بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Trump Wants to Expand the US to Become Stronger, but our Leaders Want Only to Get Smaller and Weaker
News:
On March 13, 2025, during an Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, President Donald Trump reiterated his intention to annex Greenland, stating, "I think it will happen." He emphasized the island's strategic importance by adding, "We need that [Greenland] for international security."
Comment:
Trump's desire to acquire Greenland dates back to his first term in 2019, when he proposed purchasing the island from Denmark, citing its strategic location and resource potential. Despite Denmark's firm rejection, Trump renewed his interest in December 2024, describing control of Greenland as "an absolute necessity" for U.S. national security. In January 2025, his son, Donald Trump Jr., visited Nuuk, Greenland's capital, distributing "Make America Great Again" hats, signaling continued interest. The administration has not ruled out economic or military measures to acquire the territory, underscoring the seriousness of their intent.
The United States has a history of attempting to purchase Greenland. In 1868, Secretary of State William Seward, after acquiring Alaska, expressed a desire to buy Greenland and Iceland to expand U.S. influence in the Arctic. In 1946, the U.S. offered Denmark $100 million in gold bars for Greenland, considering it a strategic military asset during the early Cold War period. These proposals were declined, but they highlight the longstanding strategic interest in the island.
Throughout its history, the U.S. has expanded its territory through various acquisitions. The Louisiana Purchase in 1803 doubled the nation's size by acquiring land from France. In 1819, the Adams-Onís Treaty resulted in Spain ceding Florida to the U.S. The 1845 annexation of the Republic of Texas and the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the Mexican-American War, added vast southwestern territories. The U.S. purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867 for $7.2 million, a move initially criticized but later valued for its resources. In 1898, the U.S. annexed Hawaii and acquired Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines following the Spanish-American War, marking its emergence as a global power.
What should strike the minds of Muslims is not criticism of the desire of nations such as the US to expand, but rather the contrast between that and the servile leaders of Muslim lands who despite ruling people with a single creed, culture and resplendent history on the world stage are content to remain divided into fifty-seven Muslim countries and to watch as each is attacked militarily, culturally and economically one by one.
Despite Allah’s promise:
[يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِن تَنصُرُوا اللَّهَ يَنصُرْكُمْ وَيُثَبِّتْ أَقْدَامَكُمْ]
“O you who have believed, if you support Allah, He will support you and plant firmly your feet.” [47:7]. Today’s agent rulers turn away from the path of Allah and compete with each other to be more servile and treacherous than each other. Perhaps they hope to gain favor from the West while Muslims perish because of them, and yet they too can never do enough to satisfy the desire of their masters. O Muslims, under these miserable rulers who could imagine even just two Muslim countries joining as one; let alone all fifty-seven becoming one nation and bringing the light of Islam to new territories. It will happen, but how many generations will waste themselves till that day?
Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Dr. Abdullah Robin