In general, the places where sharia is most likely to be established are also the places where the Muslims are most in need of support and assistance. In Yemen, Syria, Afghanistan, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali and Somalia, non-functional or weak states result in an environment that is ripe for sharia, but that at the same time results in considerable hardship for the people.

Looking back at all of the attempts to remove or overturn stronger regimes in other countries like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, or
Pakistan, I sometimes wonder what would have happened if all of those who sacrificed their lives had instead taken their wealth and knowledge and emigrated to other areas to support the construction of Islamic governance in areas with little or no state.

Overall, the popular willingness to fight against regimes like those of al Saud or Sisi is very low, partly because strong states keep the people well fed, and partly because they have a much stronger capacity to repress dissent. Occasional small actions certainly have an effect, but they also cause a backlash against practicing Muslims.

If Muslims in these countries were to emigrate to countries where there are power vacuums and engage in institution building and
infrastructure development, it would very much improve conditions for the Muslims living in these areas, and this in turn would lead to more popular support for Islamic movements in these countries. At the same time, they would no longer contribute to the economies of the stronger regimes, weakening these regimes and leading to more popular discontent among ordinary people.

Infrastructure development and economic assistance are among the main methods by which the kuffar seek to influence and control Muslim countries. This is also a way that those who do not have the level of iman, ability or connections to find their way to the lines of ribat can fight the kuffar “as they fight us,” that is, by fighting the battle of hearts and minds.

It’s important, however, that economic and infrastructural assistance by Muslims take place outside legal frameworks controlled by the kuffar, because these legal frameworks are designed to ensure that humanitarian aid strengthens the position of the kuffar. This means that engaging in this kind of humanitarian struggle will be fraught with danger and hardship, even if it doesn’t require picking up a weapon.

The fact that many false legal barriers exist to such activities (such as immigration law) is proof in itself that it is an effective means of strengthening Islam, because the entirety of international law is
premised on preventing the ascendancy of Islam.

Consider the types of activism that Western NGOs engage in in Muslim lands. Building schools, setting up medical facilities (that support the Western medical industry), distributing food aid (produced by kafir farmers), building infrastructure which will deepen
dependence on imports from kafir countries (for example, electrical grids which will get people addicted to refrigerators and televisions).

So, for example, a countermeasure in education would be to support and finance unlicensed madrasas in Pakistan or elsewhere in places where madrasas can evade government regulation. For medicine, it would be funding traditional medical practitioners, purchasing herbal medicines from local farmers and gatherers, and providing free consultations to the people, as well as supporting home midwives.

In agriculture, it would be financing locally viable irrigation methods that are not dependent on imports, fertilizer manufacturing and processing facilities built using locally available materials, and supporting blacksmiths and machinists to achieve the capacity
necessary to produce and maintain tools with as little dependence on imports as possible. This kind of economic and social base is the power base from which military jihad can be launched.

One of the advantages of this approach is that if the kuffar and munafiqeen arrest or kill those engaged in this infrastructure
development (and they will), it will have a powerful mobilizing effect on the general Muslims who are unaware of the broader geopolitical realities. It will make it clear that the authorities care nothing for the actual well being of the Muslims, and that their humanitarian assistance is actually about advancing political agendas, and that they