by Imran Khan
In previous articles it was explained why Muslims must build the Islamic Movement as the first step to constituting a body politic that is independent, purposeful and serious about carrying the responsibilities to lead society out of the abyss.
In this piece we conclude with a couple of revolutionary examples from the Prophet’s seerah and sunnah that will lay to rest contending arguments.
These are manufactured to mislead Muslims towards voting for political parties or politicians within a system designed to uphold the status quo.
Every time the revolutionary Islamic determination goes into high gear, the anti-Islamic forces step up their dual “stick and carrot” approach.
One of the carrots some “Islamists” are nibbling at today is a formula for sharing power.
This type of offer is not new! What is new is the departure from the Prophet’s policy.
The aristocrats of Quraysh had offered the Prophet (pbuh) to rule and apply the Islamic system for one year after which they would apply their system for one year.
Some present-day Muslims celebrate when they are offered much less.
They argue that “Islam is intrinsically superior to other ideologies and systems. People are in dire need of Islam.
“If we are given the opportunity to present people with the excellent qualities of Islam then we should do so because once they taste Islam, they will not settle for anything less.”
This abridged argument contains at least a couple of fallacies.
First, it accepts the good faith of a system that is in rejection of God and assumes that the custodians of that system will honor their word.
So, there is reliance upon the godless system to establish Islam.
The other false assumption is that Islam is capable of winning over adherents who will en masse make a difference simply by granting Islam a stage appearance.
Besides, Allah the Most-High and Most Knowledgeable, answered this offer with a policy from above seven heavens:
“Say, ‘O you who are deniers [of Allah’s power and authority]! I do not conform to that which you conform to [as supreme power and authority], And neither do you conform to what I conform to [as the Supreme power and authority]. And I will not conform to that which you [at all times] conform to. And neither will you [at all times] conform to what I conform to. To you your din, and to me, my din!” (The Ascendant Qur’an, Surah Al Kaafirun)
On another occasion, the decision-makers of Quraysh pleaded with the Prophet’s uncle to talk some sense into his nephew’s head on behalf of the Qurayshi power hierarchy.
So, the Prophet was approached by his uncle with these propositions:
If it an issue of position and status, the chiefs of Quraysh are willing to elevate you to the most luxurious and comfortable status;
If it is an issue of being in-charge of the whole Makkan order they will appoint you as its supreme leader;
If it is a matter of you being possessed by uncontrollable powers and spirits, then Quraysh is willing to provide you with the best physicians.
The first two proposals are a dream come true.
Today’s status quo conforming “Islamists” and the religious establishment would jump at the opportunity of the Islamic end justifying the kuffar means.
But was this the sunnah of our political leader par excellence?
Was he a fanatic not to accept an Islamization process in Makkah whereby he and a negotiated few of his partisans could join Quraysh and then gradually change the system of kufr/rejection and denial of Allah’s power and authority, shirk/rivalling Allah’s power and authority and dhulm/injustice and oppression into a Muslim one?
Was he politically naïve not to accept the highest office in Makkah?
Or, was he reacting to years of persecution, torture and malignment that he could not “objectively” decide?
In those circumstances and under those conditions what was the beloved’s clarion reply for Muslims to hear throughout the ages and years?
By Allah, O my uncle, if they were to place the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left hand on condition that I abandon this affair— i.e. dislocating power and authority from worldly beings and relocating it with Allah—I would never leave it until Allah makes it victorious or I die doing it.
This prophetic statement has to be the epitome of revolutionary immunity for the maneuver of containment and vacillation.
Whatever happened to the sunnah in the lives of today’s leaders?
Or should the sunnah dare not have a political much less revolutionary meaning?
It was this firm Prophetic revolutionary will that was liberated from all forms of fear and hence did not fear the fortunes or misfortunes of an uncertain tomorrow.
“… but they cannot harm anyone except by Allah’s leave” (The Ascendant Qur’an, Surah Al Baqarah, verse 102).
Say, “Never can anything befall us except what Allah has decreed!” (The Ascendant Qur’an, Surah At Tawbah, verse 51).
There are many other ayaat in the Qur’an which free the mind of any reservations as far as any cost-benefit approach is concerned.
Add to this the divine instructions which liberate the soul of potential deprivation and a consequent relapse into poverty and need.
“Say [O Muhammad], ‘Who is it that provides for you sustenance out of the heavens and the earth?’ Say, ‘It is Allah’.” (The Ascendant Qur’an, Surah Saba, verse 24).
These ayaat and many more in the Qur’an are enough to shatter the static, dormant, in-active, dull figure image that today’s Muslims want to make of Muhammad (pbuh).
Which is precisely the issue.
The revolutionary Prophet has faded away.
His revolutionary nature does not exist in the minds and hearts of the bulk of those who purport to follow him.
Here lies the task of rehabilitating the revolutionary character of our supreme guide and teacher, the last and final Messenger of Allah.
So, we ask a person who wants to be fair to himself and accurate with his relationship to Allah’s Prophet: if you were in the Makkah of that time, were you going to be a supporter of Allah’s Prophet when actually there were not many people around him, he didn’t have any clout in society and he was not an influential figure who could make major decisions that affected the Makkan society?
From understanding today’s mentality that is predominant among Muslims, would it be far- fetched to say you will find very few Muslims of today who would be supporters of Allah’s Prophet when he was beginning and when virtually the whole world was against him.
Let us be careful when we say we are following the sunnahand the seerah of Muhammad (sallalahu alayhi wa sallam) because some of us may say it and we may be lying.
By now you should have enough background information to know that none of the arguments of those who call upon you to vote are solidly and strictly grounded in the Qur’an and the sunnah.
They may even use ayaat and ahadith out of context or employ the services of the religious class otherwise inaccurately known as the ulama’, but the ultimate objective is to mislead.
On the Day of Judgement, we will have to answer to Allah on our own.
The excuse that such and such a person told me or misled me will not be accepted.
Muslims beware!