Our Responsibilities to Allah in Today’s World
24-04-2008
Allah says in the Quran,
“You are the best nation raised for mankind. You order the good, eradicate
evil and believe in Allah” (al-Imran110).
“The believing men and women are protectors of one another. They order good
and eradicate evil” (al-Tauba 71).
“The disbelievers from Bani Israel were cursed by the tongues of David and
Jesus the son of Mary. That was because of their disobedience and their
persistence in excesses. They did not forbid one another the sins that they were
performing. Evil indeed wee the acts they performed” (al-Madidah 78).
“So when they forgot the reminders that had been given to them, We saved
those who removed evil and We took the wrongdoers and gave them an evil
punishment because of their wickedness” (al-Araf 165).
The Prophet Muhammad (salla Allahu alayhi wa salam) said,
“If anyone of you sees an evil, he must change it with his hand; if he
cannot, he must change it with his tongue; and if he cannot do even that, he
must change it with his heart and that is the weakest type of faith” (Recorded
by Muslim).
Ordering good and eradicating evil is one of the most important characteristics
of the Islamic nation. We can see how important it is in the words of the
Prophet (salla Allahu alayhi wa salam) who said,
“By the One in whose hand is my soul, you must order good and eradicate evil or
Allah will inflict you with a punishment from Himself and you will supplicate to
Him and He will not respond to your supplications” (Recorded by al-Timidhi).
Allah will not respond to our supplications? Allah tells us in the Quran how
close He is to us and how He responds to His slaves when they call upon Him- yet
if we do not meet this condition of ordering good and eradicating evil, Allah
will not respond to our supplications. This shows us how important this
responsibility is.
What has happened to this obligation today? Where are the people who stand up
for the sake of Allah? Where are the people who order good and work to eradicate
evil? The Companions of the Prophet (salla Allahu alayhi wa salam), when the
made their oath to him and to Islam, would pledge to speak the truth wherever
they were and not fear the punishment of anyone.
What has happened to this spirit, this spirit of true Islam? Whenever we see an
evil, we should be moved to change it. We should realize that it is something
that Allah hates. Our beloved Allah hates it. This should drive us to move,
drive us to act and remove the evils we see.
The problem with the Muslim masses today is not that they do not have any
strength or ability to change anything. They have shown over and over, on many
different occasions, that they do have strength to do something. But the problem
is that their priorities are in the wrong place.
If in a Muslim country the government announces that they are going to stop
subsidizing bread or rice, thousands of Muslims will march in the streets and
threaten the government. And usually the government will have to back down and
submit to the will of the Muslim masses. You will see Muslims demonstrating by
the thousands in support of corrupt and anti-Islamic rulers. We have even see
“Muslim” women in the streets demonstrating against the Islamic dress code for
women.
Yes, the Muslim masses have strength. They have shown that over and over
again. But they have the wrong priorities.
When the law of Allah is not being applied, when fisq (evil and corruption) is
spread throughout the Muslim land, when the things that Allah loves are being
laughed at and His believers are being thrown into prison, when the things that
Allah hates are being promoted by the society and the disbelievers are given
places of prominence in the society, where are those Muslim masses? Where are
their voices then? Why don’t they go out to the streets and raise their voices
and risk their lives and property for those things? When these things exist in
the Muslim land, most of the Muslims continue to live their lives as if nothing
is wrong. These are the real things that we should be fighting against. These
are the things that we should be using our strength and energy to change.
We hear many complaints about the Muslim rulers these days but in actual fact
these rulers are behaving no differently from the Muslim masses. They are more
concerned with what they consider their wealth and position than they are with
Allah’s law and the welfare of the Muslims. They apply and use Islam when it is
beneficial for themselves. This is why you find them associating with the
unbelievers and supporting them against Muslims. They are putting this life
before the Hereafter.
Unfortunately, we are willing to work for Islam or apply Islam only as long as
it does not threaten our jobs or hurt our chances of finishing our studies or
endanger our relationship with some close friends and so on. This is part of the
disease that is afflicting the Muslim nation today: we have the wrong
priorities. For many Muslims, the priority in their lives is to get a good job,
a family, a car, a house and so on while the priority if the first generation of
Muslims was to sacrifice this life for the Hereafter. Their goal was to become
martyrs in the way of Allah.
We have to ask ourselves in days like today, is what we are doing for the
sake of Allah sufficient? Can we really expect to meet Allah with Allah being
pleased with us?
We have to realize that in times like these, when munkar or evil is all around
us and those working for Islam are not sufficient, we have more obligations and
more responsibilities to Allah and His religion. We have become like the people
of the boat in the hadith of the Prophet (salla Allahu alayhi wa salam). The
Prophet (salla Allahu alayhi wa salam) described a boat with people on the top
level and people on the bottom level of the boat. He said that the people on the
bottom wanted water and decided it would be best for them just to make a hole in
the bottom of the boat and get water that way. The Prophet (salla Allahu alayhi
wa salam) said that if the people do not stop them from doing so, both groups
will be destroyed. That is the parable the Prophet (salla Allahu alayhi wa salam)
made concerning the people who ordered good and eradicated evil (Recorded by
Muslim).
If we study the history of jihad, we see that under different circumstances, our
obligation with respect to jihad changes.
During the time of Badr, the fighting was considered completely voluntary and no
one who did not attend the battle was blameworthy.
Under other circumstances, like some of the other battles during the time of the
Prophet (salla Allahu alayhi wa salam) and during the time of the Companions,
the jihad was considered a “communal obligation” ( fardh kifaya). This is why we
find verses like the following in the Quran,
“Not equal are those believers who sit (at home), except those who are
disabled, and those who strive and fight in the cause of Allah with their goods
and their persons. Allah has granted a grade higher to those strive and fight
with their goods and persons than to those who sit (at home). Unto all (in
faith) Allah has promised good: but those who strive and fight has He
distinguished above those who sit (at home) by a great reward” (al-Nisa 95).
And yet there were other times in which the jihad was obligatory upon everyone
and no one was excused for not attending it- save those who are excused for
physical or financial reasons. Under those occasions, every believer is expected
to take part in such a jihad. That was the case during the Prophet’s (salla
Allahu alayhi wa salam) time with the battle of Tabook. Concerning such
situation, Allah revealed,
“Go you forth, (whether equipped) lightly or heavily, and strive and
struggle, with your goods and your persons, in the cause of Allah. That is best
for you, if you but knew” (al-Tauba 41).
And we are all familiar with how the Prophet (salla Allahu alayhi wa salam) and
the Companions dealt with those three Companions that failed to take part in
that jihad. Allah says about those three,
(He turned in mercy also) to the three who were left behind; (they were
guilty) to such a degree that the earth seemed constrained to them, for all its
spaciousness, and their (very) soul seemed straitened to them- and they
perceived that there is no fleeting from Allah (and no refuge) but to Himself”
(al-Tauba 118).
And the scholars have also discussed the conditions under which the jihad
changes from a communal obligation to an individual obligation. One of those
conditions is: if the enemy takes over any part of the Muslim lands, the jihad
becomes obligatory upon the Muslims of that territory and the adjoining areas to
take part in jihad. And if they are not sufficient to repel the enemy, the
obligation of jihad passes on to the closest Muslims and so on until all the
Muslims become responsible.
Ibn Taimiya once wrote, “When the enemy ruins the religion and worldly goods of
the Muslims [i.e., deen and dunya], there is no obligation, other than faith in
Allah [iman], more important than repelling them”. Yes, such jihad takes
precedence over the prayer which can be combined or can even be performed while
walking if a person is taking part in jihad. And it takes precedence over the
fast which should be broken in order to be strong to take part in the jihad.
What is our situation today? The law of Allah is not established anywhere on the
earth; the non-Muslims are ruling the Muslims throughout the Muslim world;
Muslims are not able to practice their religion and worship Allah properly- the
purpose of their creation- throughout the Muslim lands.
With all of this, we have to ask ourselves; what is our responsibility to Allah
and to His religion and the Muslims? Isn’t it the case that to take part in
jihad with our wealth and lives is an obligation upon all of us today? Are we
fulfilling that responsibility? When will we fulfil our responsibilities in this
matter? When will we put our priorities right and put sacrificing and working
for the sake of Allah first, above any worldly desires we may possess?
The Prophet (salla Allahu alayhi wa salam) stated, the other nations would
converge upon us like one who converges upon a plate of food; and our problem
would not be lack of numbers but the problem would be that the disease of loving
this world and hating death would have spread among us. And that is what we see
today. Muslims today are clinging to this world, they hate to leave this world
and die- even for the sake of Allah- and therefore they are demonstrating that
they have the wrong priorities.
What the Muslim world is in need of today is not Muslims who get excited now and
then and scream at the top of their voices. What we need are Muslims who are
totally committed to Islam; people who put Allah and Islam before anything else
in this world; people who are willing to sacrifice for Allah’s sake and do not
fear the harm of anyone. This is what we need. We need a real commitment to
Islam. We must strive to support the Muslims and jihads throughout the world
with our lives and wealth.
Actually what I have been describing is a return to the real religion of Islam:
the religion that puts the worship of Allah first and orders its believers to
order good and repel evil. Everything I have said has been beautifully contained
in one hadith of the Prophet (salla Allahu akayhi wa salam) recorded by Abu
Dawud in which he said:
If you participate in al-‘ina- al-‘ina is a type of business dealing that
includes interest or riba, what this implies is that the Muslims start
accumulating wealth, regardless of whether it is legal or illegal in Allah’s
sight- and spend their time with their agriculture- that is, they just worry
about their things in this life, such as jobs, and houses and do not look
further- and leave jihad in the way of Allah, then Allah will inflict them with
a trial that will not leave them until they return to their religion.
Submitted by a Mujahid