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In the previous chapter we were saying that
we have swayed from our true path and have adopted the ways of
non believers. For example we have no concept of
discrimination in Islam, yet we have adopted this. Our prophet
(PUBH) was benevolent for whole of humanity, he was a blessing
for the whole universe, but are we following him? Praising not
only him but his companions also, Qur’an says that “Mohammad (PUBH)
the messenger of Allah and his companions are compassionate with
each other”. On the contrary we are at each other’s throats for
trifling( fro’aat.) Every one boasts that he is the only one on
the right path, and instead of improving himself, is bent upon
correcting the others. Each one of them quotes this saying of
the prophet (PUBH) that “there will be 73 sects of Islam near
the Day of Judgment and of these only one will be on the right
path” and then professes that his sect is the only one on the
right path. They forget that in another hadith the prophet (PBUH)
says that whosoever is on the right path and follows my path
will be saved and further explained that the path of myself and
my( true) companions. Don’t forget that in his era lot of
munafiqeen and opportunist were there, Allah revealed the names
but Prophet (PBUH) did not disclose these.
Let us reflect on this and we will find the
answer as to who is right. How many of us are following his
path? How his companions followed him is exemplified in the
following story. Once someone offered a watermelon to the
Muad-bin-Jabal (RA) who was then the governor of Yemen. He took
it and then put it aside. The person asked him that has he not
accepted his gift, because when the prophet (PUBH) accepted a
gift like this, he would right away eat a portion and present
the rest to the company at that time and this tradition was
followed by his reverend companions too. Muad (RA) replied that
he did not know how his master (PUBH) ate it, so he would first
ask one of his companions about this and then he will eat it.
Such are the examples of following the right path and whosoever
follows the path of the prophet (PUBH) the Qura’n says, “he is
saved”. Each of the sects and persons can use this as an acid
test to find the truth. In actuality the true way is the way
that the prophet (PUBH) took, and those true follower they
follow the prophet's (pubh) footsteps, step by step. Life of the
prophet (PUBH) is true embodiment of qura’n, as Aisha (RA)
stated, “The prophet’s khulq was Qur’an”. Here I am not
referring to any of the present sects, you check yourself on
this test.
In today’s perspective let us see how much
we are following the practices of the prophet (PUBH). Now take
sunnah of prophet (PUBH) Khidmat-e -khalq (social work) and
compare record. ALLAH forbid, did the prophet hate the humans?
If the answer is in negative, then what are we doing? We have
lost a lot by not following the ways of the prophet (PUBH). If
we adapt his (pubh) following, only then we can recover from
it. The hatreds that we have adopted have made us an embodiment
of hate. Where have those people gone for whom the Qura’n says,
“They are kind to each other”. Instead, the only thing left in
us is that not only do we hate each other, but others also.
Your kin are bound to stay with you in spite of it; however the
others will not tolerate it. As a result, the self-serving
western media is showing the image we are creating on them and
it has become worse after the September 11, 2001 event. First
of all the media called Usama bin Laden and Afghan people
Mujahids. The same people were their allies when Communism was
challenging Capitalist west. Now that the tables are turned,
Islam has become their number one enemy because it challenges
Capitalism. I have been reiterating this for a long time;
however we have not prepared ourselves for this. In Europe and
in United States of America we live like untouchables. We do
not try to become the part of the mainstream, resulting in being
not trusted and we have been encouraging this mistrust
ourselves. We have been given so many names that these are
becoming uncountable. For example we are being called
Fundamentalists, Terrorists etc. Have we ever tried to explain
to them what we stand for? Let us take the term of
Fundamentalist, which was actually coined by a Christian sect by
them in USA in twentieth century, then it got tagged on us.
Islamic requirement is that a Muslim believes in the five basic
pillars of Islam, which are;
- Iman (belief on Allah, His all prophets,
Angels and all the sahaifs( words of ALLAH),
- Prayers
- Zakat (alms giving)
- Fasting
- Haj
These are the fundamental pillars of Islam
and a person who believes in these is called a Muslim. If he
does not accept any one of these, then he is not a true believer
in Islam. A Muslim who believes in these fundamental pillars
of Islam is a Fundamentalist. He has no other choice then to be
Fundamentalist by this definition or not be called a Muslim. A
Muslim is only a Muslim and we do not have a concept of a Modern
Muslim or a Fundamentalist.
Secondly we are blamed that in Islam there
is no Democracy. Let us look at what Democracy is. Presently a
government elected by people is called a democracy. The British
is Parliamentary system in which parts of constitution are
written and part is not written and is based on tradition.
France has its own kind of Presidential System. USA has its own
kind of Presidential System, which is different from both
Britain and France. If they call all this a democracy, then
what is so different about Islamic Democracy that it is
presented with hurdles every where, be it Algiers, Turkey, Iran,
Pakistan or any other Muslim country. They have become so much
anti Islam that instead of catering to the wishes of the people
they would like you to accept the Autocrats, Dictators or Kings
as heads of the states.
In spite of this they want to be called the
champions of democracy. Islam is the religion, which not only
gave the concept of democracy but also practiced it. Islam
gave the concept of welfare government. Islam started the
monetary benefits for children, seniors and widows. What would
we consider better, the exemplary system of justice or the one
which widens the gap between the poor and the rich?
Since Islam prevents the accumulation of
wealth in a few hands, this quality of Islam is considered as
its weakness by the materialistic system and is not tolerated.
As for as the women’s rights are concerned, Islam gave these to
them first of all. Only a hundred years ago the women in so
called civilized countries were considered as personal property
of the men and their ownership was decided by duals. Two men
would fight to death and the winner will take the woman. Fifty
years ago they did not even have right to vote. Would the
proponents of women’s rights or the ones who want to keep women
behind curtains like to through some light on this. In the
times of the prophet (PUBH) women's position was such that they
did nursing of the wounded in the wars, brought water to them.
Khola-bint-darar (RA) took the command of a military battalion
during the war of Khundaq to protect Medina. Even today women
work in the fields without any veil. If we keep women from
education, how can our children be brought up properly? Does
the tradition of responsibility to educate not apply to a
woman? Do find an answer to these questions, otherwise each
custom will become part of Islam, and already this is the case
in lots of instances. This would be helping the enemies of
Islam to defame it. For God’s sake come back to path prescribed
by the prophet (PBUH), do your research, consult each other and
find solutions to the problems at hand.
Apart from this I would like to mention to
the so called care takers of the world that if you make it
impossible the change of the governments by the legal means then
what will happen. You have seen what happened to the Kings of
France and Tsars of Russia. In the same ways you have made
numerous enemies of yourself, so do not put the whole blame on
the Muslims. You have to make peace with the rest of the world
so that you and the rest of the world can live in peace. If you
close the doors, the people would start breaking the windows to
come out. Even the docile animals start biting when cornered.
Why are you making people to bite you? You have to start
becoming just. To solve the entire problems, do unto others
what you like to be done to you and then you will see how the
world loves you. For now, you know how the world labels you.
Even your good deeds go to waste, even though you spend your
resources on these. Now let us consider the aspect of terrorism
and Islam. Quran prohibits terrorism and suicide, thus a
terrorist cannot be considered a Muslim. Suicide is such a crime
in Islam that even the funeral prayers are not allowed for such
death. Whoever was involved in the September 11th
terrorist attack was condemned by all the Muslim community in
world. The Media projected image of Palestinians distributing
sweets in joy, however the observers noted that the same footage
of the film was shown when Saddam Hussain invaded Kuwait.
Further more how can a Muslim soldier (Mujahid) be considered a
pious Muslim while he became drunkard in a bar on the night
before the attack. Also imagine the government which is into
every bedroom, showing such an ineptness that plane after plane
was crashing in to buildings and it could not do any thing. The
nation should ask their president about being not in a position
to do any thing for an hour during this. In this day and age
even minutes count. What guaranty do they have that such things
would not happen in future? Conclusion seems to be that this
was a planned ploy. May Allah protect the Islamic world, since
it is being aimed from different directions. Aamin.
Now let us talk a bit about Jihad, which is
considered a thorn on the side of Western world. First of all
Jihad is not included in the five fundamental pillars of Islam
and it is also not about mere fighting. In Jihad it is not
allowed to kill the innocents. This fight is allowed with
opponents only in defense. The first fight that prophet (PUBH)
fought was Battle of Badr. Although the prophet (PUBH) had left
Mecca, in spite of this the infidels did not want to leave him
alone. They invested in a trade caravan to finance invasion of
Medina. The prophet (PUBH) wanted to stop this caravan, however
the infidels of Mecca who were already bent on picking a fight,
started their military venture. In this way this first
defensive war was fought. Jihad is not a mandatory duty. For
example prophet ( PBuh) stopped a companion of his from going to
Jihad, who was looking after his mother. Similarly at the time
of Battle of Tabook one was also stopped from jihad who did not
have a horse to ride on while fighting. After Mecca was
conquered, the prophet (PUBH) told the people for going on from
smaller Jihad to a bigger Jihad. In Arabic every effort is
called Jihad. By bigger jihad he meant rejuvenation of our
conscious, which is at the root of Islam. In Islam the Jihad is
the name of constant struggle, not necessarily the name of war
.it is lack of understanding. Those who are blaming Islam need
to do some research on Islam. However if someone forces Muslims
to defend themselves, their lives, property and religious
sanctity, then Jihad is also the name of going to war. When we
talk of supporting a convict, then Islam does not allow it.
However a suspect is a suspect only until the crime is proved
to be done by him or her. After the crime is proven, a friend
of the perpetrator is also a perpetrator. In the case of the
September 11 incident, all the proofs were gone with the
culprits.
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