Submission by: Tavis Adibudeen (
[EMAIL PROTECTED])
Topic:
Brotherhood of Enemies
Text:
With Allah's Name, the Merciful Benefactor, the Merciful Redeemer
Brotherhood of Enemies:
The Ummah's War Against Itself
All praise and thanks is due to Allah Who says in His divine Message,
al-Qur'an:
"If a man kills a believer intentionally, his
recompense is Hell, to abide therein (For ever): And the wrath and the curse
of Allah are upon him, and a dreadful penalty is prepared for
him."
The pages of the history of the Ummah are unfortunately stained
with blood. Like all other civilizations, Islamic civilization has been
faced with opposition that often required military force to suppress it.
Over the past two, centuries, however, our Ummah has been plagued with internal
conflict. Muslims are more likely and often times more eager to pick up
arms to fight one another than they are to fight against non-Muslims.
At the heart of Islam is a message of tolerance, peace, reconciliation, and
mutual enjoining of good. During the lifetime of Prophet Muhammad, upon
whom be eternal peace and blessings, he and his followers resisted oppression
peacefully for as long as they could. They tried peacefully spreading the
message of al-Islam. They invited people to give up idol worship and to
turn towards the worship of the one G-d, Allah.
They were met with hostile opposition and were forced to defend
themselves. When the fighting was over, they sought reconciliation, signed
a treaty, and eventually were able to capture all of Arabia through the hearts
of its people. They peacefully invited people to al-Islam, and the people
peacefully accepted. Al-Islam is founded on peace. The root of the
word itself means peace. Under the early Islamic state, other religions
enjoyed just living conditions and fair rights for their people. Islam
tolerates other religions and their people.
It is therefore surprising and appalling that a religion deeply rooted in
peace and tolerance today has followers who are embarrassingly intolerant.
It is further enigmatic that their intolerance is mostly directed towards each
other rather than outside religions. On the small scale, Muslims have
difficulty agreeing on simple issues and are unable to form alliances that
benefit the growth and well-being of our communities. On the global level,
Muslims are literally at war with each other. Each side claims
righteousness while brutally attacking the other side usually for political
rather than religion reasons.
Civil war among Muslims dates back to the earliest years of the khilafa
after the demise of the Prophet (saaws), when Umm-al-Mu'mineen Ayesha, Talha,
al-Zubayr, and other notable companions rose up to attack Amir-al-Mu'mineen Ali
ibn Abu Talib in the Battle of the Camel claiming to be avenging the
death of the caliph Uthman ibn Affan. Over the years, battles such as this
continued. Nevertheless, the Ummah stayed relatively unified in that
outside enemies were not befriended and the problems of the Ummah were usually
solved within the Ummah. On the community level, Muslims continued to
flourish despite the political problems. They built universities, mosques,
libraries, medical institutions, and scientific research laboratories. The
legacy left by Islamic Spain (al-Andalus), Timbuktu, the Fatimid dynasty, and
other establishments testifies to the resilience of the Muslim people of that
time.
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, a change began to take place. For
the first time, Muslim forces began allying with non-Muslim forces to attack
other Muslims on a large scale. Although small scale expiditions had taken
place prior to this period, this was the first massive assault of its
kind. The Ottoman Empire, already fragile, was noticeably the interest of
European powers. For years they had dreamed of taking over the Islamic
state and tapping into its vast resources. They had been largely
unsuccessful. Through manipulation and "divide and conquer" tactics, they
finally accomplished their goals.
The Ottoman Empire fell. Installed in its place were various nation
states, each with their own agendas. Most notably among these nation
states was the British-supported Saud family that later became the Kingdom of
Saudi Arabia. This group was instrumental in bringing down the remnants of
the Islamic state, much to the delight of its non-Muslim enemies.
Over the next century, the nation states that were successfully established
in Africa, the middle east, and Asia were pitted against each other again and
again. Gradually, the once rich Islamic empire became a region of third
world countries. The fighting continued even until modern times with Iraq
vs. Iran, the civil war in Afghanistan, and others.
It is easy for Muslims today to choose sides, to align themselves with one
group and claim its legitimacy against the other group. Such is the case
particularly with the Taliban in Afghanistan that has become almost heroic for
many Muslims all over the world. Whether this heroism is due to their
attempts at establishing Sharia (Islamic law) or their alleged protection of
Osama bin Laden is unclear. What is clear is that when the Soviet Union
attacked Afghanistan, it was Ahmad Shah Masood and his supporters who were the
heroes successfully driving the Soviets out of Afghanistan. Now these
one-time heroes are the opposition force fighting against the new heroes:
the Taliban. Can Muslims truly objectively take sides in such a
matter?
On the political level, none of us should give loyalty to any "Muslim"
country. Our loyalty should first be to Islam. Nevertheless, Muslims
seemed compelled to choose sides in these internal conflicts. The fact is,
however, that all of us are the losers in the end. When the guns are laid
down, when the blood is dried, when the tanks are abandoned, when the cries are
no longer heard, each and every Muslim will suffer. Should we be wasting
our time voicing our support for political groups, or should we instead send our
assistance to the children who are starving in Iraq, Ethiopia, and
Afghanistan. Our Islamic obligations are not towards any group or
nation. Our primary obligations are towards the welfare of our
people.
The Muslim Ummah has essentially become a brotherhood of enemies. On
the micro level, we have opportunities to establish businesses, educational
institutions, information centers, etc., but we are blinded by our prejudices
and choose to remain disunited. Many of our problems can be solved by
forming alliances on these micro levels where the people can truly make a
difference. Education of our youth should be one of our top priorities if
we are to eventually raise the Ummah from its own ashes. Islamic education
programs should be supported all across the globe by the Muslims who can afford
to give.
It is no wonder that Jerusalem is occupied by a Zionist regime when Muslims
cannot even agree on simple issues in our own communities. It is not
uncommon for one masjid in a city to have hostile relations with another masjid
in the same city. The people rarely come together because of their trivial
differences. When will we return to the peace and tolerance that al-Islam
enjoins? When will we cast aside our petty differences and bring our
resources to the table to make changes in our daily lives? When will we
stop looking to outside sources to solve our own problems? When will we be
the ones to take responsibility for the education and future of our
children? When will we make this Ummah One Ummah?
Time is running out...
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