AOA, TABLEEGH AND THE POLITICAL POWER Tableegh in Islam is of paramount importance there is no doubt about it. It is an all time activity without ever bringing it to a complete halt at any time during the life of a Muslim. But it is not simply confined to becoming peripatetic for proselytizing missions, it has many other aspects. Since Islam is a Deen and not only a religion so it covers all the aspects of human affairs. There is no such thing as worldly and non worldly commitments of a Muslim because Islam is all encompassing and all workable. So, therefore, all activities of life are either carried out as per Islamic code of conduct or at variance with it. For example, taking a cue from the life of the Prophet (PBUH) himself, the whole gamut or spectrum of life is one integral whole that can hardly be told apart as something like worldly and non-worldly. Any activity which we deem worldly is a part of our Deen. Whatever a Muslim does from dawn to dusk is taken to be granted as either being Islamic or non-Islamic ( this is not categorized as worldly or non-worldly as is normally done or presumed). A countrified illiterate fellow who is hardly capable of even writing his name asked me as to how much time had I spent in acquiring my education and upon being informed of the nitty gritty he, rubbing his hands in sorrow, told me very ruggedly that I had wasted 22 long years of my life because per his pearls of wisdom, I had not spent any time in the path of Allah so therefore with all of my worldly education and its merits 22 years of my life were well and truly gone down the drain. I tried in vain to put some logic in his mind, but the poor fellow being thick-skinned to the ultimate limits, remained rigidly impervious to anything reasonable. This was the height of his ignorance when I tried to tell something from the Holy Quran, he abruptly uttered the un-say-able thing that I dread to recount. He said “Leave Qu…. I am talking above Qu…”. Short of verbal insult in the strongest term, I asked him to stop there and then. As per my scanty knowledge, If we offer Salaah daily it is Islam, and if we eat, drink, talk, walk, think , behave, read, write, sleep, earn our livelihood according as Islam has enjoined on us to do or not to do, it is all Islam. Yes, Tableegh is also Islam but it is one of the many activities of Islamic life that come to pass and transpire to a person during his life time. Why should one say how much time you have spent in the path of Allah and it should automatically be taken to mean as how much time one has spent on peripatetic proselytizing missions. Why should this be separated from the rest of the time that one passes as per Prophet’s Sunnah. Tableegh was not the only activity of the Prophet’s life ( Although it was one of the greatest activities) And the Prophet’s Tableegh was directed at the Kafirs mainly, unlike the one which now a days is done to the Muslims who ought to practice Islam rather than only accept Islam as a true religion. There is a huge difference bringing the Unbelievers into the sphere of Islam and advising the Muslims to inject Islamic values in all the conduct of their lives – but nevertheless, Tableegh even today is as paramount as it ever was and must remain consistently in operation throughout. I do not mean at all to belittle the merits of Tableegh. I venerate all those who are engaged in Tableegh. Majority of Tableeghi Ulema consists of such people as are really God-fearing and worried about the Muslim Ummah and want to bring back the younger Muslim generation, most vulnerable and impressionable and readily influenced by the spurious attractions of western culture, to identify the richness of their own culture and the universality of their own religion wherein lies the salvation of the whole humanity. Tableegh indeed is the desideratum. I shall be the last person to seek repugnance for Tableeg. My only contention is that this is not the complete Sunnah, it is the half way round. You can make people to listen a litany of your pious platitudes, but you cannot enforce Islamic code of conduct into their real lives. So what I want to emphasize is that in the pursuit of implementation of the Islamic injunctions, law and justice, it is incumbent on the said Ulema to come forward and fight the forces of evil and finally after taking hold of the government authority, establish the salient and uncontroversial rules and regulations of Islam by introducing Islamic laws as per God’s Holy Commandments so that we the Muslim should be made to abide by Islamic rules, adopt and lead Islamic way of life instead of still living under British System of (in) justice after 60 years of so-called Independence and be able not only to talk Islam but walk Islam. Why I insist about catching hold of political power by Tableeghi Ulema, because it is my belief that if these people came to power, they will make sure that what is said is also done by their own practical example. Because they are practical, down to earth elements, the quintessence of sincerity and paragon of virtue. Prophet said the earlier nations were destroyed less for any other reason than for the fact that the laws were applied differently for the rich and the poor. Only these ulema can bring about the real change in the lives of the Muslim and our country whose growth has been stunted and degenerated into a basket case will acquire the most needed strength and flourish into a Muslim society par excellence, the one that the Muslim of Sub Continent had dreamt of. I wonder why these ulema do not give the required attention to this dire need of the Muslim Ummah choosing to ignore this long “left over Sunnah” of the Prophet. Prophet (PBUH) and Sahaaba ® did not take the political power into their hands for the sake of their own aggrandizement but for Allah’s sake. Why that law is not applicable today. Simply because it seems more challenging and difficult than Tableegh. Concern of the Tableeghi Ulema needs to be roused to the fact that Pakistan is creaking under the burden of social injustices and atrocities of all kinds. When was the last time one unscrupulous entity held another responsible for his corruption of titanic proportions. How long shall we wait for a Messiah to descend from the blue and rid us of all the sagging and jarring predicaments in every nook and corner of our lives. When they travel from one Mosque to another, why it does not occur for a single minute to Tableeghi persons that how many children who ought to have been in the schools for study are brutally subjected to ruthless child labour simply to meet both ends meet for themselves and for their poor parents and why they turn a blind eye to the fact that how many cruelties, rapes, thefts, killings, and horrendous miseries and evil deeds might have taken place on the very road they have traveled and how many injustices might have taken place during their journey from one mosque to another. This does not seem to be the part of their itinerary. Let the country be ruled by the ultimate plunderers, looters, criminals and the slaves of the western masters, let the international conspiracies against Islam and the Muslim nations peak unimpeded, it is none of their pigeon to pay a slightest heed to. I regret to state though, in this sorry saga and national holocausts, Tableegh alone will fall short of redressing these holocausts unless it is injected with the vitality of political power. What happened to the Muslims of Mecca at the time of the Prophet (PBUH) when they were without political power in front of the mighty powr of the Unbelievers who had brought all kinds of cruelties to bear upon the Muslims living in Mecca. They turned their lives into real Aceldama. A lot of Muslims had migrated to Habash and those living in and around Mecca remained in perpetual danger of being killed. Their normal day to day life had become a tale in trials and tribulations. There was nothing to fall back upon and even the life of the Prophet (PBUH) was in danger. It was under these gruesome situation that the Verse 80 Sura 17 (17 : 80)descended from Allah wherein Allah asked the Prophet to pray to Allah for the grant of power i.e. the government. Since onward, the Prophet (PBUH) regularly prayed to Allah for the grant of governmental power so that Allah”s Deen could be imposed in the lives of the people. An Hadith also validates the veracity of the acquirement of the governmental power “ Innullah ‘a layazau bissultani Malaa yazau bilquraani .” (What evil things can be done away with by governmental power by Allah cannot be done away with by Quraan (Tableegh)”. This clearly indicates that to seek or attempt to seek political power for the eradication of societal evils and to make people’s lives virtuous and government by the tenets of Islam is not only allowable in Islam but also a dire necessity. There are many Islamic laws which Allah has ordained to impose by force in the lives of the Muslims. So how can this be done alone by Tableegh if it is not coupled with the attainment of political power. And those who believe that this is difficult to get hold of power, and it is not our objective to gain worldly power, etc. etc. are not only kidding themselves but are effectively ducking out of their religious assignments and shunning their responsibilities. All the four Kaliphs were second to none in their obligation of Tableegh but they did not deem it repugnant to Islam to rule for the establishment of Islamic society and to impose the will of God as ordained in Quraan. Also Islam is not averse to acquiring worldly knowledge like science, Maths, Algebra, computer, geography, history, trade, and all allied disciplines. These are equally necessary for the progress and growth of the Muslims to remain on cutting edge of practical knowledge. When the Unbelievers were taken prisoners during holy war, The Prophet had imposed a condition on them that if any one of them would educate ten Muslims will be set free. Certainly this condition was not for Islamic education, it was for the current disciplines that prevailed at that time which the Prophet knew would add to the progress and prosperity of the Muslim Ummah. It also reflects that Islam is not averse to learning worldly knowledge which is not repugnant to Islamic teachings anyway. When Sir Syed was asking the Muslims of the Sub-continent to learn English, he in fact was not doing anything contrary to Islam but very much Islam itself because he knew that if the Muslims will not learn English they will remain slaves and will end up peons, laborers, and farmers only. The key assignments will be dished out to Hindus and would rule and the Muslims will always be ruled unless properly educated. With bona fide intentions, he was not doing anything other than the gist of Islam. And those scholars who have translated the Holy Quraan into English and other Islamic Literatures, have done a marvelous job. Their titanic efforts in this regard have resulted thousands of Unbelievers being reverted (not converted because by birth everyone is Muslim) to Islam. I am sure if not today, certainly someday later on the head honchos of the Tableegi Jamaat will awake to the crude realization that the attainment of the government power for the eradication of numerous evils and ills of the society and to impose the commandments of Allah (SWT) and Islam what they used to think was not their cup of tea, indeed is one of the most essential requirements of Deen and Islam. When Allah (SWT) says stop the evil by force, if you can or if not possible stop by talking and if this also is not possible then detest the evil in your heart and mind, but this is the lowest degree of piety. The supreme being the one which is to stop the evil by force. What this means is the power to fight and eradicate evil not from ones own life but from the face of the earth is an inescapable must which Allah had asked His Messenger to pray for from the All-powerful and Omnipotent Allah Almighty (SWT). Thanks my friends for bearing with me for quite a bit of time. Regards, Assad.
Posted on: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 12:53:29 +0000
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