Dr. Firoz Mahboob Kamal 

The moral disability & the fallout

The most important cause of Muslims’ downfall is not any natural disaster or economic collapse or any epidemic of a killer disease. It is indeed the moral disability that has brought them to the current quagmire. Such disability even kills any fresh attempt to rise up as a civilizational force on earth. If not treated, the ongoing disability can bring moral death. Then, a man survives only as an animal with human shape. None of the physical disabilities brings such a disgraceful end to a man or woman. In the history of mankind, such disabilities caused catastrophic calamities –much worse than any earthquake, epidemic or tsunamis. Hundreds of earthquakes or epidemics couldn’t kill 75 million people; but only two World Wars could kill more than that. The ugliest crimes on earth like colonial genocides, imperialist occupations, ethnic cleansings, slave trading, gas chambers, World Wars, and dropping of barrel bombs, chemical bombs, drones and nuclear bombs are indeed the works of these morally disables. 

Moral disability takes humans to a level much inferior to animals; the Qur’anic narratives like “ula’ika ka’al an’am, bal hum adal” (meaning: they are like cattle, rather inferior to them) gives testimony to that. The annals of history abundantly display such terrible ills. Like animal, such ill people become insensitive to Truth; even miracles make no impact on them. Cattle search only for water, grass and grazing fields; they do not ponder on Truth. Hence, the miracles like resurrection of the dead, cure of the born-blind, walking across the sea, foods coming down from the sky, water gushing out of a stone -as shown by Prophet Isa (peace be upon him), and Prophet Musa (peace be upon him), utterly failed to impress them. For the same reason, today, the morally disabled Muslims are turning a blind eye to the horrendous crimes of the imperialists against the Muslims. So, the killers, the occupiers and the bombers are taken as close friends. Even millions of Muslims registrar as the mercenaries to fight their war. 

No nation collapsed or disappeared from the history for any physical disability. It is the moral collapse or lewdness that destroyed many nations in the past; and ruined the Muslims as the civilizational power. What could be the worst disgrace for the Muslims that many Muslim countries stand top in the list of the most corrupt countries in the world! What is the impact of their faith and prayers? About 1.5 billion Muslims claim that they believe in Islam; more than a billion take part in five-time daily prayer and month-long fasting in Ramadan; and several millions perform haj and umrah each year; but that couldn’t help them to come out of awful moral illness. It owes to a total shift in their agenda of survival. They do not bother about their moral failures. They are so much deluded with the pleasure of worldly gains that corruption has become the major tool of their survival. Hence, “enjoining the right and eradicating the wrong (a’maru bil ma’ruf wa nehi’anil munkar)” - the obligatory Qur’anic mission, enjoys little importance in their practical life. Instead, they are engaged exactly in the opposite mission; so they relish corruption, crimes and even serving in the enemy armies.

Such a shift in the purpose of survival has generated a new set of self-serving priorities and political culture at all levels. This is why, even the worst despots do not face any shortage of supporters on the street. Even those who are known as imams, sheikhs and religious scholars also rub their shoulder with them. A’maru bil ma’ruf wa nehi’anil munkar is not an issue for them; and sharia, hudud, khilafa, and jihad have no place in their life. The Muslims thus display the vilest betrayal of the Cause of Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’la. It tells a lot about the severity of their moral illness. How can such betrayal bring any blessing from Him? Awfully, it has incapacitated them fully to understand even the dire consequences of the disease. Hence, how could Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’la select such sick people to accomplish His Own vision? So, the Muslims now stand unseated from the position of His khalifa. They show fitness only to work as khalifa of the internal and external enemies of Islam!

The best deed & the worst crime

Moral disease is the commonest and the most calamitous disease of the mankind. Even the physically fit people are not immune to it. Now, it prevails as a global epidemic. Awfully, the damage is eternal. Not only it inflicts a catastrophic damage to the worldly life, but also takes the diseased men or women to eternal hellfire. The virus of the disease is conceptual. Hence, the disease run through thoughts, beliefs and ideologies. Since the pathology lies in soul, can be treated only by curative thoughts, beliefs and ideologies –as was the methodology of all Divine prophets. For that, the holy Qur’an exist as the only final prescription. In the history of mankind, only the holy Qur’an has proven the full treatment efficacy; as treated successfully one of the most morally diseased people on earth 14 hundred years ago. No other prescription has shown similar success in any part of the world in any time. In fact, here lies the greatest and the unique strength of Islam. It possesses the most important and the only curative prescription for the moral ills of the mankind. This is why, Islam is the only target of all satanic forces on earth. In the whole length of human history, never worked such a huge global coalition against any faith as it is now against resurgence of Islam.  

The deprivation of Divine knowledge is lethal; it leads to death of soul. It is indeed the greatest catastrophe in an individual’s life and also for the destiny of the mankind. Men and women then survive only as a biological entity; but possess full physical ability to commit the worst crime. Thus they possess the full potentials to add worst calamities not only to their own lives, but also to others. The world enters into disastrous wars and World Wars only because of such morally dead people. So, it is the most important task on earth to remove this deprivation of Divine knowledge. People can grow cattle, grains, fruits and vegetables, but can’t grow food for soul. It is the exclusive domain of Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’la. Hence, He sent down the angel with the Divine knowledge to His apostles to address this crucial issue. And the holy Qur’an survives as the final and the only unadulterated source of such knowledge. So, it is the only life line of moral survival of the whole mankind. Hence it is the greatest deed to adhere to this Qur’anic knowledge. And it is greatest crime to get delinked from that life line of Qur’anic knowledge. So, the prophet (peace be upon him) of Islam therefore said, “Those who learn Qur’an and teach Qur’an are the best people on earth”. Hence, Islam has a crucial role to play. 

The disease as a religion

The denial of cure of the moral ills has other calamities; it becomes the satanic obsession to live with the disease. Then, it thrives as a culture. Such culture may even survive as a religion –as happened in India. This is why, the most primitive falsehood like idolatry, cow worshipping, snake worshipping, river worshipping and such other practices could survive as a powerful popular culture in India through millenniums. Such cultural cum religious bulwark could effectively protect the falsehood against the Qur’anic Truth during six hundred years’ Muslim rule in India. Billions of dollars are being spent in India every year to build and maintain temples, seminaries and other cultural institutions to strengthen such cultural fortification. It has also proven that false propaganda could do miracles; it could promote idols, cows, monkeys and snakes to the rank of goddess. And in such jingoistic cultural milieu, slaughtering cows is a punishable crime but not massacring the Muslims or demolishing mosques. The people thus take huge pride in becoming the defender of falsehood. Therefore, those who want to survive with falsehood and defy Truth -

The replication of Indian model

Since ancient ignorance could survive in India even in modern days with its perfect primitive originality, India works as a perfect model for those who want to stand against Islam. Now the Indian model of cultural fortification against the resurgence of Islam is being replicated all over the Muslim World. Since conversion to idol worshipping, cow worshipping, or snake worshipping doesn’t work in the Muslim World, the enemies of Islam have deployed other hybrid strategies. The fortification against resurgence of Islam is being done in the form of a cocktail of nationalism, regionalism, traditionalism, secularism, racism, monarchism, tribalism and other parochial obsessions. Every day, they are inventing new means of distraction from Islamic revival. Billions of dollars are being spent in such projects in the Muslim countries. Thousands of institutions are built by the western money in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Palestine, Iraq, Syria and other Muslims countries to run dance, drama, sports and music classes. As if, these are the cause of Muslims’ downfall and miseries! As a part of the project, the Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has become a great fan of kite flying and Diwali. In Bangladesh, the nationalists have become very chauvinistic with the spring festival, new year festival and very recently started with light worshipping in the name of so-called mangal prodip (the lamp of good fortune). To make it integrated with the on-going anti-Islamic cultural cum ideological engineering, the hard core secularists are asking to make it obligatory in the school curriculum. The Afghans and Kurds are fuelled with the new sense of pride and festivity on Nowruz. And in the Arab World, the people are being encouraged to get anchored to their local tribal traditions.

Incompetence for Islam and the complicity in the crime

So the prognosis appears very gloomy; every day the Muslims are drifting to a new low. The physical disabilities may make people frail to do anything good or bad; but that doesn’t kill the moral ability to know the right from the wrong. Nor does it destroy the ability to worship the Almighty Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’la. Hence, the physically ill people can still pursue the straight path towards the paradise. But, moral disability brings the worst calamity; much worse than a wild cancer. It kills the soul and the morality. Thus it destroys the whole purpose of Islam. Islam wants that every human must live with the Divine Truth. He or she must work as a witness as well as the defender of the Truth. Nothing is more important than this in human life. For that, he or she is called khalifa of Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’la, and his job turns into a life-long jihad. And those who dies in defending the Truth is called shaheed –the greatest honour that a man can achieve in his life. 

But those who have dead soul can’t have the true faith and execute the prescribed job. A seed can’t grow on a stone. Likewise, the Qur’anic Truth can’t flourish on a dead soul. This is why, recital and memorisation of the holy Qur’an doesn’t help those who are morally dead or disable. In fact, the powerful Qur’anic verses are falling on many of these dead souls. Of millions who recite the holy Qur’an every day, a very few could come out as the defender of Truth. Such people make themselves unfit for any Divine guidance. Proclaiming belief in Islam and reciting Qur’an is not enough, it has other implication. A believer must live with the assigned mission. Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’la reveals His Own disappointment on those who distract from the belief and disengage from the assigned mission. So, He reveals, “How shall Allah guide a people who disbelieved after their belief and has witnessed that the Messenger is true and clear signs had come to them and Allah does not guide the oppressors?” –(Sura al-Imran, verse 86). 

Such distraction from Islamic belief and its mission is indeed the most common disease among the Muslims. Such disease makes them morally sick, hypocrite and wrongdoer. Moreover, it makes them morally incompetent to stand for the Divine Truth. Whereas, a Muslim must show his competence not only in standing for five time prayers and other rituals; but also for sharia, hudud, shura, khilafa and other basics of Islam –as was the practice of every companions of the prophet. This is indeed the bench mark of every Muslim in all ages. Only this way he can pass the obligatory tests in this life and enter paradise. About the test, Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’la reveals, “Do you think that you will enter paradise while Allah has not yet known those who did jihad among you and those who are steadfast?” –(Sura al-Imran, verse 142). 

Incompetence to stand for Islam doesn’t build up alone; it makes people directly or indirectly complicit in serious crime against Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’la. People then work as mercenaries in the army of enemies, as happened in almost every occupational war of the enemies in the Muslim lands –as happening now in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Afghanistan. Because of such blatant complicity of the Muslims in crime against Islam, the Muslims have lost many vital things. Sharia, hudud, shura, khilafa, trans-ethnic Muslim ummah and other qur’anic basics have become non-existent in the Muslim World. Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’la never recruits witness (shuhada) or defender (mujahid) for His deen from these morally dead or disable people. Nor does He guide these people towards the paradise. Hence come the repeatedly pronounced Qur’anic warnings:“la’yahdi’Allahu qaomazzalimeen”,“la’yahdi’Allahu qaomal ka’firun”,“la’yahdi’Allahu qaomal munafiqun”,“la’yahdi’Allahu qaomal fasiqun” (meaning: Allah doesn’t guide the oppressors, the disbelievers, the hypocrites  and the wrongdoers). And, those who are deprived of His guidance, they can only pursue a path towards the eternal hellfire. Therefore, downfall in this world is not the only calamity; the worst awaits in the hereafter.

The abuse of rituals

The enemies of Islam never preach idolatry to take the Muslims back to the old days of primitive ignorance. They use and abuse Islam’s obligatory rituals to divert them from the core objective of Islam. And the core objective of Islam is not to promote few selective pillars of Islam like five time prayer, fasting, haj, etc. Rather, to build the whole house of Islam. It is all about bringing an overwhelming victory of the Qur’anic code of life with its entirety over all brands of falsehood. Because, it is the only road map to save people from hellfire, nothing is more important for the mankind than working with this agenda. 

But awfully, a lot of harms have already been done to the Muslims and to the mankind by abusing Islam’s own prescription. One of the 5 pillars of Islam is five-time daily prayer; but it is being badly abused not only to belittle other pillars, but also to dismantle the project of building the whole house of Islam. A prescription of a physician may contain a combination of 5 very important medicines to save a patient’s life –as it a common practice in treating a complicated disease. But, if anyone emphasize only one medicine and ignore the other four then it would be equal to inviting death to the patient. It is indeed a homicidal crime. The aim of the prescription is to save a life using all suggested medication; not to glorify a specific item. Likewise, a horrendous crime is going on against the holistic prescription of Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’la in the name of promoting five time prayer. The whole objective of Islam to move with its entire Qur’anic prescription; not to promote a single pillar –whatever important it may be. The whole house cum civilisation of Islam can’t be built on a few pillars. Along with the pillars, it also needs a huge infrastructure of an Islamic state and its numerous state institutions. It is so fundamental and so indispensable that the prophet (peace be upon him) of Islam and his companions didn’t make any mistake to understand its importance. In fact, here lies the greatest gap of understanding between the Muslims of early days and today. So the outcomes are also different. They could attain victory after victory. But, today, the Muslims are sliding to new low every day. 

Example of using some pillars of Islam to undermine the others and even the whole project of Islam is huge. Works of an organisation called Tablighi Jama’at provide an illustrative example. Tablighi Jama’athas invented some new methodology –which were non-existent in prophet’s day, to distract the Muslims from some highly important Islamic obligations. Like the surge of sufism in the past, Tablighi Jama’atgot a huge growth in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Malaysia and many other countries. Its main emphasis is to call the Muslims to the practice of five times prayer. The preachers of this organisation seldom talk about implementation of sharia, hudud, shura, khilafa, Islamic state and jihad. Surprisingly, they have no enmity even with the worst enemy of Islam. They have no quarrel even with the most corrupt and despotic governments of the Muslim countries. Bombs, chemical bombs, barrel bombs, drones and missiles are falling on Muslim men, women and children almost every day. Even many secularists and non-Muslims come to the streets to protest against them. But, they keep their eye blind and mouth tongue-tied vis-à-vis what is happening in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen and many other Muslim countries. As if, they have seen nothing and have listened nothing. The same is true with the most of the imams, religious leaders and the common Muslims. In the name of focussing on prayers or other rituals, they stay blind on ongoing deaths, rapes and destruction in the Muslim World. They also pay blind eye on dismantling of sharia, hudud, khilafa, and the Muslim unity. Such self-imposed blindness or silence is highly punishable active crime, and will be awarded with eternal blindness in the hereafter. So, the warning comes, “And whoever is blind in this life, will also be blind in the Hereafter and more deviating from the way.” –(Sura Isra, verse 72).  

In the past, sufism cum mysticism did the same terrible damage by deflecting the Muslims’ attention from the despotic corrupt rulers while they started grabbing the Muslim countries one after another and destroyed Islam’s civilizational mission. Even while the Mongol murderers were destroying Muslim cities and massacring men, women and children, they stayed blind. They didn’t come out of their homes and khanqas to take part in any jihad against the invaders. They caused a huge mass distraction in the name of purifying heart. What would be worst crime against Islam and the Muslims? The prophet (peace be upon him) didn’t leave such legacy. They built sufi khanqas and ran circles of zikr -as if it needs separate institutions to achieve purification. Whereas zikr is the part of Muslims’ life even while sitting, walking, working or lying in bed -as mentioned in the holy Qur’an (Sura al-Imran: verse 191). Zikr is all about remembering the mercy, glory and greatness of Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’la. Five time daily prayer, studying the holy Qur’an, fasting, haj, charity –in fact all acts of ibadah are zikr. And the greatest zikr takes place in jihad. Under the barrage of bullets, bombs, drones and missiles, zikr of a frontline mujahid gets oceanic depth. A parasitic sufi seating idle in his safe haven can’t even think of that.

Sufism and Tabligh Jamaat are in fact two blades of the same scissors. Tabligh Jamaat was started by the people like Sheikh Ilyas and Sheikh Zakaria of India. They didn’t hide that they were deeply influenced by sufism. In Sheikh Zakaria’s book “Fazayel-e-Amal”, he has been introduced by the publisher as a great sufi. These people and their organisations are indeed the part of the same social, cultural and religious engineering to keep the Muslims away from Qur’anic mission. This is why the most murderous rulers are very compatible with them. In response, they, too, do not blame these killers either. As if, condemning and protesting against any massacre or crime is not a part of iman! Whereas, protesting against any genocidal crime by all means is not mere politics, it is indeed the spontaneous expression of true iman. Appeasing the enemies is similar to feeding the crocodiles; it is indeed feeding the enemies’ political ambitions.

In India, even a non-political Muslims TV channel like Peace TV was closed down by the anti-Muslim BJP government, but Tabligh Jama’at is allowed to flourish. In Bangladesh, the secularist fascist government is carrying out every brutality against Islam’s resurgence. But Tabligh Jamaat is allowed not only to hold an assembly of more than 2 million people each year; but also given the full government co-operation. Every year, even the Prime Minister and the President of Bangladesh –who vehemently oppose any effort that can cause resurgence of Islam in the country, also join the supplication (munajat) part of the ijtima. Tablighi people visit millions of households each year to make people performer of five time daily prayers. But what is the impact of such door to door visits and massive annual congregation on the morality, politics and culture of the Bangladeshi people? In the history of Bangladesh, no other organisation could mobilise such a huge number of people to carry out its task. Such massive efforts are not helping the country to come out of the bracket of one of the most corrupt counties in the world. Moreover, the country has now entered into the darkest segment of its history under the rule of the most violent anti-Islamic fascists. Tabligh Jama’at itself now stands as an evidence that innovation doesn’t work. It can only cause huge wastage of time, money and energy. Moreover, it increases the deviation from prophet’s tradition.

The basics are ignored

First thing must be done first, and in Islam the first thing is iman (faith). No good deed –even not the sacrifice of life is acceptable to Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’la without im’an. Iman is the starting point of a Muslim’s life. But such fundamental basic of Islam is being ignored. Five time prayers were made obligatory 11 years after the prophet-hood; but im’an was made obligatory on the first day of Islam.Im’an works as the most powerful engine in a believer’s journey towards paradise. It also sets the true direction in life. In absence of im’an, other religious rituals can’t save people from hellfire.

After a failed encounter against Prophet Musa (peace be upon him), the magicians who brought im’an in Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’la were cut into pieces by the order of Pharaoh. But such terrible torture couldn’t distract them from their faith. Minutes before they were fully disbeliever; but the power of their imanwas so forceful that it quickly transformed them to 100 per cent believer. The depth of their im’animpressed Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’la so much that He mentioned the event several times in the holy Qur’an and raised their status as the model of true im’an for all people in all ages to come. Although they didn’t get any chance to offer a single unit of prayer, but their strong im’an did the job fully to please Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’la. But those who perform rituals like 5 time prayer, month-long fasting, haj, and give charities throughout the whole adult life, how many of them attain such impressive iman? In fact, here lies the greatest deficit in Muslims’ life. Iman has lost the true importance amidst rituals.

Hence, im’an and its implication must be understood first before understanding any other pillar of Islam. Without perfection of im’an, one can’t perform rituals like prayers, haj, fasting or others with the required perfection. Even a munafiq can take part in rituals –as was the case at the time of the prophet (peace be upon him); they didn’t need any iman for that. They were the embedded enemies. This moral disease has always been endemic in all ages; but now has reached a diabolic prevalence. With such disease, people get easily deviated from the Qur’anic roadmap. They become friend of the worst enemies of Islam; and get quickly complicit in their crimes. Truly, this is the case with millions of so-called Muslims in the Muslim World. So, the US-led coalition could kill more than 1 million people in Afghanistan and Iraq with their complicity. And the Russia-led coalition is running the similar massacre in Syria. Hence, it is the strategy of the enemies of Islam to destroy im’an of a believer first; not his rituals like 5 times prayer, month-long fasting, haj or zakat. Even the White House and the Kremlin staffs spread prayer mat and offer iftari for the deviated Muslims. But they drop bombs and send drones to kill those who nurture im’an on sharia, hudud, khelafat, jihad, Islamic state and global unity of the Muslims. 

Like any disease, the moral disease has also its starting point. It starts with the lie in the declaration ofima’an. More than a billion of Muslims claim that they believe in Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’la and His prophet (peace be upon him). But how perfect, how sincere is the belief? Belief in Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’la and His prophet (peace be upon him) is an indivisible package. Islam is all about believing and practising all components of the package. There can’t be any disbelief or compromise in any single element of that. Im’an is inclusive and comprehensive. It is the source of light in believers’ everyday life; and shows the Qur’anic straight path (siratul mustaqeem) in every segments of his journey. It is the firm belief not only in the oneness of Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’ala, but also in the truthfulness of His prophet’ legacy. It is also the belief in the supremacy of His Sovereignty, His revealed Book –the holy Qur’an, and the Qur’anic prescription of sharia, hudud, shura, khilafa, trans-ethnic Muslim unity, migration and jihad in His way. Iman also entails the belief in the Qur’anic decree of enjoining the right and eradicating the wrong (a’maru bil ma’ruf wa nehi’anil munkar) -as the prescribed mission for every Muslim. 

The belief in the prophet (peace be upon him) is also inclusive. His legacy includes not only the preaching of Islam, but also the establishment of an Islamic state. And, he was also the Head of the State. Hence abiding by his tradition entails the practice of his state policy in education, politics, warfare, administration, laws, people’s welfare, judiciary, and other practices. His legacy also includesjihad fi sabilillah to defend and expand the territory of the Islamic State. A Muslim also needs to believe in the Qur’anic revelation that obeying the prophet (peace be upon him) is obeying Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’la –as revealed in the holy Qur’an “Whoever obeys the prophet, he indeed obeys Allah” –(Sura Nisa, verse 80). Hence, a Muslim must stick to prophet’s legacy; it is an obligation. But if his politics, culture, law, judiciary, economics, state institutions, administration and warfare follow his own obsession or footsteps of the enemy, how can he claim to be a Muslim? 

Showcasing of the disease and the disbelief! 

The best way of marketing a product is to showcase it in a market place; otherwise even the best product can’t catch the public eye. The same is true with Islam. Hence Islam can’t be practised in caves; and nor in a place where showcasing of its beauty is restricted. So, migration from such a state is a great ibadahin Islam. The greatest preacher in the human history like Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) couldn’t convert more than 200 hundred people in his 13 years’ of hard work in Makkah. But when he could showcase the blessing of Islamic state, education, sharia, hudud, social welfare, culture, judiciary and trans-ethnic brotherhood in Medina, a huge mass conversion started. Within a decade Islam appeared as the number one World Power. Other great prophets like Prophet Isa (peace be upon him) and Prophet Musa (peace be upon him) couldn’t attain that success because they were not allowed by the evil forces to showcase the Truth. Shaitan and his followers understand the strength of such strategy; so it is their key objective not to allow the Muslims to showcase the beauty of Islam in the form of a full-fledged Islamic state. Rather, they allow only to showcase the disease and disbeliefs of the fake Muslims. Therefore, like protecting the rare animal species, the US-led enemies of Islam are protecting the most despotic corrupt Muslim rulers as the model of Islam in the world. So their disbelief and disease get showcased on the global stage as Islam. The call this ugly perversion as the moderate or mainstream Islam.

Both belief and disbelief in Islam have their own distinctive expressions. Iman (belief) of a true believer expresses through his good deeds –as fire expresses through its heat. So, in the holy Qur’an, iman andamal-us-saleh (good deeds) are mostly mentioned together –as if they are the twin expressions of a believer. Thus, a Muslim turns into a showcase of true Islam. Only this way the early Muslims could work as powerful magnets to attract millions of people to Islam; otherwise they didn’t have any propaganda machinery. But now, they are doing the opposite. They have turned into ugly showcase of moral disease and disbelief. True iman, sharia, hudud, khilafa, shura, pan-Islamic Muslim brotherhood, jihad have no place in that showcase.  Rather, divisive walls, racial hatred, extrajudicial killings, parochialism, nationalism, secularism, despotism, and corruptions are the parts of it. This way they are serving the cause of Shaitan.

In absence of showcasing of true Islam, millions of visits by Tablighi workers at the doorsteps of the people have utterly failed to make any discernible impact. They are very selective to talk about im’an, yakeen and ibadah, and not about sharia, hudud, shura, khilafa, jihad and Islamic state –as if these are not part of Islam. But this selective and restrictive prescription on Islam has failed to bring any visible change in the behaviour, actions, attitude, politics, and culture of the Muslim ummah –even not in the Muslim life in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan where they are in huge number. Is it the aim of Islam to make some big ijtama and putting more volunteers on the street to call people only to five time prayer? Was it the practice of the prophet of Islam (peace be upon him) and the early Muslims?

If iman and yakeen do not have visible expression in deeds, politics, culture, behaviour of people, do they really exist? They fail to understand that changing people’s beliefs, behaviour, actions, attitude, politics, and culture is a massive task. Prophet Nuh (peace be upon him) worked day and night for 950 years, but with little gain. Spending few minutes in a group in reciting Fadayel-e-Amal (the commonly recited book of Tabligh Jama’at) or short lectures by laymen or long munajat by bujurgs (old sheikhs) is not going to make any big difference. That didn’t work in the past either. The same is true about thousands of non-political Islamic organisations working in the Muslim World. It needs to engage in massive social, cultural, educational, political engineering. For that, a powerful Islamic state with its various massive organisational infrastructures are indispensable. Therefore, the prophet (peace be upon him) and his rightly guided khalifas needed to be the head of the state. And that is the greatest and the most important legacy of the prophet (peace be upon him) and his great companions. How can a true Muslim deny or ignore that? 08/04/2017 (to be continued)

(Published 2017/04/12 at 8:49 pm)