Understanding Revival

If we study human history in depth we will notice how societies differ in the level of revival and decline. The historical texts are a record for the life of human societies, and when you compare these societies you will find a great difference between them.. We also notice the efforts of different thinkers, philosophers and politicians -, theoretically or by action, in their attempt-to achieve that revival in their societies, which resulted in success and failure.

Till this day the issue of revial and decline has continued to be studied by many researchers, thinkers and politicians, which resulted in differing schools of thought and perspective, and they will continue to differ. We the Muslims are not isolated from this, and since the dawn of our history we have taken it as a goal to establish a high calibre society based on the tenants of Islam.

Our predecessors have succeeded in establishing this goal since the time of our Prophet (saws), as Allah has obligated this upon them and Allah drew this path for them through what he revealed upon his Prophet (saws), Allah states

“Allah hath promised such of you as believe and do good works that he will surely make them to succeed in the earth even as He causes those who were before them to succeed; and that He will surely establish for them their religion which he hath approved for them;, and will give them in exchange safety after their fear. They serve Me. They ascribe nothing as partner unto Me. Those who disbelieve henceforth, they are the miscreants.” ( 18:53)

As for today in which our Ummah has reached an unenviable level of decline, it is essential to return to understand the correct methodology of revival, which is only the Islamic methodology(not the wahhabee methodology nor the Iranian revolution). There is no doubt that Islam has drawn for the Muslims the path for revival and establishing the true Islamic society. And it is essential that this revival cannot be understood and established before understanding the reality of society. Therefore the Islamic way of dealing with problems and giving solutions was described by Ibn-qayim al-Jawziyya

“A Mufti or a ruler will not be able to present a righteous opinion except by use of two methods of comprehension. One method is the total understanding and comprehension of the realities and particulars of the case, with deduction of the outcome of the case by inference, comparison and evidence. The second method is the understanding of that which is obligatory for that particular case by comprehending Allah’s ruling in the Quraan, or by the tongue of His Prophet (saws), with regard to that particular incident, therefore applying a ruling on that basis.”

We hence deduce:

1. Understanding the reality accurately, deeply, and stopping upon the reality of the problem intended to be looked at.

2. The return to the texts to understand the divine texts dealing with that reality and problem upon shari’ah understanding, and the goal is knowing the ruling of Allah in that question point, and that is to get the solutions from revelation revealed upon our Prophet (saws).

3. Implementing these Shari’ah solutions upon that reality to solve the required issue.

Hence it is important to understand the reality of society, as well as defining it. Many people look at Society as simply as a group of individuals of people. And hence revival to them is merely correcting individuals to correct society. Let us judge this definition. For a definition to be correct it has to be Jami’ (applies upon all societies) Mani’ (Does not apply except to Society) i.e. everything required for that definition and excludes everything not part of the definition. Now let us judge this definition upon the reality of society. We find it is Jami’, as all societies have a group of individuals. But it is not Mani’, because it applies to other than society. This is because a group of individuals do not by necessity become a society. Let us strike an example:

A group of people ride on a ship, this will never become a society regardless of their numbers, and it is agreed upon even if they are thousands they will never become a society. Are these not a group of individuals? Why are they not a society? This because the very definition is wrong by it’s essence. Yet on the other hand hundreds in a small village do constitute a society, and this is agreed upon. So the correct definition differentiates between the example of the ship and village. The essence of the difference lies in the fact that the people of the village had continuous relationships knitting them together and making their whole - not individuals - a specific personality and identity. While those riding a boat are counted thousands and they are nothing more than travel companions with no continuous relationship, as they will separate as soon as they reach their destination. Therefore, society is a group of individuals with continuous relationships, upon it will society become distinct. If these relationships were of a high calibre then this society will be of a high calibre and likewise the opposite. A point is raised:

How can these relationships be of a high calibre and of a low calibre? The answer is known by looking at the issues that judge these relationships. The deep look concludes that the reality of society shows us that what judges society’s relationships is three: concepts, emotions, and systems.

1.As for concepts: then this occurs when one’s behaviour is in accordance with what understanding he holds, so he does what he conceives correct, and leaves what he conceives wrong, so that relationship occurs between people there must be some common prevalent understanding, as people gathering upon a benefit. A relationship will not occur between the two sides except if a unity occurs in understanding the benefit, if a differing in understanding benefit occurs then no relationship will occur.

2.As for emotions: The concepts which people carry, links it to emotions of it’s same type, for a relationship to occur between them, it is necessary that feelings unite towards a benefit that they gathered upon, so they are happy together for what they see correct and angry for what they see wrong. These feeling give rise to general traditions in a society.

3.As for systems: then every society has some form of authority that takes cares of its affairs, and organizes it’s relationships and judges in differences, all this in accordance to the adopted system and all individuals are necessitated to follow this system. So the systems have a great effect in society. From this it is clear that society is a group of individuals linked with thoughts, shared emotions, and systems. This society is categorized in terms of thoughts, shared emotions, and systems. So if it was capitalist then the society will be capitalist, and if Marxist then society will be Marxist and so on. For a society to have a specific identity then the whole thoughts, emotions, systems must be of a coherent type, with no contradiction between them. Hence Imam Taqideen Nabahani states (on the issue of those who believe revival is based on correcting only individuals)

“In addition to the cultural and charitable associations, ethical associations came into being to awaken the Ummah on the basis of ethics through preaching, guidance, lectures and leaflets, on the assumption that manners are the basis of the awakening. Much efforts and money were spent in these associations, but they achieved no important results, and they gave an outlet for the sentiment of the Ummah through these repetitive and boring speeches. The establishment of these as was based on the misunderstanding of the words of Allah, the Supreme, addressing the messenger (saws) "And Lo! You are of great manners", though this is a description of the person of the messenger and not of the society; and also on the saying of the Prophet (saws) "Allah has sent me to complete the good manners", and the saying of the prophet "Verily, I have been sent to complete the good manners", though these two Hadiths, and similar sayings are related to the characters of the individual and not of the group. It was also based on the error of the poet in his saying "Verily the nations are the manners as long they exist. If their manners disappear they would disappear." However the status of the nations is not decided by their manners, but by the creeds which they embrace and the ideas which they carry, and the systems which they apply. These associations were based also on a misconception of the meaning of society, they conceptualized it as comprising of individuals; but the society is a whole consisting of parts which are: men, ideas, feelings, and systems. Hence, its corruption stems from the corruption of ideas, feelings and systems, not from the corruption of man; and its reform is only achieved by reforming its ideas, feelings and systems."

Therefore if we assume that a society holds a mixture of thoughts of capitalism and Islam - as it is in Muslim countries - then this society will not have a specific colour nor specific identity and hence -as long it is upon this state- it will never know revival in any form. Also if in a society a split occurs between general traditions and systems implemented i.e. if the rulers implement systems contradicting with the concepts and emotions in society- as in the case in most Muslim countries - then we will have a unstable society with the fire of enmity occurring between those ruled and the rulers, and this is goes against any form of revival whatsoever.

A society becomes a high calibre by the calibre of its thoughts, emotions, and systems and it declines with its decline. And these thoughts, emotions, and systems cannot be of a high calibre except if it is built on one basis of thought. This basis of thought must be an intellectual belief that gives a comprehensive idea on man, life, and the universe for it to become a correct ideology for all thought and the root for all systems.

In summary a society, will be a revived one if its general traditions - and that is thoughts and emotions - are based on an intellectual creed, and its systems emanate from it. And by this will its creed will be the basis on which the society will be built upon, i.e. the intellectual leadership that it will take to revival. So if we wish to create such a society that is blessed with the correct revival, then that will not occur except by establishing the Islamic society, i.e. by the existence of a society based upon the Islamic creed, by its thoughts, emotions, and systems being all Islamic. This because the Islamic creed is correct the rest is false. And if we look upon the reality of the Islamic countries we will see that it deserves the attribute of backwardness. This is because it’s thoughts, despite a lot being Islamic, are in great amounts non-Islamic, imported from the western world, such as separating Islam from the state and Democracy.

As for emotions, despite the preservation of the Ummah of a lot of its Islamic emotions, a wave of disgusting emotions have entered, such as nationalism, tribalistic bonds and so on. As for systems then most systems implemented are systems of Kufr imported from man created laws. Therefore the society which Muslims live in have a mixture of thoughts, emotions, and the systems both Islamic and non-Islamic. Hence it is a declined society with no blessings of revival. Despite the fact that most Muslims in this society are Muslims, but the society is not Islamic, nor can it be attributed to Islam whatsoever.

The methodology of Prophet Muhammad (saws) in changing society.

Our Prophet (saws) was sent to an ignorant society, containing concepts, emotions and systems based on ignorance. So his task was to turn it to a new system altogether, and that is not by changing its individuals, nor by eradicating its individuals and bringing different ones altogether, but by changing its concepts, emotions, and systems, i.e. by replacing the thoughts of Kufr and emotions and systems and replacing them with those of Islam. So what is the method he (saws) adopted?

By accurate looking at the seerah of the Prophet (saws) from the beginning of revelation, three stages become very clear:

A: The first stage: The stage of preparing the gathering based on Islam, and culturing them with Islamic culture.

B: The second stage: The stage of open Da’wah and interaction with society.

C: The third stage: Implementing Islam in reality through the Islamic State.

The first stage : The stage of culturing : This stage continued for three years, the Prophet (saws) built the Aqeedah (belief) in the heart of the believers, the Prophet (saws) used to strengthen their Imaan by absolute intellectual proofs and evidences. The Prophet (saws) would give them the living culture of Islam, and established for them proofs and evidences for the corruption of the beliefs, concepts and systems of ignorance. He (saws) would remind them of constantly remembering Allah, and contemplating about the universe to gain great levels of certainty in Allah as well as obedience to Allah, and he would build in them correct spiritualism in prayer, recitation, and late night prayers. Thus removing from their hearts the emotions of ignorance, like the tribalistic racism, and place in them the emotions of Islam together with a correct Islamic understanding. So he would place in them loyalty and love for Allah and his Prophet (saws) and the believers and forbid for them the loyalty for Satan and his allies, even if they be their fathers, their brothers, sons, and family, and establish in them the want for establishing the truth and destroying falsehood, until it reaches a stage were the belief cannot be kept imprisoned in themselves.

As the Aqeedah will burn in their hearts, and the correct understanding will be implanted in their minds, and the reality which they live in its convictions, customs, traditions, systems will be like the night that cannot be allowed to stay as well as the corruption , from the most evil rulers, transgression of the oppressed, burying baby daughters alive, cheating in the market, usury, and fighting over tribalistic bonds.

This is the reality pushing them for change. The Prophet (saws) stayed in this stage till he prepared a body of companions mature in Islamic culture, they now have the correct Islamic mind set. And the Prophet (saws) was pleased that he has now got a body of Islamic personalities with such high levels of maturity, he was certain that the body was prepared for openly declaring the Da’wah in front of the prevalent society in its corruption and ignorance.

Part two : The stage of openly declaring the Da’wah and interaction with society - In this vital stage the Prophet (saws ) continued to build a body and continued to increase its numbers, but he added to it many dangerous and difficult actions and these actions are :

1-Da’wah to the masses: openly calling for the spread of Islam and building the public opinion for Islam.

2-Ideological Struggle: against the beliefs of Kufr, its systems, thoughts, customs, understandings by showing its corruption and calling for people to leave it.

3-Political Struggle: This specifically applied to the leaders of Quraish for their stubbornness on Kufr and ruling the people upon the systems of Kufr and for standing in the face of the Islamic call. In the stage of opening declaring the da’wah, the Prophet (saws) carried the Da’wah and made the body that carried the Da’wah apparent Above all this the Da’wah in its essence contained a struggle against Quraish and the society in Mecca because it called for the Tawheed of Allah and the worship of him alone, and leaving the worship of idols and leaving the corrupt system. The clash with Quraish indeed was full and total, as our Prophet (saws) attacked their dreams, and idols, their cheap lives, and their corrupt ways of living. The Quran constantly is attacking them clearly

“Lo! Ye (idolaters) and that which Ye worship beside Allah are fuel of hell. Thereunto ye will come”

And then Allah attacks usury

“That which ye give in usury in order that it may increase on (other) people’s property hath no increase with Allah; but that which ye give in charity, seeking Allah’s countenance, hath increase manifold”

As well as those cheating in the market

“Woe unto the defrauders Those who when they take the measure from mankind demand it full but if they measure unto them or weigh for them, they cause them less”.(equivalent to today's stock market cheating)

Quraish stood in the face of the Prophet (saws), harming him and his companions by torture and isolation, as the call is against them and their religion, but still he attacks them, struggling against the wrong ideas, destroying their false beliefs, and struggling for spreading the Da’wah. The Prophet (saws) called to Islam with no compromise, despite what he received from Quraish from harm and hardship. The Prophet (saws) called to Allah with strength and Imaan, helping the Prophet (saws) to surpass the difficulties placed upon him by Quraish. The Prophet (saws) was able to reach the people and convey the message, and many accepted the message, until the truth began to overpower the falsehood, and the light of Islam began to spread everyday amongst the Arabs, and many idol worshippers and Christians entered Islam. Even the leaders of Quraish began to hear the Quraan and their hearts began to shake.

In this stage the struggle occurs between idea and idea, between the Muslims and disbelievers, this started when the Prophet (saws) went out in a ordered march with his companions which his people never witnessed before, and as one body. From that period the Da’wah was declared open and public. This caused Quraish enmity and hate to increase and they felt the arrival of a new danger, and they began to plan resistance. The political struggle became even more apparent, as the verses were revealed attacking Abu-Lahab

“The power of Abu-Lahab will perish, and he will perish. His wealth and gains will not exempt him.He will be plunged in flaming fire”

And attacking Walid ibn Mughia - the head of the propaganda machine of Quraish -

“Nay! For lo! He hath been stubborn to our revelations*On him I shall impose a fearful doom*For lo! he did consider; then he planned*(Self-)destroyed is he, how he planned! (mudathir 16-26)


The harm was now increasing upon the Prophet (saws) and his companions. The Da’wah in open caused it to rise to a wider horizon, even if its carriers suffered all forms of strife. The fire increased in the heart of Quraish, as the Prophet (saws) attacked the transgression, that was dominant in Mecca, and exposing the conspiracies, and status and actions of the Kuffar, it was this stage that was the hardest of stages and phases.


The Prophet (saws) established the body of the companions that openly called to Islam and created an environment for the call, from ignorance to Islam. This change of tradition was the important step in the process of change in society to turn it from ignorance to Islam, this tradition is nothing more than what the society carried from thoughts, emotions, that mould its behaviour, relationships and stances. As Islam spread and people began to adopt it in numbers in Mecca, slowly the general tradition was now based on Islam - if in a general form.


At this point nothing is left between the society becoming Islamic except placing the Islamic system in the place of implementation through the authority and power. Whether the people in power accepted Islam themselves or not and hence putting Islam in power normally, or through overthrowing by strength after allowing the general opinion in Mecca to be Islamic i.e. wanting to live under Islamic rule. But this was not achieved in Mecca, despite many Meccans entering Islaam, but they did not reach the stage in which it can be said the general opinion became Islamic.


A stage was reached with the Prophet (saws) in Mecca when there was no more interaction between the call and the people because of the terror practiced by the leaders of Quraish towards Islam, and anyone who wanted to enter it. Which caused the Prophet (saws) to look for a new society to spread Islam in it, and maybe it will become a replacement for Mecca, the establishment point of the Da’wah is the point were the call is in the stage of establishment through power. The Prophet (saws) began to offer his call to the tribes coming to Mecca seeking power, till Allah enabled the people of Medina to be the people of nusra (support) for Islam and the Prophet (saws).

This occurred when a group from Medina entered Islam in one of the seasons of Hajj, and they returned to Medina to call its people to Islam and then to return the next year with many people who entered Islam, so they gave pledge to the Prophet (saws) at Aqaba, so he sent with them the companion Mus’ab ibn Umair, to teach them Islam and to spread its message in Medina. A year did not pass for the presence of Musab in Medina until the environment in Medina answered the call as many of its people and leaders entered Islam. The general Islamic environment in Medina had two pillars established i.e. of the pillars of an Islamic society, and they are concepts, emotions based on the Islamic creed, and nothing remained except for the Prophet (saws) to go to Medina to establish the system emanating from the creed through the power of authority. And like this was the Hijra of the Prophet (saws) to Medina ,after his arrival Allah legislated the systems of Islam in all aspects, whether in ruling, economy, social, education, punishment, internal and foreign policies. And through this he reached the third stage, the stage of implementation of Islam through authority, i.e. through the state.
 

Comments

In a famous couplet the Arab poet Ahmed Shawqi stated “By morality nations live; once devoid of it; no more they exist”

The famous poet was mistaken as neither morals nor manners define a nation nor give it an identity as these morals and manners have no inherent value in themselves nor are they universal. By this the poet would mistakenly equate the believing nation with the disbelieving nation, as both are identified by values that inherently define themselves, and this is void, as belief does not equate itself with disbelief.

Morals and manners are not defined by themselves, and as stated require an external criterion to exist that will in turn define certain morals and manners to be good or bad, its only value would be ascribed to that judgement. That criterion is an external thought, so the correct statement would be nations are revived by the thought they carry as this would in turn define manners along with all rulings that a nation carries to implement and carry to others.
 

It is enjoined upon us to follow only the method of Prophet Mohammed Sallalahu alaihi wassalam as the method for our revival.Other vague methods such as  Bin Laden method,Wahhabee method are all invalid.And we should not seek the help of the kufr to create revolutions for us such as Iranian revolution.

Further Reading

Lessons from the invalid methods of revival

Islamic domination requires a State

Islamic Aqeedah is both spiritual and political