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....