The conceptual corruption and the betrayal of the Divine agenda

Dr. Firoz Mahboob Kamal

The disconnection and the consequence

Muslims’ disconnection and deviation from Allah Sub’hana wa Tala’s aim and objective is huge. These have lead to failure to grow up as true Muslim. The agenda of Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’ala is very clear and repeatedly revealed in the Holy Qur’an. But Muslims’ betrayal of that agenda is very robust. Allah Sub’hana wa Tala wants to bring an overwhelming victory of Islam –His only recommended religion over all brands of falsehood. It is His agenda to release men and women from the yoke of fake religions and man-made ideologies. This is indeed the only way to save people from eternal hellfire. But Muslims are not part of that Qur’anic agenda. They do politics, fight wars, sacrifice money and lives for their own national, tribal, racial, personal or party agenda.

It is a shame that most distractions and deviations from Islam are done in the name of Islam; and not in the name of idol worshiping, Christianism, atheism or various ideologies. And it is done mostly by the so-called Muslims themselves and not by the kuffar. It is done through corruption of fundamental Islamic beliefs. And the success of the enemies is huge. As a result, Prophet (peace be upon him)’s Islam that entails the establishment of an Islamic state, implementation of sharia and hudud, rule through shura, jihad for the elimination of the evil forces, and the Muslim unity doesn’t exist anywhere of 57 Muslim states. As a consequence, Muslims now live without the Qur’anic Islam.

Likewise, damage to the core Qur’anic concepts and teachings is also being done in the name of respecting the Holy Qur’an. That, too, is done by the people who claim to be imams and Muslim religious scholars. They have been highly successful in limiting the Qur’anic studies within the format of mere recitation without understanding it. On the other hand, the final Prophet of Islam (peace be upon him) is being projected as a man of high spirituality, morality and peaceful co-existence with everybody. As if, he had no quarrel or war with anybody on the earth and was acceptable to everybody. He is highly admired for his morality and honesty but his teachings are not followed. The Prophet (peace be upon him) has been portrayed to fit into the Sufi and Tablighi brands of Islam. Islam has been portrayed merely as Islam-e akhlaqia –discharged from any political agenda. As a result, the most significant role of his life as the most successful Head of a state and as the most successful General of an Army that helped Muslims win a series of wars and emerge as the most dominant World Power remain almost hidden or forgotten. Hence, the project of limiting Islam within the rituals like five times prayer, month-long fasting, hajj, and the charity has been very successful. The continuing downfall of the Muslim owes to this deep distraction from the Qur’anic roadmap and wide deviation from the Prophet’s tradition. Because of that, the Qur’anic guidance and sharia laws are found only in the Holy Qur’an and not in Muslim life. And the Prophet’s legacy of state-building and civilization-building endeavours survives only in history books.

The enemy strategy

The enemies’ war against Islam and the Muslims has many frontiers with so many strategies. They recruit a lot of Muslims –even so-called religious scholars as their soldiers. Most of the damages against Islam are done not by the non-Muslims but by these so-called Muslim scholars. Even the kuffer colonial occupiers found many so-called religious scholars to support their occupation. Even jihad against the enemies’ occupation was declared defunct by these so-called Islamic scholars. Their fatwa cum verdicts were on sale. Defending the Muslim state against enemy offence received little or no priority. As a result, the enemies faced hardly any effective resistence to occupy the Muslim countries. Even Islam’s own methodology of building connection with Allah Sub’hana wa Tala is also damaged by the so-called religious scholars. That, too, is done in the name of connecting with Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’ala by the Sufi cults over centuries.

The detachment from the Holy Qur’an

The Holy Qur’an shows the straight path (siratul mustaqeem) towards paradise only when it is rightly understood and followed. So understanding the Holy Qur’an and the full adherence to it is the most important element in Muslims’ life. This is why learning the Holy Qur’an was made obligatory prior to any other obligations; five-time prayers, month-long fasting, zakat, and hajj were made compulsory more than 10 years later. But awfully, it is being told through centuries by the Muslim sheikhs that mere recitation of the Qur’an brings huge reward. Therefore, millions of Muslims didn’t feel any urge to go beyond that. So, the Muslim children in Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia Afghanistan, and many other Muslim countries are taught how to read the Holy Qur’an, but not to understand it. Thus they stay focused only on getting rewards and not getting guidance. Whereas, understanding the Holy Qur’an was taken so seriously by the early Muslims that the non-Arab people of Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Algeria, Morocco, Mali, Tunisia, and many others buried their mother tongue and learned Arabic. Thus the early Muslims brought the biggest and the unique linguistic revolution in human history. Such a strong motivation came from an intense urge to understand Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’ala’s most powerful heartmoving serman.

It is revealed, “Whoever firmly holds the Qur’an is guided onto the way of siratul mustaqeem (the right path).” Firmly holding the Holy Qur’an means firmly adhering to its embedded guidance. For that, it needs the proper understanding of the text. Mere reading of the Holy Qur’anc doesn’t give guidance. As mere recitation of a roadmap doesn’t take anyone to the right destination, following the roadmap is crucial. The Holy Qur’an is called hab’lillah (rope of Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’ala). Hence, whoever holds firmly the Holy Qur’an gets connected with Allah Sub’hand Ta’ala –as revealed in surah Al-Imran verse 101. Here, it is about the connectivity of the soul. Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’ala connects the souls of the believing men and women with His Own Self through the bundle of messages that He has passed onto the believers through the Holy Qur’an. Whenever one recites the Qur’anic messages in the salah, he gets connected with his Almighty Lord. This is indeed the immense benefit of five times prayer.

Ignorance works as a strong barrier against such connectivity. Whereas knowledge of the Holy Qur’an strengthens it. Shaitan promotes ignorance; and Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’ala promotes knowledge. In fact, the Qur’an builds up the connectivity between humans and their Creator. It creates fear of Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’la in believers’ hearts. So it is revealed: “Innama yakh’shAllaha min ibadihil ulama” (Of all creation, only the people of knowledge fear me). So, fear of Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’ala (taqwa) gets generated only through Qur’anic knowledge; and fear of Him is the true marker of the Divine connectivity. And taqwa increases the weight of good deeds. This is why there is a narration from the Prophet (peace be upon him) that whoever spends some time in understanding the Holy Qur’an, is more valuable than anything else in the world.

The connectivity with Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’ala doesn’t stay hidden; it is visible with open eyes. It is indeed the most distinctive feature of Muslim men and women that makes them different from the others. Such connectivity gets overtly expressed through their full alignment with the political, spiritual, social, cultural, economic, and military agenda of Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’ala –as revealed in the Holy Qur’an and as has been practiced by the Prophet (peace be upon him) and his companions. Such connectivity of the believers gets expressed through the investment of their talent, time, wealth, labor, and even blood to bring the victory of Islam over the falsehood. No victory is free of cost, and a Muslim pays the price through jihad. This is why jihad surely comes to every Muslim’s life. Hence, one can’t find a single companion of the Prophet (peace be upon him) who didn’t engage in jihad. In those days, the absence of jihad was recognized as a sign of a kafir or munafiq. On the other hand, establishing an Islamic state, implementation of sharia and hudud, dismantling the dividing barriers that are raised in the name of language, race, and region, and solidifying the Muslim unity and the rule through shura are the defining markers of the connectivity with Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’ala. These are the markers of taqwa. The tide of ideologies like nationalism, secularism, racism, tribalism, fascism, monarchism, and liberalism in the Muslim lands is in fact the clear manifestation of the disconnection.

Zikr (remembrance) of Allah Subhana wa Ta’ala is the most powerful tool to build up a direct link with Him. Whenever a person remembers Him, He, too, remembers him. Fazkuruni azkurkum (you remember me, I will remember you) is His promise –as revealed in Surah Baqarah. Thus, Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’ala provides all-time open access to every man and woman to tell Him whatever he or she wants to tell. He also teaches the best supplication in the Holy Qur’an. Hence, there exists no need for any intermediary role of any saint, pir, or darwish to make any recommendation. And the best zikr is salah. So, a Muslim gets an opportunity to get connected with Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’ala at least five times a day through obligatory prayers.

However, zikr has a wider and deeper connotation. Zikr is not the mere remembrance of His name and the attributes. Rather, it is the remembrance of the message, the guidance, the duties, the roadmap, and the assigned obligation that have been revealed in the Holy Qur’an. It is also about deep contemplation and repents over failures and weaknesses. It is the task to be done in privacy; daily prayers are designed for that. In those golden days of Islam, the task of strengthening the connectivity with Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’ala was taken by the people themselves; there was no professional class of pir, darwish, saint, or Sufi to work as the intermediary. No Sufi khanqah or shrines were built as the special premises for zikr, nor were the Muslims taken out of the mosques to do that. But again, huge damage has been done against the institution of zikr in the name of zikr. Instead of building direct connectivity with Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’ala, people are encouraged to rely on a business clan flourishing in the name of an intermediary. As a result, the people have been left unmindful and careless of their own duty.

Awfully, in the name of prayers (salah), huge damage has also been done to the spirit of islah (reconstruction) of self, states and societies. The people of Tablighi Jamaat have been successful to distract millions of Muslims from Islam’s prime agenda of bringing victory of Islam over the falsehood in states and state institutions. Their focus is very exclusive. They are not interested in the Divine mission of “aamaru bil maaruf” and “nehi anil munkar”. The issues like the implementation of sharia, hudud, and khilafa, launching jihad for ending the enemy occupation, and establishing an Islamic state do not fit into their agenda. Their agenda is confined mostly within the five times prayers. While they call people, they do not call to follow the full Islam. Whereas, Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’ala makes it obligatory to embrace the full Islam (udkhulu sis silmi ka’affa). Patial Islam is not true Islam. Thus, they are adding a new and disastrous deviation to the Ummah.  

The conceptual occupation

The foreign occupation of a Muslim land and the consequential deaths, rape, destruction, and eviction from homes are only the symptoms of the disease. The real pathology of the disease lies much deeper. It is in the conceptual premise of the Muslims. Every deed, behavior, politics, culture, character, and warfare are indeed the expression of the underlying conceptual paradigm. So, Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’ala reveals, “Tell (O Muhammad), everyone act as per his conceptual format (shakela), and your Lord knows the best who is best guided in the path.” –(Surah Isra, verse 84). In the above verse, the word “shakela” is used. The word shakela has a special meaning. It means format, shape, or model. But it is not the physical format; it is the conceptual format, model or paradigm. Such a conceptual model shapes humans’ character, behavior, culture, and acts. So, it is emphasized in the above verse that any shift in humans’ attitude, behavior, culture, and politics needs a shift in the conceptual paradigm.

Doing the first thing first is the great Sunnah of Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’ala. So He made ‘iqra’ the first proclamation in the revelation of the Holy Qur’an. ‘Iqra’ is a metaphorical expression to emphasize reading and understanding of the Holy Qur’an as the foremost obligation. Other obligations like five times prayers, fasting, charity, and hajj came later in the priorities. On the other hand, the consequence of staying away from Qur’anic knowledge is catastrophic. Such ignorance obstructs any endeavour of reconstructing the paradigm as per Qur’anic guidance. Therefore it hinders any moral or behavioural purification. This is why staying ignorant is a great sin; it takes people towards hellfire. Those who stay blind in this world, they will be raised as blind in the hereafter –as revealed in Surah Isra, in verse 72. 

Because of conceptual differences, a secularist, nationalist, racist, fascist, or liberalist visibly differs from an Islamist in all aspects of life. This is why every meaningful social revolution indeed owes to the revolutionary changes in the conceptual premise of the people. The prophet (peace be upon him) took 13 years in the city of Makkah to bring a conceptual revolution in Muslims’ minds before raising an Islamic state and society in Medina. As a result of such conceptual revolution, he could get a group of war-ready people who were prepared to make every sacrifice to promote the cause of Islam. But the enemies of Islam damaged the prophetic methodology. The deep secularisation process during the long anti-Islamic rule of the foreign and native occupiers has reversed the whole process of Islamisation. As a result, the whole conceptual premise of the Muslim ummah now stands occupied by evil ideologies. So, the Muslim countries are producing more enemies of Islam than soldiers.

Since the de-Islamisation process still continues, the Muslims’ downfall also continues. Because of the conceptual perversion, the political and ideological forces in the Muslim countries stand fiercely inimical against Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’ala’s agenda. Instead, they are more aligned with the agenda of the kuffar. So, the imperialists, the nationalists, the monarchists, the secularists, and the cruel despots get more soldiers in the Muslim World than are found for fighting for Islam. As a result, Islam stands defeated. Like the foreign kuffar, the native occupying forces of the Muslim countries, too, look happy with the annihilation of the early days’ Islam. The known enemies of Islam are their ideological siblings. They are desperate to crush any chances of Islam’s revival.

Because of such animosity towards Islam, the most fundamental and revered Islamic jargons like jihad, khilafa, sharia, shura, ummah, ittehad and hudud have turned taboo even amidst the Muslims. What Abu Jahl or Abu Lahab used to do with the early Muslims, they are doing the same against those who want to bring back the Islamic rule. They are either being killed or put in prisons in Muslim lands. The conceptual distortion has gone so worse that even fighting against the occupation of foreign kuffar is criminalized; it is called terrorism. With such a toxic mindset, even the US-led occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq with the death of about 1.5 million and destruction of numerous cities and villages got sanitized -not only by the kuffar states but also by many of the Muslim states. In such a culture of perversion, even the rule of the most inhuman despotic autocrats over the Muslim countries is also tolerated with a deep silence of approval.

The betrayal

The Muslims have hugely increased in number. But they adopted a culture of betrayal of the core Islamic agenda. Therefore, a population of 1.5 billion fails conspicuously to add any glory or success to Islam and Muslims. They live without true Islam. Whereas, Islam is the only prescribed religion for the whole mankind -as it is revealed, “innad dina endallihil Islam” (certainly, Islam is the only acceptable religion unto Allah). Compliance with the Divine prescription brought them glory in the past, but now they are making a history of belligerent non-compliance with Islam. Opposing sharia, hudud, khelafa, jihad, and Muslim unity is no more a crime limited to kuffar, also getting committed by those who claim to be Muslim and the followers of the Prophet (peace be upon him). How can such betrayals bring down any Divine blessing? Is it not the sure way to qualify for the punishment in the hereafter? Knowingly or unknowingly, most Muslims are following that path.

How crucial is the implementation of Islam’s sharia law, hudud and other principles has never been an obscure issue. It has been made very clear many times in the Holy Qur’an. It is revealed: “He has made plain to you (O Muhammad) of the religion (deen) what He commanded upon Noah and that which We have revealed to you, and that which We commanded upon Ibrahim and Musa and Isa –to establish the religion (deen) and not be divided therein.”–(Surah as-Shura, verse 13). Hence, the establishment of deen is crucial. It is non-negotiable. Compromise on this issue is tantamount to disbelief that makes kafir. The above verse has a huge ground-breaking implication; it brings revolution in Muslims’ minds and deeds. It brings obligatory jihad in Muslims’ life. This is why none of the Prophet’s (peace be upon him) companions stood away from it; more than 60 percent of them became martyrs. Every bit of Islam was ordained to be fully practiced. None of its laws (sharia), punitive codes (hudud), and other directives to be defunct.

The issue of practicing Islam at social, political, cultural, and state-level has always been the prime agenda of the final Prophet (peace be upon him). To demonstrate the whole methodology of implementation of Islam, he needed to be the head of the Islamic state. So politics was part of his life. From day one in Medina, he demonstrated how to practice Islam at the community, state, and international levels. He fully showcased Islam as the complete code of life. Since no society, state, or ruling clique provides any empty space for the implementation of sharia and other Islamic obligations, the real test of iman starts in politics. Standing face to face against the war-ready kuffar becomes indispensable; even the kindest man in the whole human history like Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) couldn’t avoid such an imposed relentless war.

In the Holy Qur’an, Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’ala has revealed His Own agenda thrice using almost the same narrative. To make any Divine decree obligatory, a single Qur’anic proclamation is enough. But, the All-Wise Almighty Lord has preferred to repeat it thrice. The declaration came in Surah Taubah, Surah Fatah, and Surah Saf. Such repetition has added extra importance to His agenda. The common text in all three verses is the same and comes as “liyuzhirahu alad’dini kullihi”. It is indeed the core intent of Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’ala. It means “to make His din (Islam) prevail over all other creeds or religions”. Such revelation of His vision has indeed a huge implication on those who sincerely believe in Him, have a true love for Him and are desperate to please Him. It sets the agenda of a true believer’s life. Nothing is more sacred in his life than full congruence with his Almighty Lord’s agenda.

The dysfunction and the moral collapse

Islam aims to make people fit for paradise. It is its prime agenda. Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’ala doesn’t give corrupt and unfaithful humans access to His most wonderful and most pleasurable super-creation called paradise. It is reserved only for the pure and faithful people. For that, everyone needs to go through a purifying process. Islam’s five-time prayers, fasting, charity, hajj, and the Islamic state with its politics, education, culture, and judiciary are the indispensable parts of the purifying process. Enjoining the right (amaru bil maruf) and eradication of the wrong (nehi anil munker) is a policy for social purification. And it is the obligatory homework for every believer. Such homework is jihad in Islam. If Muslims accomplish this homework properly, only then they can attain the promised rank of khaira ummat (the best nation) amidst the whole of mankind. The early Muslims could achieve that. They indeed became the showcase of true Islam. Because of the high level of moral purification, they could easily impress others and could cause huge religious conversions in Asia, Africa, and Europe. But later on, the purifying process became dysfunctional and Muslims became showcases of evil. As a result, the downfall started.

Most of the Muslim states now stand occupied under the home-grown internal enemies. They are the trusted partners of the external enemies. They build a huge infrastructure of corruption and occupation with the taxpayers’ money. The whole civil and military administration, the police, the judiciary, the educational institutions, and even the religious bodies become tools to spread corruption and strengthen the enemies’ occupation. This is indeed the greatest catastrophe in the entire span of Muslim history. If a state gets corrupted, everything gets corrupted. So, it proves how crucial it is to keep the state free from criminals. It helps to understand why Allah Sub’hana Ta’ala gives the highest honor to those who sacrifice their wealth and life to keep the state and its institutions free from the enemy occupation. If they are killed in His path, Allah Sub’hana Ta’ala made it haram to call them dead. They directly enter into paradise without any trial. It also helps to understand why spending even a moment defending the independence of an Islamic state is better than spending the whole night in supplementary (nafal) prayers –as mentioned by the Prophet (peace be upon him). It also illuminates why the highest seat of power must go to the best man with taqwa.

But it is shocking that Muslims have failed on all these counts. The seat where the Prophet (peace be upon him) used to sit has now been seized by the criminal despots. Now the whole Muslim World stays under the occupation of internal enemies. So the laws of Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’ala (sharia) has no place in the judiciary of the Muslim countries. As a result, the downhill march of the Ummah is at a high speed. Instead of becoming the best people on earth, they could go on to the level of the worst people on the earth. Even the cow-worshipping Indian idolaters could show better political sense and acumen than Muslims. Despite their ethnic, linguistic, and caste differences, more than one billion Hindus could stay united in one country and could raise a powerful state on the world stage.

Qualifying for punishment

As a consequence of moral collapse, the Muslims are doing greater harm to Islam. They are disfiguring as well hiding the beauties of Islam. Because of them, the religious conversion rate to Islam now stands very low. What a few million Muslims could do in the golden days of Islam, 1.5 billion Muslims can’t do even a tiny fraction of that. A dense cloud can hide even the glowing sun. Likewise, a huge bulk of corrupt Muslims could successfully hide the Divine light of true Islam. Along with hiding Islam, they are doing another big crime. They are showcasing their ugly disbelief in Islam through conceptual perversions and corrupt practices. Thus, they are committing the same harms to Islam as are being committed by the enemies of Islam. They have proven their readiness to serve their kuffar masters as partners in subversion of any Islamic resurgence in any part of Muslim World. Because of them, the USA, Russia, France and others are not alone in their brutal aggression in any Muslim country. As rulers they could successfully nullify Islam’s core project of implementing the right (a’maru bil ma’ruf) and eradicating the wrongdoers (nehi anil munker).

Corruption breeds corruption and makes people’s souls hostile to any faith. It is a moral disease that kills the genuine faith and moral instincts of humans. For faithful moral survival, therefore, it needs the total eradication of the source of corruption. Hence, the Almighty Lord has prescribed the curative measures, too. Mere enlightenment with the Qur’anic knowledge and religious rituals do not help cure the disease. Full implementation of sharia and hudud is obligatory to eliminate the source of the disease. But the Muslims’ failure in enjoining the right and eradicating the wrong is huge. When some Muslim countries score as the most corrupt countries in the world, it reveals the real disease of the Muslims. It shows how the Muslims are failing to grow up as true Muslims. The huge number of mosques, madrasas, schools, and colleges can’t hide such ugly failures. Such moral failure gives a true estimate of the Muslims’ downfall as a civilizational force. It shows how badly they are failing to work as the viceroy (khalifa) of Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’ala.

Since sharia, hudud and the Islamic judiciary do the cleansing part of the job against corruption, the Muslims can’t regain moral health without their full implementation. In absence of such a cleansing tool in place, corruption climbs up at an alarming rate. In Islam, the importance of sharia and hudud is so high that Almighty Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’ala has labelled those who do not run the judiciary as per revealed law (sharia) as kafir, zalim and fasik.–(Surah Maidah, verses 44, 45, 47). But, the Muslims show the betrayal of the Qur’anic prescription. The betrayal has gone to the extent that the rulers of most Muslim countries now stand shoulder to shoulder with the kuffar against the implementation of sharia, hudud, khilafa, jihad, and other basics of Islam.

The rulers of the Muslim countries are in a race to be the best friends of the worst enemies of Islam. They don’t bother about Allah Sub’hana wa Ta’al’s agenda and vision. Alongside the rulers, the common Muslims are not doing the assigned job either. Therefore downsliding from Islam in Muslims’ life continues at all levels at a high speed. The enemy occupation, defeat of Islamic forces and abolition of sharia always bring jihad in people’s life who are true Muslim. This is the only way to get saved from the hellfire and to qualify for eternal paradise. But those who stand away from Islam, can they qualify for this greatest ibadah? 25.10.2021