The escalating talk about closing the Strait of Hormuz is not merely a passing economic news headline; rather, it has revealed the reality of the struggle over energy, and at the same time exposed the position of the ruling regimes in the lands of the Muslims within this struggle. Instead of this Ummah, which possesses the greatest maritime passages and the largest energy reserves in the world being the owner of decision and sovereignty, its wealth and strategic passages have become tools in the hands of the major powers, manipulated by subordinate regimes to serve the interests of the West, foremost among them America.

Indeed, the Strait of Hormuz, through which about one-fifth of global oil trade passes, is a main artery of energy in the world. With the escalation of tensions in the region and the threat to navigation within it, America hastened to search for alternative routes to ensure the continued flow of oil to its markets and the markets of its allies. Here appeared the role that had been prearranged for the Saudi regime and the Egyptian regime, to perform the function of the faithful guard of America’s interests in the region.

The rulers of the Saudi regime did not hesitate to operate the pipeline that transports oil from the east of the Arabian Peninsula to its west, then heading to the ports of the Red Sea, including the port of Yanbu. From there, tankers are shipped through the Red Sea to continue their path via the Suez Canal or through the Egyptian pipeline known as SUMED, reaching the Mediterranean Sea and then Europe and America.

This process is not merely a technical measure to secure oil exports; rather, in reality, it is part of an entire political system managed to serve the West. The oil wealth in the Arabian Peninsula, which in reality is property for the Islamic Ummah, is today harnessed to consolidate the dominance of the global capitalist system, and is used to ensure the continued flow of energy to the countries that occupy the lands of the Muslims, support the Jewish entity, and wage wars against the Ummah everywhere.

As for the regime in Egypt, which controls one of the most important maritime passages in the world, it has made the Suez Canal and the SUMED line part of the safety network upon which the West relies in its crises. Instead of these passages being tools of power in the hands of the Ummah, with which it pressures its enemies, they have become safe bridges through which the wealth of the Muslims passes to feed the economies of the West and its armies that kill the sons of the Ummah, plunder their wealth, and subjugate them.

The matter did not stop there for the rulers of Egypt; rather, it went beyond that to attempting to reshape the military role in the region in a way that serves the arrangements drawn by the West. Cairo recently called for activating the joint Arab defense agreement and forming a joint Arab force amid the military escalation in the region. This call is presented under the slogan of protecting the alleged Arab national security, but in reality it reflects a tendency to integrate the armies of the region into regional security arrangements that serve the Western strategy.

Instead of these armies heading toward the real enemy that occupies Palestine, usurps its land, and kills its people, they are intended to become a regional force to protect the existing regimes and secure energy lines and Western interests in the region. Thus, slogans of military cooperation are raised not to liberate Palestine nor to break Western dominance, but to manage regional conflicts according to what Western powers desire, and to make the armies of the Muslims part of the security system that protects the international order.

Here the extent of the decline that the Ummah has reached due to the absence of sincere political leadership becomes evident. If Egypt today were as it was at the time of the Islamic conquest, and if there were in it a man like Amr ibn al-As (may Allah be pleased with him), then its geographical position would be a strategic weapon tightening the noose around the enemies of the Ummah, not a safe outlet to rescue them from their crises.

But the painful reality is that these strategic sites are today managed with the mentality of a follower, not with the mentality of an Ummah that is the bearer of a message. The Egyptian regime closes its borders to the besieged people of Gaza, yet opens its passages to oil tankers that feed the economy of the West, the enemy of the Ummah and the supporter of the occupation. The Saudi regime places the wealth of the Arabian Peninsula at the service of Western markets, while the Ummah is drained in wars and crises.

O People of Kinanah - Egypt: your land is not an ordinary country in this world; it is the heart of the region and the key to one of the greatest maritime passages on earth. The continuation of this reality, in which your resources are harnessed to serve your enemies, will not change except when the Ummah realizes that its dignity can only be through Islam as a system for life, and by establishing a state that implements its rules and unites the Muslims under one banner.

O Soldiers of Kinanah - Egypt: you are the sons of a great army whose name is tied to the history of Islam and its openings. You know that this Ummah lacks neither men nor capabilities, but rather lacks the political decision that directs this power in the correct direction. The greatest honor you can attain is that your strength be a shield for the Ummah and a sword defending it, not a guard for borders drawn by the colonizer, nor a tool to protect his interests in your lands. The Ummah looks forward to the day when Egypt returns as it was throughout its history: a fortress of Islam and a pillar of its state, when the political will of the Ummah is restored and Islam returns to lead life, the state, and society.

O Soldiers of Kinanah: you have been and still are a shield for the Ummah, a weapon in its hand. So restore your freedom, align with your Ummah, cut the ties of the rulers that bind you, cast off their privileges, ranks, and salaries, and place your hands in the hands of those who lead you to a Paradise whose width is the heavens and the earth, it is more beneficial for you and more lasting with Allah. Carry with them the concern of your Ummah and restore with them its authority once again under Islam and its state, the Khilafah Rashidah (rightly guided Caliphate) upon the method of the Prophethood.

[وَلَيَنصُرَنَّ اللَّهُ مَن يَنصُرُهُ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَقَوِيٌّ عَزِيزٌ]

“And Allah will surely support those who support Him. Indeed, Allah is Powerful and Exalted in Might.” [Al-Hajj :40]