Thanks be to the Almighty Allah who created humans with honour and dignity. Thanks be to the Almighty who did not leave humans unguided but directed them to the right path. Praise be to His prophet PBÜH together with his companions (Great Sahaba) who worked tirelessly day and night in order to guide people to the right path. Praise also be to all men and women serving in the cause of Allah SWT.
It is my utmost desire to summarize and complete this topic in this issue of our magazine.
Compromising religious values or pursuing cultural values are not the duties of the Leading Generation. Their main responsibility is to form or be part of an İslamic movement.
Preferring the formation of humanitarian groups, distribution of aid packets, organising conferences and meaningless cultural activities to the establishment of educational facilities and İslamic activities is nothing but abandoning the Lord’s Movement (Rabbani Movement).
Furthermore, turning İslamic activities into vague cultural functions in a nation where the will of Allah is not dominant means deserting the Lord’s movement. Preferring the construction of parks and gardens, beautifications of roads, building of dams to the establishment of İslamic activities is again getting diverted from the Lord’s Movement. İn order to win the affections of the public or to avoid confrontation with the enemies of İslam, people prefer going the easiest way out of the situation. They try to get contended with these acts. Whereas, in His book, Allah SWT had clearly indicated the conditions that will make a society be changed for the better. “İndeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves”1. That means, distributing aid packets, organizing cultural activities or making the country rich as well as beautifying parks and gardens are not the conditions that will make Allah change His blessings on you; it is only when you change yourselves both in theory and practice with İslamic education that Allah SWT will change His blessings on you. İnfidelity will disappear eventually, but righteousness will last forever.
Changing one’s desire (nafs) cannot be done through artificial means; it can only be done with a down to earth education. Furthermore, trainings that are passive, one-sided and non-realistic cannot be used to train the desire, but rather deceive it. Multi-sided, realistic and active educations that are conducted within the masses to educate them are the most beneficial type of education. İt is commonplace to see Muslims spending several years in the İslamic sects but achieving very little in terms of training and the purification the desire. İn a way, they succeed in the abstinence from sin and increasing their remembrance of Allah (Zikr Üllah) as well. This training also makes them fit well into the multifaceted community services. They would have gained the pleasure of Allah in the shortest time possible had they taken an active role and realistic education after putting themselves at the helm of İslamic affairs. A very long distance would have been covered in a very short time.
Distribution of humanitarian aids and organizing cultural and political activities can go along with the activities of the movement but Tawhid is what should always be on the flag of the Leading Generation. This is because all prophets were known to have emerged with İslamic movements; not humanitarian, moral or patriotic movements. The help of Allah SWT only comes when ranks are separated, and all acts are done only for the sake of Allah (SWT). In order to prevent such an İslamic movement from being formed, devils in human and jinn forms deceive people and lead them astray, barring them from receiving Allah’s (SWT) help. As a result, they form a barrier between these people and tawhid. They know very well that when you ask people “Who knows best? İs it you or Allah (SWT)?2” everyone will say “certainly Allah (SWT) knows best”. Or the answer to the question “if everything belongs to Allah (SWT), shouldn’t His will be done on earth?” will be “certainly Allah’s will must be done on earth”. All human beings or at least well-meaning Muslims will give answers similar to the one above. This is because Tawhid is like a right hand upper-cut that knocks and floors down the polytheists and their ideologies.
In order get off the hook of tawhid, polytheists devise a system that will turn the İslamic movement into humanitarian or patriotic movement. Knowing very well that the modified and weakened İslamic movement will be mild and completely harmless to these polytheist groups. İn some cases, this modified İslamic movements are made discharge the duties of the polytheists. They eventually become servants to these polytheists.
We are not obliged in any way to first infiltrate into the systems of these polytheist groups or to pretend to be part of their ideology in order destroy them from within. Rather, we are to preach the tawhid to them at the very beginning in order to bring them face to face with Allah (SWT).
The mission of the prophet Muhammad (PBÜH) was not just preaching, but to organize people to become a force to reckon with, paving the way for setting up İslamic civilisation. Our Prophet PBÜH normally begins by preaching and inviting non-Muslims to İslam. He then educates the new converts and then assigns them duties that are in line with the formation of ummah in the near future. İn other words, invitation to İslam is done first, education and training follows then building the foundation for the formation of ummah comes next. That means the mission of the Leading Generation is not just inviting people to İslam, but also setting up the foundation for the formation of ummah. They need to work as jamaat (İslamic groups) not as individuals because İslamic movement is not abstract but a practical movement. This is because individuals cannot compete with groups be it in terms of ideas or numbers. An individual or an abstract movement cannot be expected to match up with the strength of the polytheist movement. This is because the polytheist movement is not an individual or a movement based on ideas only. İt is a real and functional entity. Therefore, Muslims must be real and functional entity as well in order to compete. İt is a fact that neither independent individuals nor abstract movement can single-handedly make the existence of İslam felt in the society. An idea or a theory can conquer another idea but cannot even compete with a physical force. When Prophet İsa (PBÜH) said “Man ansariya ilallah”3 (“Who are my supporters for [the cause of] Allah?”). He was looking for people who are willing to assist him in the cause of Allah and at the same time he was looking forward to forming jamaat.
Jamaat always compel individuals to adapt to its needs. Muslims who remained as individuals will be obliged to adapt themselves to the systems of the polytheists. Therefore, Muslims cannot remain as individuals insofar as polytheists remain in groups or movement.
A lot of commandments commanding us to form jamaat can be found in the holy Quran and hadith. The main guiding principles for Jamaat are discipline and obedience. Some people turn away from jamaat for the fact that they don’t want to be obedient or follow the disciplinary rules. Why are these same people totally obedient to their bosses and abiding by the disciplinary rules at the work place? İf they are doing this just for salary, then they have not yet attained the true faith (İman-i Hakikî) and they have to question the quality of their faith themselves.
If they had an aim of forming ummah or setting up Islamic civilisation they would have understood that these aims cannot be accomplished by individuals, and this would have made them to realize that, forming or being part of jamaat is obligatory to all Muslims. This is because anything that is necessary to implement an obligatory duty is also an obligatory by itself. That means, since establishing İslamic civilisation is an obligatory duty then forming a jamaat is also obligatory. That is because forming a jamaat is directly linked to establishing Islamic civilisation.
Muslims must know that what they want to do is similar to building a very huge palace. This place is so mighty that it contains schools, mosques, hospitals, madrasahs, ministries buildings, governorship, police stations, military camps and all other things that are needed in life. Construction of such a mighty palace cannot be started by accumulating just a truck load of sand and bricks. Months of preparations in the form of continues flow of building materials, employing qualified engineer, skilful craftsmen and workers is required. Feeding all the professionals engaged in the construction of such a mighty palace must be planned as well. Common sense will tell us to be extra careful if there are enemies out there waiting to see the failure of this gigantic İslamic palace project. Enemies of İslam will laugh at Muslims for not using common sense to understand that the construction of such a gigantic palace cannot be started with just a truck load of sand and bricks. This will also make Muslims very sad and frustrated. Furthermore, the materials brought to the site will also be a waste due to the failure of this project.
The target of the “Leading Generation” is in the middle of the ocean. He cannot therefore sail to his target with a little boat. He needs to construct a strong and durable ship that can withstand the rough and mighty tides at high seas. Otherwise he will be forced to return to the port soon after sailing. This target can only be reached with a huge and durable ship, competent and brave captain, competent and obedient crew, brave and obedient passengers. Therefore, it is imperative to be large, strong, competent, brave and disciplined jamaat. The passengers too must be trained to be courageous and obedient.
When he was told to abandon the path to Allah’s cause, the Prophet of Allah (PBÜH) replied by saying that “I am inviting you to a special statement and when you say it, Arabs and non-Arabs alike will bow down to you”. İn that case ummah will re-group one more time when Leading Generations of all nations fulfil their individual responsibilities. “Justice has come, and falsehood has departed”4 and Muslims will become the dominant powers on earth.
Those who sacrifice their world for the Hereafter, Allah will give them not only the world but the hereafter as well. As I mentioned previously, every generation has a unique responsibility and the responsibility of this generation is similar to the responsibilities of the companions (Sahaba) of the Prophet Muhammad (PBÜH). Our responsibility demands that we take the risk of becoming the awkward people of this era, resurrect justice and ensure that the ummah gets behind the steering wheel of humanity. İn that case religion will have fulfilled its aim of becoming securer of religion, wisdom, property and generations.
Those who understood this supreme and sacred intention will risk sacrificing themselves similar to the sacrifice made by a seed. The seed sacrificed itself by agreeing to remain in the mud, cold and darkness in order to shoot out a sprout. This seed continues to provide nutrients to the sprouts to enable it to bear fruits one day. The seed will eventually disappear, but it will leave behind a tree. İn actual fact, that is when the seed will begin to exist. Those who cannot risk getting extinct will not exist. Those who cannot attain the rank of “nothingness” cannot escape from the grip of ego and those who cannot escape from the grip of ego will never bear fruits.
As ibn-u Ata rightly stated “Bury your existence in the earth of obscurity, for whatever sprouts forth, without having first been buried, flowers imperfectly”. The Leading Generations must first forget themselves, they will then attain the rank of “nothingness” while serving in the cause of Allah (SWT) but they will leave behind millions of faithful. Hoping to meet you in the next edition with another topic.
1- Rad, 11
2- Bakara, 140
3- Al-i İmran, 52
4- İsra, 81
