Islam Explained By Husain Zakariyya Yawale
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Allah says:
“Our Lord! Make us not a (test and) trial for the Unbelievers, but forgive us, Our Lord; for Thou art the Exalted in Might, the Wise. There was indeed In them an excellent example for you to follow,- for those whose hope is In Allah and In the Last Day. But if any turn away, truly Allah is free of all wants, worthy of all praise.”[al-Mumtahnah: 5-6]
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. All Praise is due to Allah! We praise Him and we seek help from Him. We ask forgiveness from Him. We repent to Him; and we seek refuge in Him from our evils and bad deeds. Anyone who is guided by Allah is indeed guided; and anyone who has been left astray, will find no one to guide him. I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship but Allah, the Only One without any partner; and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and final messenger to mankind. May the peace and blessing of Allah be upon His last and final Apostle, his Household, his companions and all his followers till the end of time.
In our last discourse we preview how the Muslims started to attenuate into oblivion and inconsequence in the both national and international stage. In Islam, the main reason of failure remains incessant indulgence in sin by Muslims! Collective and individual committing and institutionalising of unrighteousness and immorality as result of failing to obey the Shari’ah in both spiritual and temporal matters. Islam is a complete way of life comprising of laws governing every aspect of private, public, political, social and economic lives of both the individual and nation.
According to the true account of the Quran as to the numerous instances of destroying the nations in the distant past was due to overindulgences and superabundance in abominations and repugnance decreed by Allah. In many instances, Allah destroyed stronger nations than the present ones due to their immoral acts and utterances. Allah says:
“See They not How many of those before them we did destroy before them generations we had established on the earth, In strength such As we have not given to you – for whom we poured out rain from the skies In abundance, and gave (fertile) streams flowing beneath their (feet): yet for their sins we destroyed them, and raised In their wake fresh generations (to succeed them).”[al-An’am: 6]
And:
“Generations before you we destroyed when They did wrong: their apostles came to them with clear-signs, but They would not believe! Thus do we requite those who sin!”[yunus: 13]
In the same vein, whenever Allah destined to destroy a people or nation, He raised for them leaders who would change their pattern of lives by instituting and enforcing laws that controvert nature and common sense by rewarding assimilators and punishing contestants. They will change the natural orientation for animalistic and evil lifestyles. When the time comes for the punishment, which can come in many forms and styles, honour and dignity will only be attained and measured by the amount of material fortunes an individual accumulated or stashed. Allah says:
“When we decide to destroy a population, we (first) send a definite order to those among them who are given the good things of This life and yet transgress; so that the word is proved true against them: then (it is) we destroy them utterly.”[al-Isra’i: 16]
Today, going by the current waves of immorality and dissipation, Muslims are major players. One will not expiate if he concludes that the volume of amorality in Muslims world can only be equal to that of the West! Practices and behaviours that were once abhorrent and tale, are presently the vogue and fashion! Presently all Muslim countries condone pubs and lounge bars which directly, encourage westernization and assimilation of the youths. Saudia Arabia alone, though a leading Muslim nation, annually budgeted hundred of millions of Dollars for sponsoring and dissemination of Western entertainments! It has officially established and financed satellite television stations such as MBCs 2, 3, 4, Action, Movie, Marks, Arabic, Drama, and recently MBC Bollywood! The vices and corruptions these free-to-air channels spread around the world cannot be quantified or measured in religious impairment, cultural detriment and moral destruction.
In fact, the greatest devastation will be unleashed when the present boys and girls grow up into adulthood; they will certainly become a new ‘tribe’ amongst their aging parents and siblings. They will grow to accept immorality as norm, and abominations as the standard. Islamo-phobia will be the vogue of the moment. Muslims will hate, dislike and repulse true Muslims in the society. True Islam will become alien or anomalous. Islam in general will be despised by their grandchildren of the once custodian of Islam! Alas! The evil seeds were already sewn and watered by their ancestors!
The secret of the destruction of a people or nation is not only in its physical annihilation or extinction; it is also in its expiration and cessation as anything with relevance. Today the Muslims are not any better than the rest of the people in their virtuous and amiable character, in trustworthiness and credibility, in hardworking and industrious, and in education and scholarship!
In fact, there is almost nothing from the Muslims that is superior to others in term amiable behaviours and demeanours. They have almost lost respect for their feats and achievement during their glorious days!
I heard in a lecture some years back of what the British colonialists government documented about the Hausas (Negroid mostly Muslim people living chiefly in northern Nigeria) of northern Nigeria prelude the independence in 1960. This document contained an exhaustive description of natural, social, political and cultural of every tribe and ethnic group living in the then Nigeria. What they wrote about the different tribes and culture was an honest account. In it they wrote that if happen to be in the northern Nigeria and you meet someone wearing a cap on his head, simply entrust him with all your valuable belongings for safe keep! Likewise, if you meet a Hausa man with turban on top of his cap and wearing a big gown, hand over to him all your cash, your treasures, your wife and of course your children for safe keep for as long as you wanted! They abhorred all intoxications, dignified their women because they were virtuous and pure. They respected the elders because their religion commanded them, and they were very honest and trustworthy because such was held in high esteem and as enviable character.
Today the same Hausa men who was measured as supernatural and held in high esteem in terms of their unparalleled dignity and integrity when compared with their southern counterparts, are now despised and loathed in just less than a century! Regrettably, the same people have metamorphosed into thorough and refined villains and offenders. Currently, it is very hard to differentiate them from the rest of Nigerians in terms of corruptible behaviours.
Thus, whenever a Muslim slid down abysmally to the extent that he has nothing better to show to his neighbours, then such a Muslim becomes a tribulation and visitation against the rest of the world; an agent of affliction and adversity to the whole world!
Economically, the Islamic world lost its glory, although a thousand years ago it was wealthier and more prominent in the global economy than Europe. Angus Maddison, an economist and statistical wizard, said, “The Middle East accounted for about 9.5% of global GDP in the year 1000 while Western Europe’s share was less than 9%. By 1700, however, the situation had totally reversed, with Western Europe commanding a hefty 22% of global GDP and the Middle East a pathetic 3%. The Arab world had controlled many of the lucrative trade routes between Asia and the West, but that role got usurped first by the Portuguese, then by the British and Dutch.”
As time goes by, they became grossly unproductive consumer nations depending mainly with over 90% of their economies on oil. The Arab spring which swept through the Middle East, toppling despots of Libya, Egypt and Tunisia, went further to show the level of economic woes and political frustrations that confined the youths to an almost slavery level with no future in sight. The so called revolution exposed the Arab leaders’ incapacitation to solve their internal economic problems. It also did not solve their political decadence and corruption even after Arab Spring.
The stories of the Muslims today are full of tragedies; the tragedies of insecurity, of rampant killing of innocent people including women, aged ad children, and of indiscriminate of destruction of Mosques and Churches. There are today very few Muslims or Arab nations that are not suffering from one type of tribulation to another!
The questions that boggled my mind for a very long time was why and how did the Muslims slump so low despite the warning given to them by Allah since 1500 years?! What are the ways out of these muddles? Can the Muslims lead this world again? These many more questions will be dealt with in our concluding part, in sha Allah!
“Our Lord! Make us not a (test and) trial for the Unbelievers, but forgive us, Our Lord! For Thou art the Exalted In Might, the Wise.”[al-Mumtahnah: 5]
