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'JIHAD'
Brethren-in-Islam !
I have repeatedly reffered to this point in my previous lectures that Salah,
fasting, Hajj and Zakat, which Allah has made obligatory for you and made
them pillars of Islam are not like the 'Ibadaat of other religions comprising
such rituals as pooja pat, nazr-o-niaz and jatra
etc., that you just perform them and have Allah pleased with you. The truth of the matter
is that these functions were made obligatory to prepare you for a big purpose and to train
you for a great task. Now that I have enlightened you in detail about this training and
the mode of its preparation, the time has come to tell you the purpose for which all this
training is required.
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Briefly speaking, it would be enough to state that the real objective
of Islam is to remove the lordship of man over man and to establish the kingdom of God on
Earth. To stake one's life and everything else to achieve this purpose is called Jihad'
while Salah, fasting, Hajj and Zakat are all meant as a preparation for this task. But as
you have since long forgotten this objective as well as the task entrusted to you, and
because all 'Ibadaat have been turned into mere Tasawwuf, the meaning I have tried to
convey in one small sentence will be regarded by you as an enigma. Therefore I shall
present before you an elucidation of this objective.
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The root of all the evils you find in the world lies in the bad
character of the government. Power and wealth rest in the hand of the government. Laws are
framed by the government. All the authority of administration is exercised by the
government. The force of Police and Army is in the hands of the government. Therefore
whatever evils there are in the life of the people, are either spread by the government
itself or with its help, because the power required to make anything prevail rests with
the government. As an example, you notice that adultery is openly indulged in and is
carried on publicly in brothels. What is the reason ? The reason is nothing else except
that adultery is not a crime in the eyes of those who hold governmental power. They are
themselves used to it and allow others to do it. Otherwise if they wanted to stop it, this
evil could not be carried on with such impunity. You notice that usury is rampant and the
rich are sucking the blood of the poor. Why is it so? This is just because the government
itself takes usury and helps those who take it. Its courts pass decrees in favour of
usurers and it is with its support that big money-lending houses and banks are
flourishing. You notice that indecency and immorality are increasing in the people. Why is
it so ? This is merely because the government has made arrangements to impart this very
king of education and training to the people and it appreciates these models of morality
and humanity which you witness. If you want to produce other types of human beings through
a different kind of education and training, wherefrom will you get the resources ? And
even if you produce a few of a good type, where will they get the jobs ? All the sources
of livelihood and employment are in the hands of the wrong type of government. You notice
that blood shedding is going on extensively in the world. Human knowledge is being used
for destruction. The fruits of man's labour are being put to fire, and precious lives are
being destroyed with greater callousness than are pieces of clay done away with. Why is it
so ? This is just because the most wicked and mischievous from among the children of Adam
are holding the reins of authority and leadership of the nations of the world. Since power
is in their hands, the world is going towards the direction they want to take it. Whatever
purpose they have prescribed for the use of knowledge, wealth, labour and life, everyone
of them is being utilized for those purposes. You notice that oppression is being
perpetrated everywhere in the world. There is no justice anywhere for the weak. The life
of the poor man is difficult. Courts have become shops of traders wherefrom justice is
bought in return for money. People are subjected to exorbitant taxes which are being
wasted on high salaries of officers, on big buildings, on purchase of armaments and other
extravagant expenditures. Money-lenders, zamindars, Rajas and Nawabs, title-holders and
title-seeker dignitaries, gaddi-occupying Pirs and Mahants, cinema-proprietors,
wine-dealers, publishers of obscene books and magazines, owners of gambling dens and many
such people are ruining the life, wealth, honour, morality and everything of God's
creation and there is nobody to check them. Why is all this happening ? Simply because the
government is out of gear. The hands that hold power are bad. They themselves commit
oppression and also side with oppressors. And whatever oppression is being perpetrated is
due to the face that they want it to be done or are at least tolerant of it. You must have
understood from these examples that the ignoble character of a government is the root of
all evils. The pollution of people's thoughts, the degeneration of morals, the diversion
of human capacities and capabilities into wrong channels, the prevalence of wrong concepts
of business and dealings, bad methods of living, the prevalence of oppression and misdeeds
and destruction of God's creation, all these result from one thing : the keys of authority
and power being in wrong hands. It is obvious that when power will rest in the hands of
wrong people and when the resources of livelihood will be under their control, then they
will not only themselves spread distortions but every type of malformation will also
prevail with their help and support, and as long as power is in their hands, no reform of
anything will take place.
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Having grasped this point, it will be easy for you to understand that
in order to effect reforms among the people and to bring them on the path of well-being
and righteousness after rescuing them from the path of destruction, there is no other
remedy except to set right the mutilated shape of government. A man of ordinary sense can
understand this point that where people are quite free to commit adultery, no amount of
sermons can put a stop to it. But if after getting hold the power of government adultery
is stopped by force, people will themselves give up this illicit course and take to the
licit one. It will be impossible to succeed if you want to stop by means of sermons the
evils of drinking, gambling, usury, bribery, obscene shows, indecent dress, unethical
education, and such other things. Of course, with the force of government these evils can
be exterminated. It will in no way be possible through advice and preaching to make those
people give up their booties who plunder God's creation and ruin their morals. Of course
if you take power in your hand and end their mischief by force, then all these evils can
be stopped. If you want that the labour, wealth, intelligence and ability of God's
creation are rescued from being wasted in wrong channels and are utilized in the right
directions, if you wish to see oppression rooted out and the justice prevail, if you
desire that there be no mischief on the earth, that man should neither suck nor shed the
blood of man, that the lot of depressed and fallen human beings be ameliorated and all
human beings be granted equal opportunities of having honour, peace, prosperity and
progress, then this task cannot be achieved by mere preaching and exhortation. Of course,
if you have the power of government in your hand, all this is quite possible. So this is
an obvious matter requiring no great thinking, that no scheme of reform for the people can
be implemented without acquiring control of the government machinery. Whoever really wants
to root out mischief and chaos from God's earth and is genuinely anxious to ameliorate the
condition of God's creation, it is useless for him to work as a mere preacher. He should
stand up to finish the government run on wrong principles, snatch power from wrongdoers
and establish a government based on correct principles and following a proper system.
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After grasping this point, go a step further. You have come to know
that the cause of the evils which spread among God's servants is a bad government and that
it is necessary for reforming it to set right the root-cause. But the question now arises
as to what is the basic cause of the badness of the government itself; where is the root
of this evil; and what basic reform should be effected in it in order to wipe out the
evils mentioned above? The answer to this question is that the lordship of man is over man
is the root-cause and there is no other method of reform except that there should be
sovereignty of God over man. Do not be surprised at hearing such a brief answer to such a
big question. You may do any amount of research work to probe into this question but you
will get the same answer as I have given you. Just ponder whether the earth you live upon
has been made by God or by some other being ? The human beings who inhabit this earth have
been created by God or by somebody else ? All these countless necessities of life, on
which depends the sustenance of man have been provided by God or by somebody else ? If the
answer to these questions is only this that the earth, the human beings and all these
materials have been created by God alone, then it means that the land belongs to God, the
wealth belongs to God and the people also belong to God, the wealth belongs to God and the
people also belong to God. When this is the situation, how can anybody become their
claimant so as to run his writ in the land of God ? How can it be considered correct to
govern God's subjects by any other law except that of God or by a law made by the subjects
themselves ? How can your intellect accept the position that the subjects themselves ? How
can your intellect accept the position that the land is owned by one being and the writ
runs there of another being, that a property belongs to one person and some other person
becomes its owner, that the subjects belong to one authority and some other authority
rules over them ? Such a happening is clearly against justice. And because this is against
justice, wherever and whenever such a situation is found, the result is always bad. Those
persons who get power to make laws and run their writ bound to commit blunders due to
ignorance, while some of them deliberately perpetrate oppression and injustice in order to
satisfy their corporeal urges. The reason is that firstly they do not possess enough
knowledge to frame correct laws and rules to conduct human affairs, and, far more
dangerous than this, is the fact that, being unmindful of the fear of God and of
accountability to Him, they become reckless and unbridled. It is quite easy to understand
that after gaining authority and power, what else will a man become except an unbridled
individual who has no fear of God, who has no thought of being accountable to anybody, and
who considers in his own way that there is no one above him to question what he does. Do
you think that such a person will stick to truth and justice when he holds in his heads
the key to providing food to the people, when he controls the life and property of the
masses, when lakhs of heads bow to his command ? Can you expect him to prove a trustee of
public treasury ? Can you hope that he will abstain from violating people's rights, from
taking illicit money and from subjugating God's creation in accordance with his own whims
and desires ? Do you regard it possible that such a person will himself follow the right
path and make others to walk on that path ? Never, Never ! Such a happening is irrational.
The experience of thousands of years testifies to the contrary. You are today witnessing
with your own eyes that to what extent those who feel no fear of God and are heedless of
accountability in the Hereafter, have become oppressive, betrayers of trust and evil-doers
after they have acquired power.
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Therefore the reform needed in the very basis of the government is that
there should not be lordship of man over man but that of God over man. Those who run the
government must not become supreme sovereigns but, recognising God as their Sovereign,
they must work as his deputy and trustee and must fulfil their responsibilities with the
consciousness that ultimately they have to submit an account of their trust to that
Monarch Who is the Knower of the seen and unseen. The law should be based on the guidance
of that God Who has knowledge of all realities and is the fountainhead of wisdom. Nobody
should have the power to change this law or to amend it or to cancel it so that it may not
be distorted due to the infusion of human ignorance, selfishness and improper desires.
This is that basic reform that Islam wants to introduce. Islam demands from those who
accept God as their sovereign (not imaginary but real sovereign) and affirm faith in the
law sent by Him through His Prophet (peace be upon him), that they should gird up their
points to enforce their Monarch's laws in His land and break the power of the rebels among
His subjects who have become supreme sovereigns, and rescue Allah's subjects from becoming
subjects of others. In the eyes of Islam it is certainly not enough for you to believe God
as God and His law as true law. Simultaneous with your faith in these two verities, the
duty devolves on you that wherever you are, in whichever country you live, you must get up
there for the reform of God's creation, try to transform the wrong principles of
government into correct principles, snatch away the power of legislation and lordship from
those who do not fear God and are unbridled. And then taking over the leadership and
superintendence of God's servants, conduct the affairs of the government in accordance
with God's laws and with belief in their responsibility and accountability in the
Hereafter as also in God being the Knower of the unseen. The name of this striving is
Jihad.
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But everyone knows what an awful thing is lordship. The very idea of
acquiring it arouses in a man's heart a tempest of greed. The corporeal urges induce that
if the treasures of the earth and the necks of God's creation come into our grasp, we
shall rule like a god to our heart's content. It is not so difficult to take possession of
the powers of Government as it is difficult to protect oneself from becoming a god after
acquiring power, and work as a servant of God. Then what benefit is there if after
removing one Pharaoh, you yourself become a Pharaoh ? Therefore, before calling upon you
to undergo his severe trial, Islam considers it necessary to prepare you for it. You can
never have the right to rise with claim to government and fight with the world till such
time as you cleanse your heart of selfishness and sensualism, until you develop in
yourself such purity of thought that your fight is not meant for personal and national
interests but solely for the pleasure of God and for the reformation of God's creation,
and that until this capability gets stabilized in you after gaining authority, you will
not follow your own desires but will be firm in following the law of God. The mere fact
that you have entered Islam by reciting the Kalima does not at all entitle you that Islam
will give you the order to attack God's creation and then, in the name of God and His
messenger, you do all those evil acts which the oppressors and rebels of God perpetrate.
Before you are ordered to undertake such a tremendous responsibility, Islam considers it
necessary to develop in you strength enough to be able to bear this burden.
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These Salah, fasting, Zakat and Hajj are in reality meant for this very
preparation and training. Just as the countries of the world first impart special training
to their men for the army, police and civil service and then take work from them, in the
same way the Deen of Allah (Islam) also first gives training in this manner to all those
men who get themselves recruited in it for service. Then it wants to take work from them
for Jihad and Divine government. The difference, however, is that for the work the
governments of the world take from their men no qualities of moral excellence, piety and
fear of God are required. Therefore, they just try to use these men as routine workers
though they may be adulterers, drunkards, dishonest and wicked to any extent. But since
the work to be taken from its men by Allah's Deen is wholly and solely of a moral
character, it considers it much more important than the routine work to make its men
God-fearing and virtuous. In fact, it aims at developing so much strength in them that
when they rise with the claim of establishing the caliphate of God on earth, they must
prove true to their claim. If they fight, the aim should not be to acquire for themselves
wealth, property and land but it must be proved by their deeds that their fight is purely
for Allah's pleasure and for the benefit and well-being of His creation. If they are
victorious they must not become proud and headstrong. On the other hand, their heads
should be bowed before God. If they become rulers, they should not enslave the people. In
fact, by becoming themselves God's slaves they should not allow others to be slaves of
anyone except God. If they take possession of earth's treasures, they should not fill
their own pockets or the pockets of their kinsmen or community people but should
judiciously distribute the God-given bounties among all His slaves, and, like a truthful
trustee, should work with the consciousness that an eye is watching them in all situations
and that there is someone above to whom they have to render account of every single pie.
There is no other method possible at all for this training except these 'Ibadaat. And when
Islam prepares its men in this manner, then it tells them : " Now you are the most
pious slaves of God on the surface of earth. So go ahead and fight, and remove the rebels
of God from the government and take over the powers of caliphate." " Ye are the
best community that has been raised up for the guidance and reformation of mankind. Ye
enjoin righteousness and forbid evil; and ye believe in Allah." (Al-Qur'an
3:110)
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You can imagine in what excellent condition God's creation will be
where the army, police, judiciary, tehsildars, tax-collectors and all other government
functionaries comprise such officers and personnel who are all God-conscious and mindful
of being answerable to him in the Hereafter, where all the rules and regulations of
government are formulated on the basis of the guidance vouchsafed by Allah, in which there
is not the slightest possibility of injustice and ignorance, and where a timely
rectification is done of every evil and evil act and the government is constantly ready to
promote virtue and piety with its power and material resources. Then if you reflect a
little you will easily understand this point that when this type of government after
functioning for some time will set right the detestable habits of the people; when it will
bar all avenues of illicit earning, lewdness, oppression, indecency and immorality; when
after giving a decent burial to the wrong type of education and training, it will reform
the ideas of the people through the wholesome system of education and training; and when
under its aegis people will get a chance of leading their lives in clean and chaste
atmosphere of justice and fairness, peace and tranquility, good character and pleasing
manners; then those eyes, which had turned blind by suffering for a long time under the
supremacy of people who are vicious and heedless of God, will be gradually enabled to
perceive and appreciate the Truth. Those hearts which are rusted because of the
immoralities stretching over centuries would cast off this rust and become clear like a
mirror quite fit to have the glimpse of Truth and then radiate it to others. At that time
it will not at all be difficult for the people to understand this simple and plain fact
that in reality Allah alone is their God and that no one else is entitled to lordship over
them, and that in reality that Prophet (peace be on him) was truthful through whom the
truthful laws were vouchsafed to humanity. The point which looks extremely difficult today
to instill in the minds of the people will automatically penetrate therein. The point which
cannot be explained today through speeches and books will be understood by them
conveniently as if there was never any complication in it. For those who will see the
difference with their own eyes as to what happens when the affairs of the world are run by
man-made laws and as to what is the position when these very affairs are conducted
according to the Divine system it will be easy to affirm faith, and difficult to reject
it, in the oneness of God and truthfulness of the Prophet (peace be on him). This will be
just like making it easy to pick flowers and difficult to pluck thorns after feeling the
difference between flower and thorn. At the time it will require great obstinacy to reject
the truth of Islam and stick to Kufr and atheism, and hardly five or ten persons in a
thousand will be found who will exhibit unusual obstinacy. Brethren ! Now I hope you have
thoroughly understood for what purpose are meant these Salah, fasting, Hajj and
Zakat. You
have been thinking till now, and for a long period you have been involved in the
misunderstanding, that these 'Ibadaat are merely a kind of Puja pat. It was not at all
explained to you that these are preparations for a big service. For this very reason you
have been carrying on these rites without any purpose before you, and the idea never
occurred to you to get ready for the work for which 'Ibadaat were really prescribed. But
now I tell you that all the 'Ibadaat of that person are meaningless in whose heart there
is no intent of Jihad and who does not keep in view this purpose of Jihad. If you imagine
that by these meaningless 'Ibadaat you can win the favour of God, then on going before Him
you will yourself see how much they have brought you nearer to Him.
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