Elixir of Life

26/07/2012

The Elixir of Life

Scribblings by Ali Bin Shahid

Everyday you meet someone or hear someone on television proposing that the solution to the humiliation that the muslims are facing, day in and day out is this, or that, that the muslims should do such and such things like improve in technology, or follow democracy, or get educated for that is the only way they can regain their old glories. However, everyone who dare speak on this issue forgets to mention the fundamental, most important point. And that is the Return of Muslims to Allah, which is fondly called TAUBAH. Somehow all those intellectuals who venture on this topic seem to think that taubah would not cut it. In their complicated westernized mind, how can taubah bring victory to Muslims or uplift them from this horrible situation they have put themselves in.

Now TAUBAH means to return to Allah SWT by making a pledge of not continuing in your sins, leaving your bad deeds and migrating to the deeds that Allah commands and Loves. In essence taubah is following the Shariah in totality no ifs and buts

Once you migrate towards what Allah Commands and Allah loves it means that you have left all the roads that led to Kufr, disbelief, sin and now are following or trying to follow sirat al mustaqeem.  It also means you have pledged yourself in his way and are willing to sacrifice everything that comes your way while you are trying to follow Al-mighty.  Afterall isn't this what Islam means (submit to Allah SWT). In other words you have taken Allah SWT as your friend, helper, advisor. Now listen what Allah Says in this regard. 

وَمَنْ يَّتَوَلَّ اللّٰهَ وَرَسُوْلَهٗ وَالَّذِيْنَ اٰمَنُوْا فَاِنَّ حِزْبَ اللّٰهِ هُمُ الْغٰلِبُوْنَ      56؀ۧ

Whoever maintains friendship with Allah and His Messenger and those who believe (must know that) it is the (members of the) Party of Allah that are the triumphant.

Similarly, Allah SWT says about victory (BADR)

وَلَقَدْ نَصَرَكُمُ اللّٰهُ بِبَدْرٍ وَّاَنْتُمْ اَذِلَّةٌ ۚ فَاتَّقُوا اللّٰهَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُوْنَ     ١٢٣؁اِذْ تَقُوْلُ لِلْمُؤْمِنِيْنَ اَلَنْ يَّكْفِيَكُمْ اَنْ يُّمِدَّكُمْ رَبُّكُمْ بِثَلٰثَةِ اٰلٰفٍ مِّنَ الْمَلٰۗىِٕكَةِ مُنْزَلِيْنَ     ١٢٤؁ۭبَلٰٓى ۙاِنْ تَصْبِرُوْا وَتَتَّقُوْا وَيَاْتُوْكُمْ مِّنْ فَوْرِھِمْ ھٰذَا يُمْدِدْكُمْ رَبُّكُمْ بِخَمْسَةِ اٰلٰفٍ مِّنَ الْمَلٰۗىِٕكَةِ مُسَوِّمِيْنَ     ١٢٥؁وَمَا جَعَلَهُ اللّٰهُ اِلَّا بُشْرٰى لَكُمْ وَلِتَطْمَىِٕنَّ قُلُوْبُكُمْ بِهٖ ۭوَمَا النَّصْرُ اِلَّا مِنْ عِنْدِ اللّٰهِ الْعَزِيْزِ الْحَكِيْمِ     ١٢٦؁ۙ

Allah certainly supported you at Badr when you were weak. So, fear Allah that you may be grateful. When you were saying to the believers, :Shall it not suffice you that your Lord should help you with three thousand of the angels sent down (for you)of course, if you stay patient and fear Allah, and they come upon you even in this heat of theirs, your Lord will reinforce you with five thousand of the angels, each having distinct marks.And Allah has made this (reinforcement) just a glad tidings for you so that it may content your hearts And support comes only from Allah Who is Almighty, Most Wise

Doing Taubah doesnot mean that you restrict yourself to the masajid and tahajud, for Islam is a deen of action rather pro-action. Anything that effects or can effect Muslims has to be dealt with. But the underlying motive in all this is to make the deen of Allah supreme, and whatever actions that are taken are in the hope of pleasing him and are part of tawakul.  Allah commands the Muslims to prepare themselves

وَاَعِدُّوْا لَهُمْ مَّا اسْـتَـطَعْتُمْ مِّنْ قُوَّةٍ وَّمِنْ رِّبَاطِ الْخَيْلِ تُرْهِبُوْنَ بِهٖ عَدُوَّ اللّٰهِ وَعَدُوَّكُمْ وَاٰخَرِيْنَ مِنْ دُوْنِهِمْ ۚ لَا تَعْلَمُوْنَهُمْ ۚ اَللّٰهُ يَعْلَمُهُمْ ۭوَمَا تُنْفِقُوْا مِنْ شَيْءٍ فِيْ سَبِيْلِ اللّٰهِ يُوَفَّ اِلَيْكُمْ وَاَنْتُمْ لَا تُظْلَمُوْنَ     60؀

Prepare against them whatever force you can, and the trained horses whereby you frighten Allah‘s enemy and your own enemy and others besides them whom you do not know. Allah knows them. Whatever thing you spend inthe way of Allah, it will be paid to you in full, and you shall not be wronged.

So we prepare ourselves with what we can. Nowhere does Allah SWT says that you have to prepare to such and such degree. We do as commanded, as much as we can and then when the time comes (as the time is Now) we face the enemy with whatever we have, doing the first step is following Hukm of Allah, doing the second step is tawakul. After all Allah made the dust fall into the eyes of the entire army of kufr at badr through the hands of Rasulollah because even if the dust was all nanobots being controlled by humans even then the damage would not have been to the degree that happened by Will of Allah.

Doing taubah means to hold fast to the rope of Allah, and unite as one body, so if one part of the body aches the rest respond. It implies that all Muslims unite under one leadership andBreak free from the status-quo of nation state, from the false slogans of democracy or kingship. It would mean a rebellion from the united nations charter and would hearken the era of freedom, the era of Islam. Where humanity is slave to non except Allah SWT.

All the things that people claim to be the reasons are just effects or symptoms of the defeat. Once the fundamental issue (i.e. the return to Allah SWT) is addressed the rest would automatically be taken care of.

However, by continually remaining in this state of defeat trying to mitigate the illness by addressing the symptoms we put ourselves in a situation about which Allah says: 

وَحَسِبُوْٓا اَلَّا تَكُوْنَ فِتْنَةٌ فَعَمُوْا وَصَمُّوْا ثُمَّ تَابَ اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِمْ ثُمَّ عَمُوْا وَصَمُّوْا كَثِيْرٌ مِّنْهُمْ ۭ وَاللّٰهُ بَصِيْرٌۢ بِمَا يَعْمَلُوْنَ       71؀

They thought that no harm would follow. Therefore, they became blind and deaf. Then, Allah accepted their repentance (taubah), but again they turned blind and deaf, many of them. Allah is watchful of what they do.

In short, the solution to the problems of Muslims is not science it is the RETURN TO ALLAH. The Muslims rose to become a super power in a mere span of 23 years not by trying to develop weapons or follow different systems of governments but by becoming MUSLIMS in the true sense and they remained at the helm of affairs of the world for nearly 13 centuries and made huge contributions to science and every other field just because they remained true to Allah and when they fell from this pedestal it was again because of abandoning the path of Allah little by little, drop by drop and finally a point came where Islam became confined to the letter heads. In one of the saying of Umar Radhiallah he said, The Ummah will not be corrected except by what corrected it in the beginning. So, make Allah your passion, your goal, your essence of life, follow him and sacrifice everything for him for then and only then is true victory.