UNDERSTANDING ISLAM
AND ITS STRUGGLE
Islam cannot advance except through the struggle of ‘jihad’. Still, it is not easy to fight for the truth. Before we can progress on this mission, we must first have the right knowledge and understanding of what we are struggling for. Indeed, the pursuit and defence of truth is a difficult cause, as truth itself is extremely valuable. Only a few members of the Islamic community are capable of dedicating themselves to the spreading of Islamic truth because only they have the proper knowledge and understanding of the complicated twists-and-turns that they have to face alone in this mission.
We have strayed too far from the path of Rasulullah SAW and his Companions. No one can accurately explain the meaning of ‘jihad’ anymore. There are so many interpretations of the term. This inevitably leads to different opinions of how it should be carried out, with different parties contradicting each other and believing that only they are in the right, thus discarding anything that anyone else has to say about the matter.
Hence, instead of Islam moving forward, it is falling apart even more as a result of the conflict between different parties that are supposedly fighting for Islam. It is no surprise that today Islam is regarded as so lowly in the eyes of the world. This is why God’s aid has not arrived. God will not help people whose strategies no longer follow His laws and have deviated too far from the teachings of Rasulullah SAW and his Companions.
The truth of Islam comes from God. Hence, only God has the right to bring glory to His religion. In the past, it is through His prophets that God raised the status of the truth above all else. It is God who taught the Prophets how to spread this truth to their people. In this post-prophet era, God still brings glory to His religion but this time through leaders with prophet-like characteristics. This refers to the Mujaddid, leaders sent by God every 100 years and born at the beginning of each century. God inspires the Mujaddid with the ‘tajdid’ (revolutionary) way until Islam regains its former glory. If not for them, Islam would be little more than embers: glowing faintly in the darkness, and not providing the warmth and brightness that it should.
The Mujaddid, or prophet-like leaders, are those who most accurately understand what ‘jihad’ is and how it is to be carried out. It is in their hands that victory awaits.
First and foremost, the struggle for truth is the struggle for God; He is to be known, admired, glorified, feared, loved and brought into every possible aspect of a person’s life. It is only when mankind finds God this way that His shari’at and all else becomes truly useful. If God is not at the forefront of the struggle, then His shari’at is nothing more than ideology. Religion must be connected to God.
If God is not feared and loved, His shari’at is easily forgotten. When God is not prioritised, glorified and admired, His shari’at will not seem important anymore. People tend to be selective when practising God’s shari’at, picking and choosing only what they feel will benefit them. If the shari’at becomes troublesome, it is too easily pushed aside.
In conclusion, other aspects such as justice, unity, laws against disobedience and cruelty, are all easily practised and carried out if God is at the forefront of it all. All of God’s shari’at, whether they are commands or prohibitions, become beautiful and easy to practice. Even the small things become valuable and enjoyable to practice, what more the more important things.
God created two roles for mankind: as servants and as caliphs. As servants, God has commanded for everyone to get to know Him in all His glory, greatness and supremacy over all things. The result would be one whose heart has been completely filled with tauhid, a love and fear of God so great that it could never run out. The greatness of God is felt deep within, for God is the Most Kind, the Most Loving, the Most Powerful and so on so forth.
To know God deeply is to feel fear, worry, love and hope, and to know that it is on God alone that we can depend on. To have God is to have everything, just as to lose God is to lose everything.
Then a deep humbleness would enter the heart, leading to an awareness of how weak, dhaif, inadequate, disobedient and forgetful we human beings are. Not only that, but we should also feel limited, ineffective, unintelligent and ignorant. We must be confident that everything that happens has its God-given meaning and hikmah behind it. We have to accept that every single thing has a positive purpose from Allah the Most Sublime and Most Great.
The consequence of being aware of God and being humble before Him is a servant of God who is full of taqwa. When one fears God, one would automatically loathe and turn away from all evil deeds, and instead decide to clean oneself from all poisonous mazmumah traits.
Love for Allah is the greatest motivation for His servants to become good, dedicated, loyal and useful individuals. Love of Allah inspires the best mahmudah traits in all those who feel it. When a servant of Allah manages to achieve this, he shall be saved and in turn will lead to the saving of others.
The second role of mankind is as the caliph. As the caliph, God has commanded mankind to rule, govern, organise, develop and handle all aspects of the public’s every day life. The public has many needs including education, economy, culture, politics, social, health, nutrition, government, technological communication and so on so forth.
All of the public’s needs have to be arranged and taken care of in the best possible way. Because this earth ultimately belongs to God, the task of the caliph is a responsibility bestowed by Him. Hence, God has commanded this task to be in sync with servitude towards Him. All the activities of the caliph have to safe and active in the saving others, thus leading to the prosperity and benefit of mankind.
How can the people given the responsibility of the caliph be confident of their ability to fulfil this mission? It is evident to all that the world is full of people with a dog-eat-dog attitude that encourages dishonesty and selfishness. It is for so-called ‘progress’ that people have fought, cheated, coerced, killed and even gone to war over. Progress and development have lost their meaning; instead of encouraging the happiness and harmony of mankind, it causes their destruction.
In order to find the cause of all this damage, we need not look any further than the leaders in charge: these are people who have taken the responsibilities of caliph upon themselves, but have ignored their role as servants of God. In other words, the leaders and administrators are people who don’t know God, do not feel His presence and do not dedicate themselves to His service. These are people without taqwa, people who are full of mazmumah traits, and are treacherous, immoral and full of sin. It is only when a leader has fulfilled his responsibility as a servant of God that he will be able to fulfil his responsibility as caliph.
This shows how important taqwa is to mankind. Those who are full of taqwa will find themselves enriched with mahmudah attributes, which have to firm and unyielding.
It has to be remembered that the work of the caliph is risky and challenging. Only one with a strong spirit would be able to carry such a burden. Such a spirit can only be cultivated within someone who is truly a servant of God and has a soul full of tauhid. Only these people have the ability to be patient, grateful, trustworthy, honest, loving, kind, hard-working and responsible throughout all aspects of their life.
These people depend on Allah and Allah alone for all their needs. They are aware and immensely grateful to Allah for all the uncountable blessings that He has bestowed upon them. Furthermore, they fear that they are not grateful enough, and their thanks are inadequate.
Such loyalty does not make these people proud of themselves, because they are aware that it is Allah alone who will decide if their loyalty is enough, and whether they will continue to be devoted until the day they die. They forget the good things they’ve done in devotion to Allah in the past.
Additionally, troubled times do not make them worry and fret. They face such difficulties calmly and patiently, backed up with the confidence that everything has many hidden hikmah behind it. In their hearts they only think about their own weaknesses, and hope only for God’s aid.
They accept any disasters that come their way with an open heart, for they know that there is nothing that lives and breathes on this earth that does not come from Allah and with His grace. They are confident that Allah in His supreme power holds all the universe in His grasp.
These are the effects of one who has a true awareness of God and is humble before Him. It proves that all the shortcomings in life happen because they have failed to unite this feeling of servitude to God with the responsibility of the caliph. Corrupt people with hearts full of mazmumah traits are the cause of all these shortcomings.
In conclusion, it would be wonderful if everyone could embrace the mahmudah, for then we would have leaders who are responsible and bring only benefit to their communities. The rich would be kind and generous to those in need. The ulama would be passionate in educating others. The working class and less fortunate would be patient and eager to carry out their tasks without a thought of complaint. Husbands would carry out all their full responsibilities towards their wives, and the wives would be loyal to their husbands. Children would be open to learning, and respect their parents and all their elders. Women would be honourable. Teenagers would be productive members of their religion, race and country.
A nation built on Godliness would strive to be fair in all aspects, from their own individual lives, to their families, to the community around them and so on. Love and unity would come easily to everyone, because everyone has the love of God in common. When they fear God, everyone would be so busy scrutinising their own faults and weaknesses that it would never occur to them to think about the weaknesses of others.
The act of spreading the truth has to be carried out gently and with love. This would help open the hearts of the listeners, so it would be easier for them to learn and be brought closer to God.
This is the strategy of all of God’s representatives throughout the ages. This knowledge was passed on to all of His prophets and to the later mujaddid. It is because of their dedication towards God that God has promised them His protection and victory.
