News Right Now: Unrealized Strength

On 17 September 2025, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed the Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement (SMDA) in Riyadh. The pact states that any act of aggression against one country will be regarded as aggression against both, committing them to mutual defense! It covers a wide range of cooperation, including joint military training, intelligence sharing, technology collaboration, and regular exercises to strengthen readiness. Both governments emphasized that the agreement is purely defensive and not directed at any third party. This formal arrangement builds on decades of close security, economic, and cultural relations between the two Muslim-majority nations.

While the pact was meant to strengthen military cooperation between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia – 2 Muslim states from amongst our wider Ummah. Its deeper significance lies in the reminder that Islam commands unity beyond political borders. Allah (swt) obliges the believers to be one body, and the combined resources, populations, and strategic positions of the Muslim lands hold immense potential if gathered under a single unit, state and purpose. Agreements like this show us a glimpse of what Muslims can achieve when they are ONE! Yet they also highlight the unnatural division of the Ummah into separate nation-states—lines that were never meant to divide a people bound by the same faith and destiny.

Islam teaches that the blood of the Muslim is sacred, and that the land of the Muslim, whether in the east or the west, is one. War and peace in Islam are not determined by the politics of individual states, but by the interests of the entire Ummah. When one part of the body suffers, the whole body responds with fever and pain. This profound bond of brotherhood means that the struggles of a Muslim in Palestine, Kashmir, or Yemen are not foreign concerns; they are the concerns of every believer. Any defense arrangement that limits its vision to national borders fails to grasp this divine reality and leaves countless Muslims vulnerable to oppression.

The potential of the Muslim world, if united, is immense. With vast resources, strategic geography, and a population of over a billion, the Ummah possesses all the ingredients of unparalleled strength. But potential alone is not enough. History shows that when Muslims lived under a single system of governance, their lands were secure, their dignity preserved, and their enemies hesitant. The Prophet (saw) and his rightly guided successors established a model in which the defense of the Ummah was collective, transcending tribal or national affiliations. It was this unity of purpose that allowed the early Muslims to rise as a force for justice and mercy in the world.

Real strength and lasting security will only return when the Muslim Ummah revives the system of governance prescribed by Allah—the Khilafah (Caliphate). The Khilafah alone ensures that defense, resources, and decision-making are directed by the commands of Allah and His Messenger, not by the fluctuating interests of individual states. Let this Pakistan and Saudi Arabia’s defense cooperation pact be a reminder for us; no matter how strong an individual country’s army or alliances may appear, real defense cannot be achieved within the confines of the nation-state. Nationalism limits the scope of protection, reducing the concerns of the Ummah to artificial boundaries and political calculations. These borders and flags are products of colonial design, and they have divided and weakened the believers. Allah (swt) says

[وَاعۡتَصِمُوۡا بِحَبۡلِ اللّٰهِ جَمِيۡعًا وَّلَا تَفَرَّقُوۡا]

“And hold firmly to the rope of Allah all together and do not become divided” [Surah Aali ʿImrān verse 103.]

May Allah (swt) unite the Ummah under the banner of la illaha illallah in the form of one STATE headed by one leader to uphold the honour and dignity that only Islam can give. Ameen

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