2. Explaining what is wrong with the phrase “The Jahiliyyah of the twentieth century”, Shaykh Bakr Abu Zayd (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The great scholar al- Albani said that this phrase involves exaggeration and overlooking the fact that Islam prevailed over all other religions. In Hayaat al-Albani (the Life of al-Albani) it says: The phrase “The Jahiliyyah of the twentieth century” in al-Albani’s opinion: Question: The da’iyah (caller to islam) Sayyid Qutub (may Allaah have mercy on him) used a phrase that is often repeated in some Islamic schools of thought of which he is the figurehead, namely “The Jahiliyyah of the twentieth century”. How precise and correct is this phrase? To what extent does it correspond to the Jahiliyyah of ancient times in your opinion? Al-Albani replied: Praise be to Allah and blessings and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah and his family and companions and those who followed him after that. What I think is that this phrase, “The Jahiliyyah of the twentieth century”, is not free of exaggeration about the current century – the twentieth century. The fact that Islam is alive in this century, even though it has been infiltrated by things that are not part of it, means that we cannot say that this century is like the first Jahiliyyah of old. We know that what is meant by the first Jahiliyyah is the Arabs only: they were idolaters, they were clearly misguided, and it applies to the religions that existed around the Arabs, namely Judaism and Christianity, which are distorted religions. Therefore, at that time there was no pure religion left that had not been changed and altered. Undoubtedly describing that era as Jahiliyyah is correct. But that is not the case in the present era, because Allah blessed the Arabs first, then the rest of mankind, by sending to them Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), the Seal of the Prophets, to whom He revealed the religion of Islam, which is the final religion, and Allah has promised to preserve this religion as He says (interpretation of the meaning): “Verily, We, it is We Who have sent down the Dhikr (i.e. the Quran) and surely, We will guard it (from corruption)” [15:9]. His Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) told us that the Muslim ummah (nation), although it would be faced with some deviation as befell the nations before it, he said: “You will certainly follow the ways of those who came before you hand span by hand span, cubit by cubit, to the extent that if they entered the hole of a lizard, you will enter it too.” We said: “O Messenger of Allah, (do you mean) the Jews and the Christians?” He said: “Who else?” I say, Although the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) told us that the Muslims would deviate to a large extent and they would imitate the Jews and Christians in that deviation, at the same time he (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also gave his followers the glad tidings that they would continue to follow the line that he drew for them.
Posted on: Wed, 23 Oct 2013 13:52:17 +0000
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