World Order And The New East

 

Introduction:

Every empire, every civilization, and every world order carries within it the seeds of its rise and its ruin. The rulers turned slaves and the slaves turned rulers. A scene so familiar to audience that its too often forgotten. The stage of the world is once again set. The dawn of a new era has begun. The change and transfer of world order and dominion once again is set in motion. New rulers new nations but the same story. The Qur’an does not treat history as a random accident; it presents it as a moral ecology, governed by divine law (sunnatullah). Nations ascend when they nurture justice, knowledge, and discipline. They decline when they institutionalize arrogance, corruption, and oppression. When the elite the rulers the scholars turn away from Greater Good to Selfishness they are disposed off into the pages of the history.

 

If we look at today’s world through this lens, the outlines are stark. The American-led Western order, once dominant in its all glory , is fraying at its edges. Multi polarity is no longer a forecast—it is a lived reality. The “New East,” stretching across Asia, the Middle East, and the Global South is slowly but steadily rising to reclaim the mantle it once carried as the heart of commerce, knowledge, and culture.This is not nostalgia—it is history coming full circle. A chance to sit at the higher table. To be given the power to Rule.

 

1. The Law of Rise and Fall:

Ø “Allah has promised those of you who believe and do righteous deeds that He will surely bestow power on them in the land even as He bestowed power on those that preceded them, and that He will firmly establish their religion which He has been pleased to choose for them, and He will replace with security the state of fear that they are in. Let them serve Me and associate none with Me in My Divinity. Whoso thereafter engages in unbelief, such indeed are the ungodly.”

(Quran 24;55) 

Ø “Indeed, Allah does not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves.” 

(Quran 13:11) 

Nations do not collapse simply because their enemies grow stronger; they collapse because they corrode from within. When elites abandon truth, when justice becomes a casualty of greed, when knowledge is neglected, and when oppression becomes state policy—decline is inevitable.Rome fell this way. So did the Muslim dynasties that once ruled vast empires. And so too, the Qur’an insists, will any nation that repeats the same moral follies.

Ø “The most common reason why nations fail today is because they have extractive institutions.” 

Why Nations Fail By Daron Acemoglu

By “Extractive Institutions” we should understand all the factors affecting a nation’s progress and its decline. Dr Rehan Ahmad in his series of article “Qanoon e Urooj o Zawal”  lists all these so called institutions as follows: 

² Intellectual Leadership

² Religious Leadership

² Political Leadership

² Elite Class

² Populace

² Institutions/ Departments

All these Institutions make up the controlling party of any civilization thus there actions, decisions and values all effect the working of the nation and its future.

2. The Forgotten Cradle of Civilization:

Before the rise of Europe, the East was the undisputed center of the world. The Silk Roads connected Samarkand to Damascus, Baghdad to Kashgar, Cairo to Cordoba. These were not just trade routes for silk and spices—they were highways of knowledge, science, and faith. Baghdad’s Bayt al-Hikmah (House of Wisdom) preserved and expanded Greek philosophy, Indian mathematics, and Persian medicine. Andalusia pioneered advances in astronomy, architecture, and philosophy. Muslim jurists and scholars debated questions that Europe would not even ask for centuries.

 

The East was not merely powerful—it was radiant. It produced goods, yes, but also ideas. It was the custodian of religion, the guardian of learning, and the incubator of technology.That world order collapsed when its rulers abandoned the very principles that had made them great: justice, humility, pursuit of knowledge.

Ø “While such countries (Talking about the current countries of the east)   may seem wild to us, these are no backwaters, no obscure wastelands. In fact the bridge between east and west is the very crossroads of civilization. Far from being on the fringe of global affairs, these countries lie at its very centre - as they have done since the beginning of history. It was here that Civilization was born, and where many believed Mankind had been created - in the Garden of Eden, 'planted by the Lord God' with 'every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food', which was widely thought to be located in the rich fields between the Tigris and Euphrates.  It was in this bridge between east and west that great metropolises were established nearly 5,000 years ago, where the cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro in the Indus valley were wonders of the ancient world, with populations numbering in the tens of thousands and streets connecting into a sophisticated sewage system that would not be rivaled in Europe for thousands of years." Other great centers of civilization such as Babylon, Nineveh, Uruk and Akkad in Mesopotamia were famed for their grandeur and architectural innovation. One Chinese geographer, meanwhile, writing more than two millennia ago, noted that the inhabitants of Bactria, centred on the Oxus river and now located in northern Afghanistan, were legendary negotiators and traders; its capital city was home to a market where a huge range of products were bought and sold, carried from far and wide? This region is where the world's great religions burst into life, where Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism jostled with each other. It is the cauldron where language groups competed, where Indo-European, Semitic and Sino-Tibetan tongues wagged alongside those speaking Altaic, Turkic and Caucasian. This is where great empires rose and fell, where the after-effects of clashes between cultures and rivals were felt thousands of miles away. Standing here opened up new ways to view the past and showed a world that was profoundly interconnected, where what happened on one continent had an impact on another, where the after-shocks of what happened on the steppes of Central Asia could be felt in North Africa, where events in Baghdad resonated in Scandinavia, where discoveries in the Americas altered the prices of goods in China and led to a surge in demand in the horse markets of northern India. These tremors were carried along a network that fans out in every direction, routes along which pilgrims and warriors, nomads and merchants have travelled, goods and produce have been bought and sold, and ideas exchanged, adapted and refined. They have carried not only prosperity, but also death and violence, disease and disaster. In the late nineteenth century, this sprawling web of connections was given a name by an eminent German geologist, Ferdinand von Richthofen (uncle of the First World War flying ace the 'Red Baron" that has stuck ever since: 'Seidenstraßen' - the Silk Roads.”

The Silk Roads By Peter Frankopan 

3. The Western Dominance and Decline:

For nearly three centuries, the West has been the world’s arbiter its ruler. Through colonization, industrialization, and finally the American century after 1945, it built institutions, currencies, and alliances that tied the globe into its orbit. The very first representation of a World order on the stage of the world. A power so strong that its mere existence could not be questioned let alone its policies. Emerging after the world war as the victors who stood on the right side of the history.The nation that fought for whats right and against a great evil that meant the death of the values, institutions and their existence. Yet it fell into the same cycle of cultural, religious and political erode it once stood against.

Politics is polarized. Western democracies struggle with internal division and declining trust in institutions.

Economies are brittle. Debt, inequality, and over-financialization eat away at the middle class.

Foreign policy is exhausted. Endless wars from Iraq to Afghanistan drained legitimacy; double standards in human rights and law now ring hollow.

Cultural capital is waning. Once admired for universities and innovation, the West increasingly exports decadence and disillusionment.

Ø “The civilization of the modern West appears in history as a veritable anomaly: among all those which are known to us more or less completely, this civilization is the only one that has developed along purely material lines, and this monstrous development, whose beginning coincides with the so-called Renaissance, has been accompanied, as indeed it was fated to be, by a corresponding intellectual regress; we say corresponding and not equivalent, because here are two orders of things between which there can be no common measure. This regress has reached such a point that the Westerners of today no longer know what pure intellect is; in fact they do not even suspect that anything of the kind can exist; hence their disdain, not only for Eastern civilization, but also for the Middle Ages of Europe, whose spirit escapes them scarcely less completely. How is the interest of a purely speculative knowledge to be brought home to people for whom intelligence is nothing but a means of acting on matter and turning it to practical ends, and for whom science, in their limited understanding of it, is above all important insofar as it may be applied to industrial purposes? We exaggerate nothing; it only needs a glance at one's surroundings to realize that this is indeed the mentality of the vast majority of our contemporaries; and another glance, this time at philosophy from Francis Bacon and Descartes onward, could only confirm this impression still further.”

East And West By Rene Guenon 

No discussion of today’s moral landscape can ignore the situation of Gaza. The brutal bombardments, the blockade, and the collective punishment inflicted on Palestinians have been described by international organizations (Human Rights Watch & Amnesty International) as grave crimes, rising to the level of genocide. Independent Israeli groups too have warned that their government’s actions dishonor Judaism’s own ethical legacy. 

The above mentioned pillars of society which decide the future of nation in Israel have all failed to recognize any self assessment. Whole nation as a whole have justified this genocide as their right. They have blatantly lied on the international media and have said horrendous things about the palestinions. All for the sake of their own selfishness.

Ø “We had informed the Israelites about this decision of Ours in this very Book (The Book Given To Moses) : ”Twice shall you surely create disorder in the land and show great rebelliousness; [thus on both occasions you shall be sternly punished].” Then [you saw that] when the time for that first promise arrives, We let loose on you such people of Ours who were extremely powerful. So, they barged into your houses and that promise was fulfilled. Then We rotated your turn to them and gave you wealth and children and made you a large group. [This was a lesson for you that] if you do good deeds, it will be for yourself and if you do bad deeds, that too will be for yourself. [This was the first promise.] After that, when the time of the second promise arrives, We depute some other mighty people. of Ours so that they may ruin your faces and barge into your mosque the way they had done the first time and ravage whatever they can lay hands on. [Even now, O Israelites] it may well be that your Lord shows mercy to you [once again]. But [remember that] if you do the same, We too shall do the same and We have made Hell a shed for such disbelievers.”

(Quran 17:4-8)

 

Ø “ If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God: You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed.You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.The Lord will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.The Lord will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The Lord your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.The Lord will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the Lord your God and walk in obedience to him. Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they will fear you.The Lord will grant you abundant prosperity—in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground—in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you. The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom. Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them. However, if you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come on you and overtake you: You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country.Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed.The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out.The Lord will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him.The Lord will plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you from the land you are entering to possess.The Lord will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew, which will plague you until you perish.The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron. The Lord will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the skies until you are destroyed. The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven, and you will become a thing of horror to all the kingdoms on earth.Your carcasses will be food for all the birds and the wild animals, and there will be no one to frighten them away.The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, festering sores and the itch, from which you cannot be cured.The Lord will afflict you with madness, blindness and confusion of mind.At midday you will grope about like a blind person in the dark. You will be unsuccessful in everything you do; day after day you will be oppressed and robbed, with no one to rescue you.You will be pledged to be married to a woman, but another will take her and rape her. You will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not even begin to enjoy its fruit. Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will eat none of it. Your donkey will be forcibly taken from you and will not be returned. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and no one will rescue them. Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation, and you will wear out your eyes watching for them day after day, powerless to lift a hand. A people that you do not know will eat what your land and labor produce, and you will have nothing but cruel oppression all your days.The sights you see will drive you mad.The Lord will afflict your knees and legs with painful boils that cannot be cured, spreading from the soles of your feet to the top of your head. The Lord will drive you and the king you set over you to a nation unknown to you or your ancestors. There you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone. You will become a thing of horror, a byword and an object of ridicule among all the peoples where the Lord will drive you. You will sow much seed in the field but you will harvest little, because locusts will devour it. 39You will plant vineyards and cultivate them but you will not drink the wine or gather the grapes, because worms will eat them. 40You will have olive trees throughout your country but you will not use the oil, because the olives will drop off. You will have sons and daughters but you will not keep them, because they will go into captivity.Swarms of locusts will take over all your trees and the crops of your land. The foreigners who reside among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower. They will lend to you, but you will not lend to them. They will be the head, but you will be the tail. All these curses will come on you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the Lord your God and observe the commands and decrees he gave you. They will be a sign and a wonder to you and your descendants forever. Because you did not serve the Lord your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity ,therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the Lord sends against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you. The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, like an eagle swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand, a fierce-looking nation without respect for the old or pity for the young.They will devour the young of your livestock and the crops of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine or olive oil, nor any calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks until you are ruined.They will lay siege to all the cities throughout your land until the high fortified walls in which you trust fall down. They will besiege all the cities throughout the land the Lord your God is giving you. Because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege, you will eat the fruit of the womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters the Lord your God has given you. Even the most gentle and sensitive man among you will have no compassion on his own brother or the wife he loves or his surviving children, and he will not give to one of them any of the flesh of his children that he is eating. It will be all he has left because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of all your cities.The most gentle and sensitive woman among you—so sensitive and gentle that she would not venture to touch the ground with the sole of her foot—will begrudge the husband she loves and her own son or daughter the afterbirth from her womb and the children she bears. For in her dire need she intends to eat them secretly because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of your cities. If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law, which are written in this book, and do not revere this glorious and awesome name—the Lord your God— the Lord will send fearful plagues on you and your descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering illnesses.He will bring on you all the diseases of Egypt that you dreaded, and they will cling to you.The Lord will also bring on you every kind of sickness and disaster not recorded in this Book of the Law, until you are destroyed. You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky will be left but few in number, because you did not obey the Lord your God.Just as it pleased the Lord to make you prosper and increase in number, so it will please him to ruin and destroy you. You will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess. Then the Lord will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods—gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your ancestors have known.Among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place for the sole of your foot. There the Lord will give you an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a despairing heart. You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread both night and day, never sure of your life. In the morning you will say, “If only it were evening!” and in the evening, “If only it were morning!”—because of the terror that will fill your hearts and the sights that your eyes will see. The Lord will send you back in ships to Egypt on a journey I said you should never make again. There you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.”

(Deuteronomy Ch: 28)

Ø “When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come on you and you take them to heart wherever the Lord your God disperses you among the nations and when you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today,then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you. Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back. He will bring you to the land that belonged to your ancestors, and you will take possession of it. He will make you more prosperous and numerous than your ancestors.The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live. The Lord your God will put all these curses on your enemies who hate and persecute you.You will again obey the Lord and follow all his commands I am giving you today.Then the Lord your God will make you most prosperous in all the work of your hands and in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your land. The Lord will again delight in you and make you prosperous, just as he delighted in your ancestors,nif you obey the Lord your God and keep his commands and decrees that are written in this Book of the Law and turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”

(Deuteronomy Ch: 30 V: 1-10)

These are not ancient curses—they are timeless principles. Any nation that enshrines oppression, whether Israel today or empires of the past, places itself on the path of decline. Israel’s military dominance is real, but its moral standing has collapsed. The world increasingly sees its actions not as “security” but as systemic injustice. This delegitimization is a warning—both scriptural and political.

 

4. Toward a New World Order And The rise Of East:

The East’s return is not accidental , it is structural in its essence.

Economics: Asia now drives global growth. China and India , Pakistan , Middle east account for a massive share of global GDP. Supply chains are tilting eastward, and initiatives like the Belt and Road Initiative , CPEC are resurrecting Silk Road logics.

Geopolitics: BRICS expansion, Eurasian integration, and South-South cooperation create alternatives to NATO and Bretton Woods institutions.

Demographics: Youthful, growing populations contrast with Europe’s aging societies.

Culture: Eastern civilizations, long dismissed as peripheries, are rediscovering pride and agency.

 

The East is building railways, ports, universities, and digital infrastructure. But the Qur’anic warning remains: material ascent without justice is fragile. To truly lead, the New East must anchor its rise in fairness, knowledge, and humility. The old Western-led order is decaying; the New East is ascending. But what shall this new order be? If it merely imitates the West’s vices—arrogance, exploitation, double standards—it will eventually meet the same fate. The Qur’anic law does not play favorites.The Peace of populace the enlightenment of the scholars and the discipline of the leadership and the unification on grounds of kindness among the elite and the rest of population will draw near the most awaited return of East.  

A just order requires:

Knowledge and Learning: Revival of science, philosophy, and true scholarship. Reconstruction of religious thoughts.

Justice and Mercy: Laws that protect the weak, punish oppressors, and prevent the dehumanization of any people. 

Connectivity and Pluralism: Roads, rails, and ideas flowing between civilizations, without domination.

Humility: Recognition that power is a trust (amanah), not a trophy.Only such an order will be worthy of lasting leadership.

 

That without justice, there is no glory.

That without mercy, there is no security.

That without knowledge, there is no future.

The New East must not only rise. It must rise rightly.