For most people, ‘oppression’ is defined as prolonged unjust treatment or exercise of authority. It describes a situation in which people are governed in an unfair and cruel way, and denied basic opportunities and freedoms. For the Islamic propagandist, however, the term means something else entirely: oppression is defined as any situation in which Muslims are not in a position of authority over non-Muslims. This mindset is what underpins claims of “global Muslim oppression”: Muslims are oppressed wherever they do not have dominion over non-Muslims, and are thus required to abide by secular law, rather than shari’ah – that is, the legal system established by Muhammad and spelled out in the Qur’an and sunnah.

In the West, Muslims enjoy benefits that they can only dream of in the Islamic world, from gainful employment to social welfare. Indeed, this is why they emigrate to Europe in such huge numbers, giving up everything for a chance at a better life. And yet, it is common to hear Muslims complaining of “Islamophobia” and “Western oppression” – for ultimately, they are not in a position of authority over non-Muslims. No amount of state subsidies can reverse this attitude. On the contrary, the better they are treated, the more resentful they become; for in the Qur’an, Muslims are warned that if non-Muslims treat them well, it is only to lure them away from Islam. In a blistering sermon, the British-Pakistani preacher Abu Waleed puts it well:

Among themselves, Muslim grievance-mongers will vent their contempt for democracy and desire for shari’ah. To win the political support of non-Muslims, however, they are obliged to disguise their authoritarian agenda. Thus, they point to genuine cases of oppression – for example, those of the Rohingya Muslims in Burma or the Uyghur Muslims in China. It is difficult to overstate how cynical this is, for just like the Kurds, these groups are widely regarded with suspicion by Muslims for having an identity other than Islam. This mistrust can be plainly seen in how, on the detainment and torture of over a million Uyghurs in Chinese ‘re-education camps’, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation has thus far been completely silent.

The same goes for the war in Iraq. Under Ba’athist rule, jihadists had an ally in Saddam Hussein. Indeed, not only did Saddam handsomely reward the families of Palestinian suicide bombers, but as early as 1994, his regime was implementing elements of shari’ah, e.g. amputations of the hand and foot. With his removal by American forces in 2003, official Iraqi support for terrorism and shari’ah was ended. This is what informs claims of Iraqi oppression by Muslim propagandists, not the hundreds of thousands of innocent lives lost. Indeed, if human life was their concern, then they would condemn Saddam’s chemical purges of the dissident Shi’a and Kurds with equal vigour. But of course, to win over non-Muslims, they have to pretend to care.

Muslim propagandists couldn’t give a damn about the suffering of the Uyghurs or the Iraqis, but will happily exploit it to propagate their fantasy of global oppression. Indeed, if there is one thing which Muslims are suffering from, it is a massive persecution complex. For over 1,400 years, Islamic imperialists have been spreading their religion by the sword, executing non-Muslims who refuse to convert to Islam or live as second-class citizens (dhimmis), all the while claiming to be the victims of persecution. This disorder is rooted in the Qur’an, which repeatedly bemoans the treatment of the Muslims by the Meccan polytheists, whose way of life Muhammad was determined to destroy. Here are two examples of this from Surat al-Imtihan:

O you who have believed! Do not take My enemies and your enemies as allies, extending to them affection while they have disbelieved in what came to you of the truth, having driven out the Prophet and yourselves (only) because you believe in Allah, your Lord. [60:1]

Allah only forbids you from those who fight you because of religion and expel you from your homes and aid in your expulsion – (forbids) that you make allies of them. And whoever makes allies of them, then it is those who are the wrongdoers. [60:9]

In Pakistan, the government deliberately seeks out Christians to clean the country’s sewers. In Egypt, Coptic Christians regularly have their churches attacked by jihadist thugs. In Saudi Arabia, Christians are forbidden from building churches or practicing their religion in public. In Nigeria, 3,462 Christians are estimated to have been killed in the first 200 days of 2021; this equates to roughly 17 murders per day. And yet, Muslims claim to be the ones who are oppressed. What they really mean is that they have yet to achieve a state of absolute dominance over Christians and other non-Muslims. In a brilliant exposé of the deceptive tactics used by Muslim apologists, Apostate Prophet (Ridvan Aydemir) nails this point:

The Muslim persecution complex leads the affected to see discrimination where there is none at all. For example, many Muslims have been quick to cite the recent inspection of Asim Qureshi – director of the hardline Salafist lobby CAGE – at Heathrow Airport as evidence of “Islamophobia”. In reality, Qureshi and his group have myriad ties to extremists and jihadist groups, from Al-Qaeda to the Taliban. Qureshi himself has described ISIS executioner Jihadi John as “kind and gentle”, and refuses to condemn the stoning of women for adultery. Thus, it is only right that he attracts the interest of airport security. Qureshi’s “oppression” at the hands of security personnel is a pure fantasy, fuelled by a deep-seated enmity towards non-Muslims.

Arguably, the Muslim persecution complex was most readily observable in Sayyid Qutb – a leading figure of the Muslim Brotherhood in the 1950s and 60s, who remains a cornerstone of the modern Islamist movement. In his self-pitying manifesto Milestones, which is required reading for many Muslim youth groups and student societies, Qutb alleges that the Jews are engaged in a conspiracy “to eliminate all limitations, especially the limitations imposed by faith and religion, so that the Jews may penetrate into the body politic of the whole world and then may be free to perpetuate their evil designs”. Qutb goes on to accuse the West of devising a careful scheme to erode belief in Islam and ultimately destroy Muslim society:

The Western ways of thought and all the sciences started on the foundation of these poisonous influences with an enmity towards all religions, and in particular with greater hostility towards Islam. This enmity towards Islam is especially pronounced and many times is the result of a well thought out scheme, the object of which is first to shake the foundations of Islamic beliefs and then gradually to demolish the structure of Muslim society.

This paranoid, baseless drivel appeals to resentful young Muslims, who, raised to believe that their religion is perfect, would sooner blame the infidel West for the decrepitude of the Islamic world. If the ummah flounders while the West pushes back the frontiers of technology, then there must be some wicked kuffar conspiracy designed to keep the Muslims down. They cannot allow themselves to think that by obsessing over which foot to enter the bathroom with, or whether or not their food contains gelatine, Muslims might be responsible for their own misery. This culture of victimhood is the fundamental reason that the Islamic world is in such a dire state today, as this brave Iraqi news anchor eloquently affirms:

In our follow-up article, we will address what is perhaps the defining myth of “global Muslim oppression” – namely, how Palestinians became refugees and why they continue to be without a state. Without endorsing the construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank or denying the war crimes committed by the Israeli Defence Forces, we will dismantle the propaganda of those who blame Israel for the preponderance of antisemitism among Muslims and the indiscriminate attacks on Jews by Islamic militants. We will counter the vulgar anti-Israel narrative which has gained traction among many Irish parliamentarians, and demonstrate how the real persecution of Palestinians is happening under the imperialists of Hamas.