Brief Overview of Constituent Projects:
Project 51-AFKI: This project deals with the root of all the problems currently facing the ummah: lack of conviction, lack of incentives, and lack of unity
Project ER-97: This project deals with educational reforms for schools, colleges and universities.
Project Chlorophyll: This project deals with the environmental problems and seeks to safeguard our planet against further damage
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These days are certainly not the best days for the Muslims. Our religion is under attack. Islamophobia is on the rise.
“Islam initiated as something strange, and it would revert to its (old position) of being strange, so glad tidings to the strangers.” (Sahih Muslim 145)[1]
This is unfolding before our eyes. For example, a study by CAIR concluded that anti-Muslim incidents reached record highs in 2024, with a 7.4% year-on-year increase in the US[2][3]; while the EU FRA found that in 2024 nearly 50% of Muslims in the EU reported experiencing discrimination in daily life[4], an increase from 39% reported in 2016[5]. Another study found that in fourteen American newspapers, 80% of all articles related to Muslims were negative[6][7]. At the same time as this, surveys by the Arab Barometer[8][9] show that there is a noticeable gap between the number of people who identify as Muslim, and the number of people who pray daily; which is a rather troubling fact.
“The bonds of Islam will be undone one by one, and every time a bond is undone, the people will cling to what follows it. The first to be undone will be ruling, and the last will be the prayer.” (Musnad Aḥmad 22160)[10]
There are certain correctable reasons behind the undoing of these bonds; but before we discuss those reasons and how to address them, we need to recognise that due to the absence of the bond of ruling, this “decay” is not restricted to the intellectual domain. Approximately 72,000 Palestinians have been martyred since 7th October 2023, and about 170,000 have been injured[11]. Close to 700,000 Palestinians were displaced during the First Nakba[12]. In contrast, nearly the entire population of Gaza has been displaced since 7th October 2023[13]. In Kashmir, there have been indiscriminate killings, enforced disappearances, rapes, extrajudicial executions, curfews, raids on hospitals, and much more[14]. Similarly, the Uyghurs in China have been subjected to torture, ill-treatment in detention camps, mass surveillance, and restrictions to freedom of movement, freedom of speech, and even freedom of reproduction (by forcing Uyghurs to be sterilised)[15][16].
The list doesn’t end here. The problems don’t either.
Many states that identify as “Muslim” are complicit in the suffering of their brethren by choosing to prioritise narrow geopolitical interests over the preservation of human lives[17], and in some instances actively fuelling similar practices elsewhere[18].
Simultaneously, extremist elements have hijacked the name of Islam and distorted its teachings to justify violence against innocent civilians[19], effectively tarnishing the reputation of our faith. To accept these terrorist groups as true representatives of Islam is a logical fallacy[20] akin to labelling the “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” as a champion of democracy.
To many, the situation appears irredeemable. Witnessing the failure of many movements that sought to improve the status quo has left the people in a state of ‘learned helplessness’[21]; we have been gradually conditioned to believe that our individual and collective thoughts and actions do not matter much. It has become commonplace for people to get disillusioned and give up.
Yet, this resignation is incompatible with the methodology of Islam. Our religion does not teach us to accept defeat and surrender; it teaches us to strive. “And let there be (arising) from you a nation inviting to (all that is) good, enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong, and those will be the successful.” (Āli-ʿImrān, Ayah 104)[22]
The mandate to enjoin that which is right and forbid that which is wrong is not a suggestion, but a command. It is the divine mechanism through which we are able to keep our society calibrated. By abandoning this, we are not merely allowing our societal structure to decay; we are failing to fulfill an injunction from Allah Himself.
This failure has left the ummah fragmented and vulnerable. Historical precedents do, however, provide a roadmap for a complete systematic renewal.
Look at the era before Islam; the era of Jahiliyyah[23]. The situation appeared to be irredeemable. Tribalism, polytheism and sinful activities were rampant. In 571AD, no one could have speculated that within a hundred years, this age of ignorance would come to an end. It was inconceivable that the constantly warring and divided tribes of Arabia would not only unite under the banner of Islam, but that they would also defeat the two superpowers of the time, the Byzantines and the Sassanids which, despite their decline, remained the dominant military forces of the era.
The ‘systematic renewal’ in question was anything but easy. 23 years of unparalleled dedication and sacrifice were required. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and his Companions (RA) had to face persecution and hardships at every turn. The Prophet (PBUH) had to tolerate being labeled a sorcerer, a liar, a madman and a poet[24][25][26].
- Recognises that the educational system is outdated and is in need of reform in order to ensure that students develop proper learning skills;
- Recognises that our planet is facing a myriad of environmental problems such as climate change and global warming;
- https://sunnah.com/muslim:145
- https://www.cair.com/press_releases/cairs-civil-rights-report-shows-islamophobia-complaints-at-all-time-high-viewpoint-discrimination-key-factor/
- https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/3/11/anti-muslim-hate-hits-new-high-in-us-advocacy-group
- https://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra_uploads/fra-2017-eu-minorities-survey-muslims-selected-findings_en.pdf
- https://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra_uploads/fra-2024-being-muslim-in-the-eu_en.pdf
- https://theconversation.com/yes-muslims-are-portrayed-negatively-in-american-media-2-political-scientists-reviewed-over-250-000-articles-to-find-conclusive-evidence-183327
- https://global.oup.com/academic/product/covering-muslims-9780197611722?cc=fr&lang=en&
- https://www.arabbarometer.org/surveys/arab-barometer-wave-vii/
- https://www.arabbarometer.org/survey-data/data-analysis-tool/
- https://www.abuaminaelias.com/dailyhadithonline/2013/11/28/bonds-of-islam-undone-pray/
- https://www.unrwa.org/resources/reports/unrwa-situation-report-210-humanitarian-crisis-gaza-strip-and-occupied-west-bank
- https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/05/1136662
- https://www.unocha.org/news/one-year-unimaginable-suffering-7-october-attack
- https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/INDIA937.PDF
- https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/china0918_web.pdf
- https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-53220713
- https://www.crisisgroup.org/brf/middle-east-north-africa/north-africa/egypt-israelpalestine/b91-egypts-gaza-dilemmas
- https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3w1nzpg5dgo
- https://reliefweb.int/report/syrian-arab-republic/rule-terror-living-under-isis-syria
- https://rissc.jo/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Letter_to_Baghdadi-EN.pdf
- https://ppc.sas.upenn.edu/sites/default/files/lhtheoryevidence.pdf
- https://quran.com/en/ali-imran/104
- https://www.britannica.com/topic/jahiliyah
- https://quran.com/sad/4
- https://quran.com/al-hijr/6
- https://quran.com/at-tur/30