By Professor Dr Sufi Atif Amin Al Hussaini
Disclaimer & Purpose: This column constitutes an independent analytical opinion. Its purpose is to engage in critical discourse on contemporary international affairs within the frameworks of law, ethics, and historical precedent. We affirm our respect for the sovereignty of all nations and the dignity of all peoples. Our words are not intended to foment hatred against any country, religion, or ethnicity. Our profound solidarity rests with the citizens of Venezuela and the besieged family of their President during this alarming crisis.
Preamble: A grave assault on the world order
It is with a profound and heavy heart that we address what may constitute one of the most flagrant violations of international norms in the 21st century: the reported extrajudicial abduction of the sitting President of Venezuela by United States military forces. This is not a law enforcement action; it is an act of war cloaked in darkness. It represents the unilateral, violent dismantling of a nation’s sovereignty by a power that has appointed itself as prosecutor, judge, and executioner. This event demands not just condemnation, but a fundamental reassessment of the global system, for if the principle of sovereign equality the bedrock of the United Nations Charter can be so brazenly shredded for geopolitical convenience, then no state, large or small, is secure.
Clause I: The unmasked motive – resource acquisition as strategic policy
To understand this act, one must examine the stated motivations of its architects. The historical record is illuminating. Former US President Donald J. Trump has repeatedly and explicitly framed U.S. policy toward Venezuela around its vast petroleum resources. He has stated an intention to “take” Venezuela’s oil, framing it not as a humanitarian mission but as a strategic prize. With estimated reserves worth over $20 trillion, Venezuela’s oil wealth represents a temptingly massive asset. This action appears to be a desperate and brutal gambit by a nation grappling with unsustainable debt and economic fragility an attempt to forcibly graft its financial survival onto the natural wealth of another. It is a tragic commentary that two republics, sharing foundational beliefs in the Abrahamic tradition, find themselves in conflict not over theology or ideology, but over the crude calculus of resource predation. The so-called “trigonometry” of their relations is distorted by a single variable: the desire to occupy and control Venezuela’s subsoil assets.
Clause II: Defining the act – state terrorism and its repercussions
This act meets a critical definition of State Terrorism: the use of clandestine or overt violence by a state apparatus beyond its juridical borders, targeting the leadership or citizens of another sovereign state, to instill terror and achieve political objectives outside the established norms of declared war. It is terrorism because its primary tool is fear the fear it instills in every leader deemed an adversary by Washington.
Short-term consequences for the perpetrating state include global outrage, the destabilisation of an entire region, potential retaliatory measures, and the galvanisation of resistance. Long-term diplomatic consequences are far more severe:
1. Irreparable Erosion of Trust: No diplomatic assurance from the perpetrating state can ever be taken at face value again.
2. Normalization of Lawlessness: It sets a catastrophic precedent, inviting other powers to engage in similar kidnappings under their own “spheres of influence.”
3. Moral & Strategic Isolation: It transforms the actor from a “rules-based order” champion into a perceived rogue state, crippling its moral authority and soft power for generations.
4. Blowback and Insecurity: It guarantees the permanent hostility of the targeted nation and its allies, creating new cycles of violence and endangering the perpetrator’s own citizens and interests worldwide.
Clause III: Cosmic law and the degradation of martial honor
A. The Law of Nature and Divine Retribution: Across our shared Abrahamic faiths, a fundamental law is evident: the universe possesses a moral architecture that punishes arrogance (istikbar) and oppression (zulm). To provoke injustice is to provoke the divine order. The Quran reminds: “So when they angered Us, We punished them and drowned them every one. And We made them a precedent and an example for the later peoples”(Quran 25:35-36). The Bible echoes: “For the wages of sin is death…” (Romans 6:23). The Tawrat (Torah) documents the plagues upon Pharaoh for his tyranny. The Zabur (Psalms) of David plead: “Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer; call his wickedness to account till you find none” (Psalm 10:15).
History is a graveyard of empires that, at their peak of power, forgot this balance. The tyrant Firaun (Pharaoh) perished in the sea. Namrood (Nimrod), who claimed divinity, was destroyed by a mere mosquito. The Mongol conqueror Halaku Khan, whose sack of Baghdad was an epochal crime, died in misery, his empire fracturing soon after. Their downfall began the moment they believed themselves beyond consequence.
B. The Abandonment of Honor in Conflict: Even in antiquity, warfare often observed codes. Engagements were frequently pre-announced; battles were between formed forces; the night was a time of respite, and civilians and leaders were not targets for clandestine kidnapping. The reported methodology—a night-time raid to seize a head of state and his spouse, without declaration, ultimatum, or confrontation with that state’s military—reveals not strength, but profound weakness. It is the tactic of the coward and the thug, not the soldier or the statesman. To assault a family in the privacy of their home is the height of unprofessionalism and moral bankruptcy, showcasing a fear of facing the legitimate armed forces of the sovereign nation.
Clause IV: A pattern of provocation and historical precedent
The last century is replete with leaders and regimes that, upon reaching an apex of overreach, faced sudden, dramatic collapse. The arc of history bends toward accountability. The referenced former Prime Minister of Israel, whose tenure ended in a shocking and tragic personal collapse, serves as a recent, somber reminder that the stress of maintaining unjust policies can extract a terrible price. The current pattern is unmistakable: the individual labeled a “state terrorist leader” has openly threatened the sovereignty and resources of Greenland, Cuba, Colombia, Canada, and Ukraine. Months prior, he unlawfully destroyed Iranian defensive facilities a clear violation of the universal right of nations to self-defense. This pattern of provocation is not a sign of enduring strength; it is the frantic activity of a regime sensing its own vulnerability. As students of history and followers of Sufi spirituality which teaches the inward decay that mirrors outward tyranny we perceive that such a path of limitless hubris marks not the consolidation of power, but the audible cracking of its foundations.
Clause V: The imperative for legal, diplomatic, and moral response
1. Action by the Islamic World: We urgently call upon His Excellency President Barrow, as Chairman of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), to immediately table this aggression before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and demand an emergency session of the UN Security Council. The objective must be the immediate release and secure repatriation of the Venezuelan President.
2. Voices of Domestic Conscience:It is notable that within the perpetrating nation itself, significant figures have voiced stark opposition. The Mayor of New York, for instance, has publicly condemned such acts of overreach, stating they “undermine our own security and moral standing in the world,” and recording his formal protest to the White House.
3. Catalog of Violations: This single act violates a tapestry of legal and moral codes:
International Law: UN Charter Articles 2(1) (sovereign equality), 2(4) (prohibition on the use of force), and the International Convention Against the Taking of Hostages.
Moral-Religious Law: The Biblical commandments “You shall not steal” and “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13,15); the Zabur’s condemnation of those who “trust in their wealth and boast of their great riches” (Psalm 49:6).
The Principle of Good Faith: This event is the ultimate wake-up call for all nations. Diplomatic agreements with a state capable of such unilateral violence are now revealed to be potentially worthless unless backed by overwhelming reciprocal deterrent force. The very concept of pacta sunt servanda (agreements must be kept) lies in tatters.
A prayer for justice and a return to order
We issue this analysis not to sow discord, but to sound an alarm for the international community. We stand in unshakeable solidarity with the people of Venezuela, who have suffered immensely, and with the President’s family, especially his children, who endure a profound personal trauma. We conclude not with a call for violence, but with a humble supplication to Allah Almighty, the Lord of Justice (Al-`Adl):
Conclusion
In the spirit of resistance against oppression and the timeless pursuit of justice, we find resonance in the words of the poet-philosopher of the East, Allama Muhammad Iqbal. His verse speaks to the inevitable downfall of tyrannical power and the enduring spirit of those wronged:
(Urdu):
*جفا چکھی ہے اس نے کوہ و بیاباں میں گھوم کر
*پھر اسے اپنے ہی حرم میں بے نشاں کرنا ہے
*خودی کا سرِّ نہاں لا الہ الا اللہ
*خودی ہے تیغ، فساں لا الہ الا اللہ
English Translation):
It (the soul/ nation) has tasted cruelty, wandering in mountains and deserts,
Now it must make its oppressor vanish from its own sanctuary.
The secret of the Self is “There is no god but Allah,”
The Self is a sword, its scabbard “There is no god but Allah.
This poetry embodies the conviction that true strength lies in spiritual and moral sovereignty, and that those who inflict cruelty upon others ultimately sow the seeds of their own eradication from the sanctuaries of power and history.
Furthermore, we are reminded of the foundational principles upon which the United States itself was erected. Its leaders warned explicitly against the very brand of unaccountable power exhibited today. Founding Father John Adams asserted:
“Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide… The jaws of power are always opened to devour, and her arm is always stretched out, if possible, to destroy the freedom of thinking, speaking, and writing.”
This foresight underscores the warning that a state which deviates from law to become a law unto itself commits a form of political suicide, destroying the very liberties it claims to uphold.
Regarding International Court of Justice (ICJ) Precedent:
While the specific scenario of a head-of-state abduction is unprecedented in modern ICJ jurisprudence, the Court has firmly established principles condemning unlawful intervention and the use of force. The most salient precedent is the Case Concerning Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua (Nicaragua v. United States of America, 1986). In this landmark judgment, the ICJ:
1. Found the U.S. guilty of violating international law by supporting Contra rebels and mining Nicaraguan harbors.
2. Established that the prohibition of the use of force is a peremptory norm (jus cogens) from which no derogation is permitted.
3. Ruled that a state’s political or economic motives do not justify intervention in another state’s sovereignty.
4. Held that the right to self-defense does not apply unless an armed attack occurs, and collective self-defense must be reported to the UN Security Council.
This ruling provides a direct legal analog. The Court rejected the U.S. argument that its actions were justified by a supposed “inherent right” to intervene in the political system of another state. The ICJ affirmed that such acts including training, arming, and financing forces against a sovereign government constitute a “breach of the principle of non-intervention” and an unlawful use of force. The abduction of a head of state would represent a far more grave and direct violation of these same sacrosanct principles.
Final Prayer:
We conclude, therefore, with a renewed and humble supplication. May the Almighty, the Law-Giver (Al-Sharīʿ), grant wisdom to the judges of the world and courage to the voices of conscience. May He swiftly deliver justice, liberating the captive, comforting the afflicted, and holding to account the perpetrators, supporters, and facilitators of this brutal act. May the relentless, divine law of consequence as echoed in scripture, history, and the hearts of the just restore equilibrium and protect our world from the abyss of lawlessness.
O Creator, Sustainer of the Worlds, we beseech You to protect the oppressed and deliver them from the hand of the oppressor. Rectify this immense wrong. Guide the hearts of the world’s leaders to act with courage and principle. Return the sovereign of Venezuela safely to his homeland. And in Your infinite wisdom, mete out Your perfect justice in this world and the next to the criminals who executed this plot, to their supporters who enabled it, and to the facilitators who provide it cover. May Your law of nature restore balance, and may peace founded on justice prevail.
*آمین یا رب العالمین (Ameen, O Lord of all creation).
