Firestorm
This post is dedicated to all of you Islamic revolutionaries around the world. It is nigh time that Muslim social and political activists begin openly stating their objectives in order to precipitate better networking and turning localized revivalist and resistance movements into a global Islamic movement based upon the concept of universal Islamic brotherhood.
With regards to the goals of every Islamic revolutionary, they must include the following:
(1) The restoration of the Khalifate
(2) The elimination of Western secular legal systems and replacing them with the Shari’ah as understood by the four schools of law with judicial processes in place to prevent against procedural injustices.
(3) The deconstruction of the international order of nation-states for Muslim lands and restoring Muslim polities built upon the concept of universal Muslim brotherhood (Ummah)
(4) The revival of foos-ha Arabic as the lingua franca of the Muslim world.
(5) The develepment of Shari’ah compliant alternatives to capitalism-based economics. This in and of itself requires an all out philosophical attack on materialism as the purpose of human life and consumerism as an ethical norm.
(6) The proper integration of Muslim women into Islamic filial, social, and political niches within Muslim society that is free from the two extremes of tribalism and feminism.
(7) The revival of the Sunnah in all aspects of life, starting with its dhahir aspects by rejecting the adoption of Western clothing and living habits.
(8) The liberation of all occupied Muslim lands including but not limited to: (a) Jerusalem and Palestine, (b) Iraq, (c) Afghanistan, (d) Kashmir, (e) Chechnya, (f) Somalia, (g) the southern portions of the Phillipines.
Is there anything that should be added or taken out?
Edit:
Check out the hilarious rabid frothing at Eteraz by progressives here.
Published March 13, 2007 . Filed under: Islamic Revolution
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As-salaamu ‘alaikum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatu,
I think these are very lofty and admirable goals, masha’Allah
… BUT, are they practical right now, in this day and age? Is the Ummah ready for a Khilaafah yet? I don’t think so…
Personally, while I agree with these goals, I prefer to focus my energy on improving myself as a Muslimah, and on helping my Muslim community educate itself regarding the basics of the Deen and dealing with our everyday issues.
I think that #7 is the one that might be easiest to accomplish, although it depends on every individual to set aside everything we know (or at least drastically adapt it) to focus on the Sunnah. Which isn’t a bad thing at all, but I’m just pointing out how it’ll be difficult… ah well, Jihad an-Nafs, eh?
Just one thing, though - what would you define as “Western clothing” that needs to be rejected? I’m growing up here in Canada, and in the privacy of my house I wear a variety of ‘Western’ clothes: jeans and T-shirts, skirts and dresses; all bought from the Bay or Sears and other random stores at the mall.
Do I really need to reject wearing those clothes, seeing as how I wear ‘abaayah *and* khimaar whenever I go out into public?
March 13, 2007 @ 5:42 pm
Wa alaikum assalam
The only way they’ll become practical is if we work towards them by understanding the theory of Islamic governance and by scrutinizing Western theories of government and law. This is an intellectual process that will take time to accomplish. However, these are our overall objectives that need to be pushed for. It doesn’t require us to abandon other goals. We can multitask.
With regards to point #7, I would point you to Ibn Khaldun’s Muqaddimah where he states that the vanquished imitate the clothing, language, and customs of their conqueror. The issue is not whether it is Islamically permissible to wear such clothing. From a fiqh perspective, its only haram if it goes to the level of imitation. The real objection to this is sociological in nature: why Western clothing? Why don’t Muslims wear African clothing or Latino clothing or Asian clothing? Why Western clothing? The reason Muslims do so is because they’ve attributed perfection to the Western world. They’ve psychologically developed the conclusion that if they imitate the West in their manners and ideas, this will lead to Muslim empowerment. This concept is dangerous, un-Islamic and is the true source of the decline of the Ummah. Historically speaking, all of the revivalist and resistance movements have been built upon the Sunnah. I’m working on an essay that builds upon the role of the people of the Sunnah in Islamic resistance and revolutiones. InshaAllah, it’ll be done soon.
masalama
March 14, 2007 @ 1:49 am
Wa ‘alaikumus-salaam wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatu,
With regards to practicality - okay, cool.
“The only way they’ll become practical is if we work towards them by understanding the theory of Islamic governance and by scrutinizing Western theories of government and law.”
But that’s not the only thing… I remember listening to various lectures by different scholars (I’m afraid I don’t remember their names :S) who all agreed that while establishing the Khilaafah is a great goal which we should aspire to, the first thing to think about is: Are we READY to establish the khilaafah? The example they gave was that the khilaafah was not established under the Prophet (SAW) until the Muslim community was actually ready for it… and today, the Muslim community is certainly not ready - which is why I personally place such an emphasis on dealing with our personal and local community issues first and foremost.
How can we understand theory of Islamic governance when the majority of us aren’t even aware of the basic faraa’idh? When so few of us actually fulfill the 5 pillars of Islam? When even fewer of us understand the pillars of Imaan? And so on…
“why Western clothing?” Because… I’m growing up here in the West, that’s why. I don’t attribute perfection to the West; I don’t go out of my way to follow Western fashion because it’s “better” than my culture (desi-ness). I wear it because it’s what’s available, and I’m used to it.
“They’ve psychologically developed the conclusion that if they imitate the West in their manners and ideas, this will lead to Muslim empowerment. This concept is dangerous, un-Islamic and is the true source of the decline of the Ummah.”
I agree. I just don’t agree that food and clothing has much to do with it. More important is what we base our lifestyles on.
” I’m working on an essay that builds upon the role of the people of the Sunnah in Islamic resistance and revolutiones.”
Awesome, I can’t wait! :)
March 14, 2007 @ 1:10 pm
Anonymouse
With regards to building the Ummah in order to make it ready for the Khalifah, you are absolutely correct. There must be an conceptual preparation and a spiritual preparation. The spiritual prepartion cannot happen before the conceptual preparation. This is one of the goals of the intellectual revolution: to reorganize the very concepts that are operating within the minds of the Muslims today in order to get them to realize the full gravity of their existential imperative which is to prepare as best they can for the Day of Judgment and this entails that they worship Allah
(subhana wa ta’ala) with the proper intention. This requires fulfilling obligations that He has imposed and refraining from that which He has prohibited. If a Muslim can be convinced of this principle as the modus operandi, then all subsequent obligations from salah to zakat to hadd punishments to khalifah to jihad to jizyah will be easier to accept. If the believers doesn’t realize this, then they are lost in this life and the next.
The question arises: what is preventing Muslims from realizing this? It is attachment to the material world and Western philosophical, ethical, and political-economic systems are partially responsible for this materialism. The other source of adherence to materialism is because people are following their nafs.
This is why the intellectual revolution begins firstly with the revival of the sacred sciences. Most importantly: aqeedah, fiqh, and tasawwuf.
Aqeedah is necessary to develop the proper conceptual framework. Fiqh is necessary for people to attain knowledge of obigations and prohibtions of the shari’ah. Tasawwuf is for the implementation of these obligations and refraining from partaking in prohibitions with the proper intention being directed solely for the sake of Allah
(subhana wa ta’ala).
This is where the Sunnah comes in. The Sunnah of the Prophet (sallahu alayhi wa sallam) and the Sahabah (radhi allahu anhum) teaches us how to think about aqeedah properly, it teaches us how to think about fiqh properly, and how to think about tasawwuf properly.
An observant person will note that all of the great revivalist movements of the Ummah have been lead by the people of the Sunnah. There is a direct link between resistance movements and those people who emphasize adherence to the Sunnah of the Prophet (sallahu alayhi wa sallam).
Again, the program is already there. Its been set by Imam Ghazzali, Ibn Taymiyyah, Shah Waliullah, and Shaykh Uthman Dan Fodio.
The problem is that we have people in the Ummah today who don’t take their knowledge from the people of knowledge, but rely upon their own judgments. Look at the eteraz site: mujtahid after mujtahid, faqih after faqih was cited on the legal obligation of establishing khalifah, and all of those scholars opinions were thrown out the window simply because a person who has never formally studied the deen took a nihilistic approach to Islamic jurisprudence. How can we follow the program for Islamic revival set forth by the ‘Ulema when we don’t even recognize their authority?
Thus, the problems of the Ummah are many, and each problem requires a certain tactic. One thing that all Muslims, even in the West, can contribute in is this intellectual revolution.
We can throw in factors to this intellectual revolution by assisting in the creation of Muslim institutes of learning, establishing awqaaf to increase the students of knowledge, to better their learning of the deen, to assist them in understanding the Western intellectual paradigms in order to refute it.
There are so many different ways we can work together to revive the deen and inshaAllah, it will culminate in the establishment of the Khalifah. It won’t happen in our lifetime, but inshaAllah, it will happen some day. We must lay the foundation, and the next generation will build the structure, and the next generation will work on it some more and so on and so forth.
May Allah
(subhana wa ta’ala) raise up a leader from amongst us who unite our Ummah and end the fitnah. Ameen.
March 16, 2007 @ 3:39 pm
Here is the explanation of intellectual revolution in further detail:
http://z14.invisionfree.com/Shield_of_Islam/index.php?s=62335083dbf67d6c970feee90189e0e2&showforum=27
March 16, 2007 @ 3:41 pm
Whoops, sorry here are the Links.
March 16, 2007 @ 3:44 pm