Dr. Firoz Mahboob Kamal

The occupation and the outcome

Every occupation has its disastrous outcomes. These are much worse than the consequences of the severe disease on physical health. A disease harms only the physical aspect of an individual. Since it doesn't damage moral or spiritual entities, it doesn't take anyone to hellfire. Therefore, it doesn't harm the infinite life in the hereafter. But the kuffar-occupation of a country damages the moral, spiritual, intellectual, and cultural wellbeing of a common man and woman. (Note: the terms like kafir and kuffar are the jargon repeatedly used by Allah Sub'hana Ta'la in the Holy Qur'an to precisely describe the deniers of Islam and the enemies of the Muslims, hence used in this article consciously to show deep respect to these Divine narratives). Oppression, political subjugation, and economic exploitation are not the only evils of the kuffar occupation; the crimes are more disastrous. Finding the Divine Truth and following the Divine straight path is made very difficult, and floating with the satanic flow is easier. The British imperialists abolished Shariah, hudud, jihad, and Islamic education in the occupied Muslim lands; thus, they made it impossible to practice full Islam.

In Islam, the most important obligation on every man and woman is to receive Islamic education; otherwise, it becomes impossible to be a true Muslim. Iman (belief) never grows on ignorance; it needs knowledge. The obligatory rituals like five-time prayer, fasting, hajj, and zakat can't work on ignorance. This is why seeking education was made obligatory from day one of Islam –long before other obligations. Hence, the topmost priority of a Muslim state is to ensure Islamic education for every man and woman. No other task can be more important than that. Only then a state –the most powerful institution on the earth can work as a vehicle to take people to paradise. Otherwise, it takes to the hellfire.

Under the kuffar occupation, the state works as a captive institution of Satan. Then, harming Islam and destroying its institutions become the prime objective. And the damage to the educational systems gets a catastrophic proportion. Befoe the kuffar occupation in 1757, about one-fourth of all cultivable lands of Bengal were allocated to finance thousands of mosques and more than 40 thousand educational institutions. After the occupation, the British colonialists confiscated those land and gave that to subservient collaborators like Hindu zamindars (village feudal). This way, they led those Islamic institutions to die automatically. How can faith survive without supportive institutions? The British colonialists committed the same crime in other parts of India. Education empowers people and makes it difficult to subjugate them. Hence, keeping people illiterate and ignorant was the key strategy of the European colonialists. This way, they could take people away from Islam. Indeed this is the worst crime against the Indian Muslims during their 190 years' rule. When the British rule ended in 1947, the literacy rate in India was hardly 10 percent.

The colonial occupation also caused huge economic damage. When the British occupation started in 1757, the world's best fabric used to come from Bengal; it used to be called muslin. Those fabrics were used to reach the royal households in Europe and other parts of the world. According to one estimate, India used to contribute 25 percent of the world's GDP in those days. Of that, the largest share used to come from Bengal. To promote the British textiles in the market, the imperialists chopped off the fingers of the Bengali weavers who used to make a muslin. When the British left in 1947, India's share in the world's GDP came down to about 5 percent. So, it shows how badly they de-industrialized India. These are the only few glimpses of the crimes committed by the British colonialists in the field of religion and socio-economics in India.

The enemy occupiers of the Muslim lands –both native and alien commit terrible crimes in other ways. They restrict the practice of full Islam. This way, they make it very difficult to be a complete Muslim. Although rituals like five-time prayer, fasting, zakat, and hajj are allowed, these rituals do not constitute full Islam. Islam also entails the Qur'anic education, sharia, hudud, shura-based rule, jihad, transethnic unity, and the establishment of an Islamic state. How a Muslim can be a true Muslim without the practice of full Islam. This is why the full practice of Islam and the occupation of the kuffars can never be compatible. Therefore, a holy war called jihad to end the occupation or emigration from that occupied land becomes inevitable. In order to escape the evils of kuffar occupation, the great men like Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him), Prophet Musa (peace be upon him), and Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), and many other Truth-seeking people had to leave their own birthplaces.

Along with obstructing the full practice of Islam, the occupying forces also build massive educational, cultural, and administrative infrastructure of derailment towards the hellfire. Such evil projects of derailment are robustly and seductively displayed in every field of education, culture, politics, and state-crafts. These are the state-rum devices of huge ideological, cultural, and political engineering. Such engineering has achieved massive success in Muslim lands. As a result, those who oppose the basics of Islam like Qur'anic education, sharia, Khilafah, hudud, shura, jihad, and establishment of an Islamic state are not the foreign or the native non-Muslims, rather the products of those home-run social engineering projects. In fact, the most formidable enemies of Islam in a Muslim country are those who have been the ideological cum cultural converts raised by the educational and the cultural institutions built by the kuffar occupiers.

The situation has gone so worse that the Muslims can't practice full Islam even in Muslim majority countries. With such massive ideological cum cultural deviation from Islam, can any people deserve blessing from the Almighty Lord? Such deviation can only help qualify for Divine punishment. In fact, the Muslims all over the Muslim World now suffer the worst consequences of the enemy occupation. In Muslim states run by the anti-Islamic forces, the manipulative laws, the kufr judiciary, the media propaganda, the coercive administration, and the corruptive education are working as tools in the hands of the known enemies of Islam like secularists, nationalists, tribalists, and socialists. This is indeed a post-colonial anti-Islamic phenomenon in Muslim countries. Such enemy occupation has indeed added new momentum to the Muslims' downfall.

The Muslims have only two options: either to follow the enemy-induced ongoing march towards the hellfire or to end the enemy occupation and live with the full submission to Allah Sub'hana wa Ta'la. Floating with the flow doesn't need to fight. Awfully, most Muslims have taken this easiest route. Hence the occupation and the downhill decline of the Ummah continues. Whereas only by ending the enemy occupation can one practice full Islam and please Allah Sub'hana wa Ta'la. It is indeed the only route to reach paradise. And it is the path of lifelong jihad. In the golden days of Islam, such a jihad of the common people could defend the Muslims against the enemy's war of genocide, occupation, exploitation, and corruption and could also help them emerge as the World Power. Even today and in the future, there exists no other option either.

To survive with Islamic faith (iman) and full liberty, Muslims need a formidable defensive strategy; no amount of religious rituals give that protection. Defensive war-readiness is not a military matter in Islam, it has been given the status of the highest ibada. So, the direct command of Allah Subhan wa Ta'la comes to every believer: "Hence (O Muslim), make ready against them (the enemy of Islam) whatever force and horses of war you are able to muster, so that you terrify the enemy of Allah and also your own enemy and others besides them of whom you do not know, but Allah knows. And whatever (wealth, efforts and life) you spend in the cause of Allah will be repaid to you in full, and you will not be wronged."–(Sura Anfal, verse 60). How can a Muslim ignore such an explicit command of Allah Subhan wa Ta'la? Hence, ever-readiness for jihad is the requirement to be a true Muslim. Only this way he can obey Almighty Allah's command. It is indeed the testing ground of faith (iman); whoever fails this test, fails to be a Muslim. Without jihad, the Islamic faith and its rules can't sustain, nor can become Muslim Ummah a civilizational force.

Cowardice submission is the new normal

In Islam, it is haram (forbidden) to welcome any enemy on the frontier. It is haram to stand silent or to be non-combative in front of any kuffar invasion. In the face of an enemy attack, iman of a true believer shows its instant expression through resistance in all possible means. In the early days of Islam, embracing Islam always meant having full readiness for war against any enemy attack. Hence, calling people to the Islamic faith and prayers wasn't the only duty of the last Prophet (peace be upon him) of Islam; rather, encouraging the believers to take part in full war against the enemies was also an important and inherent part of his mission. The Prophet (peace be upon him) was commanded to do so by his Almighty Lord; as it is revealed, "O Prophet! Urge the believers to war." –(Sura Anfal, verse 65). Therefore, calling people to Islam and asking them to perform prayers are not the only issues in Islam. How to fight the enemies also stands as a part of the Qur'anic guidance. Amidst war-mongering enemies, acquiring military skills, collecting weapons, and engaging in war are not any luxury, rather important parts of the survival strategies. The Prophet of Islam (peace be upon him) himself acquired such skills. He played the role of the Commander in Chief in the war front. This is why he made a distinctive difference from other great people of human history. Many saints and scholars made history in good talking, but they failed utterly in implementing what they talked about. It needs relentless jihad and the investment of talent, time, and blood to prepare a field for the implementation. Because of jihad, the Prophet (peace be upon him) of Islam could fully implement what he preached. That made him the greatest man in the whole of human history.

But today, the Muslims are not like the early Muslims; they have changed a lot in their beliefs and deeds. They have invented their own version of Islam. In that concocted Islam, the Qur'anic decree on jihad and the Prophet (peace be upon him) 's tradition on jihad receive little or no importance. Rather, supporting the occupation of the Muslim land by the internal and external enemies of Islam has been a new normal in the Muslim World. Hence, while the US Army invaded Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria, they were not alone. Millions of Muslims welcomed them. There was a welcoming celebration in the streets of Baghdad. Was it thinkable in the early days of Islam? Even the so-called ulama are not any exception from such cowardice submission. As a result of their submission, the enemies of Islam –both the home-grown and the alien, faced little resistance in continuing their most corruptive and coercive occupation. Because of the inaction of the so-called ulama, the enemy occupiers got emboldened to dismantle sharia, hudud, khilafa, Islamic judiciary, and many other fundamental teachings of Islam even in predominantly Muslim lands. As a result, the downfall of the Muslims gets more momentum.

The Muslims have increased only in number but not in iman, strength, honour, and dignity. They are now being defeated, subjugated, raped, and slaughtered in many parts of the Muslim World. Their cities and villages are being bombed to rubbles or burnt to ashes. While escaping deaths in their own homes, the Syrian Muslims are dying in the Mediterranean. The Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar are also meeting the same fate; many of them died in the Bay of Bengal. This is the most disgraceful shame for 1.5 billion Muslims that currently live in the world. Their collective conscience shows little sign that they still possess any moral sense to feel such despicable shame as shame. The number of Muslims that now lives only in a single city of Dhaka in Bangladesh or Karachi in Pakistan, Caliph Omar didn't have such a big population in his entire state. But he could defeat the two contemporary World Powers –the Persian and the Roman.

The moral incompetence

The Prophet of Islam (peace be upon him) predicted such an awful state of the Ummah about 14 hundred years ago. He also told about the causes of such a catastrophic fate. As per his narration, it is the love for this worldly life (hubbud duniah) and the dislike for the death (kerahatul maut) in the way of Allah Subhan wa Ta'la that invite the catastrophe. Addictive love for this transient worldly life has caused them to forget the infinite life in the hereafter. Hence, martyrdom in His way that opens the door of paradise is hateful to them. Amidst such overwhelming cowardice and surrender to the enemies, those who bravely pursue the path of martyrdom to fight the kuffar occupation don't receive even the recognition for their deep faith and self-sacrificing sincerity. Like the kuffars, they also label them as fanatic, extremist, and even deviant from true Islam. As if, there is no place of war against kuffar occupation in Islam! As if, there is no martyrdom or shahada in Islam! As if, those early Muslims who fought and became shaheed to eradicate the kuffar occupation over the vast land of Asia and Africa were also fanatic or extremist! Such a conceptual perversion is the legacy of colonial as well as secularist occupation of the Muslim World. Now it is the common agenda of the USA and Russia-led enemies of Islam that the Muslims must survive with such perversion, and they shouldn't be given any chance to return to the original Islam that was preached by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Most of the secularist, monarchist, nationalist and despotic rulers of the Muslim world have already aligned with such an enemy agenda. As a result, the Muslims are given no choice apart from continuing with the downhill course.

 The disconnection and the devilish deviation                                                               

Nobody earns any victory on his own. It comes only from Allah Sub'hana wa Ta'la. It is the qur'anic concept. Hence it is revealed, "ma nasru illa min indillah (there is no victory except that comes from Allah)." Therefore, the Muslims may expect dignity, honour, and victory only as of the blessing from Allah Sub'hana wa Ta'la. And such blessing comes as a gift for full integration with His agenda. In this regard, the early Muslims made history. They are known for complete and active alignment with the wish and strategy of Allah Sub'hana wa Ta'la. In the Holy Qur'an, they are described as the Army of Allah Sub'hana wa Ta'la (Hizbullah). Because of being Allah's Army, a small Muslim army could conquer over a huge enemy army. To address their weakness, the army of angels came down to help them. But today, the Muslims made another history. It is the history of total disconnection from the Agenda of Allah Subhan wa Ta'la. They have also disconnected themselves from the tradition of the Prophet (peace be upon him), the early heroes, and their road map. They are aligned only with their personal, national, racial, tribal, and party agendas. Such disconnection from the Islamic roots has its own disastrous consequence. It can only cause deviation towards the hellfire. As a result, today's Muslims are making a history altogether different from the early Muslims. It is the history of moving far away from the Qur'anic straight path and bringing defeat, death, and disgrace for the Muslim Ummah.

A good servant is known for his commitment to the cause of his master. Such a servant may even become the closest friend of the master if he invests all of his abilities, time, and even life to fulfill his master's dearest desire. That was indeed the exact strategy of the early Muslims. As a result, they got Allah Sub'hana wa Ta'la as their closest wali (friend); and also received a promise for a place in paradise. They were hugely awarded for their truthfulness in iman and high sacrifice. Hence, they received crushing victory even against a huge enemy army. Thousands of angels came down in their rank to fight alongside them. They were very passionate not only in prayers but also in wars. The commitment of these early Muslims was so deep that more than 60 percent of them sacrificed their lives in the war fields. A Muslim household in those days, use to possess not only prayer mats, robes, and rosaries, but also the better weapons and logistics appropriate for a war. Every citizen was a war-ready soldier. In those days, the per capita weapons of the Muslims were the highest in the whole world. As a result, Islam could quickly prevail over a large part of the world. Their faith, patience, and sacrifices pleased Allah Sub'hana wa Ta'la and His Prophet (peace be upon him) so much that they were described as the best people on the earth. Only the Afghan Muslims could follow the tradition of the early Muslims. The war-readiness and per capita weapon in Afghanistan is highest in the whole world. As a result, they earned victories and rear honour as well. These poor Afghans could defeat three World Powers at their peak. The defeated empires on Afghan soil are the British, Soviet Russia, and the USA. This is unique in the whole of human history.

The alignment with the enemy                                                               

Since the early Muslims were directly mentored by the greatest Prophet (peace be upon him), they work as the perfect model of a true believer for all ages to come. They showed, how a Muslim needs to be fully aligned with the revealed wish, objectives, and strategies of Allah Sub'hana wa Ta'la. In fact, this is the only way to get nearer to Him. On the contrary, by aligning with colonialists, imperialists, secularists, nationalists, fascists, monarchists, and other enemies of Islam, one achieves exactly the opposite. He gets nearer to Shaitan and receives the wrath of the Almighty Lord. Such political, ideological and cultural alignment with the kuffars takes people only towards the hellfire through the same route of deviation that their non-Muslim comrades follow. The whole Muslim world is rife with such alignment. This is indeed a clear marker of their deviation from the straight path.

The rituals like five times prayer, month-long fasting, hajj, and zakat may give false hope and deceitful self-satisfaction on religiosity. The alignment with the kuffars’ agenda and deviation from Prophet's Islam never help receive forgiveness from Allah Sub'hana wa Ta'la. The Almighty Allah never likes a man who claims to be a Muslim but aligns with the enemies who oppose the practice of sharia, hudud, khilafa, jihad, and other basics of Islam in His land. But the Muslims' problem is not confined within such alignment with the enemies. They have gone far beyond. The enemies who declared a crusade against Islam -as announced by the USA president George W. Brush while invading Iraq in 2003, are invited inside the Muslim lands to establish military bases. This is the case with Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Turkey, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. These bases are used as launching pads for further killing missions and more occupation of the Muslim lands. With such collaboration with the enemy, how these Muslims can expect any blessings from their Almighty Lord? This is indeed the roadmap for getting more disgrace and punishment from Allah Subhan wa Ta'la not only here but also in the hereafter.

Dr. Firoz Mahboob Kamal can be reached at firozkamal@gmail.com