Question:
The term "Deep State" has become widespread among politicians and in the media, but following these statements, it is clear that they differ. Could you clarify the most correct meaning of this issue so that we can understand the political events related to this term, while mentioning some examples for further clarification? My apologies if my request for these examples distracts you from more important and significant work. Thank you.
Answer:
Yes, there is indeed a variation in what is published regarding the term "Deep State." Some use it to mean influential classes that are not in power but work secretly against the existing regime, as used to happen in Turkey. Others use it to mean the power that controls the system, managing the country when it wishes; if a problem arises that it wants to pin on others, it leaves the government and brings in another to shoulder the problem, then returns to power again, as happens in Britain. Some view it as a conflict between active parties, as is currently happening during the Trump era in America. Others use it as a "peg" to hang the gaps and failures of their rule upon, attributing this to what they call the Deep State. Some manipulate this term whenever they want to distract people with something, mentioning it by name or using other terms. Some consider colonial states to be the Deep State within their colonies. To clarify the most correct meaning of the issue, we review the following matters:
First: Some definitions provided for the Deep State:
Webster’s Dictionary, one of the oldest dictionaries in the world, describes the Deep State as: "An alleged secret network of especially non-elected government officials and sometimes private entities operating outside the law to influence government policy and its implementation. This means that under the systems and the constitution, there is a deeper power that controls the nation. This power has its own agenda and can undermine the decisions of the elected government."
It is stated in Wikipedia: "The deep state in Turkey (known in Turkish as derin devlet) is defined as a group of influential anti-democratic alliances within the Turkish political structure, consisting of high-level elements within the domestic and foreign intelligence agencies, the Turkish military, security agencies, the judiciary, and the mafia... Historically, violence and other means of pressure were used largely in secret to manipulate political and economic elites and ensure that certain interests were met within the 'ostensibly democratic' framework of the political scene."
By examining what these sources mean by the term "Deep State," we find the meaning lies in the existence of a hidden power inside or outside the state apparatus that controls the political system—meaning it imposes its policies, views, and orientations on legally elected politicians. This hidden power is an organized network of people who penetrate sensitive centers such as the military, security, and political forces, operating independently of the elected government. Sometimes different terms are used to refer to this network, such as "Deep State," "Parallel State," "Shadow State," or "State within a State."
There is another, different definition used by a politician who has been defeated in government or elections, taking it as a peg to hang their failure upon. In other words, it is a misleading concept used to exonerate rulers in cases where corruption and injustice spread in the country or betrayals are committed. It is a trick by the ruler to cast blame on people in the shadows whom they call the Deep State, thereby misleading people from the fact that they are the one responsible and must be changed.
There is also the view that colonial states are the "Deep State" in their colonies, as they control the systems of their colonies, keeping one ruler and removing another.
Second: The Preferred Definition
By examining these definitions and reflecting on what has been presented, the most correct definition is that the Deep State in a country means there is an influential power—whether political forces, economic forces, or influential aristocratic families from the people of that country, inside or outside—that is not officially part of the ruling apparatus but influences the state in secret or in private. It exerts effective and influential pressure on the official ruling apparatus to implement what it wants or to change it.
As for the ruler misleading the people to distance the accusation of corruption from themselves and attach it to another party called the Deep State—i.e., a peg to hang their bad deeds and corruption upon—calling this deception the "Deep State" is not correct. This is because it is a deception created by the ruler and not from other parties working against them.
As for considering colonial states to be the Deep State, this is also far from correct. This is because colonial states are the ones that control their colonies, and they are foreign to them; they are not another power from the people of the country working in secret, hidden from the elected ruling powers who are also from the people of the country.
Third: Examples of reviewing the Deep State in some countries for further clarification:
1. Turkey
a. The origin of the term "Deep State" came from Turkey. At the end of the Ottoman State, officers belonging to the Committee of Union and Progress, who were influenced by Western ideas, carried out a coup in 1909, overthrew Caliph Abdul Hamid II, and appointed his brother Muhammad Rashad as a Caliph with authority subordinate to theirs.
- This was the beginning of the emergence of a class stronger than the Caliph, influencing his survival or fall in an overt rather than hidden manner, yet they did not abolish the Khilafah or ruling by Islam at that time. They were not, in fact, a state within a state in the sense of a hidden Deep State; they were visible within the state but were domineering over the government.
b. After World War I, Mustafa Kemal, who was loyal to the British, managed to seize control of the government. He then succeeded in destroying the Khilafah, abolishing the Sharia and its laws. He declared the Republic, building it on secular foundations, and carried out coups against Islamic ruling and even the manifestations of Islam, such as what is known as the "Alphabet Revolution" (changing Turkish letters from Arabic to Latin), or the "Clothing Revolution" (replacing Sharia-compliant dress with Western clothing), and so on. Thus, he established the army and security forces according to specific standards to protect the Republic and secularism, and to prevent the return of Islam to governance and the re-establishment of the Khilafah. The army became a force domineering over the government, intervening whenever it saw a deviation from Kemalism, while simultaneously maintaining subservience to Britain. The tyranny of Kemalist rule and British support prevented the emergence of a deep state against this rule.
c. When Erdogan came to power in Turkey with the momentum of election results and American political, financial, and economic support, he realized the power of the army generals—the guardians of secularism loyal to the British—and that they represented the backbone of the state and could, if they wished, overthrow him. Therefore, he promoted the values of democracy and freedom and besieged them with the power of popular legitimacy to prevent them from overthrowing him. America enticed the Turks through its financial and economic veins. Erdogan feared these military figures and was not strong enough to dismiss them due to their large numbers and their control over the army’s backbone for years. However, he soon created a new reality in Turkish life, prominently titled "Democracy" and economic success, which formed a barrier against a coup.
- During this period, the description of the existence of a "Deep State" in Turkey working in secret from within the state apparatus—especially the army—obstructing, opposing, and trying to thwart the orientations of the elected Prime Minister Erdogan, was a correct description. These individuals acted as a network whose features were not apparent to those with a superficial view, who thought things were proceeding ideally and that everyone was committed to the constitution and the law. This Turkish network, in addition to its nesting within the army, judiciary, and ministries, was connected to secular parties that were outside the state and represented the opposition, and was connected to the center in London. Its men met secretly, consulted, and discussed the matters of Erdogan's regime until they decided to carry out a coup in 2016, which was unsuccessful. Consequently, Erdogan took that as a justification to uproot them from the army, along with their followers from the judiciary and ministries, until the purging process reached university professors. Thus, Erdogan succeeded in uprooting the British-affiliated Deep State within the Turkish army and nearly ended its existence, though some followers remain—albeit weaker than before—trying to revive the legacy of the "Deep State" against the regime.
2. The United States
a. Governance in America is divided into two actual levels. The first level appears as a representative of popular legitimacy, working to achieve the will of the people who elected this president and these representatives; thus, the appearance of the state is a "democratic" one. However, this legitimate level cannot lead the country's policies except according to what the second level wants. This is an internal, non-apparent, non-elected level—i.e., illegitimate according to the "democratic" system—which they call the "Deep State." Members of this level, the representatives of the Deep State, are individuals who occupy sensitive positions in the state apparatus. The apparatuses they control cannot move according to the orientations of the first level except through them, because their positions are sensitive. These individuals in America are either major capitalists or their representatives. Major capitalists in America ensure that senior officials in state apparatuses defend their interests and maintain continuous links with these officials to manage their interests. For example, financial companies ensure they have followers among tax department officials, while arms companies ensure they have followers in the Pentagon and military contracting departments in the State Department. Pharmaceutical companies ensure they have followers in the Department of Health and government insurance departments. Thus, over a long period, major corporations have succeeded in effectively controlling the state in America through these officials in sensitive positions and through pressure lobbies.
b. This is the reality of the political system in America. Accordingly, major capitalists and large corporations are the breeding ground of the Deep State in America and its living root. It is the latent, hidden power that stands behind the political orientations of the state, and it is what moves officials in sensitive positions to oppose the state's orientations if they contradict the interests of those corporations. By this description, it lies both outside and inside the state apparatus and is active in the finance, business, and industrial sectors, but its movement appears within the state apparatuses in America.
c. When Donald Trump became president in 2016, he faced grumbling from senior state officials and various agencies, especially security agencies, and he felt their obstruction and opposition to his policies. This then developed into intense resistance from within the state in America, akin to a mutiny. There was an increase in the leaking of embarrassing information to him from the security and intelligence services. Then many cases were filed against him, the most famous being the Russian support for him in the elections. Investigations and impeachment attempts in Congress flared up until the US Department of Justice became one of his fiercest enemies in an overt manner. The attack on him was not only from within the state; pharmaceutical companies that had discovered the COVID-19 vaccine withheld the announcement of these discoveries until after Biden was announced the winner of the election at the end of 2020, to prevent Trump from benefiting electorally from those discoveries. Furthermore, the President, as a result of his suffering with this organized hidden power working against him, questioned the election results, did not recognize them, considered them fraudulent, and claimed the victory had been stolen from him, adding the government election commission to his list of enemies. Trump said after leaving the presidency before a crowd of his supporters in Texas in 2023: "Either the Deep State destroys America or we destroy the Deep State." By scrutinizing this American reality during the first Trump administration and the description of the existence of a hidden power in America preventing the elected president from making changes, we find that this description is a description of a true reality in the system of government in America.
d. On March 21, 2023, Trump announced a 10-point plan in a video clip, saying in the video: ("This is how I will shatter the Deep State and return government to be under the control of the people and for the people"... British Daily Mail, 21/03/2023).
This is the reality of the political system in America. Accordingly, major capitalists and large corporations are the breeding ground of the Deep State in America and its living root. It is the latent, hidden power that stands behind the political orientations of the state, and it is what moves officials in sensitive positions to oppose the state's orientations if they contradict the interests of those corporations. By this description, it lies both outside and inside the state apparatus and is active in the finance, business, and industrial sectors, but its movement appears within the state apparatuses in America.
3. Britain
As for Britain, it contains a deep state because its system of government is represented by the Conservatives, who are the aristocratic families of Britain and its wealthiest individuals. They are the true rulers of Britain, but their declared orientations sometimes lead the state into crises, meaning they sometimes harm the interests of the state. Therefore, the Conservative Party takes a break, and the Labour Party rules the country. The task of the Labour Party is to solve crises and stop the harm to the state's interests, and then it steps aside. What we have witnessed recently—the resounding defeat of the Conservative Party and the landslide victory of the Labour Party—is the handiwork of the Conservatives. Britain, after Brexit, is undergoing a severe economic crisis; in fact, its exit from the European Union was the result of its wrong calculations in the British referendum on Europe. Since the Conservatives were the ones who created and caused this crisis, the Labour Party is today required to treat it.
The Deep State in Britain consists of the old families and the wealthy, and they are always the rulers of Britain. If they step aside and bring in the Labour Party, it is to solve a crisis caused by the Conservatives. The "Deep State" in Britain controls the government in an easy and smooth manner, meaning that Britain’s old families and its wealthy are the source of rule and its guardians, whether they practice it directly or "rent" another party to practice it. To maintain that control with such smoothness and ease, the "effective source of rule" in Britain and its "living root" spreads values that reject change, elevating the importance of heritage and pride in the old. This is noticed in Britain through the intense public interest in the Royal Family, its news, stories, the birthdays of its princes, and its way of life!
Conclusion:
The Deep State is an influential power in the existing government and is a network of the country's people, inside or outside, working secretly or in the shadows against the ruling class in that country to change or weaken it.
However, if this network is not from the people of that country, but rather a foreign power, such as a colonial state working against it or a hostile state, then these powers are not considered a Deep State. Rather, their study falls under the category of colonialism or war and aggression.
Likewise, if this network is prepared by the ruling class so that work against the state and its plans is attributed to it—to distance the accusation from the ruler and transfer it to an imaginary network of their own creation, as a matter of deceiving the people regarding the ruler's corruption and inability—this is also not considered a Deep State.
The bottom line is that it is a network of the country's people, inside or outside, working against the existing regime in that country to change or weaken it. In this sense, it only exists in states that are governed by man-made laws, where it is possible for networks to exist inside or outside that differ on the type of rule they want, leading to a conflict between them over the desired type of man-made rule.
As for when rule is based on legislation from the Lord of the Worlds, the Muslims—whether they are inside or outside—do not have a Deep State working to change the rule of Islam into other different rules, unless the Muslims working inside or outside are driven by an external colonial or hostile power. In these two cases, it is not a Deep State, as mentioned previously.
Therefore, what is observed of changes or coups in some Muslim countries, as happened or is happening in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Egypt... etc., the parties behind those coups are not described as a Deep State, because colonialism is what moves events in the states that are subservient to it.
- However, if there is a movement in the Muslim lands that are governed by man-made law, and this movement works to change the man-made rule in the Muslim lands to the rule of Islam, the Rightly Guided Khilafah, then this movement is not called a Deep State, but rather people of support (Nusrah) for Allah (swt) and His Messenger ﷺ.
We ask Allah (swt) for help and success in establishing the Rightly Guided Khilafah anew, so that Islam and Muslims are honored, and disbelief and the disbelievers are humiliated:
وَعَدَ اللهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مِنْكُمْ وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ لَيَسْتَخْلِفَنَّهُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ كَمَا اسْتَخْلَفَ الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِمْ
"Allah has promised those who have believed among you and done righteous deeds that He will surely grant them succession [to authority] upon the earth just as He granted it to those before them." (QS An-Nur [24]: 55)
6th Dhu al-Qi'dah 1446 AH 04/05/2025 CE