As 2025 draws to a close, the Islamic world stands at a critical juncture. The year has been marked by both profound fractures and nascent gestures of unity. While internal divisions—sectarian, tribal, and national—continue to bleed societies and destabilize states, a parallel narrative of collective economic ambition and diplomatic solidarity is struggling to emerge. The central challenge is clear: the future prosperity and security of the Ummah hinge on its ability to transcend parochial fissures, prioritize development, and present a cohesive front against external threats. The events of the past year serve as a stark lesson and a potential roadmap.
The High Cost of Internal Fractures: 2025’s Painful Lessons
The most immediate obstacle to progress remains the persistence of internal conflicts, which drain resources, destabilize governments, and create openings for external interference.
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The Mirage of Ceasefires: Lebanon’s Perpetual Crisis
The case of Lebanon exemplifies how internal disunity undermines sovereignty and perpetuates crisis. Nearly one year after the November 2024 Israel-Hezbollah truce, the country is “further from peace”
. The ceasefire is “nominal,” with Israeli airstrikes, including a major assassination in Beirut in November 2025, continuing unabated. This external pressure exacerbates a fundamental internal rift: the state’s inability to assert a monopoly on force. The government’s plan to disarm militias, including Hezbollah, is met with forceful rejection from the group, which labels it a “conspiracy by the United States and Israel”. The powerful visual of Hezbollah supporters projecting the image of late leader Hassan Nasrallah onto Beirut’s iconic Pigeon Rocks in September 2025 symbolizes this deep societal schism. Lebanon’s government walks a tightrope, caught between international demands, Israeli military threats, and paralyzing domestic divisions, leaving the nation “on the edge of a new round of conflict”
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Sectarian and Tribal Flashpoints: Syria’s Unhealed Wounds
Syria, in its fragile post-Assad transition, witnessed how localized grievances can spiral into major humanitarian disasters. In July 2025, a road robbery in Suwayda Province ignited a violent clash between the Druze community and Bedouin tribes, rooted in centuries-old sectarian (Druze are an offshoot of Shia Islam) and economic tensions
. The intervention of the new Syrian government forces, followed swiftly by Israeli airstrikes under the pretext of “protecting Druze brothers,” turned a local conflict into a regional proxy confrontation, leaving over 1,120 dead and 128,000 displaced. This tragedy highlights how internal weaknesses are exploited. As experts note, the new Damascus authority, lacking nationwide control, cannot fulfill the basic duty of providing security, making such conflicts inevitable
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Furthermore, the specter of sectarianism was brutally revived in December 2025. A bombing at an Alawite mosque in Homs killed eight worshippers
, and a subsequent attack in the city killed four. These attacks, claimed by a hardline Sunni group, triggered violent clashes between Alawite protesters and counter-demonstrators in coastal cities. The imam of the targeted mosque issued a poignant warning: “The goal is to ignite sedition… Syria cannot succeed in one color alone”. Similarly, in Iran, a terrorist attack in October 2025 killed several Sunni tribal leaders in Sistan-Baluchestan, which Iranian authorities attributed to “elements supported by the Israeli regime” aiming to sow division
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The Opportunity Cost: How Division Stifles Development
These conflicts represent more than human tragedy; they are a massive diversion from the urgent task of socioeconomic development. While nations like Lebanon and Syria are consumed by security crises, the global Islamic economy is demonstrating its latent potential. The second Global Islamic Economy Summit in Istanbul in May 2025 showcased a strategic vision. Chairman Abdullah Saleh Kamel emphasized that the Islamic economy, powered by instruments like sukuk (Islamic bonds) and takaful (Islamic insurance), is not a theoretical alternative but a proven, comprehensive system ready to contribute to the global future
. He argued that the Islamic world possesses the human resources, natural wealth, and intellectual foundations for a competitive economic model
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Yet, this potential remains largely untapped in conflict zones. The capital and intellectual energy spent on managing sectarian strife or tribal conflicts could be channeled into education, infrastructure, and innovation. The divergent fates of the Druze community are instructive: in Syria, they are caught in violence
; in Israel, they are integrated into the military and society, using it as a channel for social mobility
. This contrast underscores that political stability and social cohesion are the bedrock upon which development is built.
The Power of a Unified Front: Diplomatic and Economic Leverage
When Islamic nations overcome divisions to coordinate policy, the results are impactful. The Arab-Islamic emergency summit in Doha in September 2025 stands as a powerful example. Convened in response to an Israeli strike on Qatari territory, the summit of nearly 60 nations presented a united diplomatic front
. It issued a strong collective condemnation, called for sanctions, and even discussed coordinated efforts to suspend Israel’s UN membership. This unity had tangible effects, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledging that “Israel is in a kind of isolation” and would need to rely more on its own economy
. The summit demonstrated that solidarity can alter the calculus of adversaries and amplify the political voice of the Islamic world.
This diplomatic cooperation is mirrored in institutional partnerships. The United Nations has highlighted its deepening collaboration with the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the world’s second-largest intergovernmental body, on issues from Palestine and Afghanistan to combating Islamophobia
. The OIC’ 2025 action plan emphasizes religious freedom and interfaith harmony, with forums like the “Declaration Dialogue” in Tashkent seeking to build bridges of understanding
. This institutionalized cooperation is vital for addressing transnational challenges and projecting soft power.
The Path Forward: From Rhetoric to Sustainable Unity
Achieving lasting unity requires moving beyond crisis-driven solidarity to structural integration.
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Economic Integration as an Engine: The vision outlined at the Islamic Economy Summit must be aggressively pursued. Cross-border investment, standardized Islamic finance regulations, and joint infrastructure projects can create shared economic interests that make conflict more costly. Economic interdependence can be a powerful peacebuilding tool.
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Strengthening Institutional Mediation: The OIC must evolve from a declaratory body into a more active conflict mediator. It should establish permanent, high-level councils for sectarian and tribal dialogue, offering neutral platforms for dispute resolution before violence erupts, as seen in Suwayda. Its partnership with the UN provides a crucial framework for this
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Promoting National Narratives of Citizenship: Leaders must actively cultivate national identities that transcend sect and tribe. The Syrian imam’s statement—“We never labeled each other by sect. We lived side by side”
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—points to a lived reality that politics often obscures. Education and media policies should reinforce this shared citizenship.
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Strategic Autonomy in Foreign Policy: While external threats like the strikes on Qatar
or Lebanon demand a unified response, Islamic nations must be wary of letting their internal divisions be weaponized by external powers, as the Syrian Druze crisis illustrated
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. A coordinated, principled foreign policy reduces vulnerability to manipulation.
Conclusion
The year 2025 has delivered a clear message: internal division is a luxury the Islamic world can no longer afford. It results in devastated cities like Homs
, paralyzed states like Lebanon, and humanitarian catastrophes like in Suwayda. Conversely, the moments of unity—in Doha’s diplomatic halls and Istanbul’s economic forums—reveal a path toward dignity, development, and strength. The choice is between a future dictated by ancient fractures, perpetuated by shortsighted leadership, or one built on a pragmatic consensus for cooperation. The resources, the models, and the imperative exist. What is required now is the collective will to choose unity over discord, and in doing so, to finally harness the immense potential of the Ummah for its people and for the world.
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