INTERPRETATION OF THE ISLAMIC MISSION
Over the last fifty years, the social ideologies that have gained popularity are those aimed at improving material conditions and promoting political revolutions. Today, a movement is only seen as vibrant if it aligns with these goals. This influence has become so widespread that even followers of traditional schools of thought start interpreting their ideologies this way. The modern literature on Hinduism and Christianity clearly shows this trend. As a result, religion is now often viewed as a matter of worldly progress rather than preparation for the Hereafter.
If you study Islam influenced by the current atmosphere, your understanding of the Islamic mission might start to mirror what’s around you. Since you naturally have reverence for Islam because of your cultural and ethnic connections, your subconscious may want to see Islam aligned with what’s widely regarded as a high and credible level of thought—an aspect of credibility you are also likely to accept unconsciously. Afterward, as you notice that Islam includes directives for all aspects of life, that there have been struggles with those in power throughout Islamic history, and that Islam has gained political power, these elements will likely come together in your mind as a framework for understanding Islam as:
“Islam is a complete system of life, and the Prophets were sent to establish a divine government and implement this highly accurate system on earth.”
On the surface, there may appear to be nothing incorrect in this interpretation. It is certainly true that Islam has its own system of life, that the Prophet established a government, and that he implemented God’s laws on earth. However, piecing these elements together to construct a new framework is, in terms of reality, like combining bones from various animals to create a new skeleton and then claiming it is a historical creature that roamed the earth fifty million years ago.
According to this view of Islam, the purpose or “goal” of believers in this world was expressed in the following phrase at the time of Jamaat-e-Islami’s founding:
“The ultimate goal of Jamaat-e-Islami and the purpose of all its efforts is to establish the divine government in the world and attain Allah’s pleasure in the Hereafter.”
In the Constitution, this statement of purpose is further clarified as:
“This refers to establishing Allah’s Shariah-based governance, related to those aspects of human life in which Allah has granted human beings a degree of choice.”
This means the detailed law God has sent through His prophets—covering beliefs, morality, social conduct, culture, politics, and more—must be accepted. Those who refuse to do so are, in effect, rebelling against God.
“The duty of a believer is to eliminate this rebellion from the world and to end the lordship of anyone other than God over God’s earth. The mission of a believer’s life is to establish God’s divine law over humanity just as His cosmic law governs the entire universe. The ultimate aim of a believer’s efforts is to free people from the servitude of everyone except God and make them servants of God alone. Ideally, this work is to be done through advice, persuasion, encouragement, and preaching. However, those who have illegitimately taken control of God’s domain and turned His servants into their own do not usually abandon their lordship merely through advice. Therefore, believers are often compelled to engage in combat to remove obstacles that stand in the way of establishing divine governance.”
After the partition of the country, when a separate Jamaat was established in India, the leaders there made some adjustments to the wording of the statement of purpose, presenting it as follows:
“The purpose of Jamaat-e-Islami and the goal of all its efforts is to establish Deen (the religion of Allah) in the world and to attain Allah’s pleasure in the Hereafter.”
This change did not signify an alteration in the objective itself but was merely a linguistic modification. Therefore, a note was added below the revised phrase in the Constitution, stating:
“Previously, in the Jamaat’s Constitution, the term ‘divine government’ was used instead of ‘establishment of Deen.’ It was actually used in the same sense as ‘establishment of Deen.’ However, misunderstandings arose and were being created regarding the term ‘divine government.’ Therefore, it was deemed necessary to choose a term for expressing our objective that is a technical term from the Quran, comprehensively conveys all its meanings, and does not cause any misunderstandings.”
The same objective of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind is now expressed in its current constitution as follows:
“The objective of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind is the establishment of Deen, motivated solely by the desire for Allah’s pleasure and the attainment of success in the Hereafter. …This Deen encompasses both the internal and external aspects of human life, as well as all individual and collective spheres of life. From beliefs, worship, and morality to economics, social life, and politics, there is not a single domain of human life that falls outside its scope.
This Deen, while guaranteeing Allah’s pleasure and success in the Hereafter, is also the best system for solving worldly issues, providing a suitable way of life. A righteous and progressive individual and collective life is possible only through its establishment.
The establishment of this Deen means to follow it sincerely without any separation or division, wholeheartedly, and to implement it in all individual and collective aspects of human life so that the development of individuals, the construction of society, and the formation of the state are all in accordance with this Deen.”
This perspective is repeatedly expressed in various ways throughout the literature produced under this ideology. Here are a few lines from an article:
“Islam (in its general sense) is not the name of a religion, nor is a Muslim the name of a nation. In reality, Islam is a revolutionary ideology and movement that seeks to transform the entire global social order according to its own ideology and principles. A Muslim is a member of this international revolutionary group organized by Islam to implement its desired revolutionary program, and jihad is the term for the ultimate exertion of force employed in this struggle to achieve that purpose.”
“Whoever accepts this call becomes a member of the Islamic group, thus forming the international revolutionary party referred to in the Quran as ‘Hizb Allah’ (the party of Allah). Upon its formation, this party immediately begins its jihad to fulfill the purpose of its existence. Its very essence necessitates that it endeavors to dismantle non-Islamic systems of governance and, in their place, establish a balanced and moderate social order, which the Quran comprehensively refers to as the ‘kalimat Allah’ (word of Allah).”
“This is not a group of preachers and missionaries merely engaged in religious preaching; rather, it is a community of God’s enforcers. Its task is to eradicate oppression, corruption, immorality, tyranny, and illegitimate power from the world by force, to end the lordship of entities other than Allah, and to replace evil with goodness. Therefore, this party has no choice but to seize the reins of governmental power, for a corrupt social system is sustained by a corrupt government, and a righteous social system cannot be established until governance is transferred from corrupt hands to those of the righteous.” (Tafhimat, Vol. 1, “Jihad fi Sabil Allah”)
Here, I will quote another passage that explains this perspective in more detail. Under the heading “The Islamic Objective,” it is written:
“The answer given in the Quran to this question is as follows:
‘He is the one (i.e., Allah) who has sent His Messenger with guidance and the religion of truth so that He may make it prevail over all religions, even though the polytheists detest it’ (9:33).
In this verse, al-huda refers to the correct way of life in the world, covering every aspect of human life—personal conduct, family structure, social organization, economic matters, national governance, political strategies, international relations, and every aspect of human existence. Allah sent His Messenger with guidance on the proper behavior for all these areas.
The second thing the Messenger brought is the deen al-haqq (the true religion). The word deen means obedience or system of authority. When deen is used for “faith” or “religion,” it’s because a person follows a specific system of thought and action. However, in its core meaning, deen is similar to what we now call the “state.” A “state” is created when people accept the authority of a higher power and follow it, which is essentially what deen means. The “true religion” is when a person abandons servitude to others, their own desires, and all creation, and recognizes Allah alone as the supreme authority, submitting only to Him.
The Messenger’s mission was then defined as establishing this system of obedience (deen) and way of life (al-huda) over all forms of obedience. By “the entire category of religion” is meant that all the forms in which human beings, individually or collectively, obey someone in this world are different varieties within the same category of religion. A son’s obedience to parents, a wife’s to her husband, a servant’s to their master, a subordinate’s to a superior, the citizens’ obedience to the state, followers’ to leaders—these and countless others form a complete system of obedience. The purpose of the Messenger’s mission is that this entire system, with all its components, becomes subject to one primary obedience and one superior law. All obedience should fall under obedience to Allah, and it is His law alone that should regulate every form of obedience, with none existing outside its bounds.
This is the Prophet’s mission, and he is committed to fulfilling it, regardless of how much opposition he encounters from polytheists. Polytheists are those who, in their personal and communal lives, associate other forms of obedience with Allah’s. According to Allah’s natural law, all human beings follow it inevitably because they have no choice. However, within human freedom, some individuals entirely submit to non-divine powers, while others divide their lives, obeying Allah’s moral law (Shariah) in one part and following their desires or others in another. This is what it means to combine obedience to Allah with obedience to other powers.
People caught in these various forms of polytheism find it uncomfortable to dedicate their voluntary obedience solely to Allah, just as they must obey His natural laws. Out of ignorance or moral weakness, they persist in their polytheism. Yet, the Messenger’s duty remains to fulfill his mission despite resistance from such people. (Muslim aur Siyasi Kashmakash, Vol. 3, “Islam ki Rah-e-Rast aur Us Se Inhiraf ki Rahein”)
The views expressed in the above excerpts are not inherently wrong. However, when this becomes the sole focus for believers, it indeed becomes flawed. This is because the true purpose of a believer’s life is to develop a relationship with God—to become deeply attached to Him and to live life in complete devotion to Him. This is the ultimate reason why humanity was created, and it is the purpose toward which a believer should direct all their attention. The main goal of a believer’s actions in this world is to bond with God, not to establish any specific system of government.
Bringing about a social revolution or establishing a system of justice and fairness in life is truly a fundamental aspect of faith, which takes different forms depending on the circumstances. Personally, when I walk down the street and hear the sound of movies playing loudly from speakers, I wish I had the power to put an end to such frivolous noise entirely. When I read the daily newspaper and see that human villains have become leaders and filled the earth with corruption, my mind burns with anger, and I long for a way to rid the land of these wrongdoers.
When I see people trapped in the web of foolish human-made laws and crushed under a flawed economic system, it feels as if a fire sparks inside me. I wish to tear apart this web and destroy this system. When I observe that the ruling class, intoxicated with power, has become like Pharaohs and has turned national and international life into a living hell, I naturally feel the urge to imprison these criminals and freeing humanity from their tyranny.
When I see that the world has reached a point where Earth’s best resources are being wasted solely on war efforts, and politics has become just a way to cling to power by any means necessary, I feel driven to throw such rulers into the very fiery pits they have prepared for their supposed enemies and political opponents.
It’s possible that my feelings contain some extremism, but I am sure that if faith truly takes root in someone’s heart, they cannot remain indifferent to such conditions. A believer naturally feels troubled by the corruption in the world, considers ways to fix it, and strives to the best of their ability to do so. But if someone claims that this is the primary mission of the faithful—the very purpose for which all the Prophets were sent—then I would argue that such a claim is just as misguided as asserting that the moral and social decline of society has nothing to do with a Muslim and that he should not concern himself with it at all.
If you walk into a house filled with filth and garbage everywhere, then clearly, the cleanliness demanded by faith would make you very aware of this and motivate you to clean it up. But if you start to say, “The true purpose of faith is to clean houses,” then this statement would be completely absurd and deserving of rejection.
This is why, despite being a well-known issue, social reform and civilizational revolution do not stand as the core Islamic mission. The idea that Islam is the best political and social system and that implementing this system is a task given to us by God is a concept of the Islamic mission that the Quran does not support. I have not found a single verse in the Divine Book from which this idea can truly be derived. The verses typically cited in support of this will be presented in the following pages, along with a brief discussion of each.
