Awaiting The Actions Of The ‘Ambassadors Of Tawheed’
Zilhajj 24, 1431 A.H, Wednesday, December 01, 2010
Soon, the 200+ thousands
Indonesian pilgrims will arrive home. Their homecoming is
adding up to the list of hajj “alumnis” since there
were Indonesian people who went for the pilgrimage.
Notwithstanding that, indeed, their tasks are still unfinished
yet. As they are returning from the great ritual in the city
where Islam first started, it would certainly be very naive if
we only hope for a portion of souvenirs from them in the form
of zam-zam water and Indian tasbih. It is
also very unfortunate if, with their return, they only bring
the pride of the prestige because of the addition of the title
“H” in front of their names.
Whereas, the ritual of hajj is laden with the symbols
of tawheed and opposition against kufr.
Their arrival in the holy land itself is already a
manifestation of tawheed. They are heading towards
the one same kiblat, the one same Masjidil Haram and
worshipping in the one same place, though crammed with people
from diverse ethnicities, races and skin colors. Since the
early morning, Islam melts all the differences under the
banner of tawheed. Each person who has accepted the
invitation of Allah to come into the house of Islam is
welcomed to take off his clothing's of ethnicity, nationality
and skin colour at the front porch.
Such is the way, that Abu Bakar RA who had fair skin and Bilal
who was dark-skinned, sat together as believers. Umar RA, an
Arab and Salman al-Farisi, a Persian fought under the same
banner of tawheed. So, if there is an expression of
“internationalism”, then this is the “internationalism” of
Islam, which liberates mankind from the racial boundaries. The
Hajj demonstrates this perfectly.
In the plain of Arafah, they unite their hearts. Not only
that, they melt, melted by the one blazing sun created by
Allahu Ahad. They melt away their national
identities. There is no more nationalism which in truth is a
shackle of animalism. The Nationalism is destroyed and seen
only as a junk before the bond of the Aqeedah.
It is in that moment of wukuf that every pilgrim
leaves behind them their nationality and ethnic identities.
From then on they are no more Indonesian, Pakistani, Egyptian,
Turkish or Malaysian. They, under the intense heat of Arafah,
have become a one Ummah, everyone is a Muslim only.
Their identity is only Islam. When they return home soon, they
are not going back to being the nationals of Indonesia,
Pakistan and Egypt, but only to return to their birthplace or
residences, nothing else.
The awareness for a unity as Muslims should grow in a moment
like this. Furthermore, the awareness for a political unity
becomes the consequences that cannot be avoided. Just like the
scene in Arafah: one wilayah (territory), dressed in
the same white, uttering the same kalimah, thus how
the Islamic ummah should be: One Ummah, One
Territory of Daulah Islamiyah, the same thoughts and
feelings, the same Rules, raising high the same Kalimah
i.e. the Kalimah of Tawheed.
When they have completed the hajj and returned to
each of their country, actually this “Jama’ah of Arafah”
does not simply disperse, but they expand that territory of
Arafah as far and as wide as the Islamic countries in which
they reside. They must bring this spirit of “unity
under Tawheed” to each country in order to
break the shackles of the nation-state boundaries.
The Jamarat, Forging The Oppositive Mentality
In Mina, the pilgrims spend the night while collecting stone
bullets to be thrown at the Jamarat. This ritual is a
symbolization of the opposition of Prophet Ibrahim AS against
satan who whispered doubts to him. Ibrahim AS is the
Father of Tawheed who opposed the shirk of
his people who were idol worshipers. He was the one who
rebelled against the shirk of Namrud who considered
himself as god, he was the one who confronted the idolatry
system of the people of Kana’an at that time. Thus how Ibrahim
AS confronted satan and the thaghut. It was in such
ways that he raised high the Tawheed.
When stoning the Jamarat, the pilgrims should be
aware of the meaning of this symbolic ritual. They are
fighting satan in its many different forms, whether it be the
satans that show their hostility openly, or the satans that
pose as friends, as well as the satan that controls the carnal
desires inside the human beings. They are also in
confrontation with the symbol of shirk and the
arrogance of the thaghut i.e. the leaders who are
defined by Sheikh Ibnu Taimiyah as, “ ...one who rules by
other than Kitabullah where he becomes the reference for
legislation, he is called thaghut”.
While Allah SWT, since day one, has already ordered us to
disobey the thaghut,
"They wish to refer
legislation to thaghut, while they were commanded to reject
that thaghut." (QS. An-Nisa': 60)
Therefore, take this spirit to every corner of the Muslim
countries. Indeed, the biggest shirk is festering on
this ummah, when mankind invent their own laws and
are unwilling to apply the laws from Allah SWT. Yes, that
shirk is called democracy, wherein the sovereignty is
placed in the human hands, not in the hands of Allah. Indeed,
the thaghuts are sitting on the thrones in the land
of the Muslims. They are looking after the system and ideology
of the colonial heritage, they even become the tentacles of
the invaders until today. They are betraying the Tawheed
by making the Christians and Jews as their helpers, whereas at
the same time Allah SWT forbids to be allies (al wala’)
with them,
“O you who have believed, do
not take the Jews and Christians as allies.”
(QS Al-Maidah : 51)
That's them, and pelt them just like the jamarat are
pelted with stone bullets. Pelt them with words of da'wah
which are sourced from the mabda (ideology) of Islam.
There can be no doubt here, just as there can be no doubt when
throwing jumrah.
The Tasks Of The “Ambassadors Of Tawheed”
This
is their task, the pilgrims who have just returned from the
ritual which is a sociodrama of the unification of the Islamic
world and an opposition against thaghut as
exemplified by Ibrahim AS. They, upon returning from the
ritual, will become ambassadors of Tawheed,
conveyors of the spirit of tawheed to all
corners of Nusantara (the archipelago). They are active in
arousing the ummah for the sake of the
interests of the akhira, not carried away with
worldly prestige when people call them by their title of
"Haji". Al-Hasan had been asked, "What is
haji mabrur?" He answered, "He returns from
performing the hajj to become a person who is zuhud with the
dunya and longing for the akhira."
(As-Suyuthi, Durr al-Mantsur, 1/473;Al-Qurthubi,
Tafseer Al-Qurthubi, 2/408)
We are waiting for the actions of the ambassadors of
tawheed. The Holy Land of Makkah is the wellspring of
tawheed which channels the roh of tawheed
to all corners of the world. It is the pilgrims who carry the
streams, just like the reformer ulama's of this
native land in the past centuries, who had brought the clear
streams on their return from the Holy Land. We are waiting for
their tangible contribution in the struggle to cleanse the
ummah from the kufr thoughts and feelings, so
that it is only the Shari'a of Allah that is
established, and the ummah is liberated from the
shirk of democracy.
Reza Ageung
Hidayatullah High School Of Shari’a
Balikpapan
Submitted by a Mujahid