Updated: Monday August 11, 2014/AlEthnien
Shawwal 15, 1435/Somavara
Sravana 20, 1936, at 12:01:32 PM
Only One Question
THE QUESTION
It has been a concern for
centuries that Muslims irrespective of the sect, group or country they belong
to, have left Islam. As a matter of fact this is true for the whole MUSLIM
Nation.
Of course it is true, but has any
one ever thought about the reasons for it? How come the whole nation has left
Islam? It was not for a few days, but centuries! why is all this? This much is
clear that we have to think about it and try to analyze the prevailing
situation.
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THE ANALYSIS
You ask a communist about the
definition of “Communism”, he will answer you in clear, distinct, and definite
words. You ask the question repeatedly to several communists, every one will
have the same answer. In the light of their answers, it will not be
difficult to assess if somebody is a communist or not, and whether a nation is
still communist or not and whether a nation is still communist or has left
communism.
Similarly you ask a socialist
about “Socialism”, they will also give you a definitive answer. In the light
of their answer you can easily judge if an individual or a nation is
still socialist or not
Likewise, if you ask a western
democrat about “Democracy”, he will be able to give you a
definitive answer.
Now if you ask a Muslim
about Islam, he will give you a certain reply. When you ask the same
question to different Muslims you will be surprised to note that every one’s
answer is different. This is true even for religious scholars let alone the
common person. Every one of the scholars gives a different answer. This
contention is not all imaginary, it has been proven.
In 1953, in Punjab, a province in
“Amongst these scholars even
two did not have the same answer.”
(English Report pg. 218)
You don’t have to accept this
report. You can yourself ask the religious scholars of different Muslim
sects the definition of “Muslim” and “Islam”. The replies will themselves
convince you of the correctness of the Munir Report.
It is imperative that when we say
the Muslims have left Islam, we should establish a definitive concept of Islam.
If we don’t, it is meaningless to say that Muslims have left Islam.
This is the primary reason that
the Muslims all over are unable to adopt Islam in-spite of their agreeing that
they are no longer good Muslims. They do not fully comprehend what they
have left and what they should do to remedy the situation. We would like to
clarify here that every Muslim sect may be able to define “Islam” as their sect
considers it to be, but the Islam which should be common to the Muslim Nation
and by virtue of which they are known as the Muslim Nation; none will be able
to define.
We are sure, at this stage you must
be wondering that although this question is of fundamental importance, you have
never thought about it. Further, that you are an ordinary person and your
knowledge of “Al Deen” (Islam) is limited and therefore you are unable
to answer such a question. At the same time you must be wondering what has
happened to our religious scholars that even they could not give a unified
reply and in-spite of it they have been able to keep their position in Muslim
Nation. How come they have been able to satisfy the Muslims about Islam?
It needs a special technique; and
that is creation and use of certain terminology about which the people are
convinced that it is “Holy” . These so called scholars keep these terms a
little vague, that is, clear and concrete concepts attached to these terms are
never defined. On certain occasions they would use a particular term and that
will be that. For example, one of the fundamental terms is “Islam” itself.
Every day you hear them saying “Islam orders you to do this or that” or “Islam
says this” or “Islam desires you to do the following ......”. “Islam”
is not a name of an individual that one can attribute a saying to ... They must
give reference to any document from which one can find out who has given this
order or whose interpretation is it! They will never do that; they will mostly
keep it vague. The reason being that mostly it will be their own decision which
they have presented in the name of Islam or sometimes it will be the decision
of their own sect. Of course the decision of any particular sect cannot be
considered as the decision of Islam. They will always keep this aspect vague.
Similarly there are terms like “Islam
Shariat (Islamic Jurisprudence)” or “Shariat-e-Haqqa (True
Jurisprudence)”. Every day one hears statements such as “This is the order
of Shariat” or “This decision is as per Shariat” or “This is not allowed
by Shariat” etc. etc. You must be assuming these to be decisions as per
Islam but actually these are decisions of any one of the sects. Every one of
our sects have their own Shariat. The one which you may want to call “Islamic
Shariat”, that is, the one which all Muslims as one nation agree to be Islamic,
does not exist today.
Another of these terms is the “Sunna
of Rasool-Allah (p.b.u.h.)”, which means the way the Last Messenger of
Allah (p.b.u.h.) practiced Islam. You must be thinking that this has to be
agreed upon by everyone to be the same since the Last Messenger of Allah, whose
name was Mohammed (p.b.u.h.). was an individual, lived in this world only once
and therefore practiced Islam only once. But it was not so. As a matter of fact
each one of the sects have their own “Sunna of Rasool-Allah (p.b.u.h.)”; so
much so that the definition of the term “Sunna” is also different among them.
Similarly there are many terms in
use since centuries which have got similar treatment from these sects. Since
politics have become very important in recent times, therefore instead of old
terms, which are mostly associated with “Religion”, new terms
have been created. One of these terms is “Aqamat-e-Deen”, meaning establishment
of Deen. This term has been publicized a lot but nobody, has yet explained what
does it mean in definitive words. If the flag bearers of this term explain what
do they mean by this term, the religious scholars of the other sects will
protest disagreeing with the definition of Deen and cause chaos. Therefore, the
promoters of this term consider it in their interest to keep this term vague.
Now a days the word “Nizam”,
(system) has become more popular in place of “Deen”. Based on it, a term “Islamic
Nizam” has been floated. We have already seen that the term “Islam” itself
does not carry a definite meaning, therefore the term “Islamic Nizam” has
not been explained nor it can be.
The fact is that in modern day
politics, creation and adoption of slogans has a purpose of its own. Our
religious scholars use similar slogans for their purposes. The idea is to use
words that do not carry a clear concept, but which could be made popular
easily and thus could be used as a weapon against the opposition. If you ponder
on it a little deeply you will realize that these slogans serve the same
purpose as was served by the hocus pocus words such as “Abracadabra” in
the ancient age of magic. The magical words did not mean anything by themselves
but, they were supposed to carry hidden meanings. For example, if you repeat a
word so many times, you were told that your enemy will be overpowered or things
like that.
Just as a slogan looses its charm
and magical powers after repeated use, so do the religious terms. The
weight and effect previously carried by terms like “Aqamat-e-Deen”, (Establishment
of Deen), or “Hakoomat-e-Illahia”, (Government of Allah), or “Islamic Nizam”
is not carried by them any more. Therefore there was need for a new term;
and that is “Nizam-e-Mustafa (p.b.u.h.)” (System of Mustafa
p.b.u.h.). Since all Muslims have a very special regard for their beloved Nabi
(p.b.u.h.) in their hearts, hence this term is more attractive and effective
for most of the people. You must have noticed that even this term has been kept
vague since the concept attached to it varies from sect to sect just like”Sunna
of Rasool Allah (p.b.u.h.)”. Leaving the different sects beside, the two major
sub-sects of Sunni Muslims in the Indian Subcontinent, Barelawi and Deobandi
have their own concepts of the Sunna. In the present turmoil (late 70’ s ),
Barelawi sect is represented by Maulana Noorani and the Deobandi sect is
represented by Mufti Mehmood. They don’t even agree on the personality of
Mustafa (p.b.u.h.), let alone “Nizam-e-Mustafa (p.b.u.h.)”. Therefore it
is to the political advantage of both of these to keep the term “Nizam-e-Mustafa
(p.b.u.h.)” vague. Under these circumstances, it is impossible to have a
clear concept of this “Nizam” which could be unanimously acceptable to
all of the sects as Islamic.
As another examples, recently two
articles have been published in the daily Nawa-e-Waqt titled `What is Nizam-e-Mustafa
(p.b.u.h.)”. One of these articles describes the Nizam as:
“A system of virtuous equality....
a political system of security and justice ....an economic system of
justice and provision .... a spiritual system of meditation
thinking, and remembering Allah .... and a social system of brotherhood”
(Nawa-e-Waqt 29/7/1977)
In the other article, the Nizam
is explained as:
“Universal
Knowledge........Godly Worship ..... Cleanliness of Behavior..... Great
Politics...... Knowledge due to fear of God...... and extreme intellect due to
fear of God”
(Nawa-e-Waqt 5/8/1977)
These words will give you an
indication of the delicate and superficial covers which are used, intentionally
or unintentionally, to hide the definitive concept of the Islamic System. This
is done, because by explaining the system in a clear and
understandable way, their claims that all of the sects are unanimous in this
respect, may be shattered. This unsuccessful trial to hide the truth is
very similar to the one that took place once before in
In 1951, twenty one Muslim religious
scholars from different sects passed a unanimous resolution that all
Government laws in
“It is impossible to make a
set of public laws as per The Book and the Sunna which all Muslim sects will
unanimously accept as Islamic.”
(Maulana Maudoodi)
This declaration broke up the so
called unanimity of their demand, which they have been presenting since
1951 as Islamic.
The past twenty five years or so
have been generally spent on theoretical discussions, it
seems that now this issue will be put to test practically. In the forthcoming
elections in October, 1977, if the government control is handed over to the
flag bearers of the “Nizam-e-Mustafa (p.b.u.h.)”, the foremost task will be the
formation of the unanimous set of public laws. Obviously these different sects
will not be able to agree on any such laws. One wonders what will happen
then ?
The Pakistan Movement was
established on two principles :
1. The two nation theory
and,
2. The
The Congress party (the party in
British India which opposed creation of an independent Muslim State) and
their supporters all over the world used to say, that on these
principles no one can make a state, and that gone are the times when the states
could be created on religious basis; in today’s world no one can
do this any more.
On the tragedy of fall of Dhaka,
that is, the creation of
Now if the parliament made up of
scholars of different Muslim sects fails to make a set of Islamic Laws
to which they could all agree to, the same opponents of creation of
Our fright of that dreadful day
compels us to present, this request to these gentlemen, that if they are
under the wrong notion that that whatever they are doing will result in
stability of the country and prosperity of Islam, the sooner they correct their
misconceptions the better. Their present attitude will result in shaking the
foundations of the country and Islam will become a laughing stock for the
world. If they really want that Islam should be reestablished, then they must
decide and declare how the laws which could be acceptable to all the sects will
be made prior to their becoming the law makers.
If these gentlemen are not
willing to comply with the above, we will request the nation that instead of
following the slogans-of these leaders blindly, they should demand that these
slogans should be explained in clear and concrete words.
THE ANSWER
The answer to this “Question” is
not difficult. The readers are requested to think and ponder while they are
trying to understand.
1. As we have written before, the
flag bearers of “Nizam-e-Mustafa (p.b.u.h.)” belong to different Islamic sects.
Each one of these sects have their own Fiqah (jurisprudence). It is evident
that as long as all of these sects will consider their own Fiqah as
unchangeable Islamic Law, no set of laws could be made which will be acceptable
to all. Their differences are so deep that each one of them have declared the
other one “Kafir”, the non believer, at one time or the other.
2. Only one thing is common to
all of them; and that is the Holy Quran. Therefore for them to agree on any
point, they have no choice except to make the Holy Quran the only basis of law
making and ignore all their Fiqahs. Further they should consider the Holy Quran
the judge and the final authority.
3. The Holy Quran does not give
slogans. It explains everything in clear words. In Soora 16 “Al Nahal” verse
89, it says :
(the book which) clarifies
and exemplifies everything.
4. The Holy Quran does not have
any contradictions. The evidence which Allah Himself has given for the Holy
Quran to be divine is that it does not have contradictions. In Soora 4 (Al
Nisa) verse 82 it is said :
If it was from any one other
than Allah, you would have found many contradictions in it.
Therefore after accepting the
Holy Quran as the common value, no differences can sustain.
5. Al Deen, that is, the way of
living as ordained by Allah means that one should make Allah, the Hakeem
(meaning the one who gives the Hukum or order) and Hakem (the one who decides
whenever there is a dispute, that is, the judge). In Soora 12 (Yusuf) verse 40,
it is said :
Allah is the only one whose
orders should be obeyed.
and
He orders you not to submit
to anyone other than Allah (that is, one should not take orders from anyone
else).
and
this is the established and
definite Al Deen of Allah.
6. The practical way of making
Allah, the Hakim or the Hakam is to make His Book “The Hakam”.
In Soora 6 (A Inam), verse 115, Rasool-Allah (p.b.u.h.) has announced the
divine message Which reads:
Do you want me to
accept some one other than Allah as the Judge; whereas He has revealed
such a book which explains everything clearly.
This means that if you accept
Allah’s Book as Hakam, you have accepted Allah as Hakam.
7. This is the only book which
distinguishes Kufr, meaning the act of non-believing, and Islam. In
Soora 5 (Al Maeda), verse 44, it is said:
The ones who do not accept
Allah’s revelations as Hakam are the ones who are Kafir.
8. Even Rasool-Allah (p.b.u.h.)
was ordered in Soora 5 (Al Maeda), verse 48:
You should make your decisions
as per revelation from Allah.
9. This is the Deen of Allah
(refer Soora 3, verse 82). This is what should be called Al Islam; to accept
Allah’s Book as the Hakam. In Soora 3 (Aal-e-Imran), verse 84 it is
said:
Whosoever will adopt any system
(Deen) other than Islam, that system will not be accepted by Him (Allah).
It should be clarified here that
since Allah has named Islam as His Deen, it should always be called Allah’s
Deen. Since Allah’s messengers (p.b.u.h.) were destined to establish and
deliver Allah’s Deen and they did not create one themselves, therefore it is
not correct to call Islam “Deen-e-Mustafa” (p.b.u.h.). It should only be
called Allah’ Deen.
10. The only problem, which must
be addressed is the method by which we can prove whether we have
established Allah’s Deen or not. The first evidence about the nation
where Allah’s Deen is established is that different sects can not survive
in it. Wherever are religious sects, Allah’s Deen cannot be there,
nor that nation will have anything to do with Rasool Allah (p.b.u.h.). In this
regard Allah’s message is very clear. In Soora 6 (Al Inam) verse 16, it is
said:
The people who create sects in
Deen, and become a group, (O! Rasool) you have nothing to do with them.
The people who proclaim “Nizam-e-Mustafa
(p.b.u.h.)”, and belong to any of the sects should think about the
aforementioned verse. As per this verse, as long as they have nothing to do
with Mustafa (p.b.u.h.), how can they proclaim the “Nizam -e- Mustafa
(p.b.u.h.) “.
We appeal to the intelligentsia
of the nation that they give due consideration to the above mentioned verses of
the Holy Quran, and think how can the claim by different sects that they will
establish “Nizam -e- Mustafa”, be considered as genuine.
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Translator’s Note:
This article was originally
published in Urdu language, titled “Sirf Eik Sawal” by Idara Tolu-e-Islam,
25-B, Gulberg II,
The English translation has been
done by the undersigned to enlighten the non Urdu speaking readers. While
translating quotations from already translated English material, the meaning
has been kept as close as possible to the original text, although the words
used may not be the same.
For the original article in Urdu
and other Quranic literature, please contact Idara Tolu-e-Islam at the above
mentioned address.
Posted on August 11, 2014
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