Israel as the Rod of the Wrath of God

In 1528, Martin Luther (d. 1546), the central figure of the Protestant Reformation, authored his treatise "On War against the Turk" (Vom Kriege wider die Türken), launching a dual critique: one aimed at the looming threat of Ottoman incursions, which many feared would soon engulf much of Europe, and the other directed inward-at Christendom itself. Luther condemned the religious and political leadership of Christian Europe, asserting that their moral and doctrinal corruption rendered them no more virtuous than the Turks and thus fundamentally unfit to confront the crisis.

For Luther, the true origin of the threat lay not in the external menace of the Turks, but in the internal decay of Christendom. The Ottoman advance was, in his view, not merely a geopolitical danger but a divine chastisement-a rod by which God punished the sins of His people. Consequently, he argued that addressing the root causes of spiritual and institutional decline must take precedence over countering its outward manifestations. As long as the causes persisted, the effects-however violent or terrifying-would remain inevitable. Eradicating the causes would, by necessity, dissolve the legitimacy and presence of the effects.

One tragic consequence of the prevalent paradigm, Luther warned, was the erosion of capacity and the distortion of priorities. Efforts meant to illuminate instead obscured; initiatives intended to resolve instead deepened the crisis. He captured this frustration poignantly: "It is a fact that the Turk is at our throat, and even if he does not will to march against us this year, yet he is there, armed and ready any hour to attack us, when he will, and yet our princes discuss, meanwhile, how they can harass Luther and the Gospel."

Palestine was relinquished through neglect and internal failure

As the Gaza tragedy unfolds at the hands of the diabolical Zionists and their equally diabolical backers in the institutionalized West, one cannot help but wonder whether the illegitimate presence of the illegitimate geopolitical entity known as Israel is a rod of divine wrath - to borrow the concept and terminology of Luther - by which God visits the numerous institutionalized sins of Israel's immediate and distant neighbors in the Middle East. After all, it is only because of those sins that Israel-created to function as a tumor in the heart of Islamdom-was able to be established and sustained through all these painfully long years.

The emergence of Israel was inconceivable until a conducive geopolitical vacuum had been created primarily through the methodical political, religious, and moral failures of Muslims, particularly within the Middle Eastern region. Once conceived and set into motion, the idea was sustained by negligence, internal division, and betrayal.

Indeed, it was not strength or legitimacy that gave birth to Israel, but rather a convergence of perfidy, illegality, and criminal complicity across multiple fronts. Its establishment and continued endurance represent not merely a political anomaly, but a profound indictment-spiritual, moral, and rational. For where sin festers, consequence inevitably follows; and where the synthesis of faith and unity collapses, affliction finds root.

This means that Muslims did not lose Palestine to the Zionist and Western vultures; rather, they handed it over, served it up on a platter. The intellectual and behavioral missteps of Muslims served as an open invitation to adversaries who had long been seeking a strategic foothold in the region. From the moment Muslims began to engage with the seductive yet untested promises of Western modernity, scientific revolution, and civilizational progress, they unwittingly courted disaster. These paradigms, while ostensibly universal, were designed as much to elevate the West as to marginalize and destabilize the Muslim world.

Once entangled in a vicious cycle, the condition of the Muslim world continued to deteriorate, oscillating from bad to worse. The ultimate consequence was the erosion of Islamic spiritual vitality, historical continuity, civilizational identity, and future prospects, while gaining little of substantive value in return. The foundational Islamic ideals of unity and brotherhood were gradually supplanted by divisive nationalisms, Arab, Turkish, and Persian alike. Likewise, Islamic systems rooted in justice, equality, and benevolence were displaced by alien, undemocratic, and authoritarian models, whether under the banners of communism, socialism, capitalism, or liberalism.

Islamization gave way to varying degrees and forms of Westernization, particularly in the domains of education, culture, media, defense, and social development. Over time, Islam became increasingly ostracized, while foreign templates, often antithetical to Islamic values and consciousness, gained prominence. In the enduring struggle between Islam and its ideological opposites, the former was repeatedly forced to retreat, yielding ground to its antitheses.

This trajectory proved disastrous, resulting in a sluggish and erratic pattern of development: one step forward, two steps back. The crisis was unmistakable, yet the proverbial white elephant in the room remained largely unacknowledged. Few were able, willing, or prepared to confront the uncomfortable truths at the heart of the decline.

Israel: the scourge we invited, yet also the challenge that may ignite our reform

Yet this threat must also be reimagined as a potential catalyst for renewal. It calls upon Muslims to urgently reassess the nature of their predicament and to initiate a series of deliberate, adequate, and effective responses. Through such measures, Muslims-again borrowing the terminology of Luther-may "smite the devil," who has long held sway over them, as well as over Zionist Israel and its global supporters. Only then will "the rod be removed from the hand of divine judgment."

Accordingly, if the greater share of responsibility lies with Muslims themselves, then the solutions must likewise be sought within their own ranks. Israel, in this view, represents a personification of a union of darkness and evil with its continued existence made possible only by the absence of widespread light and virtue within the Muslim world. Should Muslims succeed in transforming themselves into a potent source of moral clarity and spiritual luminosity, the seemingly formidable presence and function of Israel would inevitably collapse, swiftly and without resistance. For light and darkness, virtue and evil, truth and falsehood cannot coexist; the former, once awakened and empowered, dispels the latter with certainty and force.

Otherwise, how is one to explain the seemingly irrational spectacle of a small bunch of Zionist criminals operating with impunity in the midst of hundreds of millions of Muslims, executing malevolent schemes against them with little effective resistance? The answer, it seems, lies not in the strength of the few, but in the disarray of the many. Israel appears strong only because Muslims are weak, and they seem effective only because Muslims cannot get their act together even in the most trivial matters.

Prescriptive measures and actionable insights

1. Recenter Islam as the foundational axis of Muslim civilization Islam must be reaffirmed as the ultimate source of religious, cultural, and civilizational identity. All other frameworks, be they political, philosophical, or cultural, must play a subordinate role. Islam should serve as the criterion and benchmark for creativity, innovation, progress, and happiness. It must be the beginning of all beginnings and the end of all ends. Shari'ah must shape how Muslims remember, live, and aspire. It is our origin, our orientation, and our destination.
2. Prioritize human development over material accumulation The focus must shift towards cultivating individuals and communities through intellectual refinement, character formation, and spiritual purification. Enlightened minds and purified souls are the most potent arsenals of any civilization. Amassing physical weaponry while neglecting human capital is suicidal, as tragically illustrated by the genocide in Gaza. Despite billions spent on arms, Muslims remain powerless. The aggressor rages unimpeded, devouring all in its path. In many cases, these weapons were not amassed to confront external threats, but to intimidate and subdue local Muslim populations-tools of authoritarian repression rather than instruments of defense.
3. Reform Islamic education through integration of revelation and reason Islamic education must be both traditionalized and modernized, ensuring that revelation and reason operate in harmonious synergy. There is no goodness in a system where the Qur'an and Sunnah are downgraded, nor can there be relevance in an educational model that fails to address the practical exigencies of everyday life. The curriculum must be rooted in divine guidance while remaining responsive to contemporary challenges.
4. Revive the values of Muslim unity, brotherhood, and cooperation In both theory and practice, Muslims must uphold the unyielding principles of solidarity and mutual support. The foundational premise must be that even the most flawed Muslim remains closer to fellow Muslims than the most virtuous non-Muslim adversary. Muslims must always seek compromise, forbearance, and partnership with one another. While avenues for dialogue and coexistence with Jews and Christians perennially exist, it must be remembered that they will never be truly content with Muslims unless the latter abandon their Islam and the historical and cultural identity it sustains (al-Baqarah, 120). The Qur'an is further emphatic: "O you who have believed, do not take the Jews and the Christians as allies (awliya': intimate friends, protectors, helpers, etc.). They are (in fact) allies of one another. And whoever is an ally to them among you - then indeed, he is (one) of them. Indeed, Allah guides not the wrongdoing people" (al-Ma'idah, 51).
5. Engage in righteous historical revisionism Muslims must undertake a critical reexamination and rewriting of both Islamic and global histories. Existing narratives are deeply tainted by colonial, repressive, and manipulative Western biases. These distortions enable the West to maintain ideological dominance over much of the world. The malign presence of Israel stands at the heart of several such narratives and must be confronted through historical clarity and intellectual resistance. The strongest proof of Israel's illegitimacy is that its creation and continued existence have relied entirely on illegal means. Illegality permeates every aspect of its foundation and maintenance.
6. Reintroduce, teach, and embody jihad as a civilizational principle Jihad-understood as continuous, multifaceted struggle to uphold the Word of Allah-must be reinstated as the cornerstone of Islamic life and civilization. In Islam, life is jihad, and jihad is Islam. Muslims must live and die with honor, striving solely for the sake of Islam and their Creator, not for fleeting worldly or nationalistic ideals. Let Muslims live with purpose and die in pursuit of Paradise (Jannah). Let them not stray from the path outlined by Allah, lest they face the consequences of spiritual failure in the Hereafter.

It goes without saying that jihad, since the time of the Prophet, has consistently struck fear into the hearts of Islam's enemies. Its revival is not merely desirable-it is imperative. Reinstating the culture of jihad, in its comprehensive and principled form, is the only assured path forward. It is the sole means by which Muslims may restore their honor and, in theological terms, "lift the rod of wrath from the Hand of God."