By Qamar Bashir
The Emergency Arab-Islamic Summit in Doha on 15 September 2025, convened in the wake of Israel’s brazen strike on Qatari territory, ended with a flourish of words. The Doha Declaration was framed as a turning point: Muslim leaders, for once, spoke in one voice, condemning Israel’s attack as a cowardly breach of sovereignty and a violation of international law. The United Nations Security Council, in a rare consensus, echoed the outrage, declaring the strike on Doha a threat to international peace and security. For a fleeting moment, it seemed the Muslim world had achieved a diplomatic triumph.
But the triumph is hollow. The ink on the Doha Declaration had barely dried before its emptiness was exposed. For Israel, the condemnation of fifty Muslim states and the disapproval of the world’s highest security body carried no deterrent weight. Tel Aviv knows the script too well: declarations, speeches, emergency sessions, and finally, silence. No real countermeasure is ever taken, no cost ever imposed. Israel strikes, Muslims condemn, and the cycle repeats.
The deeper tragedy lies in the fact that many Muslim governments have become so weak, so dependent, that they look outward for protection rather than inward for strength. The Muslim world is littered with American military bases — in Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Turkey — built and maintained with the stated purpose of ensuring security and stability. Yet these same bases, bristling with aircraft and technology, remain silent when Israel violates the sovereignty of the very states that host them. The paradox is stark: Muslim lands shelter the most powerful foreign military presence on earth, but that presence serves American and Israeli strategic interests, not the dignity or defense of their hosts. The bases symbolize dependence, not deterrence.
Contrast this with Iran. Whatever one may think of its politics, Tehran has shown a readiness to confront Israel directly. Iranian missiles and drones have struck Israeli military and intelligence positions. Iran has armed resistance movements with weapons that reach deep into Israeli territory. Israel may retaliate, but it cannot ignore Iran; it factors Iran into every strategic calculation. That is deterrence. Iran has paid a heavy price in sanctions and isolation, yet its defiance has carved it a place at the table that mere declarations never could.
This raises a stark question: if Iran, under decades of economic siege, can build the capacity to counter Israel, why have the wealthiest Arab states — flush with oil revenues, commanding vast sovereign wealth funds, and hosting advanced foreign bases — failed to do the same? Why must the defense of Qatari sovereignty or Palestinian lives depend on international sympathy, rather than Muslim strength? The answer lies not in lack of resources, but in choices made by leaders.
For decades, Muslim rulers, generals, and businessmen have prioritized self-preservation and personal enrichment over nation-building. Palaces, skyscrapers, and vanity projects rose, while schools, universities, and factories languished. Sovereign funds bought football clubs in Europe but failed to establish serious research parks or defense industries at home. Military budgets were spent on flashy imports rather than nurturing indigenous capacity. The people were kept in dependency — poorly educated, poorly equipped, and politically silenced — lest an empowered population threaten entrenched elites.
The outcome is what the Doha Declaration inadvertently revealed: Muslim leaders can condemn, but they cannot compel. Their economies remain tethered to Western markets, their defenses reliant on Western arms, their security outsourced to American bases. Israel knows this. That is why it dared to strike Doha, confident that the response would be verbal, not material.
The path forward requires breaking this pattern of weakness. Declarations must be matched with deterrence. For this to happen, three urgent transformations are necessary.
First, human capital must replace elite patronage as the foundation of power. Qatar’s humiliation is a reminder that skyscrapers do not defend sovereignty — skilled people do. Education, vocational training, and technological research must be funded as a matter of national security. Nations that neglect their youth, their scientists, and their workers cannot hope to project power. Israel’s dominance rests not only on U.S. backing but also on the education and innovation of its citizens. Muslim countries must invest no less in their own.
Second, military capacity must be indigenized. Buying fighter jets and missile systems from Western suppliers creates dependency; building them domestically creates deterrence. Iran has demonstrated this principle: sanctions forced it to innovate, and its missiles now give it leverage far beyond its GDP. Wealthy Arab states have the capital and infrastructure to establish joint defense industries. Instead of competing in arms imports, they must pool resources for indigenous production. Until Muslim countries can respond to aggression with their own systems, their words will remain toothless.
Third, economic power must be harnessed for strategic autonomy. Muslim lands control energy, trade routes, and vast consumer markets. Yet these are rarely used as tools of leverage against aggression. Israel acts with impunity because it does not fear economic consequences from Muslim states. Imagine if energy exports, investment flows, or market access were conditioned on respect for sovereignty and human rights. Such leverage requires coordination and sacrifice, but without it, the Muslim world will remain a consumer market, not a strategic actor.
The role of the business class here is critical. Traders, developers, and financiers must abandon the illusion that personal wealth insulated from politics will keep them safe. The wealth of a few cannot protect the dignity of the many. Only when investment is directed toward industries, skills, and technologies that strengthen the collective will private fortunes align with public security.
Above all, governance must change. Corruption, repression, and nepotism rot societies from within. Leaders who fear accountability fear empowering their people — and thus keep their nations weak. But a state that draws its strength from educated citizens and transparent institutions cannot be easily humiliated. The choice is clear: reform or perpetual dependence.
The Doha Declaration, then, should not be remembered as a diplomatic success but as a wake-up call. It has shown the world that Muslim states can gather, condemn, and declare. But it has also shown Israel — and the world — that Muslim power remains symbolic, not material. If that does not change, future declarations will ring even hollower.
Iran has demonstrated one path: defiance backed by indigenous strength. Now it is the turn of other Muslim nations to prove they, too, can defend sovereignty not with borrowed armies or borrowed words, but with their own capabilities. Qatar’s humiliation must not end with prayers for miracles; it must begin with plans for power.
History teaches that no nation is respected for its declarations, only for its capacity to act. The Muslim world has the resources, the population, and the geography to stand tall. What it lacks is will, vision, and integrity. Until these are found, Israel will continue to strike at will, and Muslims will continue to respond with speeches. The choice before them is stark: remain helpless giants in palaces of sand, or build the foundations of a civilization that can finally defend its dignity.
Press Secretary to the President (Rtd)
Former Press Minister, Embassy of Pakistan to France
Former Press Attache to Malaysia
Former MD, SRBC | Macomb, Michigan, USA
