The Guidance of the Prophet

Ali ibn Abi Talib (d. 661), the fourth rightly guided caliph, was succeeded by his son, Hasan ibn Ali, on whose hands people took the oath of allegiance. But the Muslims of those times had divided into two groups, one supporting Hasan, the other Muawiya. The difference between the two groups escalated to such an extent that they almost went to war with one another. At that time Hasan had an army of 40,000. Had a war been started, most of them would have been killed. But Hasan did not approve of a course of clash and confrontation. Therefore, by his own decision, he stepped down from the post of caliph, surrendering it to Muawiya. This stand taken by Hasan was disapproved of by his own Muslim people, and they started to speak out against him. One Muslim addressed him thus: “O, one who is a shame for Muslims!” Hasan said in reply: “Humiliation is better than fire.” (Al-Bidayat wan Nihaya, vol.8, pp. 18-19)

This constructive stand taken by Hasan was not liked by the common Muslims, for to them this reeked of humiliation and surrender. But the Prophet of Islam had foreseen that he would take this stand and he approved of it. According to traditions, when Hasan was young (he was the Prophet’s grandson) the Prophet had made this prediction: “This son of mine is a leader. God may reconcile two large warring groups of Muslims through him.”

This incident tells us of a very important reality of life. We learn from this that a stand which the common Muslims viewed as one of humiliation and surrender, was in the eyes of the Prophet an excellent example of the right kind of leadership. The truth is that in such matters such terms of opprobrium—humiliation and surrender— belong to the days of ignorance (prior to Islam). The Islamic way is to look upon such matters in terms of their result. According to the teachings of Islam, in controversial matters only that way is the right way which keeps one from stooping to confrontation and violence. The way which leads one to war and violence is indubitably the way of ignorance. In such matters, it is incumbent upon believers to opt for the way of avoidance rather than confrontation, even if that may, to the shallow-minded appear to be one of humiliation and surrender.

In this historic event there is a great lesson for all those Muslims who are living in the present situation in Kashmir. In present times there are many such places where Muslims are faced with similar situations. This tradition indicates the right course of action for all these Muslims. They must, without delay, abandon any ideas of community prestige, and, under the guidance of the Prophet of Islam, they must resolve that at all events they will opt for the way of peace and reconciliation, rather than that of clash and confrontation. In the words of Hasan, in such cases, the way of violence leads straight to hellfire, whereas the way of peace leads straight to Paradise.

We learn from history that in later times Hasan ibn Ali became unpopular with the Muslims. What was the reason? The reason was that, when he spoke, he kept a low profile. Those who regard one who behaves in this way as a degraded person are of a very strange mentality. The decree of both Islam and reason is that those who keep a high profile can expect only destruction in this world of God, whereas those who keep a low profile are destined for success. Those who follow such leaders as keep a low profile tread the straight path of Islam. Divine succour is destined for such people.

In the Footsteps of the Jews

Zionism in the present times is the biggest movement of the Jews. This movement, launched in 1897, is political and cultural and seeks to re-establish a Jewish national State in Palestine.

In other words, Zionism is another name for land- based politics. Today, the Jews are expending all their energy, wealth and resources towards this end. They are ready to make any kind of sacrifice to achieve their goal.

The Muslims of present times, according to the prediction made in the Hadith, are treading the same path as Jews. The activities of present- day Muslims, directly or indirectly, are an example of a land- based movement. Muslims have launched a number of movements to enable them to occupy particular lands and establish their rule over them, e.g. in Pakistan, Palestine, Kashmir, Bosnia , Chechnya, Arakan, the Philippines, Sinkiang (China), etc. Muslims all over the world are either actively taking part in this land- based politics or they theorize along the same lines, expressing their thoughts on this subject in their speeches and writings.

This is undoubtedly similar to following the path of the Jews. Such communal and political rivalries, even if they are in the name of Islam, are not Islamic. This amounts to engaging in non-Islamic politics in the name of Islam. It means carrying out non-religious activities in the name of religion. It is high time that Muslims realized that it is incumbent upon them to totally abandon such communal and political activities, and plan anew their approach in order to build a bright future for generations to come. The kind of communal politics Muslims are engaged in have not shown any positive results so far, nor is this going to show any such results in the future.

A Comprehensive Concept of Islam

There are some who present a comprehensive concept of Islam. They insist that Islam is a complete system and includes not only beliefs, worship and ethics but also a political system without the establishment of which Islam remains incomplete. This would appear to be a comprehensive concept of Islam. But, in reality, it is a purely destructive concept. It is this so-called comprehensive concept of Islam which has lead directly to the Muslim militancy of the present day.

If you believe in Islam, worship according to the Islamic way and observe the ethical principles of Islam, this all relates to your personal life. In doing so, you do not come into confrontation with anyone. But the moment your target is to establish Islamic rule over some land, political power being almost always in someone else’s possession, this immediately sets your foot on the path to confrontation. This political goal thrusts you into thinking that it is right and proper to occupy those seats of power -- which are seldom vacant -- and take the reins of power into your own possession. Such thinking naturally takes one on to a collision course, causing two groups to unnecessarily clash with one another. The Muslim militancy affecting different parts of the world today is directly the result of this so-called “complete” concept of Islam.

The truth is that Islam, in actual fact, consists of following the commands of God in letter and spirit. In so far as the enforcement of the political and legal commands of Islam in society is concerned, the prevailing circumstances must first be taken into account. If the society in question is willing to accept these commands, then through peaceful efforts these commands may be enforced -- otherwise not. The principle of Islam is: responsibility is according to one’s capacity (2:286)

Chapter 24 of the Quran states this command regarding social life:

“God has promised to those among you who believe and do good works that He will surely grant them power in the land as He granted to those who were before them; and that He will surely establish for them their religion which He has chosen for them. He will cause their state of fear to be replaced by a sense of security. Let them worship Me and associate no other with Me. Whoever still chooses to deny the truth is truly rebellious.”

This verse of the Quran clearly shows that the position of political power on this earth is that of a blessing from God rather than a desired goal. The only target of the Muslims’ activities should be to embody in themselves the qualities of faith and virtuous action; they should focus all their attention on this internal goal.

So far as political domination on the earth is concerned, this is entirely in the hands of God. According to the Quran, any decision about who has political domination on the earth is taken solely by God. It is God who bestows sovereignty on whom He wills and He takes it away from whom He pleases. (3:26)

This shows that making the establishment of a political system one’s goal is not in accordance with the teachings of the Quran. It is in fact irreligiousness in the name of religion. It is a case of deviation from Islam in the name of Islam. Such efforts can never bring divine succour, this being so, such efforts can never succeed.

One-sided Reporting

Chapter 83 of the Quran states that giving short measure is a criminal offence: “Woe to those who give short measure, who demand of other people full measure for themselves, but when they give by measurement or weight to others, they give them less.” (83:1-3)

The moral shortcoming alluded to in this verse of the Quran, does not have the limited sense of giving short measure only in dealings. It relates rather to all social matters. In present times, one destructive form of giving short measure is what is referred to as one-sided reporting.

This evil is commonplace among the Muslims. Many of the Muslim writers and speakers describe only the action taken by the non-Muslims. They totally omit to mention the action of the Muslims which was the initial cause of the retaliation by the non- Muslims.

The Muslims do not tell of how their own actions affect others. They only tell of the reaction by the other party. In such matters, they defend their case by asking, if a thief breaks into your home, what ought to be your response? This is a one-sided argument, because it labels the opposite party a ‘thief ’ without there being any genuine reason to do so. The truth is that Muslims provoke others into reaction and retaliation. First of all, such provocation has to be stopped. There is no use in weeping and crying out against others when one’s own behavior is provocative. The Prophet of Islam once made an observation on how to deal with such situations: Fitna (evil) is dormant, God’s curse is upon those who awaken it. (Al Jame As Saghir Lis Suyuti , Hadith No. 5975)

Due to the baneful result of this one-sided reporting, Muslims all over the world have come to regard themselves as the oppressed and others as the oppressors. It has made the Muslims develop a negative cast of thinking. They hold those belonging to other communities to be their enemies and so they hate them. Their lives are full of hatred rather than of love.

The evil of biased reporting is not simply that it is not factual. It lies rather in the fact that it has turned the Muslims of present times into hypocrites. It is not possible for Muslims to build their lives by separating themselves from other communities. They have to make compromises again and again to further their material interests. As such, in spite of their negative thinking based on hatred, they are compelled to establish social and economic relations with other communities. In spite of harboring hatred in their hearts, they have to extend the hand of friendship to others. This is undoubtedly living by a double standard, and another name for this double-standard is hypocrisy.

One-sided reporting, that is, describing only one aspect and hiding another, is not to be glossed over. It is indeed very harmful in that it encourages shallow thinking, to the point where the ability to differentiate between truth and falsehood is lost. The reader of such reporting comes under the influence of communal prejudice. He is no longer a realist in judging matters of moral importance. He becomes devoid of any feeling of well-wishing for others. He suffers from negative thinking. In the first stage, he voices complaints about others but, at a later stage, this develops into hatred. In the ultimate stage, he comes to regard violent activities against others as lawful. If, for our bodies, drink is the mother of evil, for our thinking faculties, the mother of evil is biased reporting. It corrupts our thoughts with negative ideas and then one evil follows another.

Pervasive Evil

Chapter 8 of the Quran states:

Beware of an affliction that will not smite exclusively those among you who have done wrong. . (8:25)

In this verse of the Quran fitna (affliction) does not mean divine fitna, but human fitna . That is, the provocative situation (fitna) which is produced on account of the unwise actions of one man or of a group. When such a situation prevails in a society, then the brunt of the resultant anarchic situation will have to be borne not only by those members who were responsible for it, but by the whole of society in general.

Let us take the example of a place of worship belonging to non- Muslims where they organize a programme in which a loudspeaker is used. Now if some Muslims disapprove of this, they approach the organizers and ask them to switch off the loudspeaker. But the organizers do not listen to them. This refusal angers the Muslims and they destroy the loudspeaker system. In this and other such cases, the story will not end there. Such news spreads like wildfire, and the whole community thus affected, reacting violently, will turn against the Muslim community. Now their violent retaliation will be directed against not only those who destroyed the loudspeaker, but also against every member of the whole community.

Here is another example to illustrate this point. Let us suppose some non-Muslims lead a procession through a locality which houses a mosque. Now a group of Muslims gather to demand that the route of the procession be changed, so that the mosque will not be dishonoured. When the non-Muslims refuse to do so, the Muslims demand that the police intervene and get the route changed. But the police fail to do so. This further angers the Muslims and they hurl stones at the police. Provoked, the police open fire to scatter the Muslims. This shooting affects both kinds of people, those who took part in throwing stones at the police, and also those who did not.

The same is the case in those places where a similar situation prevails, but on a large scale, for instance, in Kashmir, Palestine, etc. There also the Muslims first throw stones at the police or the army. Then the police or the army shoots at them or bombs are dropped on them from aeroplanes. In such cases what happens, in effect, is that even those Muslims who are not directly involved also become the targets of retaliatory violence.

The verse quoted above applies to all such cases. Therefore, protesting by referring to such cases where, in the retaliatory action of the other party, both kinds of Muslims—those involved in violence and those who were innocent-- were the object of retaliation and, as such, holding that this was against human rights, is totally wrong. This method of protest is alien to Islamic norms. It is but natural in such matters that the innocent are also killed along with the guilty.

According to the Quranic principle, in such cases those who are held guilty are those who initiated the provocation (9:13). In the light of this verse, Muslim leaders, rather than protest against retaliatory action, should be extra careful to refrain from creating any provocative situations in Muslim society. Taking such a stand is doubly harmful. One, such people may face God’s wrath, second, their condition never improves because the situation is never rectified and they remain forever in a state of humiliation.

Reaction is Un-Islamic

Many are involved in war and violence, both at the individual and the social levels. If they are told to refrain from involving themselves in such destructive activities, their answer will be that it is a natural reaction: any group faced with suppression and injustice will certainly react. It will take to using guns and bombs, and will ultimately resort to suicide bombing. They will say that if you want us to stop violent reaction, you shall have to put an end to the oppression and injustice perpetrated by the other party, otherwise our violent activities will go on. If you want to put an end to reaction, you shall first have to end action. Unilateral advice is not going to serve any purpose in this matter.

This philosophy of reaction is wholly unnatural and results from a wrong conception of what is justifiable action. The right criterion for any action is its being productive of useful results. Any action which does not produce beneficial results is fit only to be rejected.

It is an obvious fact that an action either produces a good result or it proves counterproductive for the doer. Only that practical step is right which is result-oriented. A practical step which is not result- oriented only aggravates a problematic situation. And no wise man will seek to further vitiate an already bad situation.

An emotional reaction to any action is no answer to it. The real answer to an action is first to review the state of affairs in the prevailing situation, and then result-oriented planning should be done in a positive frame of mind. Then any action that has to be taken should be started bearing in mind the principle of construction, rather than engage in confrontation. This is the right Islamic way.