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 ook at what is happening to the Muslim Ummah today!
The Muslims have been destroyed by the influences of secular materialism.
What the Prophet(peace be upon him) has said is truly right, " Later Muslims
will be many but they will be like froth in the sea which follows as the wind
dictates".As a result materialistic matters become of primary importance and little
thought is given to how Allah wants the world to be. In this situation
there will exist discrimination, squabbling and a corrupt state,the rich becoming
richer and the poor becoming poorer, many suffering from hunger and sickness while
the rest care nothing for their plight.Some Muslims are not touched by the suffering
of the brothers and sisters in other part of the world or in poorer economic
circumstances. How then could we expect a Muslim Ummah like this to be united.
As Muslims, our role is as the Servant of God and specifically as the Khalifa
(vicegerents) of Allah on this earth.It becomes our sacred duty to carry out that
responsibility.It is the duty of every Muslim to dedicate all his life to the belief and
practice of Islam as revealed in the Quran and in the example of
the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) since we know that Islam is the
complete right way of life.
Things That Need To Be Considered
 It is not an easy task to unite all people with differeing backgrounds,
perspectives and ways of thinking. Even being followers of Islam is not
enough to guarantee that all Muslims will have the same belief and desires.
Many Muslims today do not live their lives anywhere close to the purity
of Islamic belief and practice that was revealed to us by Allah in the
Holy Al Qur'an. We are becoming like the kuffar mentioned by Allah Almighty
in the Holy Al Qur'an: "They wouldst think they were united, but
their hearts are divided" (Al Quran 59 :14). The system of khilafah is
to provide the means to unite the hearts of all Muslims, and fill
their hearts with the burning desire to think, speak and act rightly only
for the sake of Allahs pleasure and to make the practice of Islam as the
sole purpose of their lives.
We must always remind ourselves and other people that evil or lust
is our real enemy. Every body must be constantly vigalent in order to avoid
the evil deeds that the Shaitan loves so much. Shaitan will never give
up trying to distort the human being. Allah almighty has mentioned in the
Holy Al Qur'an, "And follow not the footsteps of Shaitân (Satan).
Verily, he is to you an open enemy" (Al Quran 2:168). Whatever is prohibited
has been made clear in the Qur'an and Sunnah of the Prophet, therefore,
the freewill given to the human beings must be used in accordance with
the will of Allah. Allah Almighty has said in the Holy Al Qur'an, "Whatever
good, (O man!) Happens to thee, is from Allah, But Whatever evil happens
To thee, is from thyself And We have sent thee a Messenger to (instruct)
mankind" (Al Quran 4:79).
It is very sad to see the dismal status of Muslims in the present world.
Muslims have been culturally ruined, economically exploited, educationally
backward and their political movements have been badly influenced by secular
ideologies such as socialism, liberalism and democratism. We Muslims have
been provided by Allah with a system which can overcome all of these problems.
As Muslims we know that Islam is the complete and right way of life. Allah
has revealed to us that, "O ye who believe! Enter into Islam whole-heartedly;
and follow not the footsteps of the Shaitan for he is to you an avowed
enemy" (Al Quran 2:208).
Steps Taken To Be United
1. Each individual Muslim must develop
a strong Islamic personality.
If we want to ask other people to do good deeds and implement Islam
in their daily life then we must begin with our own daily life first. We
know implementing and practicing Islam is not easy. While it is easy to
talk about what is right in Islam but it is not nearly so easy for us to
practice that right Islam, but we must always do our best. All the good
deeds which Allah has revealed to us in the Quran and Sunnah make it clear
what is the right Islamic way of life. It has been mentioned by the Prophet
that every good deeds must start from yourself. What we need is a world
full of Muslims who are trying to implement all of the teachings of Islam
to the very best of their ability, and who do not feel that spritual obligations
such as prayer and fasting constitute the totality of the right practice
of Islam. An example of right Islamic behavior in very difficult circumstances
is how the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) always treated the Quraish
with good manners and great courtesy even though they were kuffar haters
of Islam and had nothing but distain for Allah's Prophet. This is how the
Prophet educated his companions by the example of his right life to be
humble, generous and devout Muslims. This example of right Islamic practice
can be seen the simple life style of the Khulafaur Rasyidin (Four caliphs)
and many other sahabah. Self training is very important in order to build
a strong Islamic personality, it can be done through various ways such
as:
- To ask often for forgiveness by
the recitation of istighfar. As human beings we have to avoid
committing both the big sins and the tiny sins. As the servant of Allah
we shoul strive to be aware of whether our behavior is right or wrong.
If our behavior is wrong we should always ackowledge that it is wrong to
ourselves and to Allah. This acknowledgement of any wrong behavior should
be a motivating force to change that behavior and make it right. It should
be our goal that all our behavior is consistent with what is right in Islam
and it is pleasing to the eye of Allah. The constant awareness of what
is right or wrong behavior will encourage people to correct themselves
and help them to become better Muslims.We must firmly believe in the truth
of here after, the truth of the day of reckoning, the truth of heaven,
the truth of hellfire, and that each person will get their deserved
reward or punisment for whatever they did on this earth. If we keep these
affirmations forever within our hearts, then the natural positive response
of the heart will be to produce only actions which are right and
true.
- Private Devotion (Munajat), especially
tahajjud (night prayer).This type of prayer can be very hard
for people who is not used to it, however, night prayer (tahajjud) can
play an important role in many great victories for Islam. Sultan Salahuddin
during the crusades did not allow those who did not perform tahajjud the
previous night to fight the kuffar on the battle field because he was afraid
that Allah would not help the Muslim armies. Also when Constantinople was
captured by Sultan Muhammad Al Fatih, all his armies performed tahajjud
prayer befor the battle. Umar once said to his Muslim armies that, "I am
more afraid of your sins to Allah which may lead to our loss on the battle
field than I am the armies of the kuffar". In the quiet of the night when
many people are deep in sleep then we wake up to worship Allah and
show our love for Him. Munajat gives a good indication of the strengh of
our Iman, which must be very high to uphold the name of Allah on this earth.
Many hadith of our Prophet (peace be upon him) have encouraged Muslims
to perform munajat and gave special importance to prayer done during the
last third of the night.
- To make Sadaqah. The Prophet
(peace be upon him) once said that the sadaqah is more powerful than the
doa. The reason for this may be that since in the case of sadaqah we sacrifice
something that is part of our wealth, whereas the doa does not involve
any sacrifice our wealth. Most of the time, it is very hard to us to give
away any of our wealth. In fact, if sadaqah were to be practiced by Muslims
today, it would help to eradicate the number of Muslim poor in the world
and diminish the gap between the rich and the poor. By welcoming the oppurtunity
to give zakat and sadaqah we will prevent ourselves from making material
wealth the goal of our life, and help reduce our desire to satisfy our
lusts for the thing of material wealth.
.
- To be serious about Allah. Let
us take Allah into our hearts in every aspect of our life and in every
action we do. For example, if we want to eat, remember that the food is
from Allah, all knowledge and health are given by Allah. Muslims must always
remember Allah and fulfill their obligation to Him in every situation,
whether they be rich and poor. If we can do this consistently, surely Shaitan
will have no opportunity to entice Muslims into evil deeds since we will
have Allah with us in our hearts wherever we go. The prophet once said
that there is no iman when a person is doing evil deeds.
- Creating harmonious situations -
muslim must love and care each other. It is certainly not called
unity, if the feeling of botherhood (ukhwah) does not occur between all
Muslims throughout the Ummah. It is as the Prophet (peace be upon him)
said, that Muslims are like a building in which each part is needed to
support the other. The purpose of loving and care for each other is to
increase our belief (Iman). We can see the importance of unity in the history
of Islam by the great victories achieved by the early Muslims, such as
in the battle of Badr, victories of Sultan Salahuddin Al Ayyubi in
the crusade, and the capture of Constantine by the strong and humble Muslim
leader, Sultan Muhammad Al Fatih. All these victories occured when the
Iman of the Muslims was extremely really strong, the feeling of brotherhood
was really powerful, and they were living their lives rightly according
to the teachings of the Qur'an and the example of their beloved Prophet
Muhammad (peace be upon him).
2. To Invite other people who have
the same right Islamic beliefs to form groups which are well cultered,
have strong islamic personality and put Islamic values in every aspect
of their lives.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) once said
that evil deeds which are done systematically will overcome good deeds
which are not done systematically. Another illustration is what happens
to a sheep left behind by its flock, it will have no protection from the
wolves who would eat it. This shows us how important is the role of the
group (jama'ah). As a human being we will often make mistakes in our lives,
both big and small.When we are within a group there will always the people
to remind us of our wrong actions or correct our mistakes, as we also would
do for others in the group. In Islam the group provides a platform where
the people can publicly express their commonly held beliefs in what is
right, and can work together to implement those right beliefs. The members
of the group must have a consensus on how to rightly implement Islam within
the group, on how to establish the Islamic social life, the Islamic economy
and Islamic education. Living in accord with the will of Allah and in the
right Islamic society people will come to see the great success that it
brings to all members of the society. The remarkable success offered by
a rightly practiced Islamic society will provide an excellence model of
right living to the non Muslim peoples of the world, and encourage them
to live in that same right manner.
3. A strong movement toward right
Islamic practice must be developed among the world's Muslims, creating
a burning love for Allah in the heart of each and every member of the ummah.
A movement or a group is like
a small state. If Muslims are able to show that Islamic teachings when
practiced by the ummah offer a complete and right way of life which offer
solutions to all of the world problems this will proves strongly persuasive
to non Muslims and will attract them to Islam We can see in the present
day that many people are like baby ducklings who have lost their mother,
because they have no one to guide them they do not know which direction
to follow. Likewise, in human society when we do not have right guidance
we do not know how to overcome all the problems and the sickness that occurs
in society. This lack of guidance harms Muslims when we are not united
behind right Islamic belief and practice. Muslims then fight with each
other, quarrel with each other and insult each other while the enemies
of Islam laugh at us and continue their great success in attracting our
good Muslim brothers and sisters to their secular ideas, their immoral
entertainment and their corrupt social life. Let us, dear brothers and
sisters in Islam, unite with sincerity and strength under the name of Islam.
As it is mentioned by Allah Almighty in the Qur'an, "And hold fast, All
together, by the Rope which Allah (stretches out for you), and not be divided
among yourselves"( Al Qur'an 3:103). The call to right Islamic belief and
practice must be done always with beatiful words and wisdom. Even the wonderful
things offered by Islam must be served to the people in a good way, otherwise
the people will have difficulty in accepting it. It is like a cake which
must be served in a good manner or otherwise some people will refuse it
even though it is delicious.
In Islam, there are obligations upon individual and there are obligations
upon ummah. Every Muslim is responsible for fulfilling his or her own individual
obligations by purifying themselves, creating a healthy body and mind during
the physical existence so that the soul may return to Allah. Allah has
stated in the Holy Quran, "Indeed he succeeds who purifies his ownself.
And indeed he fails who corrupts his ownself"(Al Quran91:9-10). The purified
heart will always produce positive action, and a poluted heart will result
in negative action.Responsibilities upon the ummah are usually fulfilled
by only those individuals among the ummah who specifically take on that
responsibility. Those individuals fulfilling collective obligation (fard
kifayah) will still need the support from all other Muslims. By fully knowing
and accepting our role as Servant and Khalifah (vicegerent) of Allah on
this earth we will be able to produce strong Islamic personalities and
a right Islamic society working only to fulfill the Will of Allah the Sustainer,
who has the right to be worshipped, who is owner of this world and creator
of universes. May our dream of the unity of the ummah and khilafah system
become a reality. Amin.
"The cure for all the ills of human society
has to be a cure of the spirit - a breaking away from the old wrongful
patterns of thought and behaviour based on a secular, materialistic world
view, into a new, vaster area of spiritual enlightenment for all of us
to explore and grow within."
"A united ummah can effectively say no to
anything that is wrong."
Wallahu 'alam bis sawab
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