Dr. Firoz Mahboob Kamal

 The greatest good deed

Any good deed;  building houses, hospitals, roads and industries for people, is definitely a good deed. Providing jobs, giving charity and protecting men and women from thieves and killers are also laudable good deeds. But the greatest good deed is to release people from the path of hell and guide them towards the path of paradise -called Siratul Mustaqeem. It saves people not only from eternal torment in the blazing hellfire but also takes them to a blissful place in heaven. It is indeed the most magnificent prophetic job. It is a tremendous job and even the most challenging task. However, it is a real RELIEF. Billions of tons of gold can’t match its worth. Surprisingly, nobody pays money or appreciation for that job. Instead, in all ages –as it is today, met with the severest form of resistance from all sorts of evil forces. Because, Satan, too, survives in all ages to promote his sinister design. A coalition of satanic forces always has there to undo such a job.

Only the most significant people –like the Divine prophets and their faithful companions, could take that as a life-long mission to do the job. Because of the coalition of the evil forces, no man or an institution can’t do the job alone. Even the most successful man in human history in doing the job –Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), couldn’t do it alone. He also needed a powerful Islamic state and its vast infrastructure. In fact, as per Divine guidance, he needed to build such a state himself and also worked as the head of such a state. For creating and protecting such a state, he had to make relentless efforts, raise an army of committed people and engage in a constant war. Making such an Islamic state is the greatest sunnah cum legacy of the final prophet of Islam.

A state is the most potent human institution on earth. It's constructive, as well as corruptive and destructive power, is immense. If the state raises a barrier against the path towards paradise, no individual can remove it. It possesses the most massive tools like educational institutes, media, administrative bodies and political outfits to enforce cultural and ideological engineering. It can make even the most intelligent citizens of a country accept the worst tyrant like Pharaoh as a god and Hitler as a leader.

Moreover, state institutions possess the unfettered power to commit massive war crimes and even nuclear crimes. That is why all satanic forces use this corruptive and coercive power of the states as a tool to corrupt people’s mind. Such state-power and state-owned institutions make it easy to take people to the hell-fire. Therefore, without the full control over the state power, the social, religious or spiritual change of the people is just wishful thinking.

 The greatest legacy & the betrayal

What could be the greatest ibadah (servitude) to Allah SWT and the most beneficial service to humankind than snatching this powerful tool like statecraft from the possession of Satanic forces of evil? The prophet didn’t allow such a crucial tool to stay in their hands. Taking its control in the Muslim hands was indeed the most important priority of Prophet Muhammad (peace upon him) and the early Muslims. While the Prophet (peace upon him) migrated to Medina, he didn’t build his own house, rather raised the foundation of the Islamic state on day one. Prophet’s mosque in Medina started to work as the administrative as well as the secretarial Head Quarter of the Islamic state. And it continued to do so till the last day of his rule. Thus, he laid the foundation of the Islamic civilization –the finest civilization in the whole human history. Thus he showed to his followers of all ages, what should be the highest priority in Muslims’ life. But such priority now stays fully forgotten in Muslims’ psyche. What else could be worst betrayal of Prophet’s Sunnah than this? And how could the Can Muslims expect any success and mercy from Allah SWT here and in the hereafter with such blatant betrayal of the prophet?

State-building for an Islamic cause never happen peacefully. Evil forces find their death in it; hence enemy’s war becomes unavoidable. The prophet of Islam (peace be upon him) with his highest moral height and peaceful gesture couldn’t win the heart of the enemies. Annihilating the Islamic state at its nascent state was the common strategy of all evil forces of Arabia –as it is now globally. Therefore, every Muslim had to take the challenge seriously. Not a single Muslim stayed away from the fight; in fact, engaging against the enemies was considered as a marker of iman. Whoever disengaged, was labelled as munafiq (hypocrite). Sacrificing time, money, intellectual abilities in building and defending the Islamic state was considered the highest good deed on earth. More than 70 percent of the companions of the Prophet (peace be upon him) sacrificed their lives for defending such an Islamic state. The Muslims could raise greatest power in the contemporary world only because of their huge sacrifices. But how many Muslims are following such a route today? Even not one in a million! It is indeed the fundamental cause of the Muslims’ failure today. And, it is the most distinctive point of difference between the early Muslims and today’s Muslims.

 The missing Islamic Power and the calamity

The Muslims have now 57 states, millions of mosques, and hundreds of thousands of schools and colleges. Since the states and rules are secular; the state-run institutions are also secular. It goes diagonally opposite to the prophetic tradition. A train engine can’t fit into a car. Similarly, people with a secular mindset can’t fit into Islam. The secular institutions –established by liberal and secular colonialists, could produce a huge number of economic and political animals, but unable to produce Muslims with true faith. It is indeed the key problem of the Muslim World. Such a vast number of institutions couldn’t make the Muslims closer to siratul mustaqim (the straight path). As a result of such a detachment from the Qur’anic road map, they can’t practise sharia either! Whereas, it is explicitly mentioned in the holy Quran that those who don’t adhere to sharia are indeed kafir (disbeliever), zaleem (oppressor) and fasic (sinner) -as revealed in Sura Maida, verse 44, 45 and 47. Non-believers-made law in courts tells a lot about the Muslims’ faith. Faith needs to be expressed through practice. Otherwise, it is sheer hypocrisy. How is it possible that a Muslim declares his or her faith in Allah SWT but practise laws prescribed by the kuffars (non-believers)? It is the norm in almost all Muslim countries!

 Nothing can be a substitute for an Islamic state and its institutions. Islam can’t be fully practised without an Islamic state. Such a failure makes the Muslims face to face with the catastrophic crisis. It takes away the key to any success from the Muslims’ hands. Since victory and honour come only from Allah SWT, the full practice of Islam is crucial. Without practising Islam, how can they expect a blessing from Allah SWT? It makes one entirely unfit for His mercy. And, without His mercy, how can they expect victory and honour in this world and the hereafter?

 Even the enemies of Islam understand the power of an Islamic state. That's why, they don’t put any bar to build mosques, schools and colleges in any Muslim land, but start bombing and turn cities into rubbles when attempts are made to establish an Islamic state. It is an irony that most of the Muslims don’t understand the significance of an Islamic state. Nor do they know the dire consequence of its imposed absence. So, they could easily ignore the greatest legacy of the Prophet (peace be upon him). Instead, they could even stand shoulder to shoulder with the kuffars to annihilate such a state. Thus, they prove, how false is their belief in Islam; and how deceitful is their love for the Sunna of the Prophet (peace be upon him). Whereas, Satan and his every agent on earth understand the real strength of an Islamic state. That is why, the enemies who have read the Islamic history and possess venom against the Muslims –as they had during their colonial days, show their readiness to dismantle Islamic governance in any part of the world. Can a Muslim sustain his or her Iman if he or she stays silent or aloof in such an aggressive war against Islam and the Muslims?