Absence of an Islamic State & the Calamities in the Muslim World

By Dr. Firoz Mahboob Kamal
Living without a strategy

No faith sustains with its conceptual originality, vision and mission in absence of its core institutions. In such deprivation, not only the faith but also those who are adherents to the faith face an existential threat. Communism ceased to survive as a significant ideology after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The collapse of Asoka’s rule brought an end to Buddhism in India. After the collapse of khilafa, the Muslims are facing the same consequences. Undoubtedly, Muslims need mosques, madrasas and political organizations. But the most important institution that helps practicing full Islam and protects Muslims is an Islamic civilizational state; and not any national, tribal, secular and monarchical state. The Muslims have already 57 parochial states with their own agenda and did little to save the persecuted Muslims. They proved utterly useless to promote the Islamic cause. Because of them, the Qur’anic prescription like sharia and hudud stay only in the Book, and the sufferings of the Muslims in Palestine, Kashmir, Myanmar, China, India, Russia, and many other parts of the world go unabated. The mushrooming of mosques, madrasas, and religious organizations in millions could help only to live with the rituals at the personal level but not to promote Islam’s core mission in the world stage.

The case of Indian Muslims presents enough evidence to understand the problems that are very common with the absence of an Islamic state. More than 200 million Indian Muslims are known for a huge number of magnificent mosques, madrasas, and religious outfits. But such institutions couldn’t save Muslims from lynching in public, mass rapes, arsons, and genocide. Mosques have turned to monuments; some are razed to the ground in front of the police. Muslims are being tortured and slaughtered even by the police –as seen recently in the streets of Delhi in February 2020.

Such worst insecurity of the Indian Muslims owes to a single fact. They are increasing only in number, mosques, and seminaries, but living without any Islamic vision and strategy. Living with an Islamic vision and strategy is impossible without an Islamic state. On the contrary, they live in a state that stands against their existence. In the whole history of Islam, 200 million Muslims never lived on the mercy of the infidels. As a result, 200 million Indian Muslims stand as a lost force. Muslims never enjoyed any security in the land of idolaters; even the prophet of Islam (peace be upon him) couldn’t get that either. Hence he had to migrate to Medina with a strategic vision. Establishing an Islamic state was his prime objective. Such prophetic tradition stands as the lesson for all Muslims of all ages. So, migration to a safe haven and establishing an Islamic state work as the survival strategy of every Muslim. But such prophetic strategy got little importance in the life of the Indian Muslims. They continue to live as sitting ducks in RSS infested killing fields in Gujrat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh and do not bother to look for safer areas. Whereas in India, there are provinces like West Bengal and Kerala where anti-Muslim riot didn’t take place in the last 40 years. In a democracy, number counts; it gives weapons to fight with votes. Hence how a Muslim can think of restricting their population growth? It is indeed a strategic madness that still works among the Indian Muslims. Their demography needs to be transformed into a political force. If they had framed proper strategies, 200 million Indian Muslims could emerge as a powerful force in South Asia. No angel comes to help Muslims unless they start helping themselves.

Islamic State: the most important legacy
Teachings of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) survives with a huge number of legacies. Of all, the most important legacy is the establishment of an Islamic state. Because of that, the Muslims could practice sharia, hudud, Muslim unity, and jihad and could dominate world politics as a World Power for centuries. As a result, Muslims could live in various parts of Asia, Africa, and Europe with security and dignity. Whereas the Jews had a different fate. They had to roam as vagabonds and live in dilapidated ghettoes in various cities. The Jews earned such punishment by their cowardice betrayal of Allah SWT command. While asked to form an Islamic state, they flatly denied fighting with Prophet Musa (peace be upon him). Rather they were so arrogant to ask Musa (peace be upon him) to go with his Allah (SWT) to win the land for them. As a result, they didn’t have a chance to practice sharia that was given to Prophet Musa (peace be upon him) in Torah. Awfully, the Muslims now follow the same Jewish path. Hence, there exists no Islamic state. Nor does practice sharia in the judiciary. Moreover, like the Jews, they are ready to fight for such a state.
To have an Islamic state, like the early Muslims, one needs to go beyond the regular rituals like 5-time prayer, fasting, haj, and charity. It needs huge strategic investment in the form of men, money, and efforts. And they need to stay united in all circumstances. The establishment of an Islamic state indeed gives an accurate estimate of Muslims’ submission to the vision of Allah SWT. It filters out the hypocrites. The Islamic State has its own huge blessings; even a rudimentary early Islamic state with fewer Muslims than that live in a single province of India could emerge as a World Power. They could defeat two old World Powers like the Roman and the Persian Empires. The similar investment of the Afghan Muslims could also adorn them with a prestigious place in modern history. They could defeat two modern World Powers –Soviet Russia and the USA. Whereas the 200 million strong Indian Muslims are known for subjugation under the Hindus. Cattles are born to be slaughtered; the same fate awaits for those who live without a strategic vision and the prophetic roadmap.
In fact, Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) proved his political genius on the day one of his migration to Medina. Instead of laying the foundation of his own house, he laid the foundation of the Islamic state. And he positioned himself as the head of the state. Unfortunately, the Indian Muslim ulama took little heed from such great political strategy of Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him). On the contrary, the Indian Muslim ulama exhibited totally a different strategy. In the last days of British rule, they thought that if they are given the liberty in running mosques and madrasas and practicing Islamic rituals like five-time prayer, fasting, haj, and charity would be enough for the Indian Muslims. The Hindu leaders accepted their demand. As a result, the Muslim ulama -with the few exceptions sided with the Indian National Congress and endorsed its soft Hindutva project of the independent Hindu majority India. The despised the Pakistan project of the Muslim League. They would have been very happy if 400 million Muslims of Bangladesh and Pakistan were added to the Indian prison for the Muslims. They don’t realize that the increase in prison population doesn’t increase prisoners’ power and security. Now the same ulama, with rare exception, promote the movement of Tablig Jamaat –the Indian model Islam that was never found in Prophet’s (peace be upon him) life and in the life of his companions. They focus on wellbeing in the hereafter at the cost of security and wellbeing in this world. The concept of an Islamic state, running judiciary as per sharia and hudud, jihad in the way of Allah and many other basic practices of Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) hardly find any mention in their lectures and literature. It looks like a ploy to de-empower the Indian Muslims politically and intellectually. Moreover, it generates a damaging sense of self-satisfaction among the followers that something is being done for the ummah. The known enemies of Islam have no problem with them –which is unknown in Prophet (peace be upon him)’s life and in the life of the early Muslims

Muslims without Islam
Absence of an Islamic State has already inflicted the most damaging impact on Muslim lives. It has made it impossible to discharge the obligatory Islamic duty that has been assigned by the Almighty Lord on every man and woman. As a result, the Muslims are forced to live without full Islam. Whereas Allah SWT commands, “Udkhulil silma ka’ffa”. It means, “Enter into Islam with the entirety of submission in every aspect of life.” But how that could be done if the basics of Islam like sharia, hudud, khilafa, Muslim unity, jihad in the way of Allah SWT and other Islamic obligations stay outside the domain of religious practices? Moreover, such Qur’anic dictates can’t be practiced inside homes, mosques, and classrooms. It needs a larger socio-political and administrative premises that can only be provided by an Islam state. A secularist, nationalist or autocratic state can never fit into that Divine project. This is why the establishment of an Islamic state stands so crucial in Islam and for a Muslim. Therefore, obstructing the establishment of an Islamic state is not a simple criminal offense; rather it amounts to launching a war against Almighty Allah SWT and against the whole Muslim ummah.

In the Holy Qur’an, “Lahu mulkus samawate wal ardh” is one of the most reiterated proclamations of Allah SWT. It means, “Kingdom of the heaven and the earth belongs only to Him”. In Sura Nas –the last sura of the Holy Qur’an, Allah SWT describes Himself as “Ma’likun Nas” (the King of the whole mankind). The sovereignty of a king survives only through the supremacy of his laws. Otherwise, it turns mockery and anarchy overwhelms. Hence no king permits any violation of the law. Those who stand against the rule of the law face severe punishment. Let us examine the issue by giving some examples. The UAE government declared 15-year imprisonment for criticizing its policy and supporting the ruler of Qatar. The Saudi government sentenced 1000 lashes and 10-year jail for Raif Badawi – a pro-democracy blogger, for his non-compliant expression. (The Economist, July 1st-7th 2017). Therefore, to protect their illegitimate rule, these cruel autocrats go to any length to forge laws to terrorize and kill people. With few exceptions, the whole Muslim World is indeed hostage to such state-occupying terrorists who have usurped the law-giving sovereignty of Allah SWT to establish their own sovereignty.

Now the question arises, what should be the punishment for those who break sharia and hudud –the Qur’anic law of the All-Powerful King of the universe? Is it not an overt rebellion against the All-Powerful King of the universe? Moreover, what should be the punishment for those who make a coalition with the kuffar forces to block the emergence of an Islamic state in any part of the Muslim World? Sharia is very explicit on these issues. Sharia draws a clear red line that must not be crossed any time by anyone. Standing against sharia and allying with the kuffar against the Muslims are indeed the violation of the Qur’anic red line. In the past, those who disobeyed the rule of Allah SWT met severe consequences. The Holy Qur’an repeatedly tells the awful stories of A’d, Samud, the inhabitants of Madayen, the people of Noah (peace be upon him), the tribe of Lot (peace be upon him) and many others who faced total distraction for crossing the red line. Allah SWT is ever ready to execute the same punishment for those who take the same route –if not here, surely in the hereafter.

The rule of the rebels
In the history of Islam, crossing the red line is not new. How sharia punished the violators are not new either. After the death of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), many so-called Muslims started to transgress the red line of sharia. Many of them denied even to pay the obligatory zakat. Some people claimed even false prophet-hood. So, anarchy returned to Muslim life. It was indeed a critical crisis in the Muslim history. Caliph Abu Bakr (RA) declared full-fledged jihad against all those rebels. He could quickly annihilate these inner enemies; as a result, the discipline returned to the Ummah. Failure to suppress the rebellion would have severe consequences; Islam that was practiced by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) would have found its place only in history books.

Now the same transgression of the red line is taking place everywhere and every day in the Muslim World. The rebels have become rulers. As a result, Prophet (peace be upon him)’s Islam with the Islamic state, sharia, hudud, rule by shura, unity of the Ummah, jihad in the way of Allah (SWT) has almost ceased to exist any part of the Muslim World. The deviated Muslims have invented their own brand. There exists no Caliph Abu Bakr (RA) to stem such deviations and take the Muslims back to the original Islam. As a consequence, the old jahiliyyah (ignorance) has robustly resurfaced in almost every part of the Muslim World -but with a new face and a new name. In such void of true Islam, the evil ideologies like nationalism, tribalism fascism, secularism, capitalism, materialism, socialism, communism, and many others have occupied the intellectual premise of the Muslims. So, they get a huge number of followers.

Despite deep differences among these deviants, they show a unified agenda against Islam. The common agenda of the enemies is none else but to block the establishment of an Islamic state in any part of the world. Donald Trump has already declared, he will bomb such a state to rubbles. Most Muslim rulers are ready to congratulate such bombings. Since no resistance exists against these criminals, they usurped the whole state power and its infrastructure to enforce their evil agenda. Hence, along with the ideological and military occupation by the enemies – both native and alien, all forms of sins like adultery, thievery, robbery, riba, gambling, obscenity, and other crimes are spreading like a wildfire.19/04/2020