Perfecting Oneself through changing Society

Muhammad (saw) was revealed the deen of Islam which he conveyed to the society where he lived. He did not have in him even a tiny amount of selfishness as he sacrificed all to carry the da'awa(message) to the people. For none of us would even have smelt the sweetness of Islam had it not been for the da'awa that came before us. The Sahaba(may Allah be pleased with them) had the best teacher who cultured them with the correct understanding of Islam. They likewise carried Islam to people through their sacrifice in the da'awa, the fruits of which we witness today.

Since the kuffar, who hate Islam, launched their intellectual attack against the ummah, they managed to distort some of the Islamic concepts so that Muslims started to carry these false misunderstandings instead of the pure Islamic concepts. Among the most dangerous ideas which affected the Muslims made them shun the da'awa for Islam, look down upon those who work to keep the munkar out of society and hold in high esteem those who do not concern themselves with other than the perfection of their own iman.

Yet how could a person's Iman be perfected if he only had Iman in part of what Allah revealed. Whose Iman is perfected who believes in the prayer and is motivated by it but disbelieves in the zakat and so does not pay it? Allah condemns the 'picking and choosing' from his deen. He says: "Then is it only a part of the Book that ye believe in and do ye reject the rest? But what is the reward for those among you who behave like this but disgrace in this life? and on the Day of Judgment they shall be consigned to the most grievous penalty. For Allah is not unmindful of what ye do." [2:85]

And so many other times He condemns the following of one's own desires.

So how can it be that some Muslims today can emphasise only some aspects of the Islamic Shar'iah and bring excuses to neglect the rest of Allah's deen, particularly anything which is more than just individual ibadah.

It is the kuffar from the West and East who propagated the notion that individual actions which involve chanting, seclusion and asceticism are better and more 'religious' than other actions which were concerned with the affairs of the life. How could Muslims allow themselves to be drawn by such false claims when there exists no Islamic evidence to suggest such a thing. And Allah revealed Islam to define to the people what is pleasing to Him so that they would reject the shirk of following their own whims to define what is better for Allah.

On the contrary Muslims who were influenced by this devious philosophising of the Kuffar started to adopt that as the truth and interpret Islam with this filthy misunderstanding. They would emphasise the individual aspects of Ayat and Hadith, claiming that these were all that is important and others were just circumstantial and not important evidences for Muslims to follow. They invented a lie called the 'Spirit of Islam' which contradicted the Shar'iah wholly but they still followed this instead of the text. They ignored ayat and hadith which clearly contradicted their misunderstanding such that many people soon did not know such daleel existed. Further they made wild claims about the Sahaba  such that Muslims felt that it was impossible to be as good as them so we should not try to be as obedient to Allah as they were, but just to concentrate our whole life on a few individual actions, ignoring most of the revelation revealed to Muhammad(saw) and most of what the Sahaba acted upon.

To claim that Muslims can improve their situation by isolating themselves from the affairs of society is false. Equally false is the notion that Muslims should just encourage each other to improve the individual personal actions to perfection before starting to discuss the affairs of society. These claims help the kuffar to control the Muslims as we remain weak, never able to control our own affairs as we remain ignorant of how to manage them and defeat the Kuffar's conspiracies against us.

"And fear the Fitna (affliction, trial) which affects not in particular (only) those of you who do wrong, and know that Allah is Severe in punishment" [8:25]

The idea that Muslims should neglect calling the society to implement the Islamic rules in favour of performing individual ibadah is warned of in this Hadith, as the selfish individualistic people do nothing to prevent the evil, but vainly concentrate on their own piety instead.

The Messenger of Allah (saw) was asked: "will we be destroyed while there are righteous people amongst us?" He replied: "Yes, when the evil becomes great".

The Prophet(saw) said "Any people amongst whom disobedience occurs, and they do not change it, are not more honoured and more secure than the sinners from the punishment of Allah sweeping them".

Ahmad and Tabarani narrated on the authority of Udai Ibn Umairah that he(saw)  said "Allah does not punish the general public because of the wrong doing of specific people until they see the evil (committed) among them while able to stop it and they do not. If they do that, Allah will punish the specific people and the general public".

After hearing this, how could people listen to those who tell them not to speak about the evil in society? Our Master Muhammad has spoken, won't we then take heed?

Abu Dawud has narrated on the authority of Qays b. Abi Hazm: "That Abu Bakr(r.a) after he had glorified and praised Allah he said: O people! You read this ayah but you do not understand it: "O you who believe! Guard your own souls: If you follow the right guidance none can hurt you from those who have gone astray" [al-Maida:105]

'I heard the Messenger of Allah (saw) say: "The people when they see the tyrant and do not restrain his hands, Allah will be about to punish them all". And I heard the Messenger of Allah say: "Any people amongst whom sins are committed, and they could change them but they did not (change), Allah will be about to bring a punishment which engulfs all." [Abu Dawud: Book of Battles/3775]

And this is how Abu Bakr(r.a) had understood the importance of obeying Allah in this matter of speaking about the rulers who corrupt the society. Did Muhammad (saw) not tell us to follow his Sahaba for they were like the stars in the sky?

And the other great and most eminent Sahaba(r.a) also realised the importance of obeying Allah in all of his commands and how wrong it would be to neglect the role of the ruler, who is the protector of the Muslim ummah, who has authority to implement Islam and ensure Islamic rules are upheld.

Uthman bin Affan once stood and said "Allah restrains by Authority more than Allah restrains by Quran"

The Messenger Muhammad (saw) said: "The example of the person abiding by Allah's order and restrictions in comparison to those who violate them is like the example of those persons who drew lots for their seats in a boat. Some of them get seats in the upper deck, and the others in the lower. When the latter needed water, they had to go up to bring water (and that troubled the others), so they said, 'Let us make a hole in our share of the ship (and get water) saving those who are above us from troubling them'. So, if the people in the upper deck left the others to do what they had suggested, all the people of the ship would be destroyed, but if they prevented them, both parties would be safe" [Bukhari: Book of Partnership/3775]

After this lesson, how could we be lazy and let the people on the bottom deck of our societies today, who wish to pander to the Kuffar and drill holes in our societies to let the kuffar's culture in such that we drown in their corruption and filth?

Then the advise given to the Sahaba is equally applicable to our situation today, has any of us not noticed a ruler who disobeys Allah(s.w.t) and his Messenger (saw)?

Messenger(saw) said "There will be leaders over you, (who will do things) you recognise (as part of the Deen), and you don't recognise. Whoever recognised he would be relieved (of sin), and whoever denied (the wrong), he would be safe".

Ahmad narrated on the authority of Abu Bakrah that the messenger (saw) said: "If the people see the Munkar (evil, wrong doing) and they do not change it, Allah will take them with a punishment".

Perhaps then the harsh condemnation from the lips of our beloved Prophet (saw) will encourage us to seek the Jannah through obedience to Allah and make our actions a dua to Him I in the hope that he may be merciful with us on the Day of Judgement. Does not the promise of great rewards from Allah (s.w.t) motivate us to speak openly about his great Shar'iah and to expose the conspiracies against this ummah?

Then if we imagined that we could gain such rewards or avoid such dangers without commanding what is good and condemning what is evil we would be mistaken. How could we think that we would become better when Al-Bazzar and Tabarani narrated on the authority of Abu Hurayrah that the messenger (saw) said: "You shall enjoin good and you shall forbid munkar, or Allah will empower on you the evil ones, then your best ones will call upon Allah and he shall not respond".

Even this Hadith shows the error of the most pious people who neglect to command good and forbid evil.

Ibn Majjah on the authority of Abu Saeed, Ahmad and Ibn Majjah and Tabarani and Baihaqi on the authority of Abu Umamah Ahmad and Nisa'i on the authority of the Tabie Tariq Ibn Shihab all narrated that the Messenger (saw) said : "The best of Jihad is a word of truth in the face of a tyrant ruler".

If we ended this short article with how those noble Sahaba , who conveyed to us the whole deen, understood this topic and the importance of the issue ruling for Muslims.

Bukhari and Muslim narrated that Abu Bakr (ra) had said in one of his speeches: "And it is not lawful for the muslims to have two rulers. Whatever the reason is, their affair and laws will then differ, and their unity will be broken, and they shall dispute with each other. Then the sunnah will be abolished, and the innovation will appear, and the fitna will be severe". May Allah be pleased with him.

Imam Al-Khateeb narrated in his history and Imam Al-Khattabee narrated that Omar Ibn Al-Khattab (ra) said: "By Allah, what Allah protects and prevents by the ruler is greater than what he will protect and prevents by the quraan". May Allah be pleased with him. [The hadith of Al-Khateeb is hadith number 14284 in Kunz ul Ummal by Al-Muttaqi Al-Hindi]

Al-Baihaqi narrated on the authority of Ali (ra) that he said "the people will not be straightened except by an imam (khalifah) whether he is good or bad". [hadith number 14286 in Kanz Ul Ummal]

Bukhari narrated on the authority of Qays Ibn Abi Hazim that Abu Bakr (ra) entered on a woman from the people of Ahmas named Zainab.... She said "until when will we stay on this good matter (islam) which Allah brought it after the ignorance time?". Abu Bakr said "as long as your rulers straighten on it". May Allah be plesaed with him. [hadith number 2068 in Jami'al Usul by Ibn Al-Atheer.]

Al-Darmi narrated on the authority of Hayya Bintu Abi Hayya. She said..."O slave of Allah (Abu Bakr):until when will the ruling of islam be like this?" He said: "as long as your rulers straighten for you". [Ibn Katheer said this isnad (chain) is hasan and good.]

Abu Nu'aim narrated in his book "Hulyat Al-Awaliya'" on the authority of Abdullah Ibn Omar, he said "The people in the ummah will not suffer even if they were oppressors and sinful if the rulers were guided and were guiding. But the people in the ummah will suffer and perish even if they were guided and were guiding if the rulers were oppressors and sinful". May Allah be pleased with him.