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Introduction
On the Islamic Movement
By "Islamic Movement", I mean that
organized, collective work, undertaken by the people, to restore Islam to the leadership
of society, and to the helm of life all walks of life.
Before being anything else, the Islamic Movement is work: persistent, industrious work,
not just words to be said, speeches and lectures to be delivered, or books and articles
are indeed required, they are merely parts of a movement, not the movement itself (Allah
the Almighty says, Work, and Allah, His Messenger and the believers will see your work}
[Surat al-Tawba: 1 05].
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The
Islamic movement is a popular work based mainly on self-motivation and personal
conviction. It is a work performed out of faith and for nothing other than the sake of
Allah, in the hope of being rewarded by Him, not by humans.
The core of this self-motivation is that unrest which a Muslim feels when the Awakening
visits him and he feels a turmoil deep inside him, as a result of the contradiction
between his faith on the one hand and the actual state of affairs of his nation on the
other. It is then that he launches himself into action, driven by his love for his
religion, his devotion to Allah, His Messenger, the Quran and the Muslim Nation, and his
feeling of his, and his people's, neglect of their duty. In so doing, he is also
stimulated by his keenness to discharge his duty, eliminate deficiencies, contribute to
the revival of the neglected faridas [enjoined duties] of enforcing the Sharia [Islamic
Law] sent down by Allah; unifying the Muslim nation around the Holy Quran; supporting
Allah's friends and fighting Allah's foes; liberating Muslim territories from all
aggression or non-Muslim control; reinstating the Islamic caliphate system to the
leadership anew as required by Sharia, and renewing the obligation to spread the call of
Islam, enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and strive in Allah's cause by deed,
by word or by heart - the latter being the weakest of beliefs - so that the word of Allah
may be exalted to the heights.
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It is by this popular work performed solely for
Allah's sake that the Islamic Movement is established. The official, or semi-official
work, such as establishing boards, higher councils, associations or unions for Islamic
affairs supervised by the ministries of awqaf [lit. endowments, used in a wider
meaning to refer to Islamic affairs] or any other government bodies, could more or less
benefit Islam and Muslims, in proportion to the intent and enthusiasm of those in charge
of it, as well as to how much they place their loyalty to their religion before their
loyalty to this earthly life that embraces them and embraces those who appoint them to
their positions.
However, this official or
semi-official work is always inadequate and deficient in many ways, as follows:
- It revolves in the orbit of the domestic
policy of the state that starts and finances it. Its very movement is dictated by that
policy, and hence it does not express pure Islam or the greater Muslim nation as much as
it expresses that particular state.
- It is not based, in most cases, on men
proven by work, seasoned by struggle and tested in the field, but on "appointed"
men who are in the favour of the financing state and therefore seek to please it out of
their ambition or out of their fear. Such men cannot, therefore, disobey the state's
orders, or ask "Why", or say "No". I am speaking of the overwhelming
majority here, as among the "official" workers there may exist some who do
better than some "popular" workers in their loyalty to Allah, their jealousy for
their religion and their endeavouring to realize this religion in a proper way.
- It often lacks the true intent to defend
Islam, and may even be aimed at a purely political gain. In most cases, this sort of work
is similar to "the Mosque of Mischief" mentioned in the Quran: its superficial
objective may be to serve worship and piety, but its hidden aim is to divide the believers
and hinder the efforts of faithful workers.
- It is, for all these reasons, under
accusation from the masses and peoples, and deprived of their sympathy and support. Even
those official "ulama" (scholars) who put themselves at the service of the
state's policy - that is, speaking up of keeping silent as required - lack the confidence
of the masses, who call them "the scholars of the authorities" or "the
agents of the police".
For all these reasons, the official or
semi-official Islamic work, so long as Muslim rule is absent, is unable to establish a
true Islamic Movement. However, given its capabilities, it can render some academic and
practical services and provide financial and moral support to the popular Islamic work and
its institutions, especially if such official or semi-official work is headed by faithful,
brave leaders.
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Besides being a popular work done solely for
Allah's sake, the Islamic Movement is an organized collective work. It is not enough for
Islam's well - being that volunteering individuals should work (separately and in scattered
areas, though their effort will be added to their balance on the Day of Judgment, for
Allah shall not waste the effort of man or woman, and everyone shall be rewarded for his
deeds according to his intention and perfection of his work. And anyone who has done an
atom's weight of good shall see it)' [Surat
Al-Zalzalah:7].
Individual work, under the contemporary circumstances of the Muslim Nation, will not be
enough for bridging over the gap and realizing the aspired hope. Collective work is a
must, and it is ordained by religion and necessitated by reality.
Religion advocates "the sense of congregating" and opposes "straying".
Allah's hand is with collective effort, and he who strays shall stray into Hell. It is
only the stray sheep that the wolf devours, and a prayer is not invalid if the worshipper
performs it separately from the congregation or stands ahead of the rank. A believer to
another believer is like one firm brickwork each part supporting the other. Cooperation in
righteousness and piety is one of the faridas of religion; and the mutual teaching of
truth and patience is one of the preconditions of saving oneself from loss in earthly life
and the Hereafter.
The sheer state of affairs makes it inexitable for a hopefully fruitful work to be
collectively done. It takes two hands to clap, and one is weak by himself, strong by his
fellows. Great achievements are only made through concerted efforts, and decisive battles
are won only through the unity of hands, as the Quran says: (Allah loves those who fight in His cause in battle
array, as if they were a solid cemented structure) [Surat al-Saff: 4]
Collective work should be organized and based on a responsible leadership, a solid base
and clear- cut perceptions that define the relationships between the leadership and the
grassroots according to fundamentals of obligatory shura [consultation] and compulsory
seeing obedience.
Islam recognizes no collective work that is not organized. Even collective prayer is based
on organization, for Allah shall not look at the row which is not straightened; and rows
are to be closed. No gap should be left in a row of worshippers for it will be filled by
Satan standing shoulder to shoulder and foot to foot. It is a unit of movement and
appearance as much as it is a unity of doctrine and direction "do not differ so that
your hearts may not differ".
An Imam is required to oversee the alignment of
the row behind him until it is straightened and closed before starting prayer, and he
advises the worshippers to "be responsive to the [guiding] hands of your
brothers", as the prayer in congregation requires a measure of flexiband
responsiveness for harmony of the rank as a whole.
Then comes the obedience to the imam, (The imam is appointed to be followed: say
"Allah Akbar" after he utters it bow when he bows; prostrate when he prostates
and listen when he recites.
Nobody is allowed to break the rank, or precede the imam in bowing or prostrating so that
he may not introduce a wrong note into this harmony and create an irregularity in such an
organized, coordinated structure. He who does that should fear that Allah will
metamorphose him into a man with a donkey's head.
However, should the imam make a mistake, it is
the right, even duty, of those behind him to rectify this mistake, whether it is the
result of impropriety or forgetfulness, involves word or deed, or happens in recital (of
the Quran) or in other fundamental parts of prayer.
Even women in the back ranks in prayer are allowed to clap their hands if the imam makes a
mistake, so as to attract his attention to the mistake.
Congregational prayer is a miniaturization of the overall Islamic congregational system
and of what the interrelation between the commander and the troops should be like: there
is neither infallible leadership nor absolute, blind obedience.
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What is the mission of the
Islamic Movement?
The Islamic Movement has come into existence to
revive Islam and reinstate it at the helm of life once again, after removing the
obstacles from its path.
The revival of Islam "is not an expression of mine: it was used by the Prophet (peace
be upon him) in the sound hadith narrated by Abu-Hurayra: (Allah shall send down a man who will revive the religion of this
Nation at the start of every hundred years) [Abu-Dawud
& Al-Hakim].
Most of those who interpreted this hadith tended
to take the word "who" to mean a specific individual who will revive the
religion. They have actually tried to name such individual from among the prominent
theologions and imams whose death fell near the end of a century of the hijra calendar,
such as Omar ibn-Abdel-Aziz (died 101 A.H.) and Al Shafe'i (died 204 A.H.) and so on.
However, they differed much on the issue of who the reviver of the third hundred years
might be.
Meanwhile, some of the hadith commentators regarded the word "who" in
this hadith as suitable to imply the plural just like it would be proper to imply
the singular, indicating that the "reviver" could well be a group and not an
individual. This is what Iban Al-Athir thought most likely in his book "Al Jam'i Lil
Usul - collection of fundamentals". Al Hafez, Al Dhahabi and others supported this
concept, too.
I have more to add to this: the reviver of Islam should not necessarily be a group in the
sense of a number of people including so and so and so, but may be a group in the sense of
a school, a movement of thought and action that works in union to revive the religion.
This is what I take to be the most likely interpretation in understanding and applying
this hadith to the century [A.H.] that has just ended and the century that has just
started. We pray to Allah to make our present days in this new century better than our
past days, and to grant us still better days in our future.
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The revival to be achieved by the Islamic
Movement should I take three directions:
The first direction would be the formation of an Islamic vanguard, capable,
through integration and cooperation, of leading the contemporary society with Islam
without isolation or leniency, and remedying the ailments of Muslims with medicines that
have been prescribed by Islam alone. This vanguard must comprise individuals whose ranks
are glued by deep-rooted faith, sound learning and close ties.
The second direction would be the formation of a Muslim public opinion
representing the broad popular base which stands behind Islam's protagonists, loving and
supporting them after having become aware of their general objectives and confident of
their faithfulness and capability, and also after having rid itself of the effects of the
mud-throwing campaigns against Islam and Islam's protagonists and movements.
The third direction would be the preparation of a world, public climate that
will accept the existence of the Muslim Nation when it understands the true aspects of the
Islamic Message and civilization, and becomes free of the evil effects left by the
fanaticism of the Medieval Ages and the lies and distortions concocted by anti-Islam
campaigns. Such public opinion would tolerate the emergence of Muslim power beside other
global powers, realizing that Muslims have a right to rule themselves according to their
own creed since they are the majority in their own countries - as called for by the
democratic principles that are so often praised and advocated - and to promote their
universal humanitarian message as one of the great ideologies of the world: an ideology
that has a past, a present and a future and lays claim to over one thousand million
adherents in this world in which we now live.
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The multitude of the Movement's fields of action, and which
is more deserving
The fields of work awaiting the Islamic
Movement in the coming phase are wide and expansive. The activist leaders and intellectual
theorists of the Movement should make a careful scientific study of these fields. Such a
study must be based on documented and confirmed statistics and data.
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This field of work is important for
forming human "cadres" and Islamic vanguards bringing up the aspired generation
of victory, whose members will understand and believe in Islam in full, including
knowledge, work, call and struggle. Members of this generation will carry the call of
Islam to their Nation first and then to the rest of the world. They will be able to do
that only after they commit themselves to Islam as a clear - cut perception in their
minds, a deep - rooted doctrine in their hearts, a line of behaviour governing all aspects
of their life, worship of Allah and dealing with other people, and a path of culture
that will improve the state of affairs of the Nation and bring it together on the Word of
Allah and lead the confused humanity to what is best and most proper.
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This kind of work would be aimed at
extricating the rule from the hands of weaklings all traitors to place it in the hands of
the powerful and honest who seek neither to be high and mighty on the land nor to corrupt
it, who, if Allah establishes them in the land, establish prayer and give alms, enjoin
what is right and forbid what is wrong.
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This work would be aimed at
remedying poverty, ignorance, disease and vice, and facing up to those suspect
institutions that make social and philanthropic work a tool for altering the Nation's
identity and weakening its ties with its creed.
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This sort of work would contribute
to the development of the community to free it from subordination and lift off its burden
of usury - based loans, as a prelude to building Islamic economic institutions.
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It would be aimed at liberating
Muslim land, fighting the forces that oppose the Islamic Call and the Muslim Nation, and
preserving the freedom of the Muslim will and the independence of the Muslim decision.
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It would be aimed at spreading
Islamic ideas and explaining the teachings of Islam in such a way that would restore their
middle - course nature and comprehensiveness and eliminate all the ambiguities and lies
that may mar their clarity. It should use all the types of media available, from
publications to audio and visual aids.
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It would be aimed at correcting the
perception of Islam in the minds of Muslims and non-Muslims alike, and setting right those
wrong concepts and deficient fatwas (legal Islamic opinion) which have proliferated among
some groups of the Islamists themselves, so as to lay down a mature, inspired
understanding of the Islamic Movement. Such understanding will be based on a legal
foundation derived from the texts and goals of Sharia, and it must be especially
established among the elite of educated and cultured Muslims who did not actually have a
chance to know Islam in a right and proper way.
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I believe that all these fields are
necessary and that none of them should be neglected or put off. What must be done is to
distribute forces and capabilities among them according to what each of them needs on the
one hand and what forces and capabilities we have on the other hand.
The Holy Quran forbade that all of the Muslims at the Prophet's time should go to the
field of jihad - and what a holy field it was! - and neglect another field that was no
less sacred than the field of jihad, and might even have been more sacred at some times
because it paved the way for it and reminded Muslims of it and warned them against
neglecting it: it is the field of learning their religion well.
In Surat Al-Tauba [Repentance], which denounced those who held back from jihad and
promised severest punishment for those who dragged their feet on the way to the
battlefield, Allah the Almighty says "Nor
should the believers all go forth together. If a contingent from every expedition remained
behind, they could devote themselves to studies in religion and admonish their people when
they return to them, so that they (may learn) to guard themselves" [122].
This is a strong call for specialization and for distribution of forces among the fields
that need them.
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The Islamic Movement should address
several matters that. have a particular significance in the next phase in the light of the
fiqh of priorities already mentioned. These matters are:
Focussing on
certain concepts that have to be clarified, generalized and deepened in the intellectual
field. This is what we call the "new figh .
- Focussing on certain social brackets to
which the Movement should spread and which the Awakening should include in the field of
Muslim call.
- Focussing on a certain qualitative standard
in the preparation and qualification of the readerships of the future in the educationa1
field, particularly where the nurturing of faith and thought are concerned.
- Focussing on the development of ideas and
practices with regard to local and world political relations, so as to break the
Movement's domestic isolation and external blockade and ensure its universality and
flexibility in the political field.
We will deal separately with each of
those four fields of work.
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