The Troubled Nation of Islam [Archives:2000/29/Focus]

COMMON SENSE

By: Hassan Al-Haifi

Anytime one turns on the television, or opens up the newspaper for the latest news, more than likely, one will find half the world’s trouble spots to be either in Moslem countries or in countries where Moslems comprise a sizeable segment of the population. By trouble spots, the implication is that the situation there has reached a stage of bloodshed or persistent violence, widespread suffering, and death. The victims are most likely to be civilian. There is certainly a well plot against Islam with international overtones and certainly clandestine conspiracy aggravating most of the troubles of Islamic nations as one can notice a strange uniformity to the character and dogma preached by the leaders in these conspicuous activities. It would be easy for Moslems to say that it is the “enemies” of Islam in their Zionist or Masonic manifestations or that the anti-Moslem campaigns have really not ended yet, and these “enemies will stop at nothing, until they see Islam wiped out of the world”. However, if Moslems expect to have an easy life by simply having entered the fold of the faithful, they are truly mistaken. As truly God-fearing people, as the Al-Mighty would like us to be, should Moslems be satisfied by excusing themselves from the responsibility for their plight and their sad and almost pathetic state, after the Lord himself has endowed the Nations of Islam with certain attributes, which they apparently fail to take account of?
Great is the gift of being among the faithful, whether by fate or persuasion. This indeed is a great gift, which should never be taken so lightly, and which should not be compromised with any other form of affiliation or identity. It means that we are a part of those who have been entrusted to keep the faith alive and to protect it from all corruptions and universal efforts out to destroy it.
The Moslem World is a rich blend of natural physical resources, with unlimited economic potential and international leverage of profound magnitude, that has yet to be channeled correctly in service of the defense of the faith and the interests of the Moslems throughout the world.
The Moslem World is endowed with a very rich diversity of culture and heritage, that can easily become solid grounds for mastery of the world in the fields of literature, science and the arts in all their manifestations. The fields are infinite and enriching by any measure of wealth. All it needs to ignite it is a greater appreciation of the real brotherhood among Moslems, which Islam truly teaches and demands to be the rule, rather than the exception. Again, a look towards Islam confirms it as the natural pillar of affinity and nationhood
Of course, one can go on and on to describe the bounties that God has truly directed towards His believers, but the above should suffice to indicate that the Moslems truly have enough to make a great nation, indivisible under God with liberty and justice for all, if we may borrow from our American friends, some of their patriotic acclaim.
A close self-scrutiny of the Moslem World does not show much to be truly proud of as a nation. Of course, Moslems must first recognize that they are in their present pitiful state, not because of Islam, but because they, and especially their rulers, have forgotten what being Moslem is truly all about! Perhaps, the non-debatable fact is that the perennial source of the all the problems of the Moslems has been and will always be that they are prone to forgetting themselves. Time and again, over the centuries from the time that the Prophet Mohammed (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) completed the delivery of his Graceful mission in word and in deed, Moslems have seen the consequences of what happens when Moslems take on more mundane postures, forgetting their true mission and their pledge to their Lord, for the great gift of Islam, which they have been so fortunate to be enlightened to. The results have been catastrophic and brutal: Southern Italy, Southern France, Sicily, Spain, India, the Philippines and more recently the unforgivable loss of Palestine. These are just a few of the tragic losses of heretofore Moslem lands, with Moslem majorities that have literally been wiped out of existence, except for a few ruins that are used by the barbaric successors to the Moslems, as tourist sites, after having destroyed most of the remains of a rich Islamic presence, which coexisted with other ethnic affiliations in a classic example of tolerance and social justice.
Perhaps, “forgetting themselves”, may seem to be a simple conclusion to draw, but for truly faithful Moslems it has serious and sad implications, which ultimately become tragic. Moreover, from a theological standpoint, “forgetting ourselves” has profound implications that are worthy of serious contemplation as they touch on the borders of the true faith of the believers in Allah, with all the conscientiousness and conscience that should parallel this faith and drive it in full gear. This may seem to many to be bizarre and very taxing on the mind, but one never ceases to wonder at finding that many simple Moslems at the grassroots level who see this better than any of their arrogant and misguided elites, political, social and cultural. Faith, in Islam, is the essence of the creed, and faith would not be faith, as the Al-Mighty would expect it from the believer; If it did not have the appropriate metaphysical control and guidance mechanisms within the Moslem scriptures that give faith and becomes an inseparable bond embodying the real meaning of life, providing a cause to live for and be willing to find in death a crowning glory, because, simply put, one has given faith the best that one could. What more can one give to a cause than a strong belief that is more than one’s life. Faith entails willingness to sacrifice a lot for the sake of the Al-Mighty for all His kindness and mercy and for including us among the fold of the faithful. If Moslems cannot think like that than they have, indeed, forgotten themselves and became submerged in the worthless world of the mundane, leaving the glory and ecstasy to be taken on by others later on. We have seen it before, and it appears we are seeing it now. How many Moslems can truly feel content that their faith in Allah is anywhere near the faith that the Prophet Mohammed worked so painstakingly and successfully to instill within his disciples: the faith of conscientiousness and conscience and reason, a total submission to the truth even if one’s interests are at stake; even if one’s soul is pledged as a fair bargain for full spiritual fulfillment, the crowning experience to a fulfilled life knowingly and persuasively? This is the dividing line between true believers and followers, between free men and those who prefer to take on disguised identities, pretenders, who play roles that are misconstrued to be a part of the faith, when, in fact they are driven by selfish motivates and misguided dogmas, what the Koran rightly calls “the blindness of the heart”
Yet, God’s will will prevail in the end. There is no question about that in the true believer’s mind. It is just a matter of time God’s scale of time. But alas, since God has endowed the faithful with much they can work with, there is a purpose to this; If the workings of faith were at their optimal best among the faithful: a universal connotation is to humanity that goes beyond the five daily prayers and all the ceremonial rites, which should only be taken as serving to reinforce the essence of faith, rather than taking the place of faith itself, as the soul and fabric of the creed, which God expects the faithful to convey to Him and to their brethren in the faith, no matter what sectorial denomination they follow, for the essence of faith is there among all of them and the spirit of brotherhood among all of them is that element of Islam that needs to be heavily worked on to remove much of the internal difficulties among Moslems, from borders to water rights, to economic interaction etc. So, Moslems everywhere, must start to ponder this question seriously, because the danger is getting closer to home: How truly have we been in line with our early predecessors who took the faith to such wide horizons? Is it right that Moslem should start their renaissance by first of all refusing to recognize their own Oneness, and sanctioning the blood of their own kind, let alone the blood of non-Moslems? It has happened before, and the climax is not strange news to anyone. It is happening now and the Moslems are as helpless as a lamb waiting for the butcher’s knife to slit his throat. “God does not bring change to a people, unless they bring change themselves.

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