The Actual Concept of Islam

The Actual Concept (Aqida) of Islam

All Alems and Fakihs of this religion share the same opinion that Iman (faith) is useless if ‘Aqida’ is not correct. Therefore it is beyond doubt that this ‘Aqida’ is of utmost importance since if it is not correct, Iman itself loses value. The basis for all acts of Ebadat, worship – e.g.–Salah, Saom, Hajj, Zakah and hundreds of other Ebadats – is faith, Iman. So what do we bring faith on? Faith on Allah, His Messengers, His Malaeks/Angels, faith on the Day of Judgment, on heaven, hell and destiny. If the basis, the very foundation of this faith is faulty, naturally or consequently, all acts of faith are rendered useless as well. So what is this all–important ‘Aqida’ – which if incorrect, can cause Iman/faith and all acts of faith useless?

Aqida is the comprehensive concept regarding any matter or issue. Comprehensive concept about any matter or issue, big or small, what its use or application are – is Aqida about that particular matter, which if incorrect renders that issue or matter useless. Allah has prescribed a complete code of life through His Nabis and Rasuls, but to what end? Has He revealed this Din, this way of life without any definite purpose? Absolutely not, He certainly has purpose for all this. However, if we do not understand this purpose or make incorrect interpretations of it, this Din, will in turn become void. This is the reason for which all Fakihs and Imams opine that without the correct Aqida, Iman and all related acts of faith are fruitless. Let me give an example, suppose someone presents a car to you, let’s take the car to be Islam, a gift from the Almighty to mankind. Along with the car, the bestower provided a maintenance book for its proper care – which in this case would be the Qur’an and Sahih Hadis. What is the purpose of a car? It is to take its passenger from one place to another. This is the actual purpose of a car; this is what it has been created for. At the same time, the car is fitted with comfortable seats for passengers, equipped with radio/CD players for them to listen to news and songs and it is polished to a glossy finish to look beautiful. The maintenance book provided with the car will inform you what type petrol/octane to use, what number mobile your car needs and the which places you need to oil for the smooth running of your vehicle. For the exterior to look clean and beautiful, it is detailed how to touch up the paint jobs when and where needed. However, the first and foremost job of your car is to take you from point A to point B, this is what it has been manufactured for.

All other necessary information provided in the maintenance book are supplementary and complimentary factors of your car. Yet, if you are not aware of the work your car is supposed to do, it would be a total waste to gift it to you. The purpose of your car is to take you from Dhaka to Chittagong, Sylhet, Rongpur or anywhere else you might want to visit. However, if you are not aware of its function, how would you use it? At the sight of its comfortable sitting arrangement, you might think it is made to lounge out in comfort. Or you might get the idea that it was made to sit comfortably and listen to songs and watch DVDs in style.

If that is how one puts their car to use, then the Aqida is wrong. The purpose of presenting you with the car is lost. If you follow the maintenance book to the letter, use the same mobile/oil as is recommended in the maintenance book, polish it to a sheen, check the air in the tires regularly, yet do not drive it, understand the purpose of the car, all efforts are lost. Not only that, another major error is committed in the process. You would be upsetting the order of priority also. Then, the comfortable seats of the car, the radio, CD player and outward gloss of your car would become more importance than the engine. The topsy–turvy in priority will cause highly important issues to become issues of low priority or be omitted altogether whereas matters that are of low importance would become highly important, all prevalent topics. This is the reason why all Alims, Fakihs and Imams are unanimous on their opinion that if Aqida, the comprehensive concept is incorrect or incomplete, Iman and all related worship or Ebadat are meaningless.

Yet this is what has happened to this MUslim population. We have long since forgotten the true Aqida, purpose of the Din, the way of life sent by Allah and now are at the state similar to the owner of the car who has no idea about the purpose, utility of his vehicle. Like him, we take great care of the appearance of the car, according to the maintenance book, e.g. the Qur’an and the Hadis yet we do not drive it, it lays rotting in the garage for the sole reason that we do have a clear understanding of its purpose, what we know of it is, are also distorted and wrong. This has resulted in a complete topsy–turvy in the order of importance. Having lost sight of the actual purpose of Tawheed and the struggle (Jehad) to implement it, we remain engrossed with petty issues such as the exterior of the car, which in our case is the beard, cap, mantle etc. that we are so concerned about. As a result of the distortion in the Aqida and imbalance in priority, Allah Himself has discarded us as His people and we have turned into objects of His wrath and curse. We, the MUslims all over the world today have turned into the lowliest of nations bear the brunt of the collective hate of all other communities in this world. Mass killing, pogrom are carried out against this people, their dwellings and houses burnt to the ground, their women of the veil are publicly disrobed, raped and is impregnated by the perpetrators, thousands and thousands of their Mosque razed. There must not be any other nation that has endured so much hate and humiliation at the hands of others than what this so called MUslim nation has been through over the last thousand years and continues to do so till date. Why? Does this question not plague the minds of this nation of individuals of high intelligence?

At the present, Iman and Aqida are thought of as one and the same, however, they are actually not. Firstly, Iman is a word, which literally means ‘faith’ whereas the root word of Aqida is ‘aqd’ a knot or joint, which is why it is used to denote marriage, an act of bonding two individuals together, hence ‘aqd’ or bonding. Therefore Iman and Aqida are two completely different topics with two different meaning altogether. Secondly, Iman itself loses its value if Aqida is incorrect; this alone is significant proof that these two are separate topics/subjects altogether. If one loses its value due to incorrect perception of the other, it is natural that they are not one and the same. Yet this idea is prevalent all over the world today. The correct Aqida, concept of Islam is lost to the world today, which is why it has been incorporated with Iman, where as they are both separate entities by themselves.

The correct Aqida of this Deen is as follows:

• The Almighty Allah has created this entire universe at His will and ordained innumerable Malayeks or Farishtas to care for and supervise it. Among this gigantic creation, there is not one that has any amount of free will–power; each carries out the job it has been entrusted with and ordained to without any derailment or hesitation.
• Then Allah wished to create a being on whom He would bestow the gift of free will–power; with it, this creature would be able to decide whether to live by Allah’s ordain or disregard it.
• He then created Adam e.g. Man, whom Allah breathed into from His soul (Sura Hejr 29) with which Adam came to possess all of Allah’s Sifats, His Attributes, as well as the will to do what he chose. For this, the special new creature was given the name of Allah’s vice–gerent, His Khalifa.
• It is impossible to test any one without an opposing factor; for this Eblis (Shaitan) was thrown in as an opponent of this Khalifa with the permission to enter his mind and body and thus be able to influence him.(Sura Baqara 30)
• Eblis challenged Allah saying he would entice His Khalifa e.g. to create Fasad meaning injustice and Safaquddima, meaning violence, blood–shed on earth. Allah accepted this challenge with the promise that, that He would guide mankind through His Nabis, Rassls and Haadis – relating through them such way of life which when established in the collective, e.g. personal, social, economic and national life of people would enable them to live in peace e.g. Islam, shunning violence and Safaquddima. An important issue that arises from this challenge is that Eblis did not vow to deter mankind e.g. Allah’s Khalifa from praying in mosques, churches, pagodas, temples or synagogues – he did not promise to refrain them from Hajj, Zakat, charity or any other acts of piety – his challenge was to throw them into Fasad and Safaquddima, violence, turmoil, unrest and blood–shed – both collective issues that have remained a bane for mankind from the beginning till this date and the solution to which problems remain nowhere in sight.
• Along with the guide lines, Deen sent from Him, Allah let mankind know (challenge Eblis had) that Eblis had vowed to derail them from His bidding, His way of life, be disobedient to Him. He would entice them to come up with ways of life contrary to the one sent by Him the implementation of which in their collective, social, economic and national lives would result in Fasad and Safaquddima. He warned them not to be guided by Eblis’ whisperings, to remain steadfast in accepting only Allah as their Law–giver and adhere to the law of life prescribed by Him, to implement those in their personal, social, national, economical and collectives lives in order to live in harmony and peace, in Islam. “If Allah willed, He could have brought them (mankind) all together to the guidance Allah affirmed” (Sura An’am 35, Yunus 100). “And if Allah willed, He could have punished them, but thus it is ordained that He may try some of you by means of other” (Sura Mohammad 4). This is the gist of Allah’s creation of man to try and see what mankind takes whether they refrain from in to the lure of Eblis, accept Allah as the only Law–giver and implement the Deen sent to Him in order to live in peace and harmony on earth in Islam which in turn will bring them Paradise in the Hereafter as His obedient slaves. Their (mankind’s) personal sins will be forgiven for they will be instrumental in defeating Eblis in his challenge to Allah. On the other hand, if man were to reject the way of life prescribed by Allah, come up with alternative ways to live their lives by the inevitable result of this would be falling into the pits of turmoil injustice and unrest in this world and the never ending punishment of hell fire in the next. Personal acts of piety – be they in hundreds of thousands, will not be taken into account for the sole reason that instead of rejecting Eblis whispering, they gave into him thereby causing Allah to lose the challenge Eblis had meted out. This Allah has vowed to hold to.
• Now, after the ground rules are laid down, it seems there are only two options open to mankind. One to accept the Guidance brought by the Nabis, Rasuls, live their collective lives by the Guidelines sent by Allah, or the second to reject these and come up with alternatives ways to govern their lives by. Mankind has to accept either of these two alternatives; there is no third way out for them. Allah has affirmed that they who remain steadfast on the first will be granted paradise, all their personal transgressions will be overlooked and forgiven. On the other hand, those who reject the system, way of life brought down by the Nabis, Rasuls and implement systems of their own creation on the collective life of society will be thrown into the throes of fire notwithstanding all their personal piety and good deeds. This apparent extremist approach of granting Paradise to those who implement Allah’s way of life disregarding their personal sins, while on the other hand undermining the good deeds of those who do not implement the same on their collective rises from the fact that once Allah’s system is implemented on the collective life of a society, all types of disparity, blood–shed and injustice as well personal acts of sin and transgression will all be wiped out. While on the other hand if any manmade system is adhered to in lieu of the one sent by Allah, society will be rife with injustice, turmoil, unrest and blood–shed, no matter how good pious people want to stay at the personal level. Example – present day societies all over the world.
• To accept Allah as the Elah, the Law–giver/Word–giver is to accept Him in every level of Man’s life e.g. the personal, social, national, economical, judiciary, education etc. one and all aspects of collective life. This is Tawheed, Serat–ul–Mustaqim, Din–ul–Kaiyema. Those who remain steadfast on this, deter not ever so much from its teachings will be granted paradise all this personal sins forgiven.
• The Messenger of Allah has stated quite clearly and firmly that it is a contract between Allah and His slaves that whoever accepts no other than Allah as the Law–giver, the Elah, it is incumbent on Allah to grant Jannah (Paradise) to them– (Hadis, Maaz (RA) Bukhari, MUslim, Meskat). It is interesting to note that there is no pre–requisite to this statement. If this one condition is met, no other transgression or sin can keep a person from entering Jannah, not ever the sins of adultery theft mentioned as ‘Kabirah’ or ‘Grave high’ ones by the Messenger of Allah himself. On one hand is Allah’s mentioned contract with His servants while on the other, He vows not to forgive those to reject any one of this edicts at any sphere of their lives, e.g. commit ‘Sherk’. Those who do commit Sherk will not be forgive even if they undertake hundreds of thousands good deeds, stay up in prayer all night or fast the whole year through (Sura Nessa 48, 116).
• Over the ages, Allah has sent this Nabis/Rasuls to every people, every nation on earth with guidance ‘Din’ from Him. When mankind was ready for it He sent the last Version of this Deen this way of life for the people of the world for all time to comes thru His last Messenger ‘Mohammad (sm). The question that now arises is, is it enough to merely reveal the Din, the Constitution? The answer must surely be in the negative for no constitution, no guideline can suffice if it is not put to correct use, if it is not implemented correctly or rejected under the influence of Eblis, Shaitan. Therefore Allah himself took the responsibility of establishing it as well as making it effective. To make this Deen effective and to implement it, the means, the process He decided upon one Jehad and Kital meaning all out struggle and armed fight (Sura Baqara 216). Therefore Allah has decided upon Jehad as the principle for establishing His Deen on earth. Allah’s sovereignty meaning all encompassing Tawheed and the Din, way of life based on this Tawheed together will the implementation of this Tawheed based Deen on the collective and personal lives of man– these are primary principles of Islam of this Din. It is because Tawheed is the primary principle of this Deen that those who remain steadfast on this, their grave sins will be overlooked, those who give use their worldly lives for this Din, pass off with flying colors, even those who only stay up help a night guarding camp even their nation sins one to be forgiven and paradise granted to them even if they earn no other good deeds [Hadis Ibne Ayaz (ra) Bukhari, Meskat].

All other components present in this Deen apart from these two primary principals, are supplementary to its character. While if the two principles do not remain as the guide, the principles, then everything else is void, useless. For this, the one who brought this Deen to the world, he prophesied, “In the future people will fast but it will not be considered as fasting, it will be like going without food, similarly people will wake up in the middle of the night to say Tahajjud, but it will be tantamount to just losing sleep.” (Hadis– Meshkat)

• Prayer, Salah is the training, practice for character building to perform Jehad. To establish this way of life over the whole of mankind, unique group of people is mandatory, and it is Salah that readies this group in the physical, spiritual and character building senses. Yet, the goal remains the same; it is the all out struggle to establish Din–ul–Huq on earth. The most important part of a house is its roof, if that is absent, the house is not livable, even if it is encrusted with gold, silver and precious stones like rube, the pillars that hold up the roof are of equal importance. It is for this that Messenger of Allah has stated, “Islam is a house, the pillars of which is Salah and Jehad is the roof” – [Hadis Muaz (RA) Ahmed, Termizi, Ibne Majah, Meskat.] Just as pillars are inconsequential if the roof is absent, similarly, Salah is meaningless if its purpose Jehad is absent.
• There are four highly important elements that are imperative to achieve success in any great endeavor. Similarly to achieve the gigantic success of implementing the Deen in this world through Jehad, all out struggle, failure or even lacking in any of those four elements will not bring success. The subjects are:

(a) Objective: – A clear idea about the objective the goal to be achieved meaning concept. If the objective of a mission is lost from sight, or deviation occurs in the course, all is lost.

(b) Unity: – Strength lies in unity. If unity is absent or lacking defeat and failure is only one step away. Allah has warned against disunity over and over again in the Qur’an. Difference in opinion is the first step of disunity for this, the Messenger of Allah has likened difference to Kufr, he has forbidden the different interpretations of Qur’anic ayats or verses calling it Kufr and warned his followers to go quiet to avoid differences in opinion, rather leavning it on Allah to decide – (Hadis, Abdallah Bin arqu (ra) MUslim, Miskat). In his speech at the final pilgrimage, the Messenger of Allah has in clear terms associated internal feuding to Kufr.

(c) Training, practice:– The next important point in achieving the ardors job of implementing the Deen in this world is the training, the practice that prepare this nations warriors to undertake this task. Even if the first two steps of clear objective and unity are present, success cannot be achieved without proper training and practice. This is where Salah comes in – it is Salah that is the character builder of the Islamic nation. Salah is the practice for punctuality, discipline, methodical following and various character building, physical and spiritual training. The goal, objective of this training is to prepare are to engage in all out straggle with the aim defeating Eblis and snatching victory for Allah by establishing His Rule on earth. If this objective is lost and only training gains momentum or of the training itself is considered the objective, then it is absolutely meaningless.

(d) Not to engage in excesses about Din: – The way of the Deen is to establish over mankind, therefore, if the process to do so, the struggle is left midway, then it is completely useless to become engrossed in petty issues. For this, if the Messenger of Allah was enquired about different petty issues, he would get extremely angry. In the case where only Tawheed and the struggle to in implement are sufficient in entering paradise, it is of no use whatsoever to become busy in performing other lesser rewarding jobs while neglecting that all important factor. In this Din, the precondition reward for any good deed (e.g. nek amal) is Tawheed; if this Tawheed is absent or relegated to application only in the personal lives of people, then all good deeds are indeed worthless. This all encompassing Tawheed is prevalent no where on earth today. When people busy themselves with discussing or working on petty, trivial issues (masla–masael) of the Din, they deviate from the straight, simple and easy Serat–ul–Mustaqeem. This is why the Messenger of Allah would get highly vexed if any of his Sahabis asked too many questions about any of the Faith. He is known to have replied in anger to try and follow only as much as he had prescribed and furthermore warned his followers to refrain from engaging in discussing the masla–masael in detail because the followers of Messenger before him had delved into the same, fought among themselves over these and brought doom upon themselves over those divisions (Hadis). Little heed have we paid to the Messenger of Allah’s warning or his anger. Instead, this nation as a whole has long abandoned the true essence of the faith, the Tawheed and busied ourselves with such hair splitting of the masla–masael’s that it puts other nations to shame. The result too has been what the Messenger of Allah feared the division into 73 Ferka’s or ideologies and the inevitable destruction of unity.

12. Individual and group: – The two arguments the Malaeks or farishtas had put forward against the creation of Allah’s Khalifa, Man were that these would create (anarchy) Fasads (unrest, injustice and anarchy) and Safakuddima (blood–shed war) on earth. Notice that both these issues are collective ones, not individual problems. Therefore, the root problem, main issue is collective the solution Allah provided for this is Din–ul–Islam, another collective issue. The place of an individual in this scenario is a very small one; only to the extent that the individual is the basic unit of a society. Furthermore, as the unit of a society, the individuals importance is only either the group, it holds not much value outside it. We can take the example of an army here – which is made up of numerous soldiers working as a team. The better a soldier, an individual is, the better it is for the army. The commander tries his utmost to improve the quality of his solders and provides the best possible training for them. If he notices even one of his solders not hitting the target on the spot, he will insist on more practice for that particular person, and ensure that he has enough ammunition to practice with. However, the soldier themselves have no value outside their group. If they fail to perform as one entity in accordance to the practice that received and their commander’s strategy, and instead they to fight a war on their personal capacities, within a short span of time, they are bound to lose under their opponent’s onslaught. Even if every one of those soldier are skilled warriors, they cannot win if they do not act as a team.

Similarly, the position and importance of an individual in this Deen is no more that of a soldier in the army. Among the fire pillars (Fard–e–Ainn) this Deen is established on, four are collective issues. Tawheed, Salah, Zakah and Hajj are all collective matters, the only one personal or individual Fard is Soum (fasting). For us, people of the present, who are in the practice of the deviated, opposite headed Din, it is quite difficult to understand the idea of Tawheed as being a collective matter. Let me try to make it easier. The only Tawheed that is acceptable to Allah is the one, all encompassing Tawheed implemented on all aspects of man’s life from the family, national, social, economic, judicial to education e.g. collective Tawheed. No facet or aspect of man’s life will be outside the influence of that Tawheed. Anything below this level of utmost submission is not acceptable to the Great Lord. Whereas now Tawheed is restricted to and applicable only to the very personal aspect of human existence. It is absolutely out of the question for this minimal Tawheed to be accepted by Him who is the Creator of all. What He demands is the collective, national level of Tawheed. In the Qur’an Allah has repeatedly affirmed, His is the sovereignty of the heavens and the earth. He has revealed the Qur’an as the constitution to guide man’s personal, national, social, economic lives and He is the sovereign of the laws, rules and regulations, penalty and punishment based on that constitution the Qur’an. Today, we have all accepted the sovereignty of Gaier–ul–llah in the broader and collective levels of life and limited Allah’s sovereignty only to the personal aspects of our life. Allah Jallel, Jalal, Aziz–ul–Jabbar is no beggar to be satisfied with this hand–out of His Tawheed. Besides, this partial, eclectic acceptance is no Tawheed, it is Kufr and Sherk. In a monarchy, the king is sovereign, in Fascism it the dictator, in socialism and communism, sovereignty lies with a select group; in democracy, it is the majority population that is the sovereign and in the case of Din–ul Islam, Allah, the Almighty is the sovereign. There is no room for any compromise on this issue. One who does not believe this, is no MUslim, no Mo’men let alone Ummat–e–Mohammadi. Even if he is in the practice of staying up all night in prayer or fasting the whole year through. This Tawheed itself is Serat–ul–Mustaqeem, straight and simple Path. The Messenger of Allah drew a straight line on desert sand showing that as Serat–ul–Mustaqeem with several others branching out on either side; those he said were the luring of the Shaitan to deviate mankind from this straight and simple path. He then recited from the Qur’an “This is my straight path, so follow it – follow not other ways, lest ye be parted form His way. This hath He ordained for you, that ye may ward off evil” (Sura An’am 153). This Serat–ul–Mustaqeem is Tawheed, the conviction, belief to obey no one else save Him, in any aspect of our lives; this is the simple way. Unfortunately, this so called MUslim population has ceased to exist within the framework of Serat–ul–Mustaqeem for centuries now. The Deen we now cling to, try with sincere devotion to minutely observe and practice is anything but that simple and straight path, divided as it is into about a hundred Mazhabs and Ferkas. We now belong to the branches that the Messenger of Allah drew away from the Serat–ul–Mustaqeem, the branches, divisions Shaitan, the Eblis has lured us into.

The truth is, of the four imperative conditions that are necessary for a people to undertake and emerge victorious in the difficult, ardors and huge task of establishing Din–ul–Huq in the world, all four are lacking among MUslims today. First comes Tawheed or Iman, which is not only absent, but is now to be taken synonymous with Aqida. Secondly comes unity; the lesser said about it, the better I think. More than 50 nation states, division of about 73 Ferkas, Mazhabs and Tarikas, no dearth of differences of opinions and feuding amongst each other. The third condition is discipline: When unity is absent, the question of discipline does not arise. Last but not the least, comes excessive following of the Din, at the sight of which, the Messenger of Allah would turn red in anger, warned us repeatedly about it, is now accepted as acts of high piety and carried out with great enthusiasm and zeal, we live in fool’s paradise if we believe these will lead us to Jannah – rather all our acts of piety and Taqwa can do little to help us escape the throes of Jahannam, while we neglect the very job for which we were created. We are oblivious to the fact that Eblis has won the challenge against Allah – the ‘Fasad’ and ‘Safaquddima’ he vowed to unleash are rampant all over the world today. On the other hand, the peace (Islam), justice and happiness Allah had promised remain a distant dream. The Ummah, the nation on whom the Messenger of Allah had entrusted the grave duty of snatching victory for Allah has proved unworthy of his trust instead they remain engrossed with the length of their beards, their Jubbas, and rushing to and from the mosque.

• Mo’men, MUslim and Ummat–e–Mohammadi: – In the distorted form of Islam that is practiced worldwide, three entities are thought to be one, whereas they are not. They are in fact, three different ideas separate identities.
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(a) Mo’men:– The root word for this is ‘Iman’ meaning faith. Those who believe in Allah, believe He is the Creator of all things accept Him as the lord and Law–giver in every aspect of their lives be it the personal, social, national, education, penalty and punishment – believe that to take any one else’s word save His is Sherk, such as Mo’men’s, believes. Those who deter not from this faith, this knowledge all their lives, Allah will forgive their personal, lesser and bigger – all sins and reward them with Jannah, Paradise (Hadis– Bokhari, MUslim and others). The Almighty has clearly defined a Mo’men in the Qur’an– Sura Huzrat 15 as “The (true) believers are those only who believe in Allah and His Messenger and afterward doubt not, but strive with their wealth and their lives for the cause of Allah. Such are the sincere”. Here the belief in Allah is not restricted and applicable to belief only in this Existence and His Oneness, this ‘Iman’, faith includes faith in His Uluhiyat, La Elah Ellallah as only Him being the one to be obeyed, to be accepted as the only one to be adhered to, e.g. Tawheed. It is also mandatory to obey the Messenger of Allah, as he only informed us of what Allah made known to him – he did not say anything from his own self (Qur’an–Sura Nazm 3–4). The second part of the Qur’anic definition of a Mo’men entails striving with one’s wealth and one’s person in the way of Allah. Strive to achieve what? We might think. If the Din, based on Tawheed, His sovereignty, is not applied, implemented on mankind, then it would be useless. Here comes Jehad, to strive with one’s utmost capability to establish Tawheed based Din–ul–Huq on mankind. Together these two make up the definition of a Mo’men. Whosoever possesses these two qualities meets the criteria of a Mo’men, by the Qur’an. It is not said whoever says his prayer is a Mo’men, whoever fasts is a Mo’men, or performs Hajj or any other acts of worship or piety. This definition deals only with the rejection of any other than Allah as the Sovereign and the striving in the way of Allah. Conversely, in Sura Nissa–48 Allah warns of dire punishment to those who ascribe partners to Him, e.g. take any other’s word instead of His in any level of their social, national, personal and economic lives. Such He has vowed never to forgive.

(b) MUslim: – MUslim, the root word for which is ‘Salam’. To accept something respectfully, it’s to ‘Tasleem’ it. Those who accept Din–ul–Huq Islam, implement and apply in their collective lives are called MUslims. A person or people, even if do not whole heartedly believe in Allah and the Way of Life sent by Him, still may be MUslims. When a group of people or nation collectively accept the Din–ul–Huq Islam and implement it in their lives, there may remain a small segment of the population who outwardly claim to accept the same, keeping in mind the dangers that might entail going against the population. Such people are MUslims, not Mo’mens. About such people Qur’an tells His Messenger – “The wandering Arabs say: We believe. Say (unto them) you believe not, but rather say, “We submit”, for the faith hath not entered their hearts” (Sura Hujrat–14). The reality of Allah’s verses was revealed soon after the Messenger of Allah’s departure from this world. During his lifetime, the Messenger of Allah had brought the whole of the Arabian peninsula within the banner of Islam, e.g. under the rule of Din–ul–Huq. However, no sooner had he departed, than the majority of the MUslim Arab revolted against the Din, for most of them had only submitted to the Faith, become MUslims, not Mo’mens. At that time, those who gathered under the leadership of Abu Bakar (ra) and fought with their utmost power to save Islam, those were the Mo’mens. Allah has addressed Mo’mens and MUslims separately on different occasions in the Qur’an and He has specifically defined the Mo’mens in Sura Huzrat–15. Among the two parts of the definition, one is Iman e.g. Tawheed, and the second part deals with implementation of Tawheed, e.g. Jehad. However, neither condition holds true of the so–called MUslim population of today. Owing to the distortion in the Aqida, we have all but banished Allah from His sovereignty, having any say in all but the narrow sphere of our personal lives – which is infect, Sherk. And Jehad is a word that does not exist for us any more – yet we claim to be Mo’mens, MUslims and continue to deceive ourselves.

Ummat–e–Mohammadi : – On one hand, Allah accepted Eblis’ challenge, permitting him to enter the hearts and minds of His Khalifa, e.g. Mankind to try and lure them away from the Serat–ul–Mustaqeem and on the other, He continued to send a long series of Nabies, Rasuls arming them with guidance from Him in the form of Deen, way of life so that they may establish it over the lives of mankind. As it was impossible for the Nabis, Rasuls themselves alone to undertake the gigantic task of implementing the Deen on people, it became incumbent (fard) on the people who brought faith on them as Messengers from Allah to help them achieve this goal, sacrificing their lives and property. At the end of this long line of Messengers, Allah revealed the Seal of Nabuyat, Muhammad (SM). Him, Allah sent for all the peoples of the world and for all time. He made it quite clear too, why He had sent the last Messenger – “He it is who had sent His Messenger with the Guidance (Hedayah) and the religion of truth (Deen–ul–Huq, system of life) that he may cause it to prevail over all Deens (Systems of life)” – (Tawba–33; Fatah–28; Sauf–9). The reason is simple – if the way of life based on Tawheed is not implemented, put to use in the collective life of mankind, injustice, persecution, unrest, war and blood–shed will continue all over the world and Eblis will come out as the victor. Allah also prescribed the manner, the modus operandi to establish this Deen – it is through Jehad and Ketal – e.g. utmost struggle and armed warfare. Based on this edict, the Messenger of Allah declared – “I have been ordered to carry on Ketal against the people of this world for as long as they do not accept Allah as their Elah and me as His Messenger, do not say their prayers and pay Zakat” – [Hadis Abdullah bin Umar (RA) – Bukhari].

Now the question arises – is it possible for the Messenger of Allah, acting all by himself, to defeat the numerous people of this world who have given in to Eblis’ whisperings and devised different ways of life for themselves? The answer is, as common sense will tell – no, for this reason, he created a nation, an Ummah that would continue to work towards that goal, go on struggling to achieve what he had been sent for – even after he was no longer in their midst. This nation, this people is Ummat–e–Muhammadi. During his holy lifetime, he himself led the first few battles and in order to prepare dynamic leadership among his army, at each new battle he selected promising commanders from among the sahabis/companions and sent out armies under their command. In a span of just 10 years, he waged 78 battles, created a warrior nation almost every member of which was a soldier – before going back to meeting his Lord. In his undefeatable nation, he instilled the Aqida, the concept that the grave task of implementing the Deen on earth, lay on their shoulders in his absence. What gravity, what importance his nation stressed on their Leader’s teaching is evident from their history soon after his departure; for no sooner had he closed his eyes, than they set forth, like gigantic crashing waves reaching out far into the world. In a matter of years, they defeated the two great super powers of the then world, armies far, far greater than them in every respect and brought almost half of the known world under the banner of Tawheed, Allah’s sovereignty. It is a historical fact that graves of more than 80 percent of his Ummah lie outside their homeland Arabia.

The Messenger of Allah entrusted his followers with the duty Allah has placed on him saying – “They who discard my Sunnah, are not of me, neither am I of them” – [Hadis – Bukhari, MUslim, Meshkat]. If these people who discard his sunnah do not belong to him, surely they are not Umamt–e–Muhammadi. Now, which Sunnah, practice does the Messenger of Allah refer to if discarded, causes expulsion from Ummat–e–Muhammadi? It is his Sunnah of engaging in Jehad to militarily defeat all other ways of life in order to establish Tawheed, Deen–ul–Haq. By ‘his Sunnah’ he most definitely did not mean his personal habits, his likes and dislikes, and so forth. Once armed struggle, Jehad was abandoned and monarchy established in MUslim lands, the actual ‘Sunnah’ of the Messenger of Allah was replaced by his personal ones, and it continues till date. The definition of Ummat–e–Muhammadi therefore is only those who continue to carry on the responsibility Allah had sent His Messenger with, even while he is no longer in their midst. Those who deter from it, from Jehad, cannot remain within the Ummat – no matter how pious they are, however learned, Peer, Mashaekh and such they might be.

On Judgment Day, they will have no right to claim ‘Shafayat’, interception from him on their behalf.

14. The two most important aspects of the faith, one is the Deen, the faith itself, comprising the Fard–e–Ainn or compulsory/most imperative rituals that are mandatory such as Iman (Tawheed), Salah, Zakah, Hajj and Saom. The second part is the struggle, Jehad for implementing the Deen, because if this Deen is not applied, implemented on mankind, then it loses its value. It is for this that Allah was not satisfied at only revealing this Deen, He ordered His Messenger to engage in warfare to implement it on this earth. Consequently the Messenger of Allah reiterated that he had been ordered to carry on Jehad and Ketal as long as the whole mankind does not accept ‘La Elah Ellallah, Muhammad Rasul Allah’. Those who observe the first part of the Deen, do certainly earn the right to paradise, for Allah and His Messenger have time and again reiterated that those who remain steadfast in Tawheed, till death, shall have nothing to fear, for the key to Jannah is already in their possession. However, Jehad and Ketal are also mandatory, Fard since if Tawheed and the Deen are not applied to the lives of mankind, Eblis will have won the challenge over Allah. When the Messenger of Allah was asked, what the best Amal (deed) in this Deen, he answered – “Iman (belief) in Allah and His Rasul.” “What comes next”, he was asked and replied, “Jehad in the way of Allah”. When asked what the third most important Amal was, he replied, “Maqbool Hajj.”– [Hadis – Abu Huraira (RA), MUslim, Bukhari]. Allah has retained the highest honor and rewards for engaging in Jehad, privileges such has not been bestowed even upon His Nabis. Why? Because the struggle, Jehad to implement Tawheed is secondary only to Iman, Tawheed itself. The Messenger of Allah has said – “He (of the Mo’mens, believers), who does not strive in the way of Allah, does not partake in Jehad, or carries no intention of engaging in it either, he dies in one level of Munafeqi (hypocrisy).– [Hadis – Abu Hurayra (RA), MUslim, Meshkat]. We should bear in mind that the Munafeq, hypocrites are destined to the lowest of the hells and the most severe punishment. – [Quran – Sura Nessa–145]. If any of the Mo’mens dies a hypocrite’s death, then all the good deeds he accomplished in life certainly will go in vain. The Messenger of Allah has further stressed that the doors to Jannah, Paradise lie below the shades of swords. – [Hadis – Abu Musa (RA) – MUslim, Meshkat]. In short, such Mo’mens who have no relation with swords, with weapons, arms will not enter Jannah through any door. However, one could go on and on about this topic.

With my limited knowledge what I can gather is, if a group of people set up a particular committee and categorically state within its constitution that the group will refer their highest honor, reward on any member of their group to win the Olympic Gold Medal for swimming, can there be any doubt that the particular committee is a swimming team? Can it be called a chess playing, cricket playing or football playing team? It undoubtedly has to be called a swimming committee, a swimmers’ team. Those who are not into swimming have no business there; every member of that team has to be a swimmer. Similarly, if we take Ummat–e–Muhammadi, Islam as a committee, it is clearly written in its constitution, the Quran, that the highest honor and reward will bestowed on those members of this group who take part in Jehad, give up their lives in wars and battles, all their sins, great and small will be erased, they will be caused to enter Jannah, paradise on the moment of their worldly death and exempted from questioning at the grave, the high honor of not being referred to as dead is applicable only for them – if such are the circumstances, can this group be called anything else than a warriors team? Not only that, can any person who is not a fighter, a warrior, be a member of this group? It is a matter of logic that whoever is not a warrior, a fighter does not have the right to earn even primary membership of this team, let alone be a high ranking member.

The person who is known as the glory of mankind, leader of all the Nabis and Rasuls Allah has ever sent, he fervently used to pray to Allah to grant him Shahadat, martyrdom, to be brought back to life so that he could achieve martyrdom again and over again. – [Hadis – Abu Huraira (RA) – Bukhari, MUslim, Meshkat]. After Judgment Day is over and done with and the relegation of Hell and Heaven decided upon, Allah will ask the dwellers of paradise – is there any among you who wishes to return to the earth? Naturally all will say no, for who would be willing to forsake the unimaginable bliss of paradise to return to this troubled and misery torn world: let alone others, even the Nabis and Rasuls of Allah will decline. Only one group will stand up – the Shaheeds, martyrs – they will proclaim they want to come back to this world so that they can strive, Jehad in the way of Allah and die ten times over! – [Hadis – Anas (RA) – Bukhari, MUslim, Meshkat]. It is beyond our comprehension what great rewards Allah will bestow on them to make them eager to come back to this troublesome would only so that they can fight in the way to implement His Deen and sacrifice their lives for it. Even he, for whom “Makam–e–Mahmuda”, the “Glorified Station” is readied in Jannah, his soulful outcry was to be martyred in the way of Allah. As for us, the people of the present, in our perverted, distorted ‘Aqida’ of the Faith, we have completely strayed from the ‘Amal’ of the highest order and remain engrossed in various trivial ‘Ebadahs’, acts of worship thinking those to earn us rich rewards. We remain ignorant of the fact that since we have foregone Tawheed and the struggle to implement it, we were turned into slaves of various European Christian powers, suffered untold miseries at their hands for over two hundred years and till today the punishment is yet to stop. Every other nation in the world today looks at MUslims with contempt and hatred, insults and abuses them, their houses are razed to the ground, the men killed, the women raped and impregnated. The reason for all which eludes us. Owing to the distortion in the ‘Aqida’ we fail to realize that all our Salah, Hajj and Jakah are absolutely unacceptable to Him, nor does He allow those to redeem us.

15: Taqwa and Hedayah: Just as the goal and object of Deen–ul–Islam have long become distorted, so have the actual meaning, interpretations of ‘Taqwa’ and ‘Hedayah’ become lost to us. When an erstwhile drunkard, through much good advice and counseling gives up his drinking, or a thief stops stealing and turns into a regular mosque goer, we says he’s attained ‘Hedayah’ – yet that is incorrect. What he’s become is a ‘Mottaqi’ – pious person, not reached Hedayah, because Taqwa and Hedayah are two different meaning words. Taqwa is to tread carefully, in one’s words and action. To refrain from all bad elements, trying to be pious and do good deeds is to observe Taqwa. In English, Taqwa is translated as ‘fear of God’. If one is not fearful of Allah, he would not need to judge between right and wrong, sin or piety. In his translation of the Quran, Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall has described Taqwa as ‘mindful of duty to Allah’. More specifically, being conscious and careful of the criteria of right and wrong, piety and sin that Allah has ascribed for us and trying to live our lives by that standard is Taqwa. While ‘Hedayah’ on the other hand is to remain on the way/path shown by Allah and His Messenger, to be directed by them on the right path.

The major difference that lies between these two definitions is ‘Hedayah’ is to head in a particular direction, e.g. the one shown by Allah and His Messenger whereas ‘Taqwa’ is to tread careful along while on walks, to watch out for holes or mud along the way, be careful not to dirty one’s clothes. The path/way shown by Allah is Serat–ul–Mustaqeem, the straight and simple path, to accept or adhere to none save Allah in any aspect of one’s life; to disregard any law or regulation not from Him, to worship no other than Him – Tawheed in one word – this simple truth. The goal of Serat–ul–Mustaqeem is to establish this Tqwheed through utmost struggle, striving over mankind to ensure justice and peace on earth. Allah has differentiated between Taqwa and Hedayah on several occasions in the Quran. The opening verses of the Quran are – “This is the scripture whereof there is no doubt, a guidance (Hedayah) unto those who ward off evil (Mottaqi)” – Sura Baqara: 2. A clear differentiation between two topics, one is ‘Hedayah’ – guidance to walk on the correct path and the other ‘Taqwa’ – careful treading along one’s way. In Sura Fatah, verse: 2; Allah tells the Messenger – “And guide thee on a right path (Serat–ul–Mustaqeem).” In yet another verse, Quran – Doha: 7, Allah enquires of His Messenger, “Did He not find thee wandering and direct (thee) to (Hedayah)?” If being a ‘Mottaqi’ was synonymous with being ‘rightly guided’ as it is thought of now, was there any need for the Messenger of Allah to be brought to ‘Hedayah’? He was as innocent as a newborn babe, famous for his pious ways long before attaining the role of the Messenger, why would he need to be brought to right guidance?

The Hedayah, right guidance from Allah and His Messenger have become lost from the sight of this people, they are headed in completely the opposite direction, and so fail to understand that they have mixed up the meaning of these two subjects, Taqwa and Hedayah. Even on Serat–ul–Mustaqeem, the path chosen by Allah – one can walk on two different manners, e.g. with or without Taqwa. If the direction is correct, if the way you are heading to is the correct one, you would still reach your destination, albeit with some incidents, like falling into a ditch or a hole along the way, or not caring if your clothes get dirty from the mud or the soil, you would still reach the ultimate destination, Jannah. On the other hand, if one were to take a different route other than the correct way, no matter how carefully one treads, however care one takes not to dirty one’s clothes or step on mud – one would not reach the destination, one would end up in Jahannam. A Hadis would be appropriate to illustrate this matter further. The Messenger once said to Abu Zar (RA) – “Abu Zar! He who stays firm on Tawheed till death, he will be awarded Jannah/paradise even if he be an adulterer or a thief.” – from Abu Zar (RA), Bukhari, MUslim, Meshkat. A person may err, commit the major sins of adultery or theft, walk completely without Taqwa, but if he remains firm on Tawheed on Serat–ul–Mustaqeem, he will still find place in paradise. In another incident, the Messenger of Allah saw a crowd gathered for the Janaza/funeral prayer of a deceased, Umar (RA) bin Khattab exclaimed – “O Rasul Allah! It is better you do not lead the funeral prayer for this man.” When asked why, he was informed that the deceased was a miscreant of the highest order. At this, the Messenger of Allah asked the crowd if anyone had seen that person do any work for Islam. Only one man replied that he had seen him work as sentry for a night during an expedition. At this the Messenger of Allah led his Janaza, helped with his burial and later addressed the grave, saying “Your companions think you to be in Hellfire, but I bear witness that you are a resident of Jannah (Paradise).” – from Ibne Anaz (RA) – Bukhari, Meshkat.

These two Hadis are of great importance towards understanding the correct Aqida, concept of Islam. At Umar’s (RA) request for the Messenger of Allah not to lead the prayer for that deceased, nobody raised any objection because they all agreed on him to have been a miscreant. According to the narrator of that Hadis, he was a dacoit who robbed travelers and traders. When the Messenger of Allah enquired if anyone had seen him to do any work for Islam, ‘Amal–el–Islam’ – everyone kept quiet. What are the ‘Amal–el–Islam’; they are Salah, Zakah, Hajj, Saom etc. numerous other Sunnah and Nafal acts of worship. Everyone kept quiet, since no one had seen him do any of these. Yet after only one person recalled having seen him stand guard for a night at an expedition, the Messenger of Allah declared him to be a ‘Jannati’, of the paradise and himself bore witness for it. Why? Because of the simple reason that he helped those who strove to establish Tawheed, on this earth, to eradicate all forms of injustice, to gain victory for Allah over Eblis’ challenge. That man was with those who set out for armed combat to bring peace on earth – he stayed up only one night to guard their camp; for this simple reason he was adjudged to be of the paradise.

I have detailed earlier as well that the principal and most highly regarded duties in Islam are two. One is the all–encompassing Tawheed and the second is the struggle for the establishment, implementation of the Tawheed on mankind. Therefore, those who are in practice of these two, for them Hellfire has been made ‘Haram’ and ‘Jannah’ is confirmed. All their personal sins and transgressions – innumerous or enough to fill up this earth they might be, all are to be erased and they will be sent to paradise. [Hadis – Termizi]. This concept and the prevalent ‘Aqida’ of Islam are completely opposite. Since the Aqida itself of this people is wrong, they are being meted out a cursed (Malaoon) existence – with every other nation kicking them around, killed by the thousands in places, their houses burnt, their females raped and impregnated, yet completely unable to either defend themselves or seek justice. Although this nation now totals to about more than 100 crores all they can do is sit back and take this beating, this humiliation. Allah raises not one a finger to help this people for they are headed in an absolutely opposite direction to the one shown by Him, have long forsaken Tawheed and Jehad they no longer remain Mo’men, or MUslim, and Ummat–e–Muhammadi is still a further cry. The irony of this situation is after all this pain and humiliation, this people still think of themselves as high class Mo’mens and Ummat–e–Muhammadi, remain ever so busy with their Namaz, Roza, Hajj, Zakah, Tahajjud, beards and caps – to even question this happening to their lot. Owing to the distortion in Aqida, they fail to realize that the pre–condition for all acts of Ebadah, of worship is Hedayah, Tawheed. They fail to realize that since they are headed in exactly the opposite direction of Hedayah, all the thousands of acts are worship, Ebadah are of no use at all, are not acceptable to Allah. In this world, they suffer ignominy at the hands of Hindus, Christians, Jews, Buddhist and in the hereafter, Allah’s Malaeks will render similar punishment and that punishment will be far greater in severity, be far more torturous.