western leaders have been united in urging that any change that takes place in the Muslim world is gradual, creeping and ineffectual. They prefer stability since they want the situation to continue to provide them with an advantage.  Hillary Clinton called for the Egyptian government to “implement political, economic and social reforms”. Robert Danin of the Council on Foreign Relations spoke of the Obama administration seeking “managed change” in Egypt not wanting a situation “which would necessitate the leadership to flee”. Middle East Peace Envoy, Tony Blair, when interviewed on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, said “All over that region, there is essentially one issue, which is how do they evolve and modernise, both in terms of their economy, their society and their politics. All I’m saying is that, in the case of Egypt and in the case in Yemen, because there are other factors in this – not least those who would use any vacuum in order to foment extremism – that you do this in what I would call a stable and ordered way”.

The West wants ‘reform’, ‘managed change’, ‘evolution’, anything except the kind of transformation that would see the return of Islam and an end to their colonial influence through their agents.

The time for change is long-overdue but it has to be more fundamental than accepting appeasement from the current regime, accepting a new oppressor to take his place or helping to continue Western interference through cosmetic reforms. For change to be complete, lasting and productive it has to be extended not just to the head of state but to the system itself.

REAL change is possible. The time has come and the Ummah now has an opportunity to achieve something lasting. It should not be wasted but it can only be accomplished if the system changes from kufr to Islam.

Endnotes:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/jan/28/tony-blair-palestine-papers-peace-process

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/26/hillary-clinton-egypt-protests_n_814442.html