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Our Act - Witness
Now let us turn to our act-witness and look at the witness being given
by our actions and deeds. Here our conduct is even more scandalous than that in respect of
our witness by words. No doubt there are a few good Muslims whose lives are a true example
of Islam. But consider how the overwhelming majority of the Ummah, the society at large,
is conducting itself.
What is the witness being given by the life of a typical, ordinary
Muslim? That the persons shaped and moulded by Islam are in no way better than, or
different from, those prepared by Kufr. If anything, the former are worse than the latter:
for instance, it is more likely that a Muslim would speak a lie, that he would betray and
breach a trust placed in him, that he would oppress people and do wrong to them, that he
would abandon his promise, that he would steal and rob, that he would engage himself in
disorderly and violent conduct, that he would indulge in all sorts of indecent acts.
Indeed, in respect of all these immoral actions the level of Muslim 'performance' is no
less than that of any Kafir people.
What is the witness of our social life? Look at our life-styles, our
customs and ceremonies, our festivities, our fairs and religious gatherings, our meetings
and processions: in no aspect do we truly represent Islam. Indeed, on the contrary, our
social life is a pathetic testimony that the followers of Islam consider the un-Islamic
ways to be better and preferable than the Islamic.
Similar is the testimony of our other social institutions and
collective pursuits. When we set up educational institutions, we import everything from
Kafirs our knowledge, our educational system, our philosophy, our spirit and objective.
When we form parties and associations, we model everything on the patterns set by Kafirs
our ideals and goals, our structures and constitutions, our policies and methods. When we,
as a people, launch a struggle, our cause, our slogans and demands, our issues and
debates, our programmes and procedures, our resolutions, statements, and speeches, are all
true replicas of the practices of Kafir communities and nations.
Things have come to such a pass that even our independent states, where
they exist, have borrowed their constitutions, their codes of law, and their guiding
policies and principles from Kafirs. In some states, the Islamic law has been reduced to a
mere personal law; in some others even this personal law has been altered. An English
writer tauntingly remarks:
In view of the many charges levelled by Indians at the British
administration, it is important to realize that the British were extraordinarily slow to
introduce any innovations in the law . . . [Indeed] as far as Islam is concerned the
result of the British connexion with India has been to establish on a firmer basis the
Muslim personal and religious law . . . while all the rest of the shari'a has been
abolished . . .
On the other hand Albania and Turkey have both become secular states
[adopting European penal and civil codes, even altering Muslim penal law] . . . [Thus, it
can be said, as Lindsay says, that] 'The Muslim doctrine that legislation is not within
the competence of an earthly sovereign was never, indeed, anything more than a pious
fiction . . .'
This, then, is the witness being given by the actions of almost all
Muslims. This witness, too, goes against Islam. It is not in its favour. Whatever
lip-service we might pay to Islam, our public conduct proves that there is no aspect of
Islam that we approve of, that we do not consider its laws to be good and conducive to our
well-being.
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