بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
والصلاة والسلام على نبيه الكريم
وعلى آله واصحابه اجمعين
Based
on firasa and nur which Allah Most High places in the hearts of
His chosen servants from among the Awliya and Atqiya, many imminent,
terrible tribulations are strongly warned about prior to them manifesting in
their full expression. The illustrious Prophet Muhammad (sall Allahu alayhi
wa-Aalihi wasallam) said:
مَنْ يُرِدِ اللَّهُ بِهِ خَيْرًا يُفَقِّهْهُ فِي الدِّينِ
“Whoever Allah intends good for, He gives him understanding of
the Religion”
Part
of this comprehension of the Religion is the knowledge and ability to
understand the reality of various trials and tribulations that the Muslims are
faced with or will soon face. As I have said, this kind of understanding and
knowledge is in a special category of its own, and requires a degree of divine
inspiration. It cannot be discerned merely on account of empirical observation
or study. One must be intimately acquainted with the underline narrative
of this Religion. Understanding the narrative of Islam is truly a rare blessing
which few of even those who consider themselves Ulama have been granted.
Most of the madaris and other academies, learning institutions and
universities which churn out licensed and qualified Ulama only acquaint
their students with the formal and outer aspects of the Religion, but do not
really nurture in their students a strong comprehension of Islam’s underline
narrative. This leaves the door wide open for the deceivers and false callers
to manufacture their own narratives while claiming allegiance to Islam, indeed,
even going to the extent of claiming that their narrative is Islam. Here
I am referring to the modernists who possess greater mastery over how to
penetrate their ideas into the public imagination than the traditionalist Ulama.
Now
the seeds of the fitna which I am referring to have already been sowed,
and we are only now just beginning to see them sprout. The traditionalist Ulama,
that is those who have some consciousness of it, are bewildered as to how to
respond to this fitna. The fitna is of course the unholy alliance between the
modernist narrative and the coercive power of the nation-state. Within the
Muslim world, this profane union reared its head during the reign of Muhammad
Ali, the Khedive of Egypt. He laid the foundation for transforming that country
into a modern nation-state, a project that continued to progress under the
supervision of later rulers like Nasser. Prior to the 19th century
reforms introduced by the likes of Muhammad Ali, the religious leadership of
the Muslim community exerted greater independence because they were able to
administer their affairs and projects outside of strict state control. Only
when the awqaf were seized by the State, especially the nationalization
of waqf land and property, and the hitherto prestigious Islamic
universities nationalized as well, was a steep decline in the dynamism,
independence and influence of the Sufi brotherhoods and schools of Ulama
observed. The Sufi brotherhoods and orders, despite the fact that many of them
exhibit harmful innovations and practices which have no sanction in Islam,
nevertheless acted as forces which maintained the independence and integrity of
Islam from the corrosive control of the modern state. By cutting off the source
of funding for the propagation of various Islamic charities, associations and spiritual
orders through the seizure of the awqaf, the State succeeded in reducing
their influence significantly, consequently leading to a downfall of
religiosity within the society. The State also aggressively promoted greater industrialization
and modern infrastructure projects, leading to an urbanization of society which
sped up the pace of life and left little time for private religious pursuits. This
catastrophic transformation of lifestyle was extremely detrimental to the
flourishing of Islam, which speaks of the constant struggle between a mundane
life of worldly pursuits and the higher life dedicated to the remembrance and
worship of Allah Most High.
According
to the modernists, the natural state of an ideal Islamic society is one in
which the State is extremely powerful so that it can adequately defend the
Muslims on the world stage. But in order for the State to achieve that position
of strength and power, it must have full control over the society and
particularly over Religion, which if left privatized has the potential to
constantly pose as a rival to the writ of the State. Therefore, the State must monopolize
the institutions of Islam, particularly the institutions of Islamic learning
and activity, and ensure that there is no class of Muslims who wield any kind
of religious influence who are not dependent on the State. This is what Javed Ghamidi,
one of the very prominent contemporary modernists, openly speaks of in his
notion of a “counter narrative”. Ghamidi cleverly uses the word “counter” in
reference to the destructive Jihadist narrative which seeks to create a
global Islamic empire. Since the Muslims by and large have come to reject the
harmful so-called Jihadist narrative, having witnessed the great destruction it
has wreaked upon the Umma, Ghamidi has seized the opportunity to present
another dangerous narrative in the context of countering the Jihadist one. In
doing so, he has given the impression that his own “counter narrative” is the
only alternative one to that of violent extremism and terrorism. Now realize
the fact that the scourge of violent extremism and terrorism has been waning
for some time now, but since the media had exaggerated the problem of religious
extremism and terrorism inappropriately, it led many unsuspecting Muslims to be
deceived by those snake oil salesmen into thinking that the modernist project
is the only way to resolve the “crisis”. Notice that here the modernist counter
narrative is directly opposed to the principle of secularism, which seeks a
strict separation between religion and state. The American model of secularism,
which one can appreciate because it was instituted for the purpose of protecting
the integrity of religion from being encroached upon by the State, is not to be
confused with the French model known as laicite, whose purpose is the
exact opposite, namely, to protect the state and the public from the negative
influence and expressions of religiosity. In other words, the American model of
secularism has an inherent respect for the institution of religion and seeks to
protect its integrity, while the French model of secularism fundamentally views
religion as an undesirable element which must be restricted and robbed of as
much dynamism and power as possible. In the Muslim world, when secularism is
spoken of it is usually the French model of secularism that is intended and
conceived as the only antidote to the “problem” of religious extremism.
Regarding the American model of secularism, however, Ghamidi has expressed the
sentiment of the so-called Muslim modernist: “In a Muslim society, the
promotion of secularism is not the solution to this
problem”, and has elaborated on this point further: “in order to curb religious
extremism, it is essential that the mini-state which is available to religious scholars
in our country in the form of the Friday sermon and running the affairs of
mosques be dismembered” (Counter Narrative on Collective Issues pp.11, 13). If
anyone wishes to see what the consequences of such a policy will look like in
practice, one need not look further than the neighboring People’s Republic of
China. That malevolent, beastly dragon, a one-party, authoritarian state, one
of the worst examples of statism, perhaps only surpassed by its own
satelite of North Korea, has totally monopolized the institution of religion in
its country, to the extent that devotion and reverence to the State itself has
been added to creeds of every religion under its control. In Communist China,
the religions of Islam and Christianity are particularly persecuted, since they
are viewed as foreign ideas that do not exactly fit into the State’s
sinocentric worldview. Interestingly, the Catholic Church in China is directly
controlled by the State and not by the Vatican. Its bishops, clerics, etc., are
appointed by the State, whose legitimacy the Vatican naturally rejects, while
the Vatican recognized clergy are forced to operate underground. The situation
of Muslims is worse, especially in East Turkestan, the so-called Xinjiang
province which the Chinese forcefully annexed and now brutally occupy. There,
Muslims are literally being detained in concentration camps and “re-educated”.
This process of re-education is meant to distance the Uighur Muslims from their
Religion and to adapt the religion of worship of the Chinese State and the ruling
Communist Party. Any private expression of Islam independent of State control
is likewise brutally supressed in the former Soviet republics, especially
Tajikistan and Kazakhstan. Nevertheless, far from seeing a greater
liberalization in those countries with regard to religious freedom, we instead
see a move toward such statism in the heartland of Islam, the Arab world in particular,
and even in Saudi Arabia. The recent crackdown and imprisonment of Ulama and
Mashayikh in Saudi Arabia is cause for concern, as the crown prince MBS aggressively
implements the modernist and statist vision for his country which will require
the full supression of the Ulama and any possibility for the amplification of a
dissenting voice from among their ranks to the State’s irreligious policies.
I
shall, in sha Allah, write more extensively on this great tribulation,
especially in light of the guidance concerning it from the holy Qur’an and the
stories of the ancient Prophets of old who dealt with similar situations. The
story of Prophet Moses and the cursed Pharaoh of Egypt is especially relevant.
Anyone who has read the holy Qur’an knows that this story presents a key theme
for our Religion and its narrative that requires deep introspection and
understanding from the reader. It is that narrative which I wish to elaborate
upon and explain, the narrative which the satanic statists and modernists are
so keen to oppose.
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