There is no gainsaying that the Muslim Ummah of this era is a fallen and a downtrodden people wallowing in disgrace and misery. This miserable condition of the Ummah is up for public display. Self-appointed physicians are trying to diagnose the ills of this Ummah and prescribe remedies and solutions. But these physicians, themselves corrupt and part of the disease, have no understanding of the problem, hence the solutions they offer for the cure of the Ummah’s maladies of disgrace, weakness and cowardice, are completely ineffective. When they lack understanding of the problem and the malady, how can they correctly prescribe? Their erroneous diagnosis followed by harmful remedies serve to only complicate the already humiliating situation of the Ummah. OBLIQUE VISIONThe squint-eyed self-appointed physicians, looking at the ills of the Ummah with their oblique vision, have diagnosed the malady of the Ummah to be the superior technology of the kuffaar. In view of the superiority of the kuffaar’s technology and sophistication in every sphere of mundane life, the misguided doctors of the Ummah have concluded that the tyranny and oppression of the kuffaar (the U.S.A., Britain, Israel and the West in general) are the cause of the misery of the Muslim community world-wide.But this diagnosis is seriously flawed. In fact, it is utterly baseless and in conflict with the Qur’aan Majeed’s and the Ahadith’s diagnosis and with the remedy which Allah Ta’ala and His Rasool (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) have prescribed for the Ummah when it finds itself suffering from the present type of cancer.

DIVINE MANIFESTATION
The kuffaar with all their superior technology and sophistication are the creations of Allah Azza Wa Jal. Those who attribute the disgrace and misery of today’s Ummah to the kuffaar are unable to understand that the kuffaar domination over the Ummah and their oppression of Muslims are the symptoms, not the causes of our malady.Those Muslims who emulate and follow the kuffaar lack the intelligence to comprehend that kuffaar domination and the havoc it wroughts when it goes beserk in the lands of the Muslims is similar to the effects and consequences of an earthquake, volcano eruption, hurricane, flood or any other disaster descending at the command of Allah Azza Wa Jal. Just as it is absurd and utterly stupid to criticize and villify an earthquake which has caused its havoc, so too is it Islamically irrational and downright stupid to blame the U.S.A. and other kuffaar for the oppression, brutality and tyranny which they are wroughting in the lands of Islam.The defective thinking of Muslims and their baseless diagnosis and harmful solutions are the product of a kind of mental derangement which Allah Ta’ala afflicts the mind with as a form of punishment.

In this regard the Qur’aan states:“And He (Allah) casts filth on those who lack intelligence” (Aayat 100, Surah Yunoos)“.....Verily there has settled upon you from your Rabb rijs (filth) and ghadhab (wrath)....”( Aayat 71, Surah A’raaf)“Similarly does Allah afflict with rijs (filth) those who lack Imaan.....” (Aayat 125, Surah An’aam)On account of this mental derangement caused by a Divine affliction on the minds of those who have appointed the kuffaar as their guides, they are unable to understand what ails the Ummah inspite of the clear directions and unambiguous diagnosis offered by Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam).Kuffaar domination is a manifestation of Allah’s Attribute of Wrath (Mazhar-e-Ghadhab) in exactly the same way as an earthquake or a hurricane is a manifestation of Allah’s Wrath. Such manifestations of Allah’s Ghadhab is a punishment for our transgression. When the transgression exceeds all bounds and the point of no return has been reached, Allah’s Athaab descends on the Ummah. Kuffaar domination is one such form of Allah’s Ghadhab.

Confirming this fact, the Qur’aan Majeed states:“.....We sent against you Our servants who were powerful in warfare. Then they penetrated the homes (of the Believers). And that (calamity of the kuffaar on you) was a promise decreed (by Allah).” (Aayat 5 Bani Israaeel).......”(Then on the second occasion of the transgression).....they (the kuffaar army) disfigured your faces and penetrated the Musjid (i.e.Musjidul Aqsaa) and they utterly destroyed everything they overran.” (Aayat 7 Bani Israaeel).The Qur’aan puts it very clearly. There is no ambiguity in these verses. The message is stated explicitly that on account of the then Muslim Ummah’s transgression Allah Ta’ala sent His punishment on the Muslims in the form of kuffaar armies which overran Palestine, brutalized its people, penetrated and defiled Musjidul Aqsaa, and flattened everything in an orgy of anarchy and seemingly senseless violence. But all these episodes of misery were by the Command of Allah Ta’ala enacted as a punishment for the Ummah of Bani Israaeel which was the Muslim community of that time.

OUR SERVANTS
The Qur’aanic description, ‘Servants unto Us” or “Our servants” is very significant. Inspite of the kuffaar being the enemies of Allah Ta’ala, the Qur’aan describes them in this aayat as being Allah’s servants. There are two reasons for this description:(1) They are the creation of Allah Ta’ala.(2) In the context of this aayat they were constrained to act against the Muslims by Divine Decree which is mentioned at the end of the aayat No.6 of Bani Israaeel.Since Allah Ta’ala had despatched the kuffaar army (in the way He had despatched the Western Coalition and Alliance of the U.S.A.) against the Muslims, the Qur’aan refers to them as “Servants unto Us.” In other words these kuffaar are a manifestation of “Our Punishment”. Just as the earthquakes, the rain, the wind, etc. are Allah’s servants and act in accordance with His command, so too does Allah Ta’ala sometimes harness the kuffaar as a manifestation of His Wrath to punish Muslims for their rebellion and transgression. This is exactly what is happening today all over the Muslim world.

THE PRESENT SCENARIO
The anarchy and misery presently reigning in Palestine, the humiliating defeat of the Taalibaan, the surrender and imprisonment of the Arab Mujaahideen laguishing in cages in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and the brutal Hindu repression and murder of thousands of Muslims in India, and the defeats which Muslims are suffering on all fronts at the hands of the kuffaar are adequately explained by the two Qur’aanic verses of Surah Bani Israaeel (Aayat 5 and 7).Muslims are defeated, not because of the superiority of the American military power nor because the Taalibaan lacked air defences, etc. But purely on account of the Ummah’s transgression and violation of the sacred Pledge of Imaan.

PALESTINE
Allah Ta’ala had bestowed to the Palestinian Muslims a good few years of peace. During the peace treaty with Israel regardless of the humiliating terms of the pact granting them limited independence and self-rule, it was a golden opportunity to consolidate themselves and prepare. But without Deeni progress—without moral reformation and spiritual development—it is inconceivable that Muslims can ever consolidate their position and prepare themselves to meet the kuffaar head-on.EMULATIONInstead of emulating the Sunnah of Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) and turning to Islam, they went overboard in their emulation of the American kuffaar. The kuffaar life-style was adopted in entirety. More and more dens of vice mushroomed in Palestine. Musjidul Aqsaa was neglected and starved of Musallis. Only on Jumuah would the Musjid fill up. But for the five daily Salaat, the Musjid stood a silent witness shedding its tears and invoking la’nat on the Muslims who were desecrating and defiling it with their absence and their evil which they perpetrated right within the environment of the Musjid. The Deen was increasingly driven out and displaced from the lives of the Muslim Palestinians. In almost every aspect they emulated the very Yahood and Christians whom they were supposedly fighting and who were proclaimed as their enemies.

THE DIVINE TEST
In Surah Bani Israaeel the Qur’aan speaks of the defeat, disgrace and destruction of the Ummah at the hands of the kuffaar sent against the Muslims by Allah Ta’ala. After Bani Israaeel was thoroughly humiliated and punished severely with kuffaar brutality, they repented and made many promises of reforming themselves. Allah Ta’ala accepted their Taubah, and granted them victory over the kuffaar. But Allah Ta’ala along with bestowing His mercy on them, warned them of dire consequences should they again lapse into transgression. Thus the Qur’aan Majeed states:“Soon will your Rabb have mercy on you. However, if you return (to your transgression), then We too will return (to our punishmen).” (Aayat Bani Israaeel)

OPPORTUNITY
Generally the punishment which Allah Ta’ala inflicts on Muslims in this world is not the ultimate punishment designed to eliminate them. It is a lesser punishment brought to jolt Muslims into realisation, taubah (repentence) and inaabat (turning to Allah Ta’ala in obedience). The Qur’aan Majeed states in this regard:“We did not send a Nabi to a city, but We afflicted its inhabitants (on account of their rejection and transgression) with calamities and hardships, so that they become humble.”(Aayat 94 Surah A’raaf)“Anarchy (and corruption) has appeared on the land and in the ocean because of the (evil deeds) which the hands of people have earned, so that He (Allah) causes them to taste ( the consequences) of some of (their mischief) which they had committed. Perhaps they will return (to the obedience of Allah).” (Aayat 41 Sura Room)“

And We shall most assuredly afflict them with the lesser punishment before the greater punishment, so that they return (to the obedience of Allah).” (Aayat 21 Surah As-Sajdah)In the wake of inordinate transgression comes Allah’s lesser punishment to jolt people into realisation and to make them humble so that they submit to the Shariah of Allah Ta’ala. But when they ignore this trial, Allah’s Athaab settles on them permanently and effaces them. This was the fate of great and powerful people and empires of the past. The same fate overtook the the Empire and Ummah of Islam. Now in this era, Allah Ta’ala had given some Muslim communities opportunities to reform themselves and turn to Allah Ta’ala in submission. But the Palestinians turned their backs on the golden opportunity which Allah Ta’ala had bestowed to them.

PEACE
Their peace pact with Israel had the ingredients of Rasulullah’s Treaty of Hudaibiyyah. But they scattered it to the winds and they are today tasting Allah’s punishment in the form of anarchy and misery stemming from the brutality of “Allah’s Servants” (the Qur’aanic description), the kuffaar of Israel.So utterly demoralising and severe is this punishment on the Arabs that inspite of their great numerical superiority (200 million Arabs compared to 3 million Yahood), and inspite of their military superiority (the combined armies, navies and airforces of a dozen or more countries), the Palestinians and the whole Arab World lay prostrate in disgrace and defeat at the feet of Israeli women. More than half of Israel’s armed forces consist of women. Undoubtedly, the description which Allah Ta’ala Himself gives to the kuffaar armies which He had despatched against the bygone Muslim Ummah, i.e the description of “Ulee ba’sin shadeed” (powerful in warefare) fits the Israeli kuffaar. It now pays no dividends to hurl vituperation against Israel.

SELF-CRITICISM
Rather, the appropriate action in these circumstances will be self-appraisal, self-criticism and shame for our own humiliation —that we have sunk to such vile and pitiable levels of degradation and cowardice that, we whose forefathers (the Sahaabah, Taabieen and Tabe-Taabieen) had raised the Flag of Islam,on the hilltops of the world and who had crushed the might of the Roman and Christian empires, have become so impotent that we are unable to fight and defeat a handful of Yahoodi girls. Shame on these disobedient servants of Allah Ta’ala. We deserve the kuffar spitting in our faces. When we, ourselves, have become spineless, jelly-like cowards as a consequence of trampling on the Qur’aan Majeed and mocking the Divine Shariah with our flagrant disobedience.

We have no right to villify those kuffaar whom Allah Ta’ala has sent against us and whom He has designated with the appelation, “Servants unto Us”—to punish us, just as we have no right for vituperation against an earthquake which stikes us as an act of Divine punishment. Why? “For perhaps you, O Believers, will get some sense, open your eyes, return to Islam, repent and take up the Standard of Islam and place it on the hilltops of the world from where the kuffaar have torn it off in disgrace and substituted it with their own flags of kufr

.PAKISTAN
Allah Ta’ala had presented on a platter a golden opportunity to Pakistan some decades ago when this state was carved out from the Indian sub-continent. The Pledge which ALL the Pakistanis (the religious and the irreligious), had made at that time was that “this land will be the Land of Islam in which Allah’s Law and the Sunnah of His Rasool will reign supreme and prevail.”

BETRAYED
Both the Ulama and the masses have violated and betrayed that sacred pledge. Today, inspite of its military might and nucleur capability, Pakistan trembles with fear over the noises which the Hindu idol-worshippers and the dhoti-wearers are making. It is an utter disgrace. The shaitaani army of Pakistan had all the ‘courage’ and ‘power’ to brutalize their Muslim Bengali bretheren when Bangladesh was still part of Pakistan. Then Allah sent the Hindu idol-worshippers to humble the Pakistan military. 90,000 Pakistani soldiers, fully armed bowed their heads in disgrace and laid down their arms in a miserable and unparalleled episode of surrender at the feet of the idol-worshippers.

THE TAALIBAAN
In this era no one was given a better opportunity to raise the Flag of Islam than the Taalibaan. It is cause for eternal regret and shedding of tears that they had ignored this divine opportunity and have now tasted the consequences thereof. Insha’Allah, if Allah Ta’ala gives us the taufeeq and the time, we shall deal with this missed opportunity in a future issue of The Majlis or Al-Haq.

THE OPPORTUNITY
When the Sahaabah (ridhwaanullah alayhim aj-ma-een) were given the opportunity to capture the kuffaar empires and to assert their political control and domination over the lands of the kuffaar, they (the Sahaabah) acquitted themselves admirably and honourably. We need not delve into their history. Everyone, even the kuffaar, are aware of the noble and virtuous reign of those noble and virtuous Sons of Islam.When Allah Ta’ala bestows the opportunity of political sovereignty to a people, He in fact, bestows to them the opportunity to establish Divine Justice (i.e.the Shariah of Islam) and to raise the glory of His Word on this earth. He then watches how we proceed in the wake of having been awarded political control over a territorial region. The Qur’aan Majeed explicitly states:“He (Hadhrat Musaa- alayhis salaam) said (to his people): Soon will your Rabb destroy your enemies and grant you sovereignty (or political power) on earth.Then He (Allah) will watch how you act on earth.” (Aayat 129 Surah A’raaf)Bani Israaeel (the Ummat-e-Muslimah of that time) —the enslaved, humiliated and downtrodden people—were given the opportunity to rule.

Their enemy (Fir’oun with his army) was destroyed by Allah Ta’ala. Bani Israaeel was not required to even fight a war against this enemy. Allah Ta’ala directly intervened and destroyed the kuffaar. When Bani Israaeel violated the sacred Pledge and abused their political power, Allah Ta’ala eliminated them and snatched away His bestowal of Political Power, and once again reduced them to disposable objects for the kuffaar to handle and mishandle at their pleasure. This is the fate of the Muslim Ummah of this age. In the words of Nabi (Sallallahu alayhi wasallam) we have become “the muck” which flood waters bring down, and so we will remain until such time that we gain the intelligence to cleanse ourselves of the spiritual muck which we have acquired from the Western kuffaar.

NO THREAT
If Allah’s aid is with us, the nucleur might and sattellite technology and the vast military arsenals of America, Britain, France and the kuffaar in general pose absolutely no threat for an obedient and humble Ummah —humble in their hearts and obedient to the Shariah. The Qur’aan Majeed declares this truth and issues the following ultimatum to the U.S.A. and to all kuffaar:“.....”And, never will your army avail you in any way whatsoever, inspite of its numerical (and technological) superiority, for most assuredly, Allah is with the Mu’mineen.”(Aayat 19 Surah Anfaal).The Mu’mineen refered to in this Aayat are such Mu’mineen who walk in the Shadow of the Sahaabah, not those who grovel at the feet of the kuffaar in emulation of their kufr way of life.But at the same time the Divine Association (ma-ayyat) stated in this Qur’aanic verse is conditioned with obedience to the Shariah of Allah Ta’ala.

Hence, the Qur’aan Majeed says:“O People of Imaan! If you aid (the Deen of) Allah, He will aid you and plant your feet firmly (against your enemies).”“And, if Allah should help you, then there is no one who can over-power you. But should He withdraw His aid from you, then who is there besides Him to help you?”Yes, who is there to help Muslims when Allah Ta’ala has withdrawn His aid? Withdrawal of His aid signifies disaster, disgrace and defeat for Muslims. Our Taalibaan brethren had shifted their tawakkul to the U.S.A —to the United Nations —to China —to the evil faasiq government of Pakistan. The bitter fruits of such mis-directed tawakkul (trust) and treachery have been tasted by them and we all are still shedding tears and stunned by what we thought would never happen.

In their dying moments, our brothers, the Taalibaan, were pleading with Allah’s enemies—the communists of China—for missiles to knock out from the skies the warplanes of America. But this aid from the kuffaar was not forthcoming. While they were pleading with kuffaar and clutching at miserable straws, they entirely forgot that they had the power of Imaan and they had Allah Ta’ala to aid them. But they missed that opportunity. May Allah Ta’ala help us. May He once again give this Ummah an opportunity. May He wake up this sleeping Giant —this Ummah —from its drunken stupor of disobedience and kuffaar emulation. Perhaps this opportunity will come only with the advent of Imaam Mahdi (alayhis salaam) and Hadhrat Nabi Isaa (alayhis salaam). And, Allah knows best.

TheMajlis