Cause of Muslim Decline (Refutation of Nabahani and HT)

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

وأفضل الصلاة وأتم التسليم على سيدنا محمد وعلى آله الطيبين وصحبه الغر المحجلين ومن والاهم واتبع هداهم إلى يوم الدين

The tiresome rhetoric of the advocates of the political fikr is that the cause of the spiritual and moral decline of the Muslim Umma is the absence of the caliphate or an Islamic state• The founder of Hizb ut-Tahrir, a dangerous, fascist political party which deceptively uses the name of Islam, Taqi al-Din al-Nabahani (1909-1977), wrote: “The Muslims after they lost their State - despite its weakness and shortcomings - saw the return of Islam in the building of masaajid, the publishing of books and the educating of morals (akhlaaq) whilst they kept silent over the domination of kufr on them and about its colonisation upon them•. They also concentrated on studying the rules of prayer and fasting, marriage and divorce, and they neglected the study of the rules of jihad, al-Ghanaim (spoils), Khilafah, the judiciary, land taxation (al Kharaj) and so on•” (Mafahim Hizb ut-Tahrir/Concepts of Hizb ut-Tahrir p_•5)

The State which Nabahani is referring to here is the Ottoman empire which was dismantled by colonial powers after its defeat in the First World War, and the office of the so-called caliph abolished by the Turks themselves under Mustafa Kemal ‘Ataturk’ in 1924• Now to imagine the root of the Muslim world’s decline was the abolition of the Ottoman caliphate is ludicrous• The spiritual and moral fall of the Muslim world started centuries upon centuries before the Ottomans even appeared on the scene• Moreover, the onset of modernism, the penetration of poisonous European ideas and the secular lifestyle into the Muslim world started in the 19^th century, well in advance of the fall of the Ottomans• The Ottoman empire itself was not any kind of ideal Islamic state• They committed many atrocities including episodes of ethnic cleansing which can’t be justified• Nabahani writes that Muslims were mistaken in thinking they could bring about the restoration of Islam in the mere construction of mosques, publication of literature and education relating to akhlaq (morals) while ignoring their political subjugation to colonialist powers• In truth, the colonisation and continued political subjugation of the Muslim world to the foreign, non-Muslim powers is only a symptom of its decline, but by no means is it the cause• Allah Most High says:

إِنَّ اللَّـهَ لَا يُغَيِّرُ مَا بِقَوْمٍ حَتَّىٰ يُغَيِّرُوا مَا بِأَنفُسِهِمْ

Verily, Allah does not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves

(Sura 13:11)

If the Muslims focus their efforts on resisting and overcoming their political subjugation, they will inevitably fail because that subjugation to the foreign powers is from Allah Himself• Only He Himself can remove it, and He will only remove it if the Muslims change their internal condition through spiritual and moral reform• The construction of mosques to facilitate worship and bring a locality closer to Allah and likewise an educational effort to bring about moral reform in the community by means of printing literature and other sound methods is definitely something which the Muslims should prioritise, contrary to Nabahani’s absurd objection which originates in his warped, materialist thinking• Think about why Allah has obligated us to seek religious knowledge, improve our morals, and offer acts of worship to Him, but has not at all obligated us to establish a state, caliphate or any kind of polity• Those who advocate the political fikr, such as Hizb ut-Tahrir, are challenged to produce a single proof from the Book of Allah to the effect that the Believers have been ordered to establish a state or any kind of sovereign, political entity• Even during the time of the Prophet (sall Allahu alayhi wasallam), the command to struggle and fight in the path of Allah was not for the objective of establishing a state, but to establish the Oneness of Allah in the land and put an end to idolatry• Jihad fi Sabil Allah (struggle in the path of Allah) is a broad term which includes Qital fi Sabil Allah (fighting in the path of Allah) but is not restricted to it• There are also non-violent forms of engaging in Jihad fi Sabil Allah, such as travelling in the land and calling the people to Allah• This extremely virtuous activity only takes the form of armed combat when the opposing party resists the call violently and begin persecuting the Believers, driving them out of their homes and forbidding them to worship Allah alone• Presently, the Muslims in certain places where Islam is being violently persecuted may be justified in raising arms to defend themselves and their Religion, such as the Uighurs in western China•

As for the argument that it is imperative to learn to Islamic rules pertaining to fighting, spoils of war, government, land taxation, etc•, and that the learning of these subjects must be given equal attention to the study of prayer and fasting, that is manifestly incorrect• In Islam, a Muslim is only obligated to learn that which is required to carry out his personal religious duties• In other words, a shopkeeper must learn the Islamic rules pertaining to trade and business transactions, but is not obligated to learn the Islamic rules pertaining to land ownership and agriculture• Likewise, in the absence of an Islamic state or government, how can the Muslims be obligated to learn the nitty-gritty of Islamic political theory and statecraft? Furthermore, the knowledge of that would only be mandatory for those Muslims who are in positions of political authority• They would be obligated to seek the counsel of the Ulama with regard to the affairs of running the state in accordance with Islamic principles and rules• To obligate and occupy the general public with the study of governance and statecraft is absolutely absurd• On the other hand, the offering of the Salat is a universal obligation upon each and every sane, adult Muslim man and woman, therefore its study has to be prioritised•