The Effective Remedy That Muslims Must Follow Today

The Shaykh : I think this statement is clear, but it needs some clarification, and this is the crux of the matter. Here the answer to that important question begins. We all read a verse from the verses of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and indeed this verse has adorned the chests of some gatherings or the walls of some houses. It is His saying: Signs are placed and written in beautiful gold naskh or Farsi script, and so on, and put on the walls. Unfortunately, this verse has become a decoration for walls, while the hearts of Muslims are empty of it. We hardly feel what the objective of this verse is. Therefore, the state of the Islamic world today is one of confusion and turmoil, finding hardly any way out, even though the way out is mentioned in many verses, and this verse is among them. If we remind Muslims of this verse, I think the matter does not need much explanation or clarification; it is only a reminder, and the reminder benefits the believers. We all know, if Allah wills, that His saying (Blessed and Exalted is He), "If you support Allah," the condition for its answer is "He will support you." If you eat, if you drink, if... the answer is: you live. If you do not eat, if you do not drink, what happens? You die. Exactly the same meaning is in this verse. The concept, as the jurists say, is the concept of the opposite: if you do not support Allah, He will not support you. This is the reality of Muslims today. The clarification of this verse came in the Sunnah in many legal texts, especially in the Prophetic hadiths. "If you support Allah"—it is self-evident that this does not mean we support Him against His enemy with our armies, fleets, and material forces? No. Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is Prevailing over His affair, so He does not need anyone to support Him with material support. This is a self-evident matter. Therefore, the meaning of "If you support Allah" is: if you follow the rulings of Allah, that is your support for Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). Now, have the Muslims fulfilled this condition? Have they fulfilled this obligation? First, it is a condition for the realization of Allah's victory for the Muslims. Second, the answer is in each of you: Have the Muslims supported Allah (Mighty and Majestic)? I want to mention a word here, also by way of reminder and not by way of teaching, at least for some of the attendees. Most Muslims today have turned away from knowing or recognizing their religion, from learning the rulings of their religion. Most of them do not know Islam, and many, or most, of them, if they know something of Islam, they know it not as true Islam, but as a distorted Islam, deviating from what the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) and his Companions were upon. Therefore, the promised support from Allah, the support of Allah, is based first on knowing Islam, a correct knowledge as it came in the Qur'an and Sunnah, and second on acting upon it. Otherwise, the knowledge becomes a burden on its owner, as He said: So we need to learn Islam and to act upon Islam. What I want to remind you of, as I said earlier, is that the habit of the masses of Muslims today is to cast all the blame, all the blame, for the humiliation and degradation that has settled upon Muslims in general, upon the rulers. They cast all the blame upon their rulers who do not support their religion, and unfortunately, they do not support their religion; they do not support the humiliated Muslims from the great disbelievers, the Jews and Christians, and others. This is the established custom among Muslims today: casting all the blame upon the rulers. And yet, the ruled seem to be excluded from the blame they direct at the rulers. The truth is that this blame falls upon the entire nation, rulers and ruled alike. And not only that, but there is a group of those who blame the Muslim rulers for not implementing the rulings of their religion, and they are right in this blame. However, they have contradicted His saying: I mean, the same people who blame the rulers, when they single them out for blame, have contradicted the rulings of Islam when they take the path of changing this sad situation surrounding Muslims in a way that contradicts the way of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family). First, they declare the rulers of Muslims to be disbelievers. Second, they declare it obligatory to rebel against them. Thus, a blind, deaf, and dumb fitnah occurs among Muslims themselves, where Muslims split from one another. Some of them, and these are the ones I referred to, think that changing this vile situation afflicting Muslims is by rebelling against the rulers. Then the matter does not stop at this problem; rather, it expands and expands until the disagreement becomes among Muslims themselves, and the rulers are isolated from this disagreement. The disagreement started with the extremism of some Muslims in dealing with this painful reality, that it is necessary to fight the Muslim rulers to fix the situation. And then the matter turns into these Muslims quarreling with the other Muslims who see that dealing with the painful reality is not by rebelling against the rulers, even though many of them deserve rebellion against them because they do not rule by what Allah has revealed. But is the cure, as these people claim, to remove the humiliation that has befallen Muslims from the disbelievers by starting with judging the rulers in the lands of Islam from among the Muslims? Even if we consider some of them as "geographical Muslims," as it is said in the modern era. Here we say: "Sa'd led the camels, and Sa'd was wrapped up. That is not how you lead the camels, O Sa'd." It is certain that the position of the enemies of Islam, originally, and they are the Jews, Christians, and atheists from outside the lands of Islam, is undoubtedly more harmful than some of these rulers who do not respond to the desires of Muslims to rule them by what Allah has revealed. So what can these Muslims do, and I mean one side or party of them, those who declare the obligation of fighting the Muslim rulers? What can these people do? If rebelling against the rulers was obligatory before starting to fix our own souls, as is the cure that the Messenger (peace be upon him) started with, then these people cannot do anything at all. And reality is the greatest proof of that. Even though the cure they seek, which is to start by fighting the Muslim rulers, does not yield the expected result, because the cause, as I said earlier, is not only in the rulers, but also in the ruled. So they all must fix themselves. This fixing has another aspect that we have spoken about repeatedly and we may speak about it soon, if Allah wills. The important thing now is that all Muslims agree that their situation is one they do not envy and are not envied for, but it is one of humiliation and degradation such that they do not know Islam. So where do we start? Is the start by fighting the rulers who rule the Muslims, or is the start by fighting the disbelievers in general from all lands, or is the start by fighting the nafs that commands evil? From here the start must be made, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) started by fixing the souls of individuals of the Muslims who were called in the first call of Islam, as we mentioned at the beginning of this speech. The call started in Makkah, then moved to Madinah, then the skirmishes started between the disbelievers and Muslims, then between the Muslims and the Romans, then between the Muslims and Persia, and so on, as we said earlier. History repeats itself. So now, Muslims must support Allah to deal with this painful reality, and not by dealing with an aspect that does not yield the expected result, even if they could carry it out. What is this aspect? Fighting the rulers who rule by other than what Allah has revealed. This is first, as I said earlier. And it is necessary to pause briefly: it is not possible today to fight these rulers, because if these rulers were disbelievers like the Jews and Christians, could Muslims today fight the Jews and Christians? The answer is no. The matter is exactly as the first Muslims were in the Makkah period: they were weak, humiliated, fought, tortured, and killed. Why? Because they were weak, having no power or strength except their faith that settled in their chests due to their following the call of their Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family). This following, with patience for the harm, is what yielded the expected result that we are seeking today. So what is the path to reaching this result? The same path that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) took with his noble Companions. So today, Muslims cannot fight the disbelievers in their various misguidances. So what must they do? They must believe in Allah and His Messenger truly. But Muslims today, as the Lord of the Worlds said: Muslims today are Muslims in name, not Muslims in truth. I think you feel with me what is meant by this negation, but I remind you of His saying: That is, the transgressors, the wrongdoers. So if we take these characteristics only, and do not exceed these verses containing these characteristics to other verses that mention some attributes and characteristics not mentioned in this verse, and they all revolve around acting upon Islam, then those in whom these characteristics mentioned in these recited verses and in other verses are realized, those are the ones about whom Allah (Mighty and Majestic) said: So are we truly believers? The answer is no. So, O brothers, do not be agitated and do not be ignorant. Remember so that you know your disease, and then you know your cure. Muslims today are not truly believers, because true faith requires acting upon the truth. So we, the praying Muslims today, this characteristic: "Successful are the believers who are humble in their prayers." Are we humble in our prayers? I am not speaking of one, two, five, fifteen, one hundred, two hundred, a thousand, two thousand. I am not speaking of the Muslims who at least ask themselves: what is the solution for what has befallen Muslims? I do not mean those Muslims who are heedless and open sinners, who do not care about their Hereafter, but only care about their desires and their bellies. No, I am speaking of the praying Muslims. Have these praying Muslims been characterized by these attributes mentioned in the beginning of the Surah of the Believers? The answer is: as a group, as a nation, no. So, "You hope for salvation but have not taken its paths. Indeed, the ship does not run on the land." So it is necessary to take the causes, which are part of the completion of the legal sunnas after the cosmic sunnas, so that our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) lifts this humiliation that has settled upon us all. I mentioned these descriptions of the attributes of the believers mentioned at the beginning of this Surah, but there are in the Prophetic hadiths that we always remind our brothers of, which mention the bad state of Muslims today, and that if they remembered this bad state, it would be a shame for them to ask why this humiliation has befallen us, because they have been heedless of their contradiction of the Shari'ah of Allah. Among those hadiths is His saying (peace and blessings be upon him): I have spoken about this hadith much and very much, and on many occasions, and I am only standing here at his saying: 'Inah is a type of usurious transaction, and I do not want to enter into it specifically. Is there anyone among you who is ignorant of the dealings of Muslims with types of riba? These usurious banks are standing on their feet in every land of Islam and are recognized by all the existing systems in the lands of Islam. And I return to say: not only from the rulers, but also from the ruled, because these ruled are the ones who deal with these banks, and they are the ones who, when questioned and told, "You know that riba is forbidden, and the matter is as he (peace be upon him) said: Why, my brother, do you deal in riba?" They say to you, "What do we have to do? We need to live." So the issue has no relation to the rulers except the relation of the rulers to the ruled before the rulers. The ruled are, in the reality of their matter, deserving of the same as these rulers. And as they say, "The worm of vinegar is from it and in it." "The worm of vinegar is from it and in it." These rulers did not descend upon us from Mars, but they sprang from us and within us. So if we want the rectification of our situations, it will not be by declaring a fierce war on our rulers and forgetting ourselves, and we are part of the complete problem of the existing situation today in the Islamic world. Therefore, we advise Muslims to return to their religion and to apply what they know of their religion, and then the believers will rejoice in the victory of Allah. All the existing problems today, and some youth are enthusiastic and say, "What is to be done?" Whether we say what is the calamity that has befallen the Islamic world and the Arab world, which is the occupation of Palestine by the Jews, or we say, for example, the fighting of the Crusaders against Muslims in Eritrea, and in Somalia, and in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in... to the last of the known lands today. All these problems cannot be dealt with by emotion, but are dealt with by knowledge and action. And say, "Act." Now we stand at this point. Action for Islam today in the Islamic arena has many and very many forms, and in multiple groups and parties. And the truth is that these parties are part of the problem of the Islamic world, enlarging the problem more than some see it. Some see the problem as the occupation of Palestine by the Jews, that the problem is what we mentioned earlier, the fighting of the disbelievers against many Islamic lands and their people. No, we say the problem is greater, and it is the division of Muslims. The Muslims themselves are divided into sects and parties, contrary to the saying of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He): Now, the Islamic groups differ in the method of dealing with the problem that all Islamic groups complain of, which is the humiliation that has settled upon Muslims, and what is the way to escape from it? There are ways. The first way, and it is the best way that has no second, and it is what we always call for, is understanding Islam correctly and applying it, and educating Muslims on this pure Islam. That is the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), as we mentioned and always mention. So the Messenger of Allah started with his Companions by calling them to believe in Allah and His Messenger, teaching them the rulings of Islam, and ordering them to apply them. And when they complained to him of the oppression of the polytheists and their torture of them, he ordered them to be patient. He ordered them to be patient, and that is the Sunnah of Allah in His creation: that the truth is fought with falsehood, and that the believers are fought by the polytheists. And so on. So the first way to deal with this existing reality is beneficial knowledge and righteous action. There are other movements and calls, all of which meet in disagreement with the first and best way, which has no second, and that is: leave Islam aside for now, in terms of the obligation of understanding it and the obligation of acting upon it. The matter now is more important than this matter, which is that we gather and unite to fight the disbelievers. Glory be to Allah, how can one fight the disbelievers without weapons? Every person who has a particle of intellect knows that if he does not have material weapons, he cannot fight his armed enemy, not with material weapons, but with material weapons. So if he wants to fight this armed enemy and he is not armed, what is said to him? Fight him, fight him without arming yourself? Or arm yourself and then fight? There is no disagreement in this matter that the answer is: arm yourself and then fight. This is from the material aspect. But from the spiritual aspect, the matter is much more important than this. If we want to fight the disbelievers, we will not be able to fight the disbelievers by leaving Islam aside, because this is contrary to what Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and His Messenger ordered the believers in many verses, among them His saying: Indeed, man is in loss. We are now, without doubt, in loss. Why? Because we have not taken what Allah (Mighty and Majestic) mentioned of the exception when He said: We now say, "We believe in Allah and His Messenger," but when we call the partisan, gathered, and clustered Muslims to return to the Book and the Sunnah, they say, "Let us leave that aside for now. The more important matter is fighting the disbelievers." So we say: with weapons or without weapons?