Dr Firoz Mahboob Kamal
Every occupation has its terrible calamities. It is much worse than the effect of a disease on physical health. A disease affects only the body. It doesn't damage the spiritual entity; neither does harm the infinite life in the hereafter. But the kuffar occupation of a country damages the moral, the spiritual and the intellectual wellbeing of the common man and woman. Oppression, political subjugation and economic exploitation are not the only evils of these occupiers; their crimes are much nastier and much more disastrous. Finding the Divine Truth and following the Divine straight path are made almost impossible.
In order to escape the calamities of Kuffar occupation, the great people like Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him), Prophet Musa (peace be upon him) and Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and many other Truth-seeking people had to leave their own birth places. Along with obstructing the Divine straight path, the occupiers construct massive educational, cultural and administrative infrastructure of derailment towards the hellfire. Such projects of derailment are not hidden, rather robustly and seductively displayed all over the Muslim World. Hence, even in the Muslim majority countries, those who oppose Islam's fundamental basics like sharia, khelafa, hudud, shura, jihad and establishment of a fully Islamic state are not exclusively the foreign or native kuffars; the most formidable enemies of Islam appeared to be those who are the ideological cum cultural converts raised by educational institutions built by the kuffar occupiers. With such massive ideological cum cultural conversion to non-Islam, can any people deserve any blessing from the Almighty Lord? It can only bring down the Divine punishment.
Losing to the invading infidels thus proved to be no less catastrophic than losing directly to the Devil. In fact, the Muslims now suffer the consequences of such evil occupation all over the Muslim World. It has added new momentum to the Muslims' downfall. Even in the Muslim countries, the Muslims now face restriction not only in practising full Islam, but also face the terrible danger of being drawn towards the hellfire. The state with its manoeuvring law, politics, education, administration, culture and other institutions, in fact, does the heinous job of the Devil.
Hence, fighting such enemy occupation is a crucial issue in Islam. It is crucial not only to save Muslim lands from foreign exploitation, but to save the premise of Islamic faith, ideology and culture from Devilish corruption. There exists no doubt in the Islamic purity and sanctity of such jihad. Taking part in such a war is not an option, but an obligation on every physically fit believer. In fact, it is the indispensable part of the Muslims' faith that asks every believer to be ever-ready to encounter any kuffar invasion. So, the direct command of Allah Sub'han wa Ta'la comes to every believer: "Hence, make ready against them (the enemy of Islam) whatever force and horses of war you are able to muster, so that you terrify the enemy of Allah and also your own enemy and others besides them of whom you do not know, but Allah knows. And whatever (wealth, efforts and life) you spend in the cause of Allah will be repaid to you in full; and you will not be wronged."-(Sura Anfal, verse 60).
Cowardice surrender and the destruction: the new normal.
In Islam, it is haram to welcome any enemy on the frontier. It is haram to stand non-combative in front of any kuffar invasion. Iman of a true believer shows its instant expression through resistance in all possible means. In the early days of Islam, embracing Islam always meant to have full readiness for war against any enemy attack. Hence, calling people to Islamic faith and prayers wasn't the only duty of the last prophet (peace be upon him) of Islam; rather, encouraging the believers to take part in a full war against the enemies was also an important part of his mission. The prophet (peace be upon him) was commanded to do so by his Almighty Lord; as it is revealed, "O prophet! Urge the believers to war." -(Sura Anfal, verse 65). Therefore, calling people to Islam and asking them to perform prayers are not the only issues in Islam. How to fight the enemies also stands as a part of the Qur'anic guidance. Amidst war-mongering enemies, acquiring military skills, collecting weapons and engaging in war are not any luxury, rather important parts of the survival strategies. The prophet of Islam (peace be upon him) himself acquired such skills. He played the role of the Commander in Chief in the war front. Which is why, he made the distinctive difference from other great people of the human history; unlike them, he could implement what he preached.
Today, such Qur'anic decree on jihad and the prophetic (peace be upon him) tradition of war engagement receive little importance in the Muslims' life. Rather, welcoming and supporting occupation by the internal and external enemies of Islam has been a new normal in the Muslim World. Even the so-called ulama are not any exception from such cowardly practice. As a result, the enemies of Islam -both external and internal, faced little resistance in continuing their most corruptive and coercive occupation; moreover, got emboldened to dismantle sharia, hudud, khilafa, Islamic judiciary and many other fundamental teachings of Islam even in predominantly Muslim lands. So the downfall of the Muslims continues.
The Muslims have increased only in number, but not in honour, strength and dignity. They are now being defeated, subjugated, raped and slaughtered in many parts of the Muslim World. Their cities and villages are being bombed to rubbles one after another. The sufferings have been so much unbearable that the Syrians Muslims are dying in the Mediterranean and the Rohinga Muslims are dying in the Bay of Bengal in their desperate move to flee from their ancestral homes. This is the most disgraceful shame for 1.5 billion Muslims now living in the world. Their collective conscience shows little sign that they still possess any moral sense to feel the most despicable shame as shame. The number of Muslims now live only in one district of Bangladesh, Caliph Omar didn't have such a population in his whole state. But he could defeat the two contemporary World Powers.
The prophet of Islam (peace be upon him) predicted about such an awful state of the ummah about 14 hundred years ago. He also told about the causes of such a catastrophic fate: it is the love for this worldly life ( hubbud duniah) and the dislike for the death ( kerahatul maut) in the way of Allah Sub'han wa Ta'la. Addictive love for this transient worldly life has caused them to forget the infinite life in the hereafter. Hence, martyrdom in His way that opens the door of paradise is hateful to them. Amidst such overwhelming cowardice and surrender to enemies, those who pursue the path of martyrdom to fight the kuffar occupation don't receive even the recognition for their deep faith and self-sacrificing sincerity.
Like the kuffars, they also label them as fanatic, extremist and even deviant from true Islam. As if, there is no place of war against kuffar occupation in Islam! As if, there is no martyrdom or shahada in Islam! As if, those early Muslims who fought and became shaheed to eradicate the kuffar occupation over the vast land of Asia and Africa were also fanatic or extremist! Such a conceptual perversion is the legacy of colonial as well as secularist occupation of the Muslim World. Now it is the common agenda of the USA and Russia-led enemies of Islam that the Muslims must survive with such perversion; and they shouldn't be given any chance to return to the original Islam that was preached by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Most of the secularist, monarchist, nationalist and despotic rulers of the Muslim world have already aligned with such an enemy agenda. As a result, the Muslims are given no choice apart from continuing with the downhill course.
The calamity of disconnection.
The Muslims get dignity, honour and victory as the blessing from Allah Sub'hana wa Ta'la. Such blessing comes only as a gift for full integration with His agenda. In this regard, the early Muslims made history. They are known for active alignment with the wish and strategy of Allah Sub'hana wa Ta'la. But today, the Muslims made another history; this is the history of total disconnection from the early heroes and their road map. They are connected only with their personal, national, racial or tribal agenda. Such disconnection from its roots has its own calamity. As a result, they are making a history completely different from the early Muslims. It is the history of moving far away from the Qur'anic straight path and bringing defeat, deaths and disgrace for the Muslim ummah. A servant receives the highest appreciation from his master and he becomes his closest friend if he invests all of his abilities, time and even life to fulfil his master's dearest desire. That was indeed the exact strategy of the early Muslims. As a result, they got Allah Sub'hana wa Ta'la as their closest wali (friend); and also received a promise for a place in paradise.
Even against the strongest enemy, they were given the crushing victory; thousands of angels came down in their rank to fight alongside them. The commitment of these early Muslims was so deep that the majority of them died in the war fields. They were passionate not only in prayers, but also in wars. A Muslim household in those days, used to possess not only prayer mats, robes and rosaries, but also the best weapons and logistics appropriate for a war. The per capita weapons was the highest in the Muslim land. As a result, Islam could quickly prevail over a large part of the world. Their faith, patience and sacrifices pleased Allah Sub'hana wa Ta'la and His prophet (peace be upon him) so much that they were described as the best people on earth.
Since the early Muslims were mentored by the greatest prophet (peace be upon him), they worked as the perfect model of a true believer for all ages to come. They showed, how a Muslim needs to be fully aligned with the revealed wish, objectives and strategies of Allah Sub'hana wa Ta'la. In fact, this is the only way to get nearer to Him. On the contrary, by aligning with colonialists, imperialists, secularists, nationalists, fascists, monarchists, and other enemies of Islam, one achieves exactly the opposite. He gets nearer to the Devil and receives wrath of the Almighty Lord. Such political, ideological and cultural alignment with the kuffar take people only to hellfire through the same route of deviation that their non-Muslim comrades follow. The whole Muslim World is rife with such Devilish alignment. This is a clear marker of their deviation from the straight path.
Five times prayer, month-long fasting, haj and charity may give false hope and deceitful self-satisfaction on their religiosity; but their alignment with the kuffars and deviation from prophet's Islam will not help them receive the forgiveness from Allah Sub'hana wa Ta'la. The Almighty Lord never likes that a Muslim should be aligned with His enemies who oppose practice of sharia, hudud, khilafa, jihad and other basics of Islam in His Own land. But the Muslims' problem is not confined within such alignment with the enemies; , it has gone far beyond. The enemies who declared Crusade against Islam -as announced by the US President George W. Brush while invading Iraq in 2003, are invited inside the Muslim lands to establish their military bases. This is the case with Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Turkey and Afghanistan. These bases are used as launching pads for further mission of killing and occupation inside the Muslim World. With such capitulation to the enemy, how the Muslims can expect any blessings from their Almighty Lord?
For full alignment with the wish of Allah Sub'hana wa Ta'la -the most important issue in Muslim life, it is crucial to have the Qur'anic knowledge. It is the only source to know the Almighty Lord's expressed wish, expectation and strategies. Hence, the desires congruence with His mission is impossible to develop with inadequacies of Quranic knowledge. So, learning Qur'an was made obligatory on day one of Islam. Five times prayer, month-long fasting in Ramadan and haj were made obligatory more than a decade later. In those days, the countries like Egypt, Sudan, Iraq, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania and many others didn't have the Arabic language as their mother tongue. Only for knowing the Supreme Lord's message and to align with His mission, they ignored their mother tongue and took the language of Qur'an as their beloved language. So, the Muslims of those formerly non-Arab countries could merge with the great civilizational march of Islam. This could only happen because of their intense desire to be fully congruent and merged with the mission of Allah Su'hana wa Ta'la. But today's Muslims are known for deeper incongruence with the fundamentals of Islam. It owes mostly to their gross inadequacies of Qur'anic knowledge. They can take part in 5 time prayers, fasting, haj and other rituals, but can't align with the prophet's (peace be upon him) mission.
Even an ignorant man can keep fasting, do prayers and give charity. But to develop the level of motivation for taking part in a life-long jihad in the way of Allah Sub'hana wa Ta'la and to receive the honour of a martyr in His way needs much deeper enlightenment with the Qur'anic knowledge. It is a massive prophetic job. Islam could generate such people in significant numbers only after the full Islamisation of the state and its institution. Living in an enemy-led corruptive educational, cultural and ideological environment, it is extremely difficult to attain such a depth of enlightenment. The kuffar occupation thus commits the most catastrophic crime against the mankind. Hence, what else could be the best rewarding deed (amalus saleh) than releasing the people from such shackles of this evil occupation? It amounts to opening the road to haven and obstructing the way towards hellfire. The early Muslims realised its importance fully; therefore left their homes and crossed mountains, rivers, seas and extremely harsh deserts and become shaheed in the distant warfronts to end such occupation. But, today's Muslims are failing to end the enemy occupation even in the own homeland! This is indeed the difference between the two distinctive brands of the Muslims.
Punishing the kuffar: the Divine strategy.
Allah Sub'hana wa Ta'la has His own revealed strategy vis-Ã -vis giving prize cum victory to the believers and punishing those who stand against Islam. Almighty Allah could crush the power of Arab kuffars by sending some angels or earthquakes; but that was not His strategy. He asked Prophet Muhamad (peace be upon him) to raise an army of the believers to do the job. Hence, the believers are ordered, "Fight them; (as it is the strategy that) Allah will punish them by your hands and will disgrace them and give you victory over them and (this way He will) satisfy the hearts of the believing people." -(Sura Taubah, verse 14). So, victory doesn't come by mere supplication or prayers; the believers must engage in war and present sacrifices to achieve that. Hence, if there exists no fighting Army for Islam, there is no victory of Islam either. Then, the Muslims stand defeated and humiliated -as is the case of the Muslims today. Only with serious engagement in war against the enemies, the believers qualify for a genuine help from Allah Sub'hana wa Ta'la. Such a strategy has been repeatedly revealed in the holy Qur'an. So it comes, "Allah intends to establish the Truth by His words and to cut off the roots of the unbelievers. That He should establish the Truth and abolish the falsehood, even if the criminals disliked it." -(Sura Anfal, verse 7-8). So, Allah Sub'hana wa Ta'la loves to cut off the roots of the wicked unbelievers; but it should happen by the hand of the believers. The angels are only to play a supportive role -if needs arise in the battle field. And whoever does the job that Allah Sub'hana wa Ta'la likes the most, gets His love, too. And whoever gets His love, he definitely gets a place in paradise. Such a solemn principle of Almighty Lord still operates to punish His enemies; but today's Muslims utterly failed to be the part of that. Instead, many of them live in the fantasy world that their supplication will do the job.
Intoxication and the missing tool of purification.
People need an effective tool for the purification of their souls and the community. For Muslims, it is jihad. It works as a filter to keep the garbage out of the Muslim body polity. If the tool of purification stops working, the people get impregnated with the toxic waste. A man can't survive an obstructive gut that stop eliminating the excreta out of the body. The same is true with the Muslim ummah. The downfall of the Muslims indeed owes largely to absence of such a purifying tool. Even in prophet's (peace be upon him) time, the dischargeable waste in the ummah was huge. At the time of Ohud expedition, it was about 30 per cent of the Muslim community. The rough estimate comes from the figure of 300 who departed from an army of 1000 at the starting point of the war rally. They are called munafiq -the worse and most damaging elements than the kuffars. Thus, jihad at Ohud helped the Muslim ummah to eliminate these harmful waste out of their body. As a result, the ummah stayed healthy. Now the ummah stands huge -mostly because of accumulation of the harmful waste. The great number hasn't increased the real strength, rather caused more weakness.
Jihad as a tool of purification has been emphasised by the All-knowing Almighty. It is revealed, "And that He may purify (through jihad) those who believe and deprive the unbelievers of the blessings," -Sura Al-Imran, verse 141). Such a Divine tool of purification stopped working for many centuries in the Muslim ummah, hence the most harmful waste still stay inside. They even control the ummah's destiny. As a consequence, the moral, the political, and the cultural entity of the Ummah show symptoms of sever ideological cum conceptual intoxication. Amidst such toxicity, the true Islam of prophet's (peace be upon him) time has died long ago. Islam with its indispensable components like sharia, hudud, khilafa, shura, judiciary, jihad and Islamic state can be found only in the history books, not in any part of the Muslim World.
An intoxicated man can't behave or work normally. He can't be a true Muslim either. They lose the common sense. Under the spell of such intoxication, even the perfect jihad looks terrorism; a genuine war of liberation against the occupation looks crime. Such intoxicated men even embrace the worst enemies as friends and kill the best mujahid as enemy. This is the reason that those who occupied Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq and killed millions of men, women and children and bombed many cities to rubbles, get friends who celebrate their occupation in the Muslim lands -as was seen in Baghdad in 2003. With more occupation, the intoxication gets more intense. The intoxicated Arabs thus invest trillions of petrodollars to enrich the enemy banks and the enemy companies in the west. The enemies want that the Muslims must live with the current level of intoxication; because, they know it is easy to rob and rule the intoxicated people. With the same objective, the British colonialists spread opium freely among the Chinese. But the ideological intoxication is more lasting and more incapacitating than opium. Moreover, opium can't make people friendly or mercenary, but the corruptive ideologies do. Jihad is the sole and the most powerful antidote to fight against such intoxication. This is why they are deadly against jihad. Hence, it is their key policy that jihad must not be allowed to work in any of Muslim countries.
Test, strength and the failure.
Islam didn't reach its golden days by mere 5 times prayer, fasting, haj and other rituals. Hundred times more people perform such rituals now. To emerge as the number one World Power, it indeed needed huge strength to eradicate the deep-rooted kuffar occupation from a vast area of Asia, Africa and Europe. What is the source of such strength? It is true that every victory comes as a blessing from Allah Sub'hana wa Ta'la. But such blessing doesn't come to a people until they fulfil the precondition. The precondition is nothing else but the believers' best investment in His cause. Almighty Lord never helps those who do not help themselves. Hence, it is the believers' investment in jihad that brings down the promised blessing from Allah Sub'hana wa Ta'la. In fact, it is an embedded test in Islam that comes to every Muslim's life. A long-term lack of victory and the continued downfall are the indicators that the Muslims are continuously failing the test. Thus, they are continuously failing to qualify for the blessing, too.
A test always initiates a value-adding process that adds strengths and perfection to the participants. As a result, more tests bring more perfection. This is why, no school or institution can achieve any progress without tests. Likewise, the Muslim ummah can't attain any moral progress without an inbuilt process of continuous testing either. In fact, in its absence, the ummah quickly degenerates and turns weaker. The current state of the Muslims is a testimony to that. In the early days of Islam, jihad -the continuous test in Muslims' life, did the most remarkable job to add enormous moral strength to the Muslim ummah. They lost large number of their best men in jihad; but that didn't make them weaker. In fact, the weakness and the downfall started when they withdrew from jihad. Such cowardice withdrawal could save them from dying in warfronts; but brought destruction and genocidal massacres in their cities and villages -as happened in Spain, Palestine, Balkans, Chechnya, Iraq, Kashmir, Syria and now Arakan.
The paradise doesn't give any entry to those who failk the test that happens in the field of jihad. In jihad, the Almighty Lord testifies the level of true belief and picks up the true martyrs. The fake ones get filtered out from the body of true believers. War in the way of Allah Sub'hana wa Ta'la thus plays a crucial role to purify the community of the believers. It can't happen in an assembly in a mosque or in the congregation of Arafat. Jihad comes with a huge life and death issue; it shakes people's heart like earthquakes. The early believers were shaken, too. Those who withstand such terrible shakes and trembles in the way of Allah Sub'hana wa Ta'la and challenge the enemies get the pass mark for the paradise.
So, it is revealed, "A calamity has afflicted you (at Ohud), similar calamity like it already afflicted the unbelieving people; We bring these days to men by turns, and (so that) Allah may know those who believe and may select from you the martyrs; and Allah doesn't like the wrongdoers. And (so that), Allah may purify the believers (through such trials) and destroy the disbelievers." It is also revealed, "Or do you think that you will enter paradise while Allah hasn't made it evident those of you who fight in His cause and made evident those who are steadfast." -(Sura al-Imran, verse 142). In any exam, one needs to know the pass mark; and needs to be focused to achieve that. Likewise, a believer must know the pass mark for getting an entry to the paradise. It is not a hidden issue in Islam. In the above verse and also in many other verses of the holy Qur'an, Allah Sub'hana wa Ta'la made it clear about the required pass mark. Performing the rituals like 5 times prayers, fasting, haj and giving charity are very important, but not mentioned here. The key issue goes much deeper. It is indeed the full alignment with His revealed agenda. It is the ever-readiness to stand as His soldier to fulfil the agenda. But where is the Muslims' success to meet this criteria?