Mahmoud Ben Ahamd Abu Muslim
Translated
Data:-
Muslims are now living in a period that is certainly not the brightest nor the best of their ages, although we are sure by the grace of God that the coming time holds a lot of hope and restoration of much of what we have missed in recent decades!
Amid this drive of modernity and its changes both intellectual and technical, which overlooks us with all its rationality and its irrationalities, the Muslims wander with it in manifold valleys, where their discipline is hardly controlled at a regular pace, between a blind imitator and a person who takes from it the worst that it produced, and between a cautious person who does not approach it except when suits his desires, and between a person who is bound to the laws of Allah so he rejects all that is produced by the civilizations of the West.
The situation of politically vulnerable Muslims in all parts of the world is not hidden. There is no real force for Muslims that can defend them or unite them depending on the situation, or sometimes are unwilling to do so!
Young people are now so confused that they hardly find a safe-haven and a reassuring answer. The events of the last ten years have created a thick fog and a gap between young people and scholars, in the truth and its argument, as a result of some confusion that occurred among scholars in interpreting the incidents, presenting the evidence to them, and dealing with them with their understanding of the verses. Hence a situation of intellectual and ideological conflict emerged that has reached the point where Muslim groups have started labeling each other with labels of Fisq, Mubtadi’ and even Takfeer.
As for the phenomenon of atheism and complete absence of awareness in it and Islamic culture, it comes as a result of wrong education and the absence of the role of parents in educational awareness, passing through the school and the mosque and the society and friends, supported by the spread of platforms of atheism in the world and the call towards it in the name of science!
Concerning the sources of Ilmi (knowledge) culture among the general Muslim population, they are now almost confined to watching movies and television programs, reading novels and stories, following up on social media sites and the variety of materials that these sites offer in which the good is hardly distinguished from bad except for those who are familiar with that.
Challenges:
From these data, we draw a considerable number of challenges that Muslims are facing, and we will mention from them what concerns us now:
- Awareness: Consciousness and awareness of the problem is the first step of the solution, and I do not claim that awareness is entirely absent, but it is incomplete and insufficient. The first awareness is to understand what the Muslims were, not so long ago, what they were and what they have introduced to the world, and how the world looked at them. It makes me sad when I look at some of the books that tell the story of scientific modernity and how Europe has risen from its deep root, these books were written or translated by the Arabs and Muslims. Still, they do not mention a single Muslim scientist in this renaissance and its causes. It is surprising that hundreds of inventions and discoveries made by many Muslims during the dark times of Central Europe, whether in the technical, geographical or medical fields, were one of the most critical factors in the rise of modern Europe. The intellectual discussions of Muslims related to the Western ancestors of Greek philosophers and their criticism, response, and explanation are hardly hidden.
The renaissance of the West would not have been without the scientific revival of Muslims first, which in turn was based on the ruins of the revival of the Romans and Persians, and those who rose on the civilizations of ancient Egypt, the Greeks and China, and so on, and so is the Sunnah (the way) of God in his land. He rotates the days between people, so that knowledge will return to its primary origin, as exemplified by the words of Allah the Almighty,
وَعَلَّمَ آدَمَ الأَسْمَاءَ كُلَّهَا
“And He taught Adam all the names” [al-Baqarah: 31].
Awareness of the dangers that Ummah (the nation) is facing, they are of two types:
The first is internal, and this is more like a disease inside the Ummah body, which is exhausting it, such as its moral, economic, social and hateful secatarianism related crises among the people of the Ummah, which are the most ferocious of the illnesses as well as the weakness of the nation in general, starting with the poor physical structure of its youth, poor scientific research, poor intellectual and informational literature, etc.
The second is external and represents the Ummah’s political problems, with other countries, and the intellectual invasion, represented in the intellectual modernity, including opening the doors of social media sites to multiple cultures which no one knew much about, so much so that the process of copying the lifestyles and cultures of other people has become so easy, fast and dangerous!
- The second challenge: the need for quick and accurate steps for reform in many regimes within Islamic countries, for example:
First: reform in the educational process, methodology, and increased spending on scientific research. The Arab countries are not likely to be in the list of countries that spend widely on scientific research, where Egypt is ranked 30th, followed by Saudi Arabia in 20th place. An essential thing in research is the implementation, and the most important with implementation is to secure the implementation.
Second: Administrative reform within governmental and semi-governmental institutions is imperative to address many scientific, cultural, and religious crises. The administration of the modern state now is based on the success of the management of its institutions. The more the State manages its institutions, the more it can make use of its resources, rationalize its consumption, and control its expenditures. This leads us to the third element.
Third: Fighting administrative and financial corruption within the State, since these two are not detached, and there is no corruption and financial malfunctioning unless there is administrative corruption before it. By administrative corruption, we mean the provision of passion, favoritism, and personal interests when making executive decisions, appointing leaders, and hiring in general.
Fourth: and the most important step for reform is the concern for the human element and its development because countries are built only on the shoulders of their people, so it is necessary to strengthen these shoulders and minds, I mean, body and mind. Therefore, sports activities are essential in school, so is military education in schools and in the summer vacations. Also, to make some space in educational curricula for innovation and the work of minds in everything that is permissible, so students can unleash their imagination for the future of their ummah, their Religion, and the world around them.
The state’s mental image in the minds is reflected positively or negatively on the Imaan of young people in their country’s ability and their confidence in it to bring about change and their ability to meet their basic needs, which are guaranteed for them by Islam. The best example of this is the brain-drain i.e, the migration of minds and competencies to non-Islamic countries because they feel that their primary needs will not be affected and that the work and the ability to give is the criterion between the poor and the rich and that honest competition in a neutral environment highlights the skill and efficiency of the person, and then the compensation will be «at least» appropriate to the effort made!
The Qur’an and the practical Sunnah have given the model and guidance for the creation of nations by realizing the values of justice and equality and upholding the word of truth. You would hardly read such a unique verse as a piece of evidence to what I tell you:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا كُونُوا قَوَّامِينَ بِالْقِسْطِ شُهَدَاءَ لِلَّهِ وَلَوْ عَلَى أَنفُسِكُمْ أَوِ الْوَالِدَيْنِ وَالأَقْرَبِينَ إن يَكُنْ غَنِيًّا أَوْ فَقِيرًا فَاللَّهُ أَوْلَى بِهِمَا فَلا تَتَّبِعُوا الْهَوَى
‘O ye who believe! stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses to Allah, even as against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin, and whether it be (against) rich or poor: for Allah can best protect both, so follow not the lusts’ [Al Nisa: 135].
However, nations do that, and they stand up only to the ideals of truth and justice!
How do we develop a unique generation?
No doubt you are now beginning to draw a mental picture of the inputs of making a unique generation by reading the previous paragraphs because there are a lot of mechanisms for developing this unique generation, but let me tell you about the nerve of the input of this development:
- Inputs of faith: These are the most significant and most honorable inputs of all and the essential component of the human model for a Muslim, and the success of their effectiveness and their desired results will be achieved through two approaches:
The first approach is to reformulate information. Here, I do not mean “renewal of religious discourse.” I do not believe in this phrase. I think the renewal of Religion is what is mentioned in the hadeeth of Abu Dawood
إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَبْعَثُ لِهَذِهِ الْأُمَّةِ عَلَى رَأْسِ كُلِّ مِئَةِ سَنَةٍ مَنْ يُجَدِّدُ لَهَا دِينَهَا
“Allah will raise for this Ummah (nation) at the end of every hundred years the one who will renovate its Religion for it”
It means renewing the words “There is no god but Allah” in the hearts of people. I mean the linguistic form, and the expressive style, to be simple and not to be ridiculous and to use the common language. Young people are far from the Arabic language, and its terminology and thoughtful methods, and its magical rhetoric, and the language of young people has an accent because of the invasion of foreign education on the one hand, and the weakness of the Arabic language materials that are being taught on the other. In order for information to be easily accessible, the preachers and institutions of advocacy must use the smooth and graceful phrase, which is easy to remember and use.
The second approach is using all modern mechanisms to communicate this information to people in a more attractive way in terms of marketing, visual attraction and technical direction because I am sure that young people now spend most of their time on social networking sites, watching everything that is fascinating and attractive in the first place, and brief in the second place.
The shorter, the more appealing, and the easier the information, the greater its impact. What is the hindrance, for example, in summarizing the books of interpretation after researching and scrutinizing, then drafting the information in a brief form, so as to explain the verse, in one or two sentences, rather than bringing up dozens of hadeeths, traces, and commentaries to this verse?
Similarly, the presentation of Islamic history through documentary films, which is the easiest and quickest way into people’s hearts if appropriately made. Whoever wants to bring down any nation attacks and convolutes its history, and our history is being subjected to fierce attacks today to bring it down. Therefore, you will find nations with a little history, or their entire history is all about crime, and evil, trying in every way to make history for themselves through cinematic films and false writings because they know very well the power of heritage over people, and that human nature is about bullying, glory, and pride in everything that is old. There is no nation that has such heritage of pride and glory as the nation of Islam. Yes, there have been shortcomings and pitfalls, and this is the reality of countries that they have a beginning, awakening, disease, and end, then repeat. The point is that the wheel and its rapid pace of life now hardly gives room for non-specialists (who are most of the people) to information, reading, and knowledge. In fact, they are waiting for such a short video or short information as a “pill” to swallow quickly, and move on, and this is hardly hidden.
2- The Second matter is to encourage innovation and scientific research from a young age through:
First: Establishing specialized research institutions in the Islamic world to work on three bases:
- Encouraging scientific research among young people from the early stages of education.
- Adopting, embracing and financing serious scientific innovations and projects.
- Transforming scientific projects into real products (consumer, medical, industrial).
I know it’s hard to finance this, and to obligate capital to support it, but I don’t doubt that by turning research ideas and projects into products that will generate profits and then funding these institutions will be easy. Especially since we have a lot of Islamic formulas to finance projects through which Islamic banks can contribute to their financing, such as Istisna, Bai us Salam and Murabaha, for example, and the Islamic market is a vast and fertile market. As well as international markets, most of them will be easily penetrable, God willing. It just takes sincere will and intent; otherwise, tell me how the great industrial companies around the world started? Yes, with effort, hardwork and the constant pursuit of development and production.
Second: The establishment of research institutions for Shari’ (Islamic legislative) and Human sciences.
I have often talked about the establishment of an international Islamic institution that deals with the sources of Islamic heritage and its research, in terms of content and attribution, and that such scientific guidelines (rules) should be issued for research studies related to modern sciences and archaeology and research in heritage. So far, there are no actual scientific rules agreed upon to research the Islamic heritage, whether we refer to the Prophet’s Hadith or the heritage as a whole.
If researchers are united worldwide to develop scientific bases for investigation and research methods, by identifying the approaches of the old scholars and try to deduce their discipline in the critique by using statistical methods, to determine the power and validity of narratives, we will have the most reliable method of defense of heritage in history.
Similarly, we need to work through these institutions to produce human survey research to treat our social crises in general, such as the high rates of divorce, addiction, atheism and obesity, with which we need to identify their real causes through a scientific and research methodology. So, we collect data, we analyze it, and give realistic solutions, whether through fatwas or through the enactment of laws adapted to the results of these studies.
- The third matter is to reject the ghoul of fanaticism and abhorrent partisanship, which is the misery that eats the insides of the ummah until it is almost killed. A Muslim is not allowed to make Takfeer or Tafseeq of his Muslim brother. All the commands of God and His Messenger indicate the rejection of bias and sectarianism and call for unity.
It is narrated from Jaber (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said:
لَمَّا نَزَلَتْ هَذِهِ الْآيَةُ: {قُلْ هُوَ الْقَادِرُ عَلَى أَن يَبْعَثَ عَلَيْكُمْ عَذَابًا مِّن فَوْقِكُمْ} [الأنعام: 65]، قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم : «أَعُوذُ بِوَجْهِكَ، قَالَ: {أَوْ مِن تَحْتِ أَرْجُلِكُمْ} [الأنعام: 65]، قَالَ: أَعُوذُ بِوَجْهِكَ، {أَوْ يَلْبِسَكُمْ شِيَعًا وَيُذِيقَ بَعْضَكُم بَأْسَ بَعْضٍ} [الأنعام: 65]، قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم : «هَذَا أَهْوَنُ أَوْ هَذَا أَيْسَرُ»
“When Allah revealed this Ayah: ‘Say: He has the power to send torment on you from above or from under your feet…’ The Prophet (ﷺ) said: ‘I seek refuge in Your Face.’ So when (the following) was revealed: ‘Or to cover you in confusion in party strife, and make you taste the violence of one another (6:65).’ The Prophet (ﷺ) said: ‘This is less burdensome’ or ‘This is easier.’
This latter is interpreted by the hadeeth of Muslim narrated from Saad ibn Abi Waqas, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said:
قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم : «سَأَلْتُ رَبِّي ثَلَاثاً، فَأَعْطَانِي ثِنْتَيْنِ وَمَنَعَنِي وَاحِدَةً، سَأَلْتُ رَبِّي أَنْ لَا يُهْلِكَ أُمَّتِي بِالسَّنَةِ فَأَعْطَانِيهَا، وَسَأَلْتُهُ أَنْ لَا يُهْلِكَ أُمَّتِي بِالْغَرَقِ فَأَعْطَانِيهَا، وَسَأَلْتُهُ أَنْ لَا يَجْعَلَ بَأْسَهُمْ بَيْنَهُمْ فَمَنَعَنِيهَا».
I asked my Lord three things and He has granted me two but has withheld one. I begged my Lord that my Ummah should not be destroyed because of famine and He granted me this. And I begged my Lord that my Ummah should not be destroyed by drowning (by deluge) and He granted me this. And I begged my Lord that there should be no bloodshed among the people of my Ummah, but He did not grant it.
The Almighty said:
وَجَاهِدُوا فِي اللَّهِ حَقَّ جِهَادِهِ هُوَ اجْتَبَاكُمْ وَمَا جَعَلَ عَلَيْكُمْ فِي الدِّينِ مِنْ حَرَجٍ مِّلَّةَ أَبِيكُمْ إبْرَاهِيمَ هُوَ سَمَّاكُمُ الْـمُسْلِمِينَ مِن قَبْلُ وَفِي هَذَا لِيَكُونَ الرَّسُولُ شَهِيدًا عَلَيْكُمْ وَتَكُونُوا شُهَدَاءَ عَلَى النَّاسِ
{And strive in His cause as ye ought to strive, (with sincerity and under discipline). He has chosen you, and has imposed no difficulties on you in Religion; it is the cult of your father Abraham. It is He Who has named you Muslims, both before and in this (Revelation); that the Messenger may be a witness for you, and ye be witnesses for mankind!} [Al Haj: 78]
So, Allah is the one who named us Muslims, without any biases and sectarianism, or groups, without any differences, rather only one group, and one nation.
Allah the Almighty said:
مِنَ الَّذِينَ فَرَّقُوا دِينَهُم وَكَانُوا شِيَعًا كُلُّ حِزْبٍ بِمَا لَدَيْهِمْ فَرِحُونَ
{ Those who split up their Religion, and become (mere) Sects, – each party rejoicing in that which is with itself!} [Al Room: 32].
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon Him) said when he heard people saying “O the immigrants, and O the Ansar!”
مَا بَالُ دَعْوَى الْجَاهِلِيَّةِ، دَعُوهَا فَإِنَّهَا مُنْتِنَةٌ
” What are these proclamations of the Days of Ignorance? It is something disgusting.”
The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) did not even allow to listen to the problem or its details. Rather, his focus was on renouncing biases and division. We must not forget that the issue is between the two best groups known to Islam, the Muhajireen (immigrants) and the Ansar!
Allah the Almighty disparaged the word Al-Hizb (the party) and its derivatives in his book in more than twenty places. The Almighty did not praise this word except in two places, first in Surah Al Maidah:
وَمَن يَتَوَلَّ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا فَإنَّ حِزْبَ اللَّهِ هُمُ الْغَالِبُونَ
{And those who turn (for friendship) to Allah, His Messenger, and the (fellowship of) believers, – it is the fellowship of Allah that must certainly triumph}. [Al Maidah: 56]
and the second time in Surah Al Mujadalah:
أُوْلَئِكَ حِزْبُ اللَّهِ أَلا إنَّ حِزْبَ اللَّهِ هُمُ الْـمُفْلِحُونَ
“Those are the Party of Allah. Truly it is the Party of Allah that will achieve Felicity” [Al Mujadalah: 22].
Allah alone gives success. There is more to discuss than this, and what we have mentioned is just a reference and an inspiration. Dear Lord! Your peace and blessings may be upon our Prophet Muhammad! and praise be to Allah the Lord of the worlds.
