www.stand4islam.blogspot.com: Real Change Or More of the Same?

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.

8 Mar 2011

Real Change Or More of the Same?

We are witnessing monumental events taking place in the Muslim World. First in Tunisia, the Ummah took to the streets calling for change and removal of the dictatorship of Ben Ali and his wife's family. Then in Egypt, the Ummah protested in Tahrir Square – seeking true liberation from the 30 years of Hosni Mubarak’s police state. Now we see the Ummah going into the streets of Bahrain, Yemen, and Libya. The unchanging demand of the Ummah is for change.

Collapse of the Barrier of Fear

For a long time it was thought that the Ummah could not bring about political change in the Muslim world, because of the intense atmosphere of fear and intimidation created by the regimes. Anyone who dared to challenge the corruption of the rulers was harassed, jailed, tortured and even killed. This created a climate of fear, and only a few dared to speak out and challenge the tyrants. This barrier of fear has finally been broken. Courageous Muslims in Tunisia, Yemen, Jordan, Algeria, Egypt, Bahrain, Morocco, Syria and Libya, are challenging the dictators and demanding their expulsion! Libya is perhaps the most striking example: despite the widespread reports of martyrdom at the hands of the regime, the Ummah is still insisting that “There is no God but Allah - Gaddafi is the enemy of Allah”. This development is a major milestone in the Muslim world. In its quest for revival, the Muslim Ummah has realized the power it possesses, when it collectively undertakes political actions for change. The Muslim Ummah is now demanding an end to tyrant rulers, colonial interference from the Western powers, poverty, police brutality and oppression. This demand has been building up over the years and it has reached its boiling point!

Hijacking the Revolution

What is very clear from the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt is that the Ummah wants change and is capable of bringing about this change on its own terms. However, Western governments and their media are portraying this call for change to be a secular and democratic one in the Muslim world. Furthermore, they are claiming that it is a victory for their kufr system and ideology. Slogans such as 'Democracy', 'Freedom' and 'Human Rights' should be understood in the way Muslims understand them in the Muslim world. Muslims do not use these slogans in the ideological sense as in the West, but rather to express the injustices experienced by them when confronting the tyrant regimes.

Democracy: When Muslims call for Democracy they don't call for sovereignty of man over the sovereignty of the Shari’a, rather they mean the Muslims have the right to appoint their own leaders and not accept those imposed upon them and supported by the Western colonial powers, like Mubarak.

Freedom: The call for freedom is a reaction to the state brutality against anyone opposing the regime, and being imprisoned and killed as a result. Muslims are not calling for freedom in the Western sense of the term; according to which our beloved Messenger (saw) can be insulted in the name of freedom of speech.Human Rights: The call for human rights is a reaction to the police state in the Muslim world where Muslims are falsely accused, harassed, spied upon and tortured.

The Muslim Ummah is an Islamic Ummah and is motivated by the Islamic Aqeedah and a desire to live by Islam, which is a fact supported by public opinion. For instance, the Ummah seeks to implement Islam in all aspects of their daily lives, including the government and economy and also seeks to unify the Muslim lands under the banner of Islam.

Although it is a courageous move that the Muslim Ummah is making by taking control of its own affairs, there is a real danger that the Islamic emotions and the momentum for change will be hijacked by the regimes and colonial powers. This will be primarily achieved by making cosmetic changes such as changing the face of the regimes while making minor concessions or partial policy changes to please the masses without undertaking the true fundamental change the Ummah yearns to achieve. We have already seen the governments trying to give handouts to appease the Ummah in many countries including Saudi Arabia. To prevent this from happening, we must do the following:

1. Recognize the dangers of “surface modification” instead of real change: We do not need surface modification, where only superficial changes are made, while the system is still based on other than Islam. Such change – despite the sacrifices made by the Muslims – will not yield the full desired result, or even worse, just prolong the life of these corrupt regimes. The change must be at the fundamental level – we must remove the regimes and the kufr system all together; so that the sovereignty remains only for Allah (swt). This means that the policies are no longer dictated by the colonial powers, but instead that they are solely dictated by the Book of Allah (swt) and the Sunnah of our beloved Messenger (saw).

Anything less than the full implementation of Islam will result in the continued subjugation of the Ummah at the hands of the colonial powers and will prevent the Ummah from leading humanity to the Guidance of Allah (swt).

2. Creating a Public Opinion for Islam as a System: The Muslim Ummah must create a strong public opinion for the Islamic system as the alternative system of governance. We must clearly articulate that only Islam will provide dignity, justice, decent living and peace to all of humanity because it is based on the revelation of Allah (swt). This requires that the Ummah has sufficient knowledge of the systems of Islam as a solution to the contemporary problems of the Muslim world, including:

Calling for the Khilafah: We must call for the Khilafah and not democracy. Islam gives us the right to appoint our leader through the process of giving bayah (pledge of allegiance) to the Khaleefah. This can be done via the Majlis al-Ummah who will produce a short list of candidates from which the Muslims will elect one to be the Khaleefah.

Democracy, on the other hand, is a failed system because its political and economic system (i.e. Capitalism) is based on the limited mind of man instead of the Wahy (revelation) from Allah (swt). We have seen its spectacular failure with the financial crisis and even the current food crisis.

A System of Accountability based on Shari’a: The Islamic Shari’a has detailed the ways in which Muslims can account their rulers on the basis of Islam. In Islam, accounting the ruler is fard (obligatory); and not just a hobby that one does if one feels like it. This is a critical difference between the Islamic concept of accounting the ruler and the concept of freedom exported from America and Europe. For example, when the people in America realized that their leaders took them to war based on the lie that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction; did they go on the streets (i.e. as Muslims in Egypt did) and force the American government to withdraw from Iraq? No, they did not because they have the freedom to account the ruler, but not the obligation to do so. Accounting rulers is one of the most important duties in Islam and it's considered the best of Jihad.

The Prophet (saw) said, "The best Jihad is the word of Truth in front of the oppressive ruler." [Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi, ibn Majah]

This duty is performed by the Majlis Al-Ummah, Islamic political parties, independent media, and individual Muslims themselves.

Judicial Process and Absolute Ban on Torture: It is haram for the Islamic State to torture its citizens for speaking the truth or for any other reason. The torture of Muslims and non-Muslims in the Khilafah is prohibited regardless of any benefit it may bring, such as gathering information. Unlike the liberal democratic states, such as America and Israel, the Khilafah does not resort to the limited human mind to determine whether it should torture people. Instead the Khilafah must implement the Sunnah of RasulAllah (saw). Muslim narrated from Hisham bin Hakeem, who said:

‘I bear witness that I heard the Messenger of Allah (saw) say: "Allah will torture those who torture the people in the Dunya."'

Arbitrary arrest and detention without trial is forbidden in the Khilafah. This is not based on a liberal ideology, but instead on the following hadith:

"The Messenger of Allah has ordered that the two disputing parties should sit before a judge."[Abu Dawood]

All suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a Shari'a court.

Absolute Right to Privacy: The sanctity of someone's home in the Khilafah cannot be violated by spying on them, based on the following ayah:

"Oh you who believe, avoid most suspicion. Indeed some suspicion is a crime. And do not spy."[TMQ 49:12]

The Messenger of Allah (saw) said, "He who peeks into some people's house without their permission, it is allowed for them to gouge out his eye." [Ahmad]

These ahkham (rules) are the solutions to the problems that we face. They will bring tranquility because they are based on what Allah (swt) has revealed.

3. Political Awareness: The Muslim Ummah must develop strong political awareness so that it does not fall into the political traps of the US and her allies. They will call for reforms and minor changes to pacify the sentiments of the Muslims. The US ordered Mubarak to dismiss the cabinet, appoint a vice president, and announce reforms – all to preserve the regime and her interests in the region like protecting Israel, being a mediator for the “peace process” and aiding the US in her war against Islam by fighting the dawah carriers who call to implement Islam as a complete way of life.

4. Role of the Army: The events in Tunisia, Egypt, and especially Libya clearly illustrate how change rests on the people of power and influence. In Egypt, the regime did not unleash violence on the protesters as the Libyan regime did. That is, the number of dead is directly related to the policy adopted by the armies in the two countries. More importantly, calling the people of power to implement the change is based on the method of RasulAllah (saw) where he sought nusrah (support) from a number of tribes in the Arabian Peninsula. Ultimately, Allah (swt) guided the Aws and Khazraj to give the Nusrah to RasulAllah (saw) in the second pledge of Aqabah. This allowed him to enter Madinah as the head of state.

For years, the Muslims thought of its own armies as corrupt and therefore unable to deliver political change, but the example of Tunisia and Egypt have shown that the Muslim armies will not fire on the masses and will side with the Ummah if there is strong support for a political idea. Therefore, it is possible for the Muslim Ummah to topple the regime if the armies either support the change or even remain silent by allowing the political movement to take power. This means that we have to carry the call of Islam to them and urge them to follow the example of the Ansar (i.e. the Aws and Khazraj) who gave victory to this Deen.

By following this method to bring about the change, we pray and beg Allah (swt) to fulfill His promise on us:

"Allah has promised those of you who believe and do right deeds that He will make them successors in the land as He made those before them successors, and will firmly establish for them their Deen with which He is pleased and give them, in place of their fear, security. ‘They worship Me, not associating anything with Me.' Any who are kafir after that, such people are deviators." [TMQ 24:55]

[Taken from PAM Website]

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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]

"For the first three centuries of its existence (circ. A.D 650-1000) the realm of Islam was the most civilized and progressive portion of the world. Studded with splendid cities, gracious mosques and quiet universities where the wisdom of the ancient world was preserved and appreciated, the Moslem world offered a striking contrast to the Christian West, then sunk in the night of the Dark Ages."

[Lothrop Stoddard, Ph.D (Harvard), American political theorist and historian, 1932]

"Medieval Islam was technologically advanced and open to innovation. It achieved far higher literacy rates than in contemporary Europe;it assimilated the legacy of classical Greek civilization to such a degree that many classical books are now known to us only through Arabic copies. It invented windmills ,trigonometry, lateen sails and made major advances in metallurgy, mechanical and chemical engineering and irrigation methods. In the middle-ages the flow of technology was overwhelmingly from Islam to Europe rather from Europe to Islam. Only after the 1500's did the net direction of flow begin to reverse."

[Jared Diamond, UCLA sociologist and Author, 1997]

"No other society has such a record of success in uniting in an equality of status, of opportunity and endeavour so many and so varied races of mankind. The great Muslim communities of Africa, India and Indonesia, perhaps also the small community in Japan, show that Islam has still the power to reconcile apparently irreconcilable elements of race and tradition. If ever the opposition of the great societies of the East and west is to be replaced by cooperation, the mediation of Islam is an indispensable condition."

[Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen Gibb, Professor at Harvard University, 1932]

“The Muhammadan Law which is binding on all -- from the crowned head to the meanest subject is a law interwoven with a system of the wisest, the most learned and the most enlightened jurisprudence that ever existed in the world.”

[Edmund Burke, British Statesman and Philosopher, 1789]

"The Exile here is not like in our homeland. The Turks hold respectable Jews in esteem. Here and in Alexandria, Egypt, Jews are the chief officers and administrators of the customs, and the king’s revenues. No injuries are perpetuated against them in all the empire. Only this year, in consequence of the extraordinary expenditure caused by the war against Shah Tahmsap al-Sufi, were the Jews required to make advances of loans to the princes."

[David dei Rossi, Jewish Traveller 17CE, quoted by Norman A. Stillman, The Jews of Arab Lands]

"The notable religious tolerance towards Christians and Jew under Muslim rule had given way to the uncompromising zealotry of Spanish Inquisition. Jews and Muslims thus fled Spain with large numbers of Jews immigrating to the Ottoman Empire which was known for its tolerance to the Jews."

[Graham Fuller, Author and former CIA, 1995]

“If there is much misunderstanding in the West about the nature of Islam, there is also much ignorance about the debt our own culture and civilization owe to the Islamic world. It is a failure, which stems, I think, from the straightjacket of history, which we have inherited. The medieval Islamic world, from central Asia to the shores of the Atlantic, was a world where scholars and men of learning flourished. But because we have tended to see Islam as the enemy of the West, as an alien culture, society, and systems of beliefs, we have tended to ignore or erase its great relevance to our own history”

[Charles Philip Arthur George, HRH The Prince of Wales, 1993]

"...Not being subject to the Sharia, Jews and Christians were free to go to their own religious authorities for adjudication of disputes; but in many cases they went instead to the [Muslim] Qadi"

[Richard W. Bulliet, Professor of History and Author, 2004]

"Here in the land of the Turks we have nothing to complain of. We possess great fortunes; much gold and silver are in our hands. We are not oppressed by heavy taxes and our commerce is free and unhindered. Rich are the fruits of the earth. Everything is cheap and each one of us lives in freedom. Here a Jew is not compelled to wear a yellow star as a badge of shame as is the case in Germany where even wealth and great fortune is a curse for a Jew because he therewith arouses jealousy among the Christians and they devise all kinds of slander against him to rob him of his gold. Arise my brethren, gird up your loins, collect up your forces and come to us."

[In his book 'Constantinople', Philip Mansel quotes a rabbi in Turkey writing to his brethren in Europe where they were facing increasing persecution after 1453]

"Praise be to the beneficent God for his mercy towards me! Kings of the earth, to whom his [the Caliph’s] magnificence and power are known, bring gifts to him, conciliating his favour by costly presents, such as the king of the Germans, the king of the Gebalim, the king of Constantinople, and others. All their gifts pass through my hands, and I am charged with making gifts in return. (Let my lips express praise to the God in heaven who so far extends his loving kindness towards me without any merit of my own, but in the fullness of his mercies.) I always ask the ambassadors of these monarchs about our brethren the Jews, the remnant of the captivity, whether they have heard anything concerning the deliverance of those who have pined in bondage and had found no rest."

[Hasdai Ibn Shaprut (915-990 CE) Jewish physician, chief minister of Islamic Caliphate in Cordova, 'The Jewish Caravan']

"In Baghdad there are about forty thousand Jews, and they dwell in security, prosperity, and honour under the great Caliph [al-Mustanjid, 1160-70 CE], and amongst them are great sages, the Heads of the Academies engaged in the study of the Law…’"

[Benjamin of Tudela, Rabbi in Baghdad in the year 1168 CE, 'The Jew in the Medieval World']

"Those Eastern thinkers of the ninth century laid down, on the basis of their theology, the principle of the Rights of Man, in those very terms, comprehending the rights of individual liberty, and of inviolability of person and property; described the supreme power in Islam, or Califate, as based on a contract, implying conditions of capacity and performance, and subject to cancellation if the conditions under the contract were not fulfilled; elaborated a Law of War of which the humane, chivalrous prescriptions would have put to the blush certain belligerents in the Great War; expounded a doctrine of toleration of non-Moslem creeds so liberal that our West had to wait a thousand years before seeing equivalent principles adopted.

[Leon Ostorog, French Jurist]

"The debt of our science to that of the Arabs does not consist in startling discoveries or revolutionary theories; science owes a great deal more to Arab culture, it owes its existence"

[Robert Briffault, Novelist and Historian, 1928]

"The only effective link between the old and the new science is afforded by the Arabs. The dark ages come as an utter gap in the scientific history of Europe, and for more than a thousand years there was not a scientific man of note except in Arabia"

[Oliver Joseph Lodge, Writer and Professor of Physics, 1893]

“Thus, when Muslims crossed the straits of Gibraltar from North Africa in 711 and invaded the Iberian Peninsula, Jews welcomed them as liberators from Christian Persecution.”

[Zion Zohar, Jewish scholar at Florida International University, 2005]

“Throughout much of the period in question, Arabic served as the global language of scholarship, and learned men of all stripes could travel widely and hold serious and nuanced discussions in this lingua franca. Medieval Western scholars who wanted access to the latest findings also needed to master the Arabic Tongue or work from translations by those who had done so.”

[Jonathan Lyons, Author, Writer and Lecturer, 2009]