Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds. May His peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family and all of his companions.
The time has come for all Islamically-inclined people—preachers, scholars, and all others working towards the interests of the Ummah and Allah’s Law—to realise that the real battle is a conflict between kufr and Islam. This conflict is manifested in different ways, in different places and in different scenarios. It may be that the most prominent is Bayt Al-Maqdis, Jerusalem; the conflict for authority over the land of prophets, the land of Isrā’ and Mi`rāj.
Will that land be an extension of Tawhīd as per the call of all the prophets? This would in turn secure for their followers success in this life and the hereafter, allowing all to enjoy the justice of Islam and the light of Īmān once again.
وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا مِن قَبْلِكَ مِن رَّسُولٍ إِلَّا نُوحِي إِلَيْهِ أَنَّهُ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا أَنَا فَاعْبُدُونِ
‘And We sent not before you any messenger except that We revealed to him that, “There is no deity except Me, so worship Me.”’[1]
لَقَدْ أَرْسَلْنَا رُسُلَنَا بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ وَأَنزَلْنَا مَعَهُمُ الْكِتَابَ وَالْمِيزَانَ لِيَقُومَ النَّاسُ بِالْقِسْطِ
‘We have already sent Our messengers with clear evidence and sent down with them the Scripture and the balance that the people may maintain [their affairs] in justice.’[2]
Or, will it be a land of kufr and shirk, in which deities other than Allah would be worshipped, where His Messenger (peace be upon him) would be annoyed and insulted, where the believers would be harmed, where injustice and oppression would prevail; a land dominated by the strong overpowering the weak irrespective of their values and morals?
Thus Bayt Al-Maqdis, Jerusalem, the first Qiblah for Muslims, where all of the prophets have prayed behind the Best of Creation (peace be upon him), classifies people into two groups:
- First is a group that testifies that there is nothing worthy of worship and ultimate adoration but Allah, and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. They are united on these vastly more important principles of belief and action, even if they might differ in some subsidiary matters of belief, fiqh, intellectual perceptions and the extent of their adherence to some teachings of Islam.
- Second is a group of kufr and nifāq (hypocrisy). Here you will indeed find a great disparity amongst its followers, but the thing that unites them is their resentment for the flag of Tawhīd being above all other flags. They are those who benefit from the darkness which the light of Islam erases, and the tyranny which the justice of Islam vanquishes.
It is the one who does not appreciate the weight of the testimonies of Īmān who turns them into simplistic doctrines, whilst at the same time elevating minor branches of Aqīdah into principles of Islam itself. He then establishes loyalty and disloyalty based on these minor branches and ignores the main principles of Islam that the Ummah agrees on.
Some go even further to a point where they are loyal to the enemies of Islam due to common materialistic goals, and manifest animosity and hatred against Muslims they differ with over minor branches of faith.
‘Ubādah b. al-Sāmit (Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said:
“He who bears witness that there is no true god except Allah, alone having no partner with Him, that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger, that ‘Isa (Jesus) is His slave and Messenger and he (Jesus) is His Word which He communicated to Maryam (Mary) and His spirit which He sent to her, that Jannah is true and Hell is true; Allah will make him enter paradise accepting whatever deeds he accomplished.” (And in another narration: “Allah would make him enter paradise through any of the eight gates he wishes.”)
I call on all scholars, preachers and activists in the Muslim Ummah to put aside their differences and unite upon what is most important in this universe: the line between Islam and kufr.
وَاعْتَصِمُوا بِحَبْلِ اللَّهِ جَمِيعًا وَلَا تَفَرَّقُوا
“Hold fast, all of you together, to the rope of Allah, and be not divided…”[3]
If the time to wake up to this reality has not come now, then when will it?
Source: www.islam21c.com
Notes:
[1] Al-Qur’ān, 21:25
[2] Al-Qur’ān, 57:25
[3] Al-Qur’ān, 3:103
I would like to point out the obvious fact that if the entire Jewish people and the state of Israel disappeared from the face of the Earth tomorrow, it would not change anything outside of Palestine, because the huge political, economic and social problems of the Islamic world have nothing to do with Jews, and everything to do with dysfunctional religious, military or civilian governments. Islam is incompatible with democracy.