Allah (swt) has endowed the human being with the instinct of survival. One of the features of the survival instinct is for people to gather and live together, so the co-existence of people is a natural human disposition. However, this does not transform them into a society, simply a group, and they would remain a group unless they developed relationships that brought them a common interest and protected them from common threats. Only if such relationships that brought them common interests existed would they then become a society. However, these relationships would not make them a single society unless their viewpoint towards these relationships were united, once their thoughts had become united; and once their approval and disapproval towards these relationships became united when their feelings had become united, including their ways of dealing with problems that inevitably arise. Therefore, it is essential to look into the thoughts and feelings that dominate a society before forming an opinion about it, for they alone can determine and distinguish one society from another - be it communist, capitalist or Islamic.

Essentially, any society that is established upon a set of ideas will work to preserve the sanctity of those ideas, and many institutions of the society play a part in this regard. In United States, the society is founded upon the doctrine of Secularism, from which springs forth the Capitalistic ideology. There is no way that US society would allow a president or even a Congressman who does not believe in the Secular doctrine. If anybody in authority were to show any inclination against the core ideas that define the society's outlook and integrity, then he would be immediately exposed. The media machinery would begin a severe campaign against him to discredit his personality, think tanks and intellectuals would begin spewing forth articles and essays regarding this, and he would be made to stand trial before hearings and even the Supreme Court. In the West, they are united in their belief that Democratic Capitalism is the only valid system, and they have unity over certain core ideas, such as Freedom, Individualism, Pluralism, etc. At the same time, they differ over many issues (such as gay marriage, abortion, homosexuality), yet laws are passed, policies are formulated, and things move on without the society collapsing into anarchy because they are united upon a set of ideas (albeit corrupt).

The concept of pluralism emerged in the minds of the capitalists due to their approach to society. Society is seen as a collection of individuals, where these individuals naturally will have differing values, beliefs, practices and opinions. This is not considered a bad thing since in their view to have multiple views and groupings in society is considered healthy and all are required to contribute to the well being of society. The key issue is how these groups seek to take care of their affairs, for this the capitalists view political representation as the key. All groups should be recognised and their political participation is welcomed.

Toleration is also linked to Pluralism which allows for the existence of multiple ideas in society whether these ideas are beneficial or detrimental to it. This pervasive idea allows for the existence of Political parties to call for ideas which are foreign to Allah's commands and movements which spread ideas which Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta'aala) prohibits such as homosexuality, adultery, gambling, drinking alcohol, abortion, and the use of women as sexual objects.


The Islamic society would work in a similar fashion in the sense that the entire society is a filter that would work, together with all of its institutions, to safeguard the idea. The filtering process in the Islamic society has many components. Perhaps the most prominent and most significant of these is the level of awareness that the society possesses and the strength of the understanding of Islam that pervades the society. If Islam is well understood and properly implemented, then this will greatly reduce the likelihood of somebody who is corrupt or possesses a thinking that conflicts with Islam to assume a position of authority. Other aspects of this filtering system are the presence of thinkers, intellectuals, and scholars, who would serve the function of guarding the society against such individuals as well as raising the level of awareness of the people. We should be united in certain ideas and issues that define our frame of thinking. Within this framework, Islam has allowed for differences to exist.

In Islam it is permitted to establish multiple groups and parties but all these must be established on the basis of the Islamic Aqeedah. Islam permits a multiplicity of parties and movements to exist within the Islamic State but definitive guidelines apply: they must be based on the Islamic Aqeedah and must not work to undermine the system of Islam. The groups' opinions must emanate from the revelation that Allah (subhanahu wa ta'aala) has sent man. However this is far removed from the capitalist view of pluralism. The corrupt idea of pluralism emanating from the capitalist doctrine, allows the establishment of parties and groups that call for Kufr or are based on the Kufr of secularism. The Kuffar have multiple parties that are based on the corrupt ideas of nationalism or movements that call for sexual perversion, gambling or other corrupt ideas. When the kuffar calls for ''pluralism'' through their agents, they are indeed calling for the establishment of parties that call for kufr or on the basis of secularism. Adopting any concept or idea emanating from the basis of secularism is stepping out of the circle of Islam.

The prophet was very diligent in detecting any deviances in the thinking of Muslims so much that even the use of certain terminologies was prohibited that could potentially poison Islamic concepts .One such example is the abrogation of the word  Raa' ina mentioned in the Quran

Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta'aala) says,

O believers! Do not say:  Ra'ina, but say Unzurna and listen; and for the disbelievers there is a painful punishment. [ Al-Baqarah:104 ]

The famous Mufassir Ibn Kathir explained in his tafseer of this ayah:

This verse refers to the Jews who used puns in their conversations with the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) in an attempt to make fun of him. They, (may Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'aala curse them) addressed him with the word Raa'ina which literally means 'consider us' but can also mean 'stupidity', and when they greeted him they said 'As-Samu 'Alaykum' that is, 'death to you' rather than 'As Sallamu 'Alaykum' that is 'peace be on you'.

What this Ayah and its tafseer indicate to us is the importance of terminology. If a statement has a loaded definition contradicting the concepts of Islam they must be relinquished for the Islamic concept and its terminology. This is because the danger in calling to the Western ideas and concepts would mean the appearance of this foreign way of life upon the lives of the Muslims and this is both dangerous for our Islam and prohibited by Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta'aala).

We have our own terminology and idioms and we must both use these and comprehend the importance of realising there meanings so as to work diligently to bring these back to life through the pre-eminence of the Islamic way of life absent from the world due to the absence of the Islamic Khilafah.

Comments

1.Today, Muslims discuss issues and proceed through life in the absence of the correct mindset, and for this reason, we see that Muslims cannot agree on anything, and oftentimes, discussions are an incoherent stew of haphazard ideas that typically break down and results in shouting contests. An example will be sufficient to demonstrate this point. The west-sponsored reformists makes scathing attacks at one of their opponents for being a homosexual in their political satires and cartoons. And in the same breathe, these reformists claim that they are working towards ''pluralism''. The application of this concept in our society means giving homosexuals and lesbians the ''constitutional right'' or ''human right'' to form their organization, participate in the political process and to promote their deviated tendencies through the media machinery. If anyone were to show hostility towards homosexuality or lesbianism, the legal apparatus will spring into action to protect their ''human rights'' enshrined in the ''Universal Declaration of Human Rights''. This is a vivid indication of how western concepts can be marketed through cartoons and so called political satires ,if the masses remain naive. It is very easy for Muslims to reject a crazed evangelist with blond hair and blue eyes slandering the Prophet (saaws) or denouncing the Qur'an. However, it is an altogether different situation when the poison (e.g. pluralism) is injected slowly and systematically along with cartoons to tickle our emotions .This is not to say that Islam will be eradicated altogether. But Islam will remain reduced to a set of rituals and morals and Muslims will be given the ''freedom'' to practise Islam within the boundaries set by the secular ideology - the system which the kuffar wants to establish ''officially'' through their local agents as part of their agenda to check the rise in Islamic system which they refer to as ''Radical Islam'' for marketing purpose. Also, the kuffar will implement this new 'deen' in such  a way that western concepts become fully anchored in the hearts and minds of the Muslims. Therefore the implementation will not descend upon us from nowhere, but will come about as a culmination of continuous agitation which the colonialists would foment behind the scenes. The agitation would be stirred up in such a manner that the masses themselves will be calling for these kufr concepts leading to a climax. Daniel Pipes, a neo-conservative bigot who ardently supports and advises US on the 'democratisation' projects in the Muslim world has the following to say regarding their disguised strategy:

''Because it takes time for full enfranchisement, the U.S. government should encourage democratization, first on the level of civic society, and then, only after that has been established, on the level of political leaders.''

The motive behind the urgency to ''democratise'' the Muslim world is indicated by another statement by Pipes :

''I propose mainstream secularists as the forward looking Muslims who uniquely can wrench their co-religionists out of their current slough of despair and radicalism. Secularists start with the proven premise of disentangling religion from politics; not only has this served the Western world well, but it has also worked in Turkey, the Muslim success story of our time''

The ''success story'' mentioned above, is the destruction of the last Islamic Khilafah in 1924,which implies that West is trying desperately to avoid the re-emergence of the Islamic State. According to Pipes, the Islamic system can prevented from resurfacing by activating the Neo-moderate Muslims to work for a new secular ideology. This new ideology is promoted in various parts of the Muslim world using different labels such as ''Moderate Islam'' ,''Reform'' ,or ''Democracy''. To spark off this ideological war, the colonialists would probe for an ''internal'' matter within each nation to act as catalyst to  help move things quickly along a designated political path. The lesson for us is that if we fail to apply Islam completely, then we leave a political, social, and cultural vacuum in society and in the world, and this vacuum will naturally be filled with Kufr.

Conclusion

What is required, at this critical juncture, is a process by which we actively arrive at a set of ideas and principles that we believe in and wished to be governed by. This means initiating a thinking process, at least in the minds of those who are concerned, to question and scrutinize all the ideas that are being proposed to solve our problems. We should not accept any idea (e.g pluralism) through shallow unthinking means. Rather we should accept those ideas that are intellectually sound and will be able to comprehensively solve our society's problems.

If we succumb to our emotions, then we will find ourselves susceptible to the whims of anyone who wants to tickle or arouse our emotions by publishing political satires and cartoons whilst smuggling kufr through the back door . Also, we should not rely on cartoons and political satires for an accurate assessment of the events. We should fish through several sources like solving a puzzle.

We should live up to the statement of Umar Bin Al-Khattab (ra), when he said: '' I am not a deceiver and the deceiver cannot deceive me.''

Prophet(saw) said, Allah did not portion to man a thing better than intelligence. The sleep of the intelligence one is better than the wakefulness of the fool. No Prophet or Messenger was sent other than to complete intelligence.

Prophet(saw) also said:''A believer does not get bitten from the same hole twice.'' (First, the ummah got bitten due to implementation of capitalism, socialism, nationalism etc etc  in place of Islam. The result is oppression, suffering and earning Allah's Wrath. And we will get bitten again if we respond to this wretched situation by calling for Western secular concepts

Related

Checks and Balances in the Ummah

Relationship between Muslim and non-Muslims

Changing a Society