A huge number of hot-takes on Donald Trump’s victory in the recent U.S. presidential elections have attempted to explain why he won, offering a whole range of purported reasons that have often seemed to be premature in not waiting for the final vote tallies (e.g. the claim that Kamala Harris received 15 million fewer votes than Joe Biden did), too aligned with commentators’ pre-existing pet causes (e.g. ‘disinformation’ or Gaza) and disregarding the bigger picture that the country’s voters are still more or less split evenly between the two major parties in a pattern that has held since around 2000, with ‘swing voters’ in a small number of states being the decisive factor in the actual electoral result and satisfaction or disillusionment with the existing administration’s policies playing a big part in what way those swing voters go.
For the Islamic State however, Trump’s attainment of power and his ability to exercise that power are ultimately a reflection of God’s will- something that too many commentators and groups do not recognise! It is a reflection of a ‘Jahiliya’ (pre-Islamic ignorance) mindset that Trump is treated as though he were master of the world, when it is God who is the real master. In so far as God grants him power, it is only on the model of previous ‘Tawaghit’ (idolatrous tyrants) to whom Trump should be compared, as God wishes to lure them into a false sense of security and establish the proofs of their tyranny and arrogance against them in order to punish them.
The editorial urges Muslims to consider the stories of past tyrants like Nimrod, Qarun and Pharoah in order to be more certain of the eventual outcome that the disbelievers in all their types will eventually be defeated and gathered in Hellfire. On the political level, the editorial emphasises that Trump’s personality is not the issue. For the Islamic State, it does not matter whether a Republican or Democrat wins the elections, because America is a democracy (deemed an evil form of government whatever its type) and remains a ‘Crusader’ state waging war on Islam. The votes for Trump, if anything, only prove the American people’s hostility to Islam, but it should be remembered that both Biden and Trump waged war on the Islamic State. Finally, the editorial concludes by mocking Trump for claiming to have destroyed the Islamic State, when the U.S. is still fighting the group in Iraq and Syria and American allies and adversaries fret about the group’s existence elsewhere around the world (e.g. in Africa).
Below is the editorial on Trump’s victory as it appeared in the weekly Arabic-language al-Naba’ newsletter. It is fully translated by me.
In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Indeed, the disbelievers are not successful
The politicians have gone overboard in talking about the expected changes after the Taghut Trump assumes power, in a tone that gives the impression that the world is subject to his control and absolute disposition. Indeed they talk about him in a madly obsessive way, as though he is the one who directs and manages the affairs of creation! This is not an exaggeration in terms of characterisation: in fact it is only a description of the reality without reservations.
What predominates is a state of ‘mad crowding’ at the thresholds of the American elections by all segments and groups. Each one is making preparations and getting ready and altering its courses and making its policies subject to the policy of the coming Taghut, beginning with the Qatari government that preceded its ‘normalising Gulfie’ rivals in renewing the offerings of obedience to appease Trump, and then proceeding to its stepdaughter the ‘Taliban’ that has expressed its hope of ‘opening a new chapter of relations’ with his administration, and not ending with the positions of the governments and Tawaghit of Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Jordan and other allies, partners and groups.
The fear, terror and desire that many have expressed regarding the Taghut Trump following his attaining of rule, as though he is the master of the world, reflects the depth of Jahiliya that the world lives through. If these people had rightly assessed God Almighty, they would not have been deceived by Trump’s victory, or been confounded or terrified by it. But since their hearts have become devoid of love for God Almighty as well as fear of Him, being frightened of Him and glorification of Him, they have become filled with fear, terror and glorification of idols besides Him.
Lost on these people is the fact that the American Taghut, like others besides him, is a created being, who cannot move from his face or move any of his limbs except by God’s permission. If the Almighty had willed, He could have made him join his bygone predecessors of the Tawaghit of disbelief like Nimrod, Qarun, Pharoah and others who behaved tyrannically and committed transgression, but it is God Almighty’s wisdom to give these people respite and lure them. The Almighty has said: “Do not be deceived by the taqallub of those who have disbelieved in the land.” This means their behaviour in the land and their supremacy and arrogance therein. For indeed it is God’s granting of respite to them and luring of them. Imam al-Tabari has made clear the wisdom of this ‘respite’ despite their idolatry and transgression. As he said: “So that what has been decreed may reach the time of its fulfilment, and the pronouncement of torment may be justified against them, and in their disobedience they may reach their all-powerful Lord who has decreed the punishment for them, and so that the proofs of God may be established against them.”
The one who considers the bygone versions of Trump like Qarun for example, who gathered treasures whose keys could barely be carried by a powerful group of men, one finds that on account of his tyranny and arrogance, his punishment was: “So We made the earth swallow him and his abode up, and he could have had no helper besides God, and he was not among the victorious.” And so his kingship and rule were of no use to him, and he could not support himself, nor could others support him.
The Muslims today are in desperate need of reflection and consideration of the stories of those who have passed away and have resembled or exceeded Trump in disbelief, insolence, arrogance and self-deception, so that they may realise that the outcome for disbelief and tyranny is fixed, just as the outcome for faith and subjection to God Almighty is fixed.
The Muslim must also be more certain of the defeat of the disbelievers and the vanishing of their sovereignty and fall of their thrones. God Almighty ordered His Prophet to say to the Jews after Badr when they boasted of their power: “Say to those who have disbelieved: you will be overcome and gathered to Hell, and what a wretched abode it is!” This should be the position of the Muslim on disbelief and its masters in every age, so say to Trump and his administration: you will be overcome and gathered to Hell. Say to Netanyahu and his army: you will be overcome and gathered to Hell. Say to Khomeini and his ilk, and Putin and his legions: you will be overcome and gathered to Hell. This is the command, ruling and promise of God Almighty. Let the one who wishes to believe, believe, and let the one who wishes to disbelieve, disbelieve.
The believer must live with this psychology of faith. Thus does the believer, through his faith, gain supremacy over the nations of disbelief and falsehood. The obligation on the preachers and students of Tawhid is to implant these concepts in the souls of the masses and make them reach the believers’ ears and present them to the believers: i.e. the Qur’an and its clear decisive proof texts. For the people have neglected the Qur’an in consideration and certainty, just as they have impeded its use for ruling and legislation.
On the political level, it has been frequently said that Trump’s assuming of power will expose American democracy! Has anything remained veiled therein for exposure? Indeed, when was it veiled in the first place?! In addition, democracy- whether American, Jewish, Western or Eastern- is the same in terms of ruling and description, and differentiating between types amounts to deeming some of them good, when in fact democracy is an absolute evil. And are not all the evils of the world because of this democracy and its derivatives from the materialist programs of disbelief?!
From another angle, one should note that many of the politicians have made the issue a personal one regarding Trump, such that they have given people the impression that the problem lies in Trump’s ‘moody’ personality and ‘businessman’ mindset rather than the Crusader American administration and its hostility to Islam. Therefore some of the ‘national liberation movements’ have made their position on Trump dependent on his position on their cause! And they have forgotten that the ‘Deal of the Century’ that was a ‘plan’ in the Trump era became a ‘reality’ in the Biden era, and they have ignored the fact that the change of presidents and American administrations, whether ‘Democrat or Republican’, ‘right-wing or left-wing’, does not change its ‘principles’ regarding the war against Islam.
In observing the peoples’ activity, the election of Trump to power again as president of America, despite his bad reputation and precedent, reflects by necessity the truth about the Crusader American people and the Christian peoples that support the war against Islam and vote strongly for the one who gets more involved in that.
As for the Islamic State’s position on the American elections, it is the same position every time, because whoever is the ‘winner’ in them is undoubtedly a ‘Crusader’ or a ‘Jewish Crusader’ who will not hesitate to wage war on Islam, especially when the matter concerns the Islamic State. For what Trump did during his first term was continued by his successor Biden, for their war against the mujahidin never stopped, and therefore the matter will make no difference for a mujahid in his trench or a sentinel on his frontline, for the enemy is the enemy, war is war, and jihad is jihad, and God is the One who supports and provides help.
It has remained for us to remind Trump that he ended his first presidency with the claim of having destroyed the Islamic State. Then he returns again, loaded with a legacy of failure and deception combined. He failed to stop the jihad of the Islamic State, and he lied in his claims of having destroyed it, such that he ‘announced its defeat around 16 times during 99 days’ alone! Now he has returned for a second presidential term and his land and its forces are still mired in the war against the Islamic State, and the aircraft and intelligence apparatuses of his country fly here and there between Iraq, Syria and other places in fear of the mujahidin, and his administration is unable to put a stop to the danger they pose in Khorasan despite the dedication of the ‘Emirate’ to the matter. His allies and adversaries are both drowning in the thickets of the African wilayas, and the war still has a remainder and chapters. So let the mujahidin be prepared for them as necessary: ‘And God is predominant over His affair but most of the people do not know.’
