Present Facts - Action Agenda for the Muslim Ummah

Present Facts

Let us frankly acknowledge the hard facts and conditions of present-day Muslims, however unpleasant they may appear to us. Theoretically, the words “Muslim Ummah” cover in their fold all the Muslims of the world and as such it is a universalistic concept. But, as a matter of fact, one global Muslim Ummah is at the moment a non-entity. Instead, there are many Muslim nations in the world. Even Allama Muhammad Iqbal, a great advocate of the unity of Muslim Ummah, had to be realistic about the actual condition of Muslims in the world. Accordingly, in his lectures, entitled Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam, he wrote that there is no one united Muslim Ummah in the world; rather there are many Muslim nations living in different states. However, perhaps this too was true more than half a century ago when Allama Iqbal delivered the Lectures. The present situation of most Muslim nations is worse still and most Muslim nations are split into numerous regional, ethnic, or linguistic groups.

The readers of these lines can very well appreciate this fact if they consider the case of Pakistan. At the time of its appearance in 1947 as a separate homeland for the Muslims of the Indian subcontinent, Pakistanis were considered as one Muslim nation by all. Both wings of Pakistan were united and considered Islam the basis of their unity. Soon afterwards, however, regional sentiments and concern for regional languages came up on the surface and eventually paved the way for the ceding of East Pakistan. Consequently, it became Bangladesh in 1971 and asserted her Bengali identity more than the former Muslim character. Every one of us laments how savagely and brutally non-Bengali Muslims were tortured and murdered by the Bengali nationalists of East Pakistan. And in the truncated Pakistan, too, there is no ideological unity in the people. The Pakistani nation stands divided and fragmented on the bases of ethnicity, culture, and language, and different groups are constantly at loggers head with each other. Since not a single province of Pakistan has only one ethnic community, we often hear news of gruesome violence and brutalities among various communities living in one province and even in one city. For example, in Baluchistan there are at least three large ethnic groups, and to a lesser degree this is also true of other provinces of Pakistan. In Sindh the Mohajirs (migrants from India) have formally assumed the status of a politico-cultural entity. Indeed, from the very beginning, distinction was made almost every where in the country but particularly in the province of Sindh between the locals and the migrants, and this discrimination eventually led to the formation of MQM in urban Sindh. 

Again the Arab world, where all speak and write Arabic, is divided in a number of nation-states and people there identify themselves with reference to distinct nationalities.

So the hard fact that we must accept is that today a united world Muslim Ummah is non-existent. The de facto position is frankly none other than this. The Ummah only exists as an ideal concept in the minds of Muslims who consider theoretically all believers of Islam and the Prophet (SAW) as members of one global religious fraternity. According to this belief, each confessor of Muhammad’s (SAW) Prophethood is regarded a member of the universal Muslim brotherhood. 

This belief in itself is perfectly correct, but the question is whether Muslims all around the world do in fact behave as a well-knit ideological group? Is there any discipline among the Muslims? Is there a plenary leadership among Muslim nations and are the directives and recommendations of that leadership heeded by the member states? I regret to say that the answer to all these questions is in the negative. Was not a large part of Afghan army with the Russians when the latter were killing Afghan people mercilessly? Were not the most inhuman atrocities against Afghans committed by their own Islam-professing Afghan brethren? Again was not the long and devastating war between Iran and Iraq between two Muslim countries? Armed clashes between different factions of Muslims in Lebanon and brutal and murderous assaults on Palestinian refugee camps are known to anyone who is in touch with modern media. And the recent Gulf war has proved beyond any doubt that, as a matter of fact, one world-wide Muslim Ummah does not exist.

In the light of these facts the ayah under consideration with the particularizing sense of preposition in the expression minkum assumes special significance and its meanings become quite intelligible. In effect, what it means is that even when the vast multitudes of people in the Muslim Ummah are in a state of slumber, are divided among themselves and pursuing only secular ends, there must arise a group or party within the larger Ummah that performs the duties laid down by the Qur’an in this ayah, and also make the rest aware of them.

Source: Three-Point Action Agenda for the Muslim Ummah (Book by Dr.Israr Ahmad)

to be continued....

Third step - Action Agenda for the Muslim Ummah

Third step

Let us now concentrate our attention on the third ayah (ayah 104 of Surah Aal-e¬Imran) the English translation of which reads:

And from among you there must be a party (a group or band of committed Muslims) who invite people to all that is good, and enjoin the doing of all that is right and forbid the doing of all that is wrong. It is they who will attain true success.

An objective and detailed study of the preceding two ayaat of the Surah leaves no ambiguity or doubt in the mind of the reader that both of them call for a collectivity of believers, and that a serious and sincere action on their dictates necessarily demands the formation of a group or party. Now the question arises: what is the objective or goal this group should keep in view and work for? As a matter of fact, all creations and artifacts are made for serving some purpose. Even a small and modest association of people is constituted and organized for achieving certain goals defined in the memorandum of aims and objectives. So the question that quite naturally arises is: what is the purpose or goal of that group which results from collectively dinging to the Qur’an? This exactly is what is explained in the ayah under review.

This ayah has been translated in two different ways by the translators. For some, the preposition min of minkum in the ayah is general and descriptive, while for some others it is of particularizing nature. Leaving aside the technicalities of the two types of min just mentioned, let us see what difference, if any, is made in the meaning of the ayah by either use of it. 

According to the former the ayah would be translated as: “And you should together form a group that invites people to all that is good…,” whereas according to the latter sense of min the translation would be: “And from among you there must be a group or party that invites people to all that is good ….“ Now in my view both these translations of the ayah are entirely correct, and the logical import of the meaning of the ayah is hardly changed by the minor linguistic difference of the two translations. 

If all the Muslims of the world unite and together constitute an ideological fraternity (i.e., the Muslim Ummah) that performs the duties of inviting people to all that is good, enjoin the doing of all right actions and forbid the doing of all that is wrong —this would be the import of the ayah according to the descriptive or indicative use of min. But since this descriptive function of the whole of Muslim Ummah is repeated a little further on in ayah 110 of this very Surah, a large majority of Qur’anic scholars take min in the particularizing sense and interpret the ayah by maintaining that it demands the formation of a group comprising of committed and motivated Muslims from among the vast Muslim fraternity of less motivated believers. That is to say, this ayah provides answer to the question: what should be done when, by and large, the Ummah neglects its religious obligations and thus pays no heed to its Divinely ordained duties.

Source: Three-Point Action Agenda for the Muslim Ummah (Book by Dr.Israr Ahmad)

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Action agenda so far - Action Agenda for the Muslim Ummah

Action agenda so far

To summarize the action-agenda so far covered in these pages: the first practical step of the three-point Qur’anic strategy is with regard to Taqwa and Islam. That is to say, a true Muslim should remain steadfast in his obedience and loyalty to God. He should avoid everything which is not pleasing to Him and live his entire life in total submission to His commandments. As a corollary, acting on the injunctions of the Holy Prophet (SAW) is also included in it, as the commandments of the Prophet (SAW) are in fact the commandments of Allah (see Al-Nisa 4:80). The second practical step is with regard to the Qur’an: i’tesam bil-Qur’an holding fast and attaching oneself firmly to the Qur’an. And this obligation is to be discharged in a unified manner. Division and dissension among Muslims is thoroughly disapproved by Allah (SWT).

Now the question is : What does “holding fast together the cord of Allah” mean and imply in practical terms. In the booklet The Obligations Muslims Owe To the Qur’an, I have made an impassioned call to the Muslims to return to the Qur’an, to rededicate themselves to its study, and make it the sole guide for their lives. Instead of making purely academic attempts at describing the unique merits and magnificence of Qur’an, the most pertinent thing for us to do is that we should clearly understand our responsibilities towards the Qur’an and then assess for ourselves whether or not we are conscientiously fulfilling them. Paying lip service or pompous tributes to the Qur’an will not be enough and these cannot substitute for actually discharging our obligations towards the Holy Book. Now what are these obligations? Or, in other words, what does the Qur’an demand from us? An objective study of the Book makes it amply dear that it makes five demands from every Muslim. Put in a simple language, these demands or obligations are as follows:

1. A Muslim is required to truly believe in the Qur’an.
2. He is required to read it properly.
3. He is required to understand it.
4. He is required to act upon its teachings in his private life to struggle for the implementation of Shari’ah and the establishment of Social Justice at the state level.
5. He is required to disseminate its teachings to others and operationalize Islam at the global level. He must spend most of his energies and monetary sources for this cause.

As a matter of fact, if Muslims rejuvenate their relationship with the Qur’an on these lines, it will weld them into one Ummah with utmost mental and emotional unity as well as unique singularity of purpose and objective. All sorts of dissension, strife and antagonism among them will automatically vanish, and they will become united like a solid cemented structure (in Qur’anic expression, bunyan marsus). And this will indeed be a concrete exemplification of the Holy Prophet’s saying according to which Almighty Allah (SWT) will bestow dignity and honor on those people who hold fast to the Qur’an and will degrade and disgrace those who turn a deaf ear to it and do not discharge their obligations towards it. Allama Iqbal has expressed these very ideas in beautiful Persian verses thus:

To sum up: there are the two practical steps through which a man personally becomes a true believer and the collectivity of believers takes the form of a strong ideological fraternity. Now the question that crops up is: what methodology is to be pursued by this ideological group for its global struggle? This indeed is the subject matter of the next Qur’anic ayah to be explained in the sequel. It is a happy coincidence that this methodology too consists of three points and we will dwell upon them at some length.

Source: Three-Point Action Agenda for the Muslim Ummah (Book by Dr.Israr Ahmad)

to be continued....

Pakistan - Action Agenda for the Muslim Ummah

Pakistan

Before we proceed further, it is quite appropriate to see if the historical evidence alluded to in this ayah has any special bearing on the current political scenario of Pakistan. As Muslims, we believe that the teachings of the Qur’an have eternal and everlasting validity and that, as a source of guidance, the Qur’anic principles have applicability for all places and for all times to come. Seen in this perspective, we can better appreciate the gravity of the conditions prevailing today in Pakistan, and, at the same time, see a ray of hope offered to all believers in the Qur’anic ayah under discussion. Just as Allah (SWT) welded the warring Arab factions into a strong brotherhood fourteen centuries ago He can now turn the disarrayed and conflicting provinces of Pakistan into a strong unity, provided the people of Pakistan earnestly act upon the three-point action strategy explained in these three ayaat.

It is an undeniable historical fact that the Indian subcontinent was partitioned on the basis of Two-Nation theory, and that Pakistan was established on the foundation of Muslim Nationhood and in the name of Islam. Muslims living in the widely separated areas of India were united by the bond of Islamic faith, and demanded a separate homeland with the objective that Muslims of India, by removing all the taints of decadent and monarchical Islam, get an opportunity to re-establish the pristine Islamic system of political, economic, and social justice which is the most important manifestation of the Holy Prophet’s (SAW) universal mercy and blessing. 

We regret to say, however, that in spite of the fact that forty seven years have passed since Pakistan was established, no real progress has as yet been made towards achieving the envisaged goal. The political and economic system inherited from the British Raj has throughout been kept intact; not only in the overall system, but in matters of social and communal values also we are strictly maintaining the status quo. Both in practice and thought we exhibit the same old slavish mentality.

The system to which we are sticking in the political governance of our homeland has the following important features:

1. Territorial Nationalism, i.e., the concept of nationalism that was born of Western secularism and on whose absolute negation Pakistan movement was launched.
2. Parliamentary Democracy, the initial training of which was imparted to us by our English rulers.
3. The names and boundaries of the provinces demarcated by the British for their administrative expediency and which we consider not only permanent and everlasting but even sacrosanct.
4. The banking system — on which all our industry and trade, in fact our entire economy, is based — is contaminated to this day by the filth of interest. As a result, the entire nation and the country is, in the words of the Qur’an, at war with Allah (SWT) and His Messenger (SAW).
5. Accursed evils of gambling, speculation and lottery —declared by the Qur’an as “an abomination of Satan’s handiwork” (Al-Mai’da 5:90) — are rampant.
6. The system of feudalism and absentee landlordism, the worst and most abominable form of oppression and usurpation, has basically not changed at all in spite of the so-called land reforms introduced twice.
7. Mixed (non-segregated) social living that debased the West as far as modesty and chastity are concerned. It destroyed the domestic peace and confounded the family structure. And this evil is such that it did not take roots in our society even during the British rule to the extent it is now in vogue, and is increasing by leaps and bounds every day.
8. The distinction between the “tribal” and “settled” areas in the N.W.F.P. is still continuing.

The current scenario of Pakistan calls for a total change in the entire body politic and socio-economic system of the homeland. Unity among the people of Pakistan and the establishment of Islamic Social Justice is the need of the day. This, in fact, was the real purpose of establishing Pakistan, and only this can ensure her continued existence, stability and progress. It is on account of deviation from this very cause that the Muslim nation of Pakistan got divided into different regional, ethnic and linguistic nationalities.

This breaking of our vow with Allah (SWT) and disloyalty to His Deen has led to tremendous plunder and bloodshed among the people of various regions. Divine punishment whipped us in 1971 and even now if we do not make headway towards the real objective of Pakistan, Divine punishment could whip us again any time and would whip us more severely. Indeed, Pakistan has to prepare herself to face all the threats posed by the New World Order. If, on the contrary, Pakistanis do not come out of their deep slumber and do not give up their materialistic pursuits, the anti-Islamic designs of the so-called “supreme world power” will subjugate it to the point of virtual nonexistence. An ostrich-like attitude will not save us from perilous dangers, and it is imperative that we, at the earliest and in right earnest, read the writing on the wall.

If a true Muslim reflects on the conditions of Pakistan diligently and thoughtfully, he will realize that the situation of Pakistanis totally resembles that of the Arabs before the advent of Islam depicted in the words of the Qur’an — “you stood on the brink of a pit of fire.” And the only way out of this pit of fire is the one delineated by these ayaat of Surah Aal-e-Imran. As the Qur’an is the eternal Divine message for all humanity, its teachings too have abiding efficacy and applicability. No matter how degenerate our conditions and circumstances may be, the Qur’an offers a sure panacea for all our ills.

In the Khatm Al-Qur’an prayer we most humbly pray to Almighty Allah (SWT) that Qur’an may be made our leader, guide and beacon of light. But, surely, we cannot get it all merely for the asking. We have to struggle hard to achieve our solicited desires. Holding fast together to the cord of Allah — the Holy Qur’an — is, therefore, the second practical point of the strategy laid down by the Divine Book.

Source: Three-Point Action Agenda for the Muslim Ummah (Book by Dr.Israr Ahmad)

to be continued....