Islamic State and What Muslims Need to Be Doing

Islamic State and What Muslims Need to Be Doing

 

Now I want to talk to you about something that we cannot disconnect ourselves from, the struggle of Islam. Of course it is an, is a timeless struggle, but at the same time we are living in a context where the Muslims have gone through quite a bit of change in the last hundred years. The last one hundred and fifty years have been a very transformational time for the Ummah, we could not separate ourselves from our history. how we think how we understand Islam where we are today is a product of a lot of events that have taken place and if we don't understand those events and what got us here then we're not going to be able to understand how to move forward. 

so very briefly I'll just mention one thing Islamic movements over the last 100 to 150 years in 1924 the last remnant of what was an Islamic State Falls this is the Ottoman Empire of course right the earth money state it collapses in 1924. since then you have the birth of several movements all over the world India the Africa's you know in the Arab world that are trying to revive Islam they're trying to bring this on back. and writers talked about how there need to be movements and groups that need to bring back and this this rhetoric started of developing an Islamic state. so pretty much every major movement in the last 150 years talked about the revival of Khilafah. bringing back and quoting all the hadith that talk about the khulafa and looking at the sea lines saying look this is what the messenger pbuh did, this is what we need to do, in other words tying their struggle directly to the Seerah of the messengers pbuh. 

Now in one sense that's very good in the sense that we need to tie our struggle always to the struggle of the messenger . but in one sense since this is over simplification when we take lessons from the Sirah we cannot ignore the time the place and the changes that have taken place. so you cannot copy-paste lessons you have to apply them very carefully this requires a lot of detailed understanding of the time and place in which you live. and so I want to present to you something that actually one of my very dear teachers and colleagues and to me actually an intellectual role model who's a member of this community brother Bashir in Saudi wrote in Al Jazeera. he wrote an article in Al Jazeera , I thought it was fantastic really I studied it with him when I took it with me to Detroit and I thought it was just absolutely stunning this article and I hope to actually get it translated and make it available to you guys and the subject of the article was Islamists meaning Islamic movements caught between having the state and not having a state that this idea of statehood, in other words two things became equation establishment of Deen equals establishment of a state this idea was made common, if you want to establish the deen you have to have a government you have to have a state. I don't mean New Jersey I mean like a government state okay it lies in statehood. so this idea is actually what he questions and he says what are the roots of this idea and one of the problems with this idea.

First of all most of the movements that call for a state have had no experience or idea or know-how how to run a state. what does it take to run a government, sanitation, police, roadmaps, taxation, right huge bureaucracy. I mean if you work in a big company with 500 employees plus governments are the biggest kinds of organizations in existence. they're the most colossal organization with the most number of employees it is a massive massive bureaucracy. so you have a movement that says we should have an Islamic state we should have this and that and the other. but they don't have even close to the roadmap to what it takes to build a complex state. you cannot compare that to the the life in medina, medina was simple easy these people didn't need governments and a water department and a taxation department and a you know municipality and they didn't need these things. they just had simple Hut homes and they were living in tribal lives now they're a little bit more organized. It's a very preliminary form of a state that the messenger pbuh established, for that society was very advanced but compared to what we have now it's very simple. so they say we're just gonna go establish you. say if you give these movements let's say you know what we're ready to give you the state here hey take Pakistan take it take take you can have it, what are they gonna do how are they gonna run it. do they have the credentials to actually budget to finance a budget to engage and you know policing and things like that you know they don't have to wear with all. these are things that require a higher degree of expertise, and by the way let me tell you something else that was that he mentioned in the article that to me was mind blowing, a movement when Muslims are trying to say Muslims need to wake up and we need to stand up and we need to establish the Deen these are the kinds of things I can give in a khutbah and people might say takbeeer. right everybody yeah come to Dean.

 So movements can fire people up, they can they can they can invigorate people, they can inspire people, people can read the works of people like maududi rahim allah or save qutb rahim allah and to this day we moved. right and be like you know our moulana yes like i'm all of these people they can read them and say wow that's amazing stuff you know. but tell me which country in the world today looks at its government and say they are so awesome I love those guys in government. you know what comes with being in government, what naturally comes with being in government, being hated. you can't avoid it. people have a natural tendency to not be inspired, especially not be inspired by their government.. and some places in the world these groups figured it out. 

I'll give you an example not because I condone them because we need to understand the political science of this. you have a group like Hezbollah, now there's efforts made in Lebanon to enter them into politics right they want to bring them into the political realm. but the leadership of Hezbollah says no thanks, we don't want government. you know why because when they're outside of government a lot of people love them. but if they enter government what's going to happen. they're gonna lose their credit ah they're corrupt like all these other government politicians. you see what I'm saying, so they understand that there are more powerful outside government than they even are inside government.

 

Now let's not just take a arab example let's take an american example how much does government affect your life, on a day to day basis. okay i know you pay taxes every year, I understand that. but other than that on a daily basis what influence does government have on your life. the major things that are in this country, for example the the way you think about fashion the way you think about what success and failure your mentality you know it doesn't come from the government. it all comes from the private sector it comes from the entertainment industry and the academia and the major corporations that are selling products to us and running driving the advertising and the reason and all even the medical research and you know all the research universities funded by private organizations. In other words the vast majority of things that influence you on a day to day basis don't come from government. where do they come from well what I like to call the private sector. They come from the private sector, if Muslims understood that you know what we will be worried about, if you really want to take over a society, you know what you should be taking over, the private sector open field. 

The Muslims haven't even begun to touch them. how many Muslims in media more powerful than government today is what. the media can change the course of elections the media can get a president impeached, the media can do crazy things, the media could say things like horrible terrible things like Obama's Muslim and get away with it. media is powerful. academia universities, universities shape the minds of the the the pillars of this society, how many Muslims in academia how many Muslims sociologists anthropologists political scientists historians. we're not present. we came to this country and we thought success is doctor engineer, okay fine you couldn't do doctor, engineer programmer, right you know, IIT right or okay none of those work gas station right, so this was success for us. if we make good money if we can buy a nice house if you can live in a nice neighborhood we've got success this is success for an individual maybe for a community.

Look at what I'm baffled by the Jewish community I'm amazed by them you know why. because when they first came to this country they were treated like we are treated now and you know. what they got themselves you could say all their name Riba people whatever, but you know what they what they really got themselves into, not just financial institutions, entertainment literature academics virtually any major university in the country a significant proportion of the faculty is Jewish. that's a norm that's it's normal you know. so they became the deep fabric of this country. so it's so much so that it they're untouchable. Muslims didn't we just become we became skilled labor, that's all we are even if you're a doctor even if you're an engineer in the end you're just a highly skilled worker. you're not you're not someone who influences minds or causes ripples in society you're not you know. you're just a you're just a better consumer so you buy a more expensive car, so I guess you're adding to the economy a little bit, but you're not a mover and shaker you're not an influencer of minds you understand.

 

 So Muslims we have to understand to penetrate this society we need to enter the private sector. to enter the private sector we need to be in major positions in universities all over this country we need to be actually funding. you know Islamic studies program at the University of Chicago is funded by a Jewish group. what do you think that they're gonna what kind of research they're gonna produce. which Islamic Studies program at the PhD level is being funded by Muslim organizations. there's one attempt being made in Detroit what they with you know I think in in Troy Michigan and they're asking for an endowment of a couple of million the Muslims are struggling to come up with those money. I appreciate their effort actually, if you're not entering into the this the game, you gotta enter the game.

 

 you know the messenger challenges the poets, the poets of our time are the academics you gotta enter the game you know. we're not even in it we're just we're bubbled by ourselves. so this is a very big thing that we need to enter. we need to have our Muslim youth that are creative go into Media Studies go into film production this is the language of art this is the poetry of our time you know. the thing that moved the masses in the time of the messenger was poetry. what moves us today is YouTube right. we need people that are actually qualified in film production sociologists sighted you know psychology psychology. but even like historians Muslim historians we need them we don't have them. these are things that become the fabric of a society.

 

And the other thing we need is huge massive Walmart size businesses. not just run by individuals but they're these massive massive organizations that are funding. entire like projects so for example I'll give you a secular example like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation from my you know from Microsoft right, they give so many endowments to schools across the country and help out and things like that. Muslims need to have institutions like that, that don't just help Muslim institutions they help America in general. they help America at large. why should we do this because then we become a fabric of this society we become they can't talk about us like they do now. they talk about us now as though we're like these wild dogs let loose in the society, literally that's how we're talked about in the media. there's no we're not given human dignity when we're talked about. that's not that's not what we stand why not because we isolated ourselves. we did that to ourselves.

 

 I'll move along quickly insha'Allah Allah this is the last thing I'll share with you for today probably we'll have another session to finish this discussion and just to you know again these are I know there's a lot of different things I talked about here but again I just want food for thought. I want us to just think about these things and insha'Allah Allah.

 

Hopefully the purpose of a community is some people are good at some things others are good at other things we manage our resources and people get involved in projects that are trying to build one part of the solution others another part of the solution and it's all sinking and coming together cohesively. that's what we need that's the point we need to get.

 

 how many human resource managers in our audience today any HR managers not one, we should have human resource managers because. we one thing we need at the level of Muslim communities human resource management. this is what the scholars need to be doing, this is what the you know the the Reavers who come to Islam this is the training they need, so they become awesome Daies, this is what our kids that have finished hifz need to be doing, this is what the mothers of the community need to be doing, allocating projects to different you know groups and helping them build this community from the ground up so.

 

 here's the last thing I want to share with you for this up for today and we'll have a little bit of a QA session I want to talk to you about something I heard at the estate convention that that struck a chord with me and I thought it was it was very powerful it was presented by a professor Ingrid Madson and she talked about the difference between a cult and a community so this is the last thing

 

I'm sharing with you the difference between a cult and a community. a community is a place where everybody is welcome and diversity is appreciated. the fact that you are different is a good thing. because it adds to the texture and the depth and the richness of the community. a cult however demands that everybody be exactly the same they should talk the same. they should dress the same this should look the same they should act the same it's like this uniform thing that's a cult. now in a community when somebody makes a mistake no Muslims we make mistakes, somebody makes, you know falls into sin somebody veers off the path, what a community does is it nurtures them and says look we all make mistakes let me help you. and they can bring you back and they can support you until you're back on your feet again. in other words the community travels together and when somebody trips and falls there are others who can pick you up and take you along. in a cult when somebody makes a mistake they're kicked out well they're not there's no tolerance you got out of line you're done you're finished.

 

In a community you have this idea that when you you want to engage and how help people understand themselves better by open conversation. you want to be able to ask questions without being afraid of you know criticism. so for example one of you has the right to ask me a question that you know other people might look at how could you ask that question, how dare you say that. no actually you can ask a question you shouldn't be afraid to ask questions and to get clarifications. because the community supports the idea of open communication there should be not nothing is taboo. we should be able to ask whatever we want to ask without being without being afraid of being judged right. in a cult you're not allowed to ask questions if you ask certain questions how dare you you should be ashamed of yourself, why don't you become like everybody else or robot, right so this idea of keeping uniformity. 

And finally in a community you have the urge to want to not only understand ourselves but to understand our neighbors. so we'll go over to the church we'll go over to the fire station we'll go over to our neighbors and invite them over to us and we'll say tell us about your faith will tell you about ours you know. what I would cooperate with each other and good and good things and in taqwa you can do that. you can even even agree to certain things with them you know. so now our community would like to reach out and to be be known and to identify itself as someone who can serve others. a cult however hates outside communication they want to be isolated cut off from everybody else and what the cult does to their members it tells them don't listen to anybody else because they'll mess you up the only way you'll stay safe is if you listen to us we've got the right Authority everybody else is deviant and out you know they're dill they'll they'll put waswasa and mess up your aqaeda and this and that. so don't listen to this speaker don't go to that convention don't go to that much - don't go here don't go there don't go there don't go there because it'll all be you know you'll get lost we're trying to keep you safe right. so the cult tries to keep its members bubbled and outside the rest. and actually

 

I said finally but this is the most important one so finally a community one of its fundamental functions is to help the family come stronger. so in a community it changed you to become a better father a better husband a better wife a better son a better daughter a better neighbor it makes you develop better relationships right that's what a community does you know. what a cult does it cuts you off from your family you have conflicts in the house, you have disagreements and arguments you have the home turns into a battlefield.. why because you're trying to turn your family your family doesn't agree with your cult, so the family became the enemy. and the cult will even come and say your family is a fitna you, should you know they're there Dounia we're calling you the Deen so leave your family you know. this is a cult and the reason I make this distinction is a lot of masjids in this country in this country are cults, a lot of masjids are cults. and what we need in this country is communities. but we need we desperately need communities we need to understand this difference and we need to help our masjids come out of a cult and eventually become a community you know. and if we're and sometimes we're in between or kind of in between somewhere and we're hoping that all of our masjids are healthy functioning communities and they don't end up becoming cults. there's a very important distinction to make and a opportunity for us to move forward and at this point. 

The Vision of a World United under Islam

CONCLUSION - JERUSALEM IN THE QUR’AN

JERUSALEM IN THE QUR’AN

By Imran N. Hosein

PART TWO

Chapter 3

CONCLUSION

“Had We sent this as a Qur’an (in a language) other than Arabic, they would have said: Why are not its verses explained in detail (in a language, which we could understand)? How strange it is that the book is in a foreign language while the one who brought the book is an Arab. Say: This book is a guide and a healing to those who believe; but for those who believe not in it, there is a deafness in their ears, and it is blindness in their (eyes): they are (as it were) being called from a place far distant!”

(Qur’an, Fussilat, 41:44)

It is now time for us to conclude with a brief restatement of the main points made in this book. They are as follows. The strange revolutionary change that transformed Europe from a pagan to a very largely Christian but also with a small and influential Jewish society, eventually gave way to an even stranger revolutionary change which resulted in that same European people now becoming essentially godless. In the process of becoming a Christian and a Jew the modern largely godless White Man subverted both Christianity and Judaism, respectively, and destroyed whatever was left in these revealed religions that was still sacred.

The modern secular White Man and his brown, yellow and black-skinned ‘mimic men’ are now attempting to do with Islam what had previously been accomplished with Judaism and Christianity. That is the fundamental explanation for the 1000-year-old war on Islam that was unleashed with the greatest fury after September 11^th.

Muslims are now being subjected to a sophisticated and comprehensive effort to so rethink Islam and to so modify their religion that it can be accommodated within the new universal global godless society. A new cosmetic version of Islam must emerge which would accept the Jews as rulers of the world and accept the State of Israel as the Ruling State of the world. This must perforce be an Islam that would be devoid of all notions of Jihad.

Muslims are being told that the values of the new global society are indeed universal values of pure Islam. But the new global society and its cosmopolitan elite are the product of secular western civilization and it shares the values of that godless civilization. Among those values are the political Shirk that has now embraced all of mankind in its deadly embrace, and the economic Riba of the modern economy whose embrace of mankind has brought a new economic slavery.

Godless western civilization made possible the establishment of both the Jewish State of Israel, and the Saudi-Wahhabi State of Saudi Arabia, and it is that civilization which has ensured the survival of both Israel and Saudi Arabia from their birth to the present. This is the key with which Muslims can seek to understand the world today. Neither of these phenomena can be explained without the Qur’an. The Qur’anic explanation that has emerged as the very core of this book is that the world is now in the control of Y’ajuj and M’ajuj as well Dajjal, the False Messiah.

Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) explained the purpose of a Divine Plan in which the Jews (i.e. the Israelite Jews) were expelled from the Holy Land after their rejection of the Messiah, the son of the Virgin Mary, and their attempt to crucify him. Allah, Most Merciful, then gave them a certain period of time in which to seek His mercy (“It may be that your Lord may (yet) have mercy on you.” Qur’an, Banu Israil, 17:8), and He left only one door open for them through which they could earn mercy. That door (to mercy) was the one last Prophet who was still to come. He was Muhammad (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam), the Prophet of Allah, Most High. The Jews would have to believe in him and follow him, honor him and assist him in order to win divine mercy (Qur’an, al-‘Araf, 7:157).

If the Israelite Jews were to reject Muhammad (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam), the implication would be that the door for divine mercy would be closed, and that when the final count-down of the Last Age came, Allah Most High would bring them back to the scene of their greatest crimes, i.e., the Holy Land (Qur’an, Banu Israil, 17:104). That Jewish return to the Holy Land would signify that their final divine punishment had commenced. This book has declared that such moment has arrived! The period of seventeen months commencing after the arrival of Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) in Madina was the most crucially important in all of Jewish history. The door to Divine Mercy was open. When it became absolutely clear at the end of seventeen months that the Jews had not only rejected Muhammad (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) but were conspiring to destroy Islam, Allah Most High decreed the change in Qiblah and this implied that the door to Divine Mercy was now shut for the Jews. Never again would they ever qualify for inheriting the Holy Land. Instead it is Muslims who have now been bestowed that inheritance:

“It is He Who has made you (the Muslims) inheritors of the (Holy) Land (after the Jews): He has raised some of you by degrees above others that He might test you through that which He bestowed upon you (Banu Israil got more than any other people): for thy Lord is swift in punishment: yet He is indeed Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.”

 (Qur’an, al-An’am, 6:165)

It was at this point in time, i.e., after the change in Qiblah and before the death of the Prophet (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) that the release of Dajjal and of Y’ajuj and M’ajuj took place. Only ‘one-eyed’ Muslims would now join with Jews to participate in ‘Inter-faith’ services and joint prayer sessions. This is because Jews have now been brought back to the Holy Land to face the consequences of many evil deeds of theirs, including the evil that they now commit. At the top of that list is their betrayal of their Covenant with Allah Most High.

Jews already recognize that Allah Most High has punished them many times before. This book has explained the Islamic view that history cannot end before the Jews receive their final punishment. Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) has provided crucially important information on the subject, to wit: that a Muslim army would conquer Jerusalem, destroy the impostor State of Israel and punish the Jews. The followers of Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) would thus liberate the Holy Land. Here, once more, is the prophecy of Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) to that effect:

“Abu Hurairah reported that the Prophet said: Black banners shall emerge from Khorasan (i.e., area which is now included in Afghanistan, Pakistan and a little in Iran and Central Asia), and no force would be able to stop them until they are inserted in Aelia (Jerusalem).”

(Sunan, Tirmidhi)

This is why ‘Jerusalem in the Qur’an’ should be read again and again, and why it should lead every reader to a penetrating study of the Qur’an and to the explanations of the Qur’an that were given by Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam). He spoke at length about Jerusalem and its role in the Last Age. Among the things that he said were the following: 

“Narrated Auf bin Malik: I went to the Prophet during the Ghazwa of Tabuk while he was sitting in a leather tent. He said: Count six signs that indicate the approach of the Hour: my death, the conquest of Jerusalem, a plague that will afflict you (and kill you in great numbers) as the plague that afflicts sheep, the increase of wealth to such an extent that even if one is given one hundred Dinars, he will not be satisfied; then an affliction which no Arab house will escape, and then a truce between you and Bani al-Asfar (i.e. the Byzantines) who will betray you and attack you under eighty flags. Under each flag will be twelve thousand soldiers.”

(Sahih Bukhari)

 “Narrated Abu Hurairah: Allah’s Messenger said: The Last Hour would not come unless the Muslims fight against the Jews. The Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree, and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him; but the tree Gharqad would not say (such), for it is the tree of the Jews.”

(Sahih Muslim)

Perhaps for the first time in history a war is being fought with ‘stones’. The Palestinian Muslim intifada (uprising) continues to deliver its response to Israeli oppression with ‘stones’. That is a truly ominous sign for Israel. In addition, Israel has engaged in the indiscriminate destruction of ‘trees’ in the Holy Land. Thousands of olive trees have already been destroyed by Israel in a diabolical effort to increase the economic hardship being imposed upon the Palestinian people, Muslim as well as Christian. The outrage against these acts of Fasad (awesome oppression and wickedness) is such that the ‘trees’ and ‘stones’ in the Holy Land are now beginning to ‘speak’ in fulfillment of the prophecy of the Prophet (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam). Of course the trees and stones cannot be heard with the external ears. Rather, it is with the internal hearing faculty in the heart of those who possess faith (Iman) that one will hear the ‘trees’ and ‘stones’ when they speak! That, perhaps, explains why the Saudi, Egyptian, Turkish, Jordanian and Pakistani Governments, as well as so many other governments around the world, appear unable to hear the stones speaking in the Holy Land!

Our view is that the above prophecy of Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) is already being fulfilled today in the Palestinian intifada. As time now passes the stones will speak louder and louder. Only those who are spiritually deaf and dead will fail to hear them. If the very stones are now crying out to Muslims everywhere in the world to liberate the Holy Land from Jewish occupation and oppression, the implication is that Muslims should mobilize themselves and devote all their efforts and all their resources for that struggle; and that struggle be given precedence over such mundane goals as, for example, raising the standard of living of a people who are already living comfortably. It follows quite logically that Muslims cannot reside in territories where the war against Islam and support for Israel are most pronounced. Such would be USA, Britain, etc. Muslims must migrate from such territories and go to reside in places where they can better preserve their faith and support the struggle for the liberation of the Holy Land. The world is increasingly being forced to recognize the oppression created and sustained by Israel, an oppression that will constantly increase until, according to the prophecy of Prophet Muhammad (‘alaihi alSalam):

“…. a man would pass by a grave and roll on it saying: I wish I were in the grave (instead of the dead man), not for religious reasons but because of oppression”

(Sahih, Muslim) 

Perhaps the most important warning that this book gives is that every tomorrow will now witness increased oppression of those Muslims who remain faithful to Islam. Indeed since September 11^th the oppression of such Muslims has dramatically intensified all around the world. Muslims are now living through the ‘mother of all trials’. The present Ruling State in the world (USA) is leading an effort to make the world safe for the next Ruling State (Israel)! 

The guidance that the Qur’an provides in Surah al-Kahf is the only guidance with which Muslims can hope to survive this wicked storm. The only guide who can successfully guide Muslims in this age is the guide who understands the age in which we now live and whose understanding is derived from the Qur’an and the Ahadith of the blessed Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam). Such a guide would understand the Shirk of the modern secular State and its system of electoral politics and he would advise Muslims to abstain from that Shirk by not pledging allegiance to a secular constitution. He would also understand the Riba of the modern economy and advise Muslims to abstain from all forms of Riba to the maximum extent that is possible for them. He would recognize ‘paper money’ to be Haram and would be taking steps to encourage Muslims to return to the use of gold and silver coins as money which can be used in the market as legal tender. (It is unlikely that the ‘International Jew’ would allow the Government of Malaysia to reintroduce gold and silver coins as ‘legal tender’.) 

The guide would recognize and warn his people about the back-door Riba now being practiced by Islamic Banks, Credit Unions and other financial institutions. Such a guide would declare this to be the age of Y’ajuj and M’ajuj and of Dajjal, the False Messiah. All others are just ‘whistling in the wind’.

My book entitled Surah al-Kahf and the Modern Age, which is now being written, will, Insha Allah, attempt to explain the guidance which that Surah of the Qur’an provides. At the very heart of that guidance is the imperative of disconnecting from the godless cities of the modern world and moving to the countryside where land is cheap and where there is water. Muslim villages should then be established in such locations and then an attempt be made to establish Islam as the way of life of the villages. The work of my teacher, Maulana Dr. Muhammad Fadlur Rahman Ansari, entitled ‘The Qur’anic Foundations and Structure of Muslim Society’ is a blueprint for survival since it provides the specific guidance of the Qur’an that must be applied in the establishment of authentic Islam in such Muslim villages. It is from children who grow up in Muslim villages that are disconnected from the godless world that the future Muslim army would emerge which would liberate the Holy Land.

 The End

 

Source: Jerusalem in the Qur'an by Imran N. Hosein