Islamic Revivalist Struggle And Main Task Ahead

8/12/2019 Islamic Revivalist Struggle And Main Task Ahead

1/16

Islamic Revolutionary Thought--- -IV

The Achievements of the

Islamic RevivalistStruggle

and the Main Task AheadDr. Israr Ahmad

(Rendered into English by Dr. AhmedAfzaal)

t is impossible to reflect on theconditions prevailing in Pakistanwithout feeling the pain ofdisappointment and dejection, even

despair. We ponder the past andpresent of our homeland, and what do wefind? We find a country that owed its verycreation to Islam choosing the path ofsecularism. We find a country that wasmeant to be the starting point for pan-Islamic unity adopting the deadly path oflinguistic, regional, sectarian, and ethnicparochialism. We find a country that cameinto existence in order to demonstrate tothe world the practicability of Islam beingtorn apart by its own lack of vision anddirection. In view of all this, is it anywonder that apathy and cynicism are rapidlybecoming our national traits?

But let us not allow ourselves to beoverwhelmed by pessimism, and let us notgive up hope. Lack of hope gives rise tovolitional paralysis: an inability tostrive, an unwillingness to struggle. Wemust focus our attention on the brighterside of the picture --- - yes, there is abrighter side! --- - and continue our endeavorto make things better. Indeed, when weconsider the numerous evidences of theMunificence that has been bestowed on us by

I


2/16

the Divine Providence, the dark clouds ofgloom and anguish begin to lift and thevision of the coming age of Islamicascendancy begins to brighten up our

spirits.The first and the most significant

manifestation of Divine Benevolence is thefact that the arduous task of therevitalization of Islamic social thoughtand the renewal of the dynamic concept ofIslam has already been completed --- -achieved primarily by Allama Iqbal andelaborated subsequently by other writersand thinkers. Thus, the affirmation of theQuranic world-view at the intellectuallevel of our times and on the basis ofhigher mathematics, physics, and higherpsychology has been achieved, albeit in a

rudimentary form, through IqbalsReconstruction . At the same time, thevarious dimensions of the Islamic System ofSocial Justice have been elucidated andexpounded by Iqbal in his poetry and byother Islamic thinkers in their writings.Secondly, the independent Muslim state inthe north-west of India, as foreseen byAllama Iqbal in his 1930 Allahabad address,is still surviving by the Grace of AlmightyAllah (SWT) --- - despite all our blunders andshortcomings. (The Divine Providence hadactually given us a Pakistan consisting oftwo regions, and it was nothing but our ownincompetence that led to the loss of formerEast Pakistan.) Last, but by no means theleast, is the fact that although there hasbeen no substantial and palpable outcome ofthe revivalist effort so far, there is agrowing number of Muslims --- - a largeproportion of them being educated young men--- - who have been motivated by the ideal ofIslams revival and domination and whofeel, sincerely and ardently, that toparticipate in a collective struggle toachieve this goal is their inescapable


3/16

obligation. What we need now, therefore, isto appreciate and cherish this highlyvaluable human capital and to continue thestruggle for Islamic renaissance, taking

lessons from the errors and oversights ofthe preceding generations.

The most significant task ahead, atthe moment, is to keep intact and alive theIslamic revolutionary thought --- - the activeand dynamic concept of Deen which has beenrevived in the present century after afairly long period of stagnation andneglect. This task is especially importantin view of the fact that the intellectualmilieu of our times is not at all conduciveto the revolutionary concept of religion.Moreover, we need to realize that theprevailing state of temporary nonsuccess

being suffered by the various revivalistmovements is itself a potential threat tothe very credibility of the Islamicrevolutionary thought. Simultaneously,there are some persons with a defeatistmentality who either abandoned the struggleon their own or were forced to leave afterfailing to fulfill the demands of therevivalist struggle, and who are now benton harming and discrediting the dynamic andrevolutionary concept of Islam --- - anattitude that appears to be a morbidpsychological reaction on their part.

The biggest impediment in the

propagation of the Islamic revolutionarythought is the utter lack of support fromthe surrounding conditions. The soil is sobarren and the atmosphere so polluted thatthe very survival of the tree is beingthreatened from below and from above. Whatwe mean by this metaphor is that, on theone hand, an extremely restricted andstatic conception of religion has come todominate the thinking of the majority ofMuslims today, and on the other hand theinfluence of materialistic philosophies,


4/16

secular mode of governance, and of apermissive and libertine culture are actingas a global envelope from above. It is notonly that both of these factors are hostile

and unfriendly to the dynamic vision oftrue Islam, but they are also acting in asymbiotic and cooperative relationship witheach other. Thus, the basic principle ofthe secular polity is that religion is theprivate affair of the individual, andsecularism in its tolerance and broad-mindedness is perfectly willing to allowall religions to survive under itsumbrella. The only real challenge tosecularism is the Islamic revolutionarythought, the idea that it is not enough topractice Islam in the personal life unlessthe teachings of the Quran and Sunnah areimplemented in their totality in thesocial, cultural, legal, economic, andpolitical fields as well. It is theQuranic imperative to make Islam dominantover all man-made systems of life, all overthe world, that poses the real threat tothe secular mode of life. This is preciselywhy the secular West is willing to go outof its way to encourage and patronize thenarrow and static concept of Islam --- - anIslam that restricts itself within theprecincts of the mosque and the seminary.It is only when a Muslim starts talkingabout the parliament, the marketplace, andthe court that he is labeled as a dangerous

fundamentalist, even a fanatic.When the dynamic and revolutionary

teachings of Islam started to inspire andignite the Muslim consciousness --- - as aresult of the efforts by Allama Iqbal,Maulana Azad, Allama Mashriqi, and MaulanaMaududi --- - the old and stagnant religiosityalso reacted and asserted itself as amovement. This phenomenon manifesteditself in the form of an effort andactivity on such a colossal level that


5/16

hundreds of thousands of men are busythroughout the world at any given momentunder its influence, propagating andpopularizing the narrow and static version

of Islam in all their sincerity. It is aclear indication of the degree ofcooperation and collaboration betweensecularism and the static version ofreligion that this particular movementis gaining popularity at an astonishingpace. We, however, firmly believe thatthese sincere men would not continue intheir passivity and inertness when theright moment comes. As soon as a genuineIslamic revolutionary force takes theinitiative of actively challenging thehegemony of falsehood and un-Islamicpractices, these pious men will beinstinctively drawn into that struggle,intensifying and strengthening the strugglefor the establishment of the Islamic orderin its totality.

During the course of our thirteencenturies of decline and deterioration, andmainly as a result of it, the roots of thestatic and narrow conception of Deen havepenetrated deep within our collectivepsyche. One manifestation of this kind ofreligiosity was the failure of Maulana AbulKalam Azad in motivating and mobilizing theUlama with regard to his struggle forHukumat-e-Ilahiyyah , even though he enjoyedthe support of as great and as well-

respected a personality as Maulana MahmoodHasan Deobandi. Another example came when afamous Indian scholar of Shariah and agreat Sufi teacher announced that weMuslims must not involve ourselves in anyactivity that would bother or annoy ourBritish rulers, as we are enjoyingreligious freedom under their rule. Itwas precisely this navet that impelledAllama Iqbal to remark, rathersarcastically:


6/16

The Indian mulla is allowed to offer hisprayers,And this makes him feel that Islam too isfree!

It was none other than the great andremarkable personality of Allama Iqbal whomust be credited with demolishing the wholeedifice of this static concept of Islam.Without his moving and dynamic poetrypreparing the ground, subsequent leaderswould not have succeeded in launching theirmovements on the basis of the revolutionaryteachings of Islam.

Here we must address a very importantissue. There is one aspect of the historyof the revival and actualization of theIslamic revolutionary thought that can onlybe described as deplorable. We sometimes

come across persons, both in India andPakistan, who either participated orenthusiastically supported the movementsthat were launched on the basis of thedynamic concept of Deen , but who laterabandoned the movement on their own or wereforced to leave due to one reason or theother, and who are now striving zealouslyto discredit the Islamic revolutionarythought itself, probably to rationalizetheir own desertion. They are trying toprove that the very concept of theobligation to strive for the domination ofDeen is a fallacious one; that an IslamicRevolution happens only as a result ofpreaching and exhortation and there isabsolutely no need for conflict or activeresistance; that the pledge of allegianceor Baiyah can only be given to thegovernment in power and not to the Ameer ofa party striving for the establishment ofDeen ; and finally, that service to Islamcan be rendered only in ones individualcapacity or, at the most, in the form ofinstitutions, and there is definitely noneed whatsoever to organize a disciplined


7/16

revolutionary group or Jamaah . Such flimsyand unsubstantiated claims go on and on.

These modern intellectuals of Islam

have somehow managed to deduce, from theTreaty of Hudaibiyyah, a rationale for thepermanent state of peaceful coexistencebetween Al-Haq and Al-Batil and, from theTreaty (or Meethaq ) of Madinah, an argumentfor the contemporary secular system ofpolitics and governance. They submit theirapology to modernity in the form of theirrepudiation of the barbaric punishmentof Rajm (stoning to death for adultery),and strengthen the agenda of theWesternized Muslims by their rejection ofthe obscurantist concept of Purdah (segregation of the sexes and dress codes).The warm welcome given to these

intellectuals in the circles of Indiangovernment and even R.S.S. as well as inthe secular circles of the modernistMuslims in Pakistan is indeed a sign of thecooperation and collaboration between thestatic and narrow religiosity on the onehand and secularism on the other. However,we still believe that Pakistan, whichrepresents the realization of Iqbalsvision, will become the center for theactualization of the authentic Islamiccultural, social, economic, and politicalconcepts --- - concepts that were distortedduring the period of Arabian Imperialismand which were revived on a philosophicallevel by Allama Iqbal himself. What we neednow, therefore, is to defend the dynamicand revolutionary teachings of Islam withall our ability, and to harmonize ourstruggle in line with the Prophetic model,because the guidance of the Seerah ofProphet Muhammad (SAW) represents the onlyunfailing path to Islamic renaissance!

There is, however, a compelling needto comprehend the dynamics of the Islamicrevivalist struggle. In this respect, we


8/16

need to realize that the process cannot becompleted in just a decade or two. TheIslamic movement will reach its culminationonly after a long and arduous struggle

spanned over several generations. Historyshows that every genuine revolutionrequires a fairly long time to mature. Anystudy of revolutions will reveal that, ingeneral, the struggle and effort of severalgenerations is needed before any tangible results appear. There is only a singleexception to this rule: it is well-knownthat the miracle of the entirerevolutionary process having been completedwithin a single human life-span wasachieved in the 7th century, when the Deen of Allah (SWT) was made dominant in theArabian peninsula as a result of thestruggle led by Prophet Muhammad (SAW).This revolution was an extraordinary featin the entire human history by anystandard, but especially because it wasachieved in just twenty years. Beginningfrom the propagation of an ideology rootedin Tauheed and passing through the stagesof establishing a disciplined and close-knit party, moral training of the membersand purification of their souls, initiallyenduring all verbal and physicalpersecution by remaining non-violent andthen, when the time is ripe, challengingthe status quo and establishing a newpolitico-socio-economic order after a long

series of armed conflicts --- - we note thatthe entire process was completed under theguidance and leadership of a single humanbeing, Prophet Muhammad (SAW). There is norevolution in human history that can evenremotely be compared with the revolution ofMuhammad. Peace and Blessings be upon him.

Consider another fact: The ascendancyof Islam or the establishment of the Systemof Khilafah over the entire globe is boundto come before the end of the world. Both


9/16

the minor and major premises of thissyllogism are repeatedly mentioned in theHoly Quran. The major premise consists ofthe fact that Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was

appointed a Messenger of Almighty Allah(SWT) for the whole humanity (Al-Quran Al-Araaf 7:158; Al-Anbia 21:107; Al-Furqan25:1; Saba 34:28; & Al-Jumah 62:2,3),whereas the minor premise is represented bythe Divine assertion that the true way oflife or Deen Al-Haq will be made superiorover the entire system of living (Al-Taubah9:33; Al-Fath 48:24; & Al-Saff 61:9), andthat Almighty Allah (SWT)is going toperfect His Light despite all theresistance from the unbelievers (Al-Taubah9:32 & Al-Saff 61:8). The logicalconclusion that necessarily follows fromthese premises is that the ultimate aim ofthe advent of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) willbe fulfilled only with the establishment ofthe ascendancy of Islam over the entiremankind, all over the world. This has beenexplicitly and unambiguously foretold byProphet Muhammad (SAW) in numeroustraditions, as given in the followingparagraphs.

According to a tradition narrated byImam Ahmad (RA) on the authority of HadratNauman Ibn Bashir (RAA), Prophet Muhammad(SAW) is reported to have said to hisCompanions: The era of Prophethood willremain among you so long as Allah wills,then He shall cause it to end. After that,there will be Khilafah among you on thepattern of Prophethood, and this will lastas long as Allah wills, and then He shallcause it to end. After that, there will bea reign of oppressive monarchy, and thiswill also last as long as Allah wills, andthen He shall cause it to end. After thatthere will be a period of enslavement, andthis will last as long as Allah wills, thenHe shall cause it to end. Finally, there


10/16

will again be Khilafah on the pattern ofProphethood.Hadrat Nauman Ibn Bashir (RAA) reportedthat the Holy Prophet (SAW) then kept

silent.What has been described in the above

tradition is very significant indeed. TheHoly Prophet (SAW) has clearly foretoldthat his Ummah will pass through fivephases, and we can now identify thesephases quite easily: (1) the period ofProphethood, i.e., the age of ProphetMuhammad (SAW) himself; (2) The period ofKhilafah , i.e., the era of the RightlyGuided Caliphs (RAA); (3) the period ofgnawing or oppressive monarchy, i.e., theage of dynastic monarchs who were moreinterested in maintaining their own rule

than in the welfare of the Ummah or thepropagation and ascendancy of Islam; (4)the period of enslavement, i.e., the era ofslavery when the Western imperialism ruledthe Muslim world; and finally (5) anotherperiod characterized by the true socio-political traits of Khilafah .

The fourth period, that ofenslavement, has reached its end in thesense that there is no more direct rule bythe Western powers. However, indirectpolitical and economic control as well ascultural domination of the Muslims at thehands of the West is still very much there.

It means that, at the present moment, theMuslim Ummah is passing through an interimera between the fourth and fifth periods asdescribed by Prophet Muhammad (SAW). Italso means that the age characterized bythe domination of Islam is not too far.

According to another tradition whichis narrated by Imam Muslim (RA) on theauthority of Hadrat Thauban (RAA), ProphetMuhammad (SAW) is reported to have said:Almighty Allah (SWT) folded up the whole


11/16

earth for me (in a vision), so that I wasable to see all the easts and all thewests, and surely the domination of myfollowers will be established over all

those places that were shown to me by thusfolding the earth.

In yet another tradition, Imam Ahmad(RA) has narrated on the authority ofHadrat Miqdad Ibn Aswad (RAA) that AllahsMessenger (SAW) said: There will be nohouse left on the entire earth --- - neitherof bricks nor one made of camels skin --- -but Allah will cause the word of Islam toenter it, either with the honor of the onewho deserves honor, or with the subjugationof the one who is defeated. That is tosay, Allah (SWT) will confer honor on someand they will embrace Islam, and He will

cause the others to give up fighting andthey will surrender before the rule ofIslam.

Keeping in view the pointers of theQuran and the sayings of the Prophet(SAW), a believer can have no doubtwhatsoever that, before the end of theworld, Islam is most surely going to becomedominant all over the world, just as it hadbecome dominant throughout the Arabianpeninsula in the days of the Prophet (SAW).At the same time, however, it must also beaccepted that the miracle of the entirerevolutionary process getting completed

within a single human life-span, and underthe guidance of a single leader, is not going to repeat itself. This is because theculmination of Prophethood with the adventof Prophet Muhammad (SAW) means, amongother things, that the Last Prophet (SAW)will remain a totally unique and unrivaledpersonality for all times to come, both interms of his spiritual station and hismarvelous achievements. It follows that thetask of establishing the ascendancy of


12/16

Islam, in our day and age, will be achievedin several phases; several successivemovements will be involved in thisstruggle, each carrying the goal of Islamic

ascendancy one more step closer toactuality. A commonly understandableexample of this phenomenon is the way inwhich the Olympic Torch is carried to itsfinal destination by several differentrunners, each carrying the Torch a certaindistance and then handing it over to thenext athlete. Thus, it would be a great andmomentous accomplishment for us if we canachieve the same task in four or fivegenerations that was originally achieved byProphet Muhammad (SAW) and his devoted andfaithful Companions (RAA) within a shortspan of twenty years.

If the above thesis is correct, andthere is no reason to doubt its veracity,then we must also grasp and acknowledge itsnecessary and logical corollaries. This isof vital importance because otherwise wewould be exposing ourselves to the dangerof immense disappointment and frustration.

The first and the most important pointto note is that, before the arrival of thefinal daee under whose leadership thestruggle will reach its ultimaterealization, all the initial and interimleaders are likely to be limited by, andsuffer from, various types of

imperfections. None of them will beinfallible or faultless, and each one ofthem can have any number of defects in hisunderstanding, perseverance, fortitude, andsteadfastness. It is precisely on accountof these deficiencies that the interimleaders are likely to become disheartenedor unnerved before reaching the finaldestination, and they are also liable to gooff in a tangent while looking for ashort-cut. However, if they were to


13/16

invest all their energies in the cause ofAlmighty Allah (SWT) with sincerity ofintent ( Ikhlas ), then despite their failurein actually establishing the domination of

Deen they would, nevertheless, be deemedtriumphant in the Hereafter and would bethoroughly rewarded by their Lord. InshaAllah.

Secondly, all those who areendeavoring for the domination of Deen mustreconcile themselves with the fact that,during the course of the struggle, a numberof their comrades and associates are likelyto give up the mission. The reason fortheir quittance could either be aprotest against the unkind or harshattitude of the leader, or it could betheir own lack of perseverance, their

inability to invest their time andresources, and their arrogance, jealousy,or envy. And regrettably, a few of the moreclever among these deserters would even tryto discredit and invalidate the basicrevolutionary concepts underlying thestruggle itself; they would do so either inorder to rationalize and justify theirwithdrawal from the movement or to concealtheir own complacency, wickedness, or lackof courage. The realistic and perseverantattitude to adopt under these circumstanceswould be to continue the struggle formaking the Deen of Allah (SWT) supreme,keeping in constant view the vital factsmentioned above. Every effort should bemade to continuously ponder the question ofwhether any mistake is being committedconcerning the methodology. However, thedesertion of some of the associates shouldnever be allowed to overwhelm or discouragethe committed and active members of themovement. It is vital that each interimleader and his comrades contribute theirshare of time, effort, and energy towardspaving the way for the next leader, so that


14/16

the latter would not be forced to start themission all over again. One of theprophecies of Prophet Isaiah, which isquoted in the Gospels in connection with

John the Baptist, amply captures the spiritof the Islamic revolutionary struggle:Prepare the way for the Lord; clear astraight path for him... (Isaiah 40: 3,quoted in Luke 3:5). This should be theguiding axiom of our struggle: we may notbe able to reach the ultimate goalourselves, but at least we could pave theway for the next generation for onward andever-closer march to it.

If one reflects upon the recenthistory of the Muslim world, keeping inmind the premises discussed above, itbecomes obvious that the twentieth century

is the century of Islamic revivaliststruggle. Thus, we see that amultidimensional revivalist phenomenonstarted to take shape with the beginning ofthe present century, reaching its fullintensity by the end of its first quarter.The two fronts of this phenomenon were notonly utterly different from each other, butthe demands of the struggle at one frontwere actually in sharp opposition to thoseof the struggle at the other front. Thefirst was the national and popular front ,where numerous freedom movements activelypursued the goal of independence from theyoke of Western Imperialism, and the otherwas the pure Islamic revivalist front ,where the struggle for the revival andrenaissance of Islam took place in all itspassionate glory.

It was the All India Muslim Leaguethat led the struggle at the national andpopular front in the Indian subcontinent.Established in 1906, the Muslim Leaguesucceeded in delivering at least two-thirdof the Muslim population of India from theslavery of the British and the threat of


15/16

the Hindus, after a struggle that spanned41 years. On the Islamic revivalist front,on the other hand, the first attempttowards achieving the ascendancy of Islam

was made by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and hisHizbullah. After Maulana Azads retreat,Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi stood upfor the same cause and established hisJamaat-e-Islami in 1941. (It may be notedhere that, in the recent history of theIndian subcontinent, the versatile andphenomenal personality of Allama Iqbalstands out as being almost equally activeon both the national and the revivalistfronts.) There can be no doubt that theJamaat-e-Islami did achieve precioussuccess and displayed obvious progress,especially in the pre-independence era.However, it is our considered opinion thatthe Jamaat lost its way when, almostimmediately after the establishment ofPakistan, it plunged headlong into thearena of Pakistani power politics. As aresult, far from finding a quick and easypath to Islamic dominance, the Jamaat-e-Islami was bogged down in the quagmire ofnational politics. Now, to keep the torchalight --- - and to carry on the struggle inthe third generation --- - courageous andsteadfast Muslims are needed to comeforward and dedicate their energies andresources for the continuation of thestruggle for Islamic revival.


16/16

According to a tradition narrated byImam Muslim (RA) on the authority ofHadrat Abdullah Ibn Masud (RAA),Prophet Muhammad (SAW) said: There wasnever a Prophet sent before me by Allahto his nation who had not among hispeople (his) disciples and companions,who followed his ways and obeyed hiscommands. Then there came after themtheir successors who said what they didnot practise and did what they were notcommanded to do. He who strugglesagainst them with his hands is abeliever, and he who struggles againstthem with his tongue is a believer, and

he who struggles against them with hisheart is a believer; but beyond thatthere is not even one grain of Iman .

According to a tradition narrated byImam Muslim (RA) on the authority ofHadrat Abu Hurayrah (RAA), ProphetMuhammad (SAW) said: Anyone who dieswhereas he neither went out to wageJihad nor did he have any desire forit, he dies with a trait of hypocrisy.

Documents

Islamic Revivalist Struggle And Main Task Ahead