Defeating the Enemies of Islam with Knowledge

Ignorant hearts ever ask, why Allah tries the Islamic Ummah with wars, treacheries, starvations, persecutions and slaughterings at the hands of the kuffar? Why are these tribulations never-ending?

We always question, but we already know the answers and the conditions in order to get through those heavy trials. The previous Muslims had already fulfilled the conditions and they were successful, but we, who are more modern, are neglectful and still seeking for answers.

Whereas Allah has already promised in His commandment which means:
“O ye who believe! If ye will aid (the cause of) Allah, He will aid you, and plant your feet firmly.” (Qur’an 47:7)

When will the help from Allah come? In the past, because of the excessive afflictions suffered by the Sahabahs alongside Rasulullah SAW, they pressured Rasulullah with a question: "O Rasulullah, are you not pleading for help for us? Are you not praying for us?" The blessed Prophet SAW who at that time was lying down, got up with his face reddened due to anger and said: "Know that verily the earlier people preceding you, some of them were buried alive, some had their bodies sawed from the top of the heads until they were cut into halves and there were those whose bodies were combed with sharp iron combs until they cut through their flesh and caused it to be separated from their bones, all those did not shake off their faith." “By Allah, Allah will surely make this religion triumph until it spreads from Sana’a reaching to Hadhramaut and mankind at that time does not fear anything except Allah surpassing the sheep's fear for the wolf. But you are too haste (in asking for victory)” (Hadith riwayah Imam Al-Bukhari)
 

The anguish of the Islamic fighters all over the world following the bloodsheds and intrusions on Palestine should not lessen their fighting spirits to remain istiqomah in defending the religion of Allah from the evil scheming of the enemies, and much less to despair from Allah’s mercy due to being infected by the disease of being too attached to the ‘dunya’ and the fear of death.

All the previous calls to boycott American goods surely produced a very hot polemic that ignited opinions between “the supportive” and “the unhelpful” towards the call. Those who just lay back and deafen their ears, or those who merely sweet talk in protest without any further and true actions could be clearly seen through this tragedy.

It was actually a form of trial for the iman so that Allah would purify the Ummah and select from amongst the ranks the chosen ones to be the fighters in His path and those who are excluded from the ranks, sit in fear, worry about losing the thrones, wealth, families and lives.

Nevertheless, apart from the men who are ignorant, negligent and choose to sell the akhira for a cheap price, there certainly exists a group who are saved by Allah from the fitnah of the world. They are always raised for an important role for the sake of defending Allah’s religion.

They do not have to be in the open battle field, facing the guns, bombs and rockets, in fact they can follow the footsteps of the Muwahhideen through their expertise in knowledge and technology for the sake of Islam’s future.

They understand the advice from the Qur’an commanding the Islamic Ummah to be vigilant all the time, as wars will always exist whether in the open or silent way, not because the Ummah is inciting the fire but it is the enemies who are always inflaming the ill feelings which could never be extinguished.

Allah says which means:
“Nor will they cease fighting you until they turn you back from your faith if they can. And if any of you Turn back from their faith and die in unbelief, their works will bear no fruit in this life and in the Hereafter; they will be companions of the Fire and will abide therein.” (Qur’an 2:217)

With the more sophisticated power of the kafir’s weaponry, the strategies and plan of the Islamic Ummah must be arranged wisely and not in a hurry, in line with the hadith of Rasulullah SAW which reminded his Ummah not to be hurried and impatient in their struggles. A long term plan that involves Muslim scientists and intellectuals along with the umara (leaders) and the entire Ummah must be laid down.

The role of the umara, as Islamic leaders, should involve providing visions that are far ahead and plans that are accurate so that the Ummah are able to stand at par with the Jews and Christians who have been more advanced so far.

Has there been any nuclear expert comparable to the American and Jewish scientists? What new technologies and discoveries have been explored by the Muslim generations? Are the national, political and economical stability becoming the main agenda for the leaders of different political outlooks?

How far have been the efforts to produce Muslim tycoons on an international level and to train educators, scientists and intellectuals in order to receive the transmission of knowledge from every window of the world as provisions to prepare for the future generations who are competent in every field of knowledge and on a par with other advanced nations.

It is so sad, historical facts listed 180 Jews who had won the Nobel prizes in a period of 105 years and only three Muslims had so far won it, in the ratio of 14 million Jews to 1.5 billion Muslims all over the world.

Then, how about the role of the ulama in encountering the waves of the Jewish and Christian revival? The ulamas must be more flexible and ready to open dialogues with people of other religions and faiths in order to present them true information about Islam.

The efforts to convey authentic Islam through a modern da’wah strategy must be made as priority. The slogan of ‘return to Islam’ should become a brand that could be sold in the world markets. Not only for the Islamic Ummah but also for the others who still do not know about the beauty of Islam.

Don’t be so engrossed in prohibiting things and issuing fatwas that cause tensions within the religious community and Ummah, as though being hostile and wanting to dominate using the power of the majority.

Didn’t Rasulullah SAW send his ulama ambassadors abroad to establish diplomatic relations and do da’wah to them? The humanitarian spirits must be emphasized more than the racial spirits and being blindly fanatic to religious belief. Islam does not in any way allow its Ummah to enforce aqeedah on the other communities.

It should have been the role of the Muslim intellectuals to approach the orientalists who are studying Islam by way of muzakarah, having dialogues and discussions about Islamic facts with a spirit of peace, not hatred.

In the 20th century, the attitude of the orientalists varied, if before they were working for the benefits of imperialism and used the result of their studies as weapons to invade and destroy the Islamic Ummah. Today, a lot of them behave openly, sincerely and independently in agreement with the diminishing imperialist power. If the ulamas do not prepare high quality books, as well as academic works for the purpose of answering the negative arguments about Islam, it’s impossible for these orientalists to find the truth and hidayah in Islam.

Examples of those who are famous are; Rene Guenon (Abdul Wahid Yahya), Martin Lings, Titus Burchhardt and Leopold Weiss (Mohammad Asad), Murad Hoffman and many others who are yet to say the shahadah.

The strength of the ulama's knowledge must be taken advantage of for the da’wah transmission by means of direct involvements in the da’wah struggle that has an authoritative bearing, conveying al-Quran and hadith in a beautiful way, not intimidating, much less oppressive.

Sometimes the mentioning of the words haram is more audible, making the Ummah phobic and leave their religion, whereas the haram is less compared to the halal in our religion. In the end, ignorance is widespread in the generations that rejected religion, they consider Islam as an inherited religion for administering the matter of death, birth and celebration of its big days only but not capable of answering worldly problems.

Due to the negligence of the ulama and dai’e, a dangerous phenomena was born in the midst of the Ummah, the birth of two Islamic generations. First, those who entirely let go of the religious ties and second, the traditional and intolerant camp who makes others feel religious issues as a burden to the extent of forgetting the true struggle.

If the kafir had already reached the moon and done research on the outer space war technology, the narrow-minded Muslims are still quarreling and at odds with each other about whose madhab is the best in matter of ablutions.

The fanaticism to madhab becomes the root cause of the disunity amongst the Ummah, it is responsible for the backwardness of the Islamic Ummah who are unable to compete through technology, economy and the strength of the kafir’s weaponry.

Whereas Rasulullah SAW had never asked his Ummah to hold onto one madhab only, did not the madhab appear only after the death of Rasulullah SAW and nothing is higher in value than the validity of al-Quran and the hadith of Rasulullah SAW? Did not Imam al-Syafie forbid his followers to become blind followers and order them to prioritize the Book of Allah and Sunnah of Rasul more than his judgements.

The next role of the ulama and dai’e is to stand shoulder to shoulder with the umara to resolve the problems of the Ummah. The attitude of the ulama towards the umara must be in accordance with the commandment of al-Quran and the hadith of Rasulullah SAW which means:
“I bequeath to you dutiful devotion [taqwa] to Allah, and paying heed and obedience [to your leader], even if he happens to be an Abyssinian slave” (Hadith riwayah Abu Daud and Tirmidhi)

Amongst the weakness of the Islamic Ummah is the removal of the feeling of love and mercy between the ulama and umara. How would the future of the Ummah be if the umara let go of the religious ties in leading a state? And at the same time the ulama are distancing themselves from leading a nation and let errors happen until the religion, society and countries are harmed.

Wouldn’t doom occur if the duty of "amar ma'ruf nahi munkar" is not done? The roles of the ulama alongside the umara is to give judgements, as well as issue fatwas in the spirit of ijtihad for the sake of the Ummah’s success.

The ulama and umara should sit together to plan strategies to prepare a future generation that would fight for the religious missions. The absence of it would stifle the life of the Ummah. Invasions into the Ummah happen everywhere due to backwardness, poverty, ignorance and narrow-mindedness in thinking. However, it should be remembered that the main factor for the cause of Islam’s destruction is the ignorance of the Ummah towards their religion.

Religion becomes the strongest defense in winning a struggle because it is an important foundation and the greatest motivator in fighting oppressions. Without religion, nobody is willing to die in defending Islam.

At times they are never scared of death, in fact they are even hoping to die shaheed in the path of Allah. They see the price of this world as cheap and therefore they choose paradise which is eternal, to be with their God.

The return to Islam has become a slogan which is commonly shouted out load, how far it would succeed depends on the roles of the ulama and umara as well as the attitude of the Ummah which we hoped is willing to change. Is the revival of Islam able to be realized by the generation who look upon the West, with a capitalist soul and an appetite for liberalism?

Rasulullah SAW had already prophesized this subject more than 1400 years ago and no words were uttered by the blessed Prophet except pure truth:
“You would tread the same path as was trodden by those before you inch by inch and step by step so much so that if they had entered into the hole of the lizard, you would follow them in this also. We said: Allah's Messenger, do you mean Jews and Christians (by your words) "those before you" ? He said: Who else (than those two religious groups)?” (Hadith riwayah Muslim)