Passivity, Revolts and Muslims Dehumanising Muslims

 

Part 4 of 4 (see below for other parts)

 

As far as I can see, the sort of passivity and inaction that is being encouraged by those who speak against revolts, was not practised by our prophet Muhammad (may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) or indeed the first 3 generations of Muslims. The only example I can find of it is what existed BEFORE Islam, which was the monotheism practised by the Hanifs in Makkah. Their monotheism was such that Quraysh did leave them alone to worship their One God, the God of Ibrahim (AS). However, the problem that I can see with revolts today is that the ummah has no clear end plan for the revolts and refuse to support those who do, so the initial shock and subsequent weakness of the oppressive regimes wains away, as they have plenty of time to recover and quash any dissent.

 

For those who don't like to use the word revolt to describe the early Makkah stage of the dawah, the stance taken by our beloved Prophet (may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and the sahaba, at the very least, could be described as DEFIANT, and I gave many examples of that in a previous comment (such as the two lines headed by Hamzah (ra) and Umar (ra), the public reading of Qur'an by Abdullah ibn Masud (ra), the praying of salah in front of the Ka'bah and in front of Quraysh and so on). Consequently, the blood, torture, imprisonment, boycott, starvation and migration of the sahaba at the hands of Quraysh is comparable to the blood, torture, imprisonment, boycott, starvation and migration of the Muslims today, at the hands of our tyrannical rulers or disbelieving nations.

 

I believe that, similar to the tests and suffering of the sahaba, tests and suffering in this ummah are an imperative pre-requisite to getting the help of Allah. Consequently, I don't believe that the problem lies here, but with our DISUNITY. There are Muslims who call for and make du'a for unity with disbelievers for the sake of stability. Surely, it would be more beneficial for our ummah to make such efforts and du'a for the unity of the various groups in Iraq and the Levant? What does it say about us if we are able to call for and make du'a for unity with disbelievers for the sake of stability but we can't bring ourselves to do the same for those who we may disagree with, but who, unlike disbelievers, have not been condemned to Jahannam for ever? And by unity with disbelievers I'm not complaining about helping your little old lady disbelieving neighbour, or your colleague or the poor homeless guy down the street.

 

We are encouraged to read the books of the disbelievers to help us understand them, to be better at giving them dawah and feeling empathy towards them, and we complain about being dehumanised by the western media, but we are just as guilty of 'othering' our own Muslim groups, demonising them, dehumanising them, mocking them and treating them with less mercy than we show towards political parties and disbelieving governments who shower white phosphorous on innocent civilians and bomb babies in hospitals! Yes, we should be able to feel empathy but we should BALANCE it by knowing that our beloved Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) became angry when he saw Umar (ra) reading the Torah, and he said in a hadith that he “disown[s] every Muslim who settles among the mushrikeen.”

 

These actions cloud a Muslim's judgement and confuse his loyalties so if we don't keep our empathy in check then we may be giving those who don't have any an unfair advantage.

 

During the khilafah of Ali (ra), his group and Muawiyah's (ra) group were BOTH groups of BELIEVERS but one was described in an ayah as 'the transgressing group'. Don't we read their history and wish that they had been united before much blood was spilled? In hindsight, we can see the plots of the hypocrites in spreading discord, confusion and false information. Should we not be careful as we may fall victim to similar plots today? Also, despite their disunity, did Muawaiyah (ra) not show why he deserved to be remembered as a sahabi/companion of the final Messenger of Allah, the best group of people to exist after the prophets and messengers of Allah? When a Byzantine emperor saw fit to use the confusion and disunity of the Muslims to attack them, Muawaiyah (ra) gave his praiseworthy response,

 

“By Allah, if you do not give up and go back to your own country, oh cursed one, I will reconcile with this cousin of mine against you and we will both drive you from your land and leave you no room on Earth, as vast as it is.”

 

As they are part of the first 3 generations of Muslims, shouldn't they serve as an example for us? Would it not be better for us to pray for and work towards a similar response, rather than praying for and working towards unity with governments that are continuous, self-serving, thorns in the sides of this ummah?

 

Finally, going back to my point about our own reckless mocking, othering and dehumanising of other groups, would it not be better for us to work towards helping them establish a Qur'anic community? Is Surah al-Hujuraat only relevant to those who needed refining after the hijrah, or is there a role to be played by people who understand that Al-Haadi has given them Al- Hujuraat to help them have a greater vision for this ummah than just dawah for the western Muslim.

 

Also, there seem to be people who lack confidence and think that radical change in the ummah is impossible and that less radical systems, like a 'bottom-up khilafah' that is similar to a parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy or some sort of Turkey based system, are the way forward. I believe that Allah Ta'ala is showing us, through the changes to our way of living that we have accepted due to this pandemic, that radical change in a short space of time is possible, if it is organised and implemented at the state level. This is just one issue but yesterday it would have been impossible for us to imagine another society in which all the women went out in public with their faces covered. However, today we have men and women in many societies who are going out in public with their faces covered. Yesterday, Ofsted were threatening to fail secondary schools and colleges that allowed girls to attend lessons with their faces covered as, apparently, it hindered communication and was a barrier to learning. Today, primary aged children AND their teachers are in lessons with their faces covered.

 

My final piece of advice is the words of Allah Ta'ala,

“O you who believe! Stand out firmly for Allah and be just witnesses and let not the enmity and hatred of others make you avoid justice. Be just: that is nearer to piety, and fear Allah. Verily, Allah is Well­Acquainted with what you do” (TMQ 5:8).

 

And, “The believers are nothing else than brothers (in Islamic religion). So make reconciliation between your brothers, and fear Allah, that you may receive mercy” (TMQ al-Hujuraat 49: 10).

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Part 1 (https://protectyourthaghr.wixsite.com/home/standards-that-never-existed)

Part 2 (https://protectyourthaghr.wixsite.com/home/being-merciful-when-you-are-still-weak)

Part 3 (https://protectyourthaghr.wixsite.com/home/what-does-the-help-of-allah-look-like)

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​Wal-hamdu lillahi rabbil 'alamin (February 2023 originally a comment in response to an article and comments made on it)

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Umm Hafab

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