About this blog

In recent times a plethora of misconceptions, misrepresentation and myths have been forged about Islam
and Muslims. Many western influentials from politicians, policymakers to judges have taken it upon
themselves to undermine the Islamic beliefs, values and rules so to make it palatable to their
egotistic minds and the secular liberal thoughts.

This blog is dedicated:-

1. To argue the point for Islam in its belief and systems and to refute the misconceptions.
2. To expose the weakness and contradictions of all forms of secularism.

21 Aug 2011

Fasting and the Shield of the Believers

Imam Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (d. 911/1505)
mentions in al-Jami` al-Sahih (‘The Compendium of Authenticated Narrations’) a report from Imam al-Hasan al-Basri (d. 110/728) that the Messenger of Allah (saw) is reported to have said:

رجب شهر الله ، وشعبان شهري ، ورمضان شهر أمتي…

“Rajab is the month of Allah; Sha`ban is my month and the month of my Ummah is the month of Ramadan.”

The `ulama’ explain that the meanings of this narration could be the following: Rajab is the month of Allah because it is one of the ashhur al-hurum (‘sacred months’, = Muharram, Rajab, Dhu ’l-Qa`dah and Dhu ’l-Hijjah); Sha`ban is the month belonging to the Messenger of Allah (saw) because the verse {Indeed Allah and His Angels impart salutations upon the Prophet; O believers impart salutations and greetings upon him [Q. 33:56]} and Ramadan is the month of this ummah because it is an unparalleled month of mercy, complete forgiveness and full emancipation from the Hellfire.

The Danger:

If the above is the case, and this month of Ramadan is the month of this Ummah, then we as Muslims should be thinking about the Ummah – not just locally, but globally. We as individual believers should welcome Ramadan and prepare for it as one who is cognisant, aware and conscious of the Muslim Ummah. We can become reclusive, individualistic and self-oriented during Ramadan and this is dangerous because the focus becomes ourselves to the exclusion of everyone else. In the rush to traverse the day of the fast, prepare iftar, complete tarawih and tahajjud prayers and catch the suhur (pre-dawn meal) we fail to consider and neglect our duties as a member of a global ummah. Hence, during this month we keep silent over blatant oppression; we refrain from forbidding the munkar and we depoliticise our duties to account the corruption and corrupt rulers in our lands.

Indeed, fasting has a personal dimension and a focus such as to battle the internal enemies namely our nafs (ego-soul) in order to bring it into submission to all that Allah and His Messenger has brought and no doubt fasting is that shield of protection for the believer as mentioned by the best of creation (saw):

الصيام جنة، وهو حصن من حصون المؤمن، وكل عمل لصاحبه إلا الصيام، يقول الله : الصيام لي، وأنا أجزي به

“Fasting is a shield; one of the fortresses of the believer…”

We should seriously ask ourselves that although each of us as individuals may have our own shield (junnah), where is the collective shield of this ummah?? What is this collective shield anyway? Answer: It is the Imam, the Sultan, the Amir, the Khalifah of all the Muslims as mentioned again by the best of creation (saw):

إنما الإمام جنة. يقاتل من ورائه. ويتقى به

“Only the Imam is the shield behind whom you fight and are protected…” Where is this shield today? Where is this protection for all the believers? It is entirely absent and due to this absence of our Imam/Amir/Sultan/Khalifah we have had the following outcomes:

  1. Our lands and borders are insecure – we are under occupation (Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan).
  2. We are under attack and military operations (Pakistan drone attacks, Libya, Kashmir).
  3. We are in a dire economic plight, e.g. poverty, famine, hardship (Somalia, Bangladesh) because of the mismanagement of resources by our rulers.
  4. We are suffering oppression (Syria, Bahrain) where the army turns on its open people but fail to act in liberating aggression against Muslims.

… and the list goes on. How is it that we can fast and remain oblivious (or at worse ignore) the plight of the global Ummah? This is not possible. Infact, this is unislamic. It is not allowed that we internally prioritise our personal struggles over and above and to the exclusion of the rest of our obligations as a member of this global ummah. This is the slippery road to individualism in devotion, quietist piety and depoliticised religious sensibilities.

It is behind our Imam that we will solve the above problems and more. Imam al-Haramayn al-Juwayni (d. 478/1085) describes one the functions of the shari`i Khalifah as follows:

الثالث : أن يكون قَيِّما بأمر الحرب والسياسة وإقامة الحدود لا تلحقه رأفة في ذلك والذب عن الأمة…

“the third: that he [s: the Imam] must be firm in the matter of upholding war when it is necessary, correctly administering the political affairs as well as establishing the hudud of Allah and not to be soft in it but to defend the ummah.”

It is thus our duty to seriously work to bring this shield back that will protect the Muslims, their land, their sacred Law, their beliefs, their values and their citizens and reverse the political, social and economic problems in our lads.

Let us make this a month of remembrance of this duty.

Source: (daralnicosia.wordpress.com)

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What they said...

“Islam represented the greatest military power on earth…It was the foremost economic power in the world…It had achieved the highest level so far in human history, in the arts and sciences of civilization...Islam in contrast created a world civilization, poly-ethnic, multiracial, international, one might even say intercontinental.”





[Bernard Lewis, Professor of Near Eastern Studies, Orientalist and Historian, 2001]





"There was once a civilization that was the greatest in the world. It was able to create a continental super-state that stretched from ocean to ocean, and from northern climes to tropics and deserts…the civilization I'm talking about was the Islamic world from the year 800 to 1600… Although we are often unaware of our indebtedness to this other civilization, its gifts are very much a part of our heritage"





[Carly Fiorina, ex-CEO of Hewlett-Packard, 2001]





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