One Human Death Equates that of Whole Mankind
Declares the Holy Quran
How does the Muslim Ummah Measure up to it?
ABSTRACT
“ On that account: We ordained for the Children of Israel that if any one slew a person - unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land - it would be as if he slew the whole people: and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people. Then although there came to them Our messengers with clear signs, yet, even after that, many of them continued to commit excesses in the land”.
The ayah starts with reference to the story of The Story of Habil (Abel)and Qabil (Cain), the two sons of Adam which was discussed earlier.
This story of Habil and Qabil tells the story of Israel as it unfolded. In this background, the index ayah gives some commands for the Children of Israel. In the first place it justifies human execution only on two grounds: first, as a punishment for deliberate murder of a human being and second, in retaliation of spreading corruption in land; this includes mischief, disorder and persecution in religion ie forcing or preventing religious views on or from others. Apart from these two reasons, the ayah clearly announces that murder of a single soul is equivalent to the murder of the whole humanity. Conversely saving of one life amounts to protecting all mankind. As Dr. Mohammed Asad points out in his excellent tafseer The Message of Quran, this golden and forceful principle is as valid for Muslims today as it was on the Jews centuries earlier.
The research scholar and mentor Javed Ahmed Ghamdi elaborates a very crucial principle of Law from this ayah for any government or executive authority. Capital punishment is permissible in the shari’ah only for the two reasons—first degree murder and corruption/persecution in land. Apart from these two, Capital punishment cannot be given for any other crime.
I invite the members of Ummah to pause and think and do some soul searching. Unfortunately, the vast majority of us have completely blotted out this very crucial practice of self-analysis from our minds. Worse, we think that we do. Are we Muslims not worst than our cousins, Bani Israel in our disregard and rebuff of this great Divine principle enunciated in the index ayah. We seem to justify and demand a human life without much thought at various levels and situations like apostasy, adultery etc.
Our renowned and celebrated scholars like Maulana Maudoodi, Dr. Israr Ahmed, Sayyid Qutb and Hasan al Banna of the “Muslim Brothers” have unequivocally declared that the role of Islam and duty of every Muslim is to forcefully establish the rule of Islam over the whole world. According to these scholars non-Muslims are free to follow their own religion in their private lives. But they have no right to rule over the world because they have a fraudulent system (baatil nizaam).
When I first read this view in Maulana Maudoodi’s marvelous Tafheemul Quran my immediate reaction as a young Muslim (who by the grace of God Almighty knew HIS book) was “how can that be”. It is against the fundamental and basic teaching of Islam; in fact it is a negation of them. But this Maudoodi dictum turned out to be very popular and was very enthusiastically embraced by a large segment of Muslims. This movement caused a lot of agitation in the ummah in several countries and execution of many great leaders for a long time. On the whole this crusade has lost its vigour after the demise of the outstanding leaders mentioned above.
However, an offshoot of this struggle has resulted in stark disregard of the principles mentioned in the index ayah; this is the main reason for bringing this movement in our discussion. Inspired by the message of Maulana Maudoodi certain non-state groups took up on themselves the task of completing the unfinished job and start enforcing Muslim rule across the land. The Talibaan, Al Qaeda and ISIS are in the forefront. In the process they left no stone unturned to challenge and refute this ayah. Muslims were their primary targets. Murdering was their main strategy; they relished videoing their crimes, reveled in their cruelty and boasted of their mass killings in order to terrorize their opponents.
It may be argued that these are small groups and do not represent general Muslim approach. I will agree. But what has been the response of the Ummah to the activities of these groups? Dr. Israr is on record for admiring the Taliban for their attempt at promulgation of the Islamic Shari’ah. In fact none of us is prepared to clearly and outright condemn and disown these three organizations for the utmost damage they have done to the image and message of Islam and the death, destruction and catastrophe that they have brought over large section of Muslims.
Before I conclude I would like to recount a few examples from my personal experience to support my views expressed above. I feel they are samples of what is happening across the board in Muslim societies. All the brothers that I have referred to here are practicing, intelligent well placed and well respected Muslims. First, I asked a brother at the end of a halaqua with children “what was the topic today?” “Children asked today about Talibaan” was the reply. “And what did you tell them”? Out came the reply “they are not as bad as the media makes them. After all they fully controlled the production of poppy seeds!” Never mind if they have killed 3000 men, women and children, destroyed as many girl schools as they could, forced women to stay indoors at the cost of public slogging, forced men to grow beards and massacred one hundred and forty children at gun point in a public school. Second, I could see pain on the face of a brother when he was describing the plight of Palestinians. But in my discussion on ISIS with him, he had no hurt for the state of Iraqis and Syrians (who were worst hit) but came out with this shocking statement “why blame ISIS, blame U.S.; if they had not manufactured all these weapons, ISIS could not have done all this damage”. Third, a shot in the head of a young girl defying the vicious Talibaan with her drive for female education was a very obvious sinister crime by any standards. It clearly and certainly comes within the range and orbit of the ayah under discussion. The day it happened I told about it to a brother sitting next to me at a dinner party. Listen carefully to the immediate answer from this respectable Muslim “Why do they not stop their drone attacks”.
October 26, 2019
Read ONLY, IF AND WHEN you have time and mood for:
“An Ayah of the Quran for 30 Days” -- October 2019
Choose the section you have time in the next 30 days to read this ayah:-
Prelude: Recurrent Primary Message 1st. Page
Starting Dua, a note & The Ayah 2nd. Page
A Short Version: For the Busy Bee Two minus Pages
The Main Story: Recommended Three Plus Pages
Footnotes: For the Perfectionist One Plus Pages
PRELUDE
From the Pen and Perspective of a self-styled PPK Muslim (Proud, Practicing, Knowledgeable) with a humble submission that Islam totally rejects Blind Following BUT vigorously focusses on the Limitations of Pure Human Reasoning..............and clearly and comprehensively AlLAH knows best.
In the beginning of the seventh century C.E., the folks of Mecca and Medina had a fascinatingly unique window: they had direct access to the Heavens through one of their own; as if Allah Ta'aala Subhaanahoo was with them on the grounds. They were blessed with a regular stream of Divine counseling and guidelines. Question and answer sessions were part of the program. Even individual questioner was graced by an answer. In the short Introduction to this scheme they were assured that at the end of this twenty-two year project, Divine Directions and Admonitions will continue through the agency of the PEN. The whole discourse has been preserved and archived till eternity under the guarantee of our Lord and Creator. This record in known as the Quran.
It should sound unbelievable but factually appears to be true: Many of our prevalent, widespread and important concepts and opinions about religious matters do not have a basis in the Quran and sometimes even appear to be in obvious conflict with the teachings of the Quran. It would be very educative and helpful to discuss an Ayah of the Quran once a month to see if it supports or rejects our views and actions in our daily life. I wish and hope this generates some soul searching and fruitful interactive discussion.
DUAA’
بِسمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحمٰنِ الرَّحيمِ
In the name of Allah, we praise HIM, seek HIS help and ask for HIS forgiveness. Whosoever Allah guideth none can misguide; whosoever HE allows to fall astray, none can guide him right. We bear witness that there is none worthy of worship but Allah alone and we bear witness that Mohammed, SAW is HIS slave-servant and the Seal of HIS Messengers.
Further, we recall that Allah Ta’aala has declared in HIS Book1
“He granteth wisdom to whom He pleaseth; and he to whom wisdom is granted receiveth indeed a benefit overflowing; but none will grasp the Message (or remember or receive admonition) but men of understanding (or intellect)”
and we also recollect that he has warned us about the day of judgement2
“Then on that day you shall most certainly be questioned about the boons (joy, pleasure).”
As there cannot be a greater boon or blessing or benefit than wisdom, we wonder if this should be a timely reminder to very many of us sincere and practicing Muslims who use our critical thinking to enhance the mundane for ourselves and our families but in matters religion we choose to resort to blind following -- taqleed, doctrine of classical Sunni Islamic Fiqh.
(NOTE: I have filtered out the proofs and details into the Footnotes for those who have the time and interest for them. The main text will then be of reasonable length, hopefully for the busy majority. What follows is not a sermon; I do not feel qualified to give one, anyhow. I wish, it may provide a food for thought. A caveat seems in order: If the ayah selected pertains to issues we face in our daily life with our family, friends, neighbours or peers it may affect us personally and lead to some self analysis and soul searching which in turn could be divisive and distressing. If taken in the right spirit, it can be a humble attempt towards finding the “straight path”.)
THE AYAH
Surah Al-Maida (no. 5), Ayah 32
مِنۡ اَجۡلِ ذٰ لِكَ ۛ ۚ كَتَبۡنَا عَلٰى بَنِىۡۤ اِسۡرَآءِيۡلَ اَنَّهٗ مَنۡ قَتَلَ نَفۡسًۢا بِغَيۡرِ نَفۡسٍ اَوۡ فَسَادٍ فِى الۡاَرۡضِ فَكَاَنَّمَا قَتَلَ النَّاسَ جَمِيۡعًا ؕ وَمَنۡ اَحۡيَاهَا فَكَاَنَّمَاۤ اَحۡيَا النَّاسَ جَمِيۡعًا ؕ وَلَـقَدۡ جَآءَتۡهُمۡ رُسُلُنَا بِالۡبَيِّنٰتِ- ثُمَّ اِنَّ كَثِيۡرًا مِّنۡهُمۡ بَعۡدَ ذٰ لِكَ فِى الۡاَرۡضِ لَمُسۡرِفُوۡنَ
“ On that account: We ordained for the Children of Israel that if any one slew a person - unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land - it would be as if he slew the whole people: and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people. Then although there came to them Our messengers with clear signs, yet, even after that, many of them continued to commit excesses in the land”.
A SHORT VERSION
“I am convinced about the veracity of my opinions, but I do consider it likely that they may turn out to be incorrect. Likewise, I am convinced about the incorrectness of the views different from mine, but I do concede the possibility that they may turn out to be correct.” — Imam Shafa’i
An ayah of the Quran frequently serves as the Unit of Quran. But as commonly, it needs the context before it for proper interpretation. This index ayah goes a step forward; it starts with “on that account” directing the reader to see what has been said earlier. It is the story of The Story of Habil (Abel)and Qabil (Cain), the two sons of Adam which the ayah is referring to.
Mufti Mohammed Shafi has delved on this story in his classical tafseer Ma’aariful Quran. Very briefly, …………(Please see the main story)
This story of Habil and Qabil tells the story of Israel as it unfolded. They rejected their Messengers, insulted them and even killed them. In effect they rebelled against God Almighty. When HE cancelled his favor to them and transferred it to their cousins, it threw them further into the ditch. In this background, the index ayah gives some commands for the Children of Israel. In the first place it justifies human execution only on two grounds: first, as a punishment for deliberate murder of a human being and second, in retaliation of spreading corruption in land; this includes mischief, disorder and persecution in religion ie forcing or preventing religious views on or from others. Apart from these two reasons, the ayah clearly announces that murder of a single soul is equivalent to the murder of the whole humanity. Conversely saving of one life amounts to protecting all mankind……(Please see the main story)
As Dr. Mohammed Asad points out in his excellent tafseer The Message of Quran “The expression ‘We have ordained unto the children of Israel’ does not, of course, detract from the universal validity of this moral: it refers merely to its earliest enunciation”. In other words this golden and forceful principle is as valid for Muslims today as it was on the Jews centuries earlier. …..(Please see the main story)
He (Ghamdi) further elaborates a very crucial principle of Law from this ayah for any government or executive authority. Capital punishment is permissible in the shari’ah only for the two reasons—first degree murder and corruption/persecution in land. Apart from these two, Capital punishment cannot be given for any other crime.
This grand principle entails, as pointed by Imam Amin Hasan Islahi in his extensive tafseer Tadabbur-e-Quran a number of acts and undertakings by the community. …….(Please see the main story)
This ayah is addressed directly to Bani Israel. But we have learnt that this Principle and its consequences are applicable to us Muslims also. I invite the members of Ummah to pause and think and do some soul searching. Unfortunately, the vast majority of us have completely blotted out this very crucial practice of self-analysis from our minds. Worse, we think otherwise. (Recently,…..(Please see the main story) Are we Muslims not worst than our cousins, Bani Israel in our disregard and rebuff of this great Divine principle enunciated in the index ayah. We seem to justify and demand a human life without much thought at various levels and situations e.g.: “has left our religion”, kill him; “adultery by married people”, stone them to death; …….(Please see the main story)
Our renowned and celebrated scholars like Maulana Maudoodi, Dr. Israr Ahmed, Sayyid Qutb and Hasan al Banna of the “Muslim Brothers” have unequivocally declared that the role of Islam and duty of every Muslim is to establish the rule of Islam over the whole world. According to these scholars non-Muslims are free to follow their own religion in their private lives. But they have no right to rule over the world because they have a fraudulent system (baatil nizaam). It is the privilege of Muslims to rule on the basis of their religion and to get there with force and violence. (Therefore, the goal of the Muslim Brotherhood is to ‘restore Islam’. “You all know that our main and overall mission as Muslim Brothers is to empower God’s religion on Earth, to organize our life and the lives of people on the basis of Islam, to establish the Nahda of the Ummah and its civilization on the basis of Islam, and to subjugate the people to God on Earth.”) Dr. Israr Ahmed declared in his Quran tafseer videos that it is “haram” for Muslims to accept and tolerate non-Muslim rule anywhere in the land. Except the minimum need for them and their families, he added they must use all their time, energy and money to prepare themselves for this task. (My respect for his scholarship was severely jolted when I heard this on the TV. I wonder if he does not realise the most natural reaction of the non-Muslims to his plan. Will they or should they not wipe out the Muslims while they can, if they take Dr. Israr seriously.) These scholars label the national states as “kufr” and visualize a single “khilaafat” over the whole planet. When I first read this view in Maulana Maudoodi’s marvelous Tafheemul Quran my immediate reaction as a young Muslim (who by the grace of God Almighty knew HIS book) was “how can that be”. It is against the fundamental and basic teaching of Islam; in fact is a negation of them. It is also totally against democracy, the prevailing rule and style of governance. But this Maudoodi dictum turned out to be very popular and was very enthusiastically embraced by a large segment of Muslims. And why not; it catered to one 0f the two basic drives, as enunciated by Sigmund Freud that serve to motivate all human thoughts, emotions, and behavior ; simply put, these two are sex and aggression/the urge to dominate. Hence this popularity does not reflect the love for their religion in the masses. This movement caused a lot of agitation in the ummah in several countries and execution of many great leaders for a long time. On the whole this crusade has lost its vigour after the demise of the outstanding leaders mentioned above.
However, an offshoot of this struggle has resulted in stark disregard of the principles mentioned in the index ayah; this is the main reason for bringing this movement in our discussion. Inspired by the message of Maulana Maudoodi and others certain non-state groups took up on themselves the task of completing the unfinished job and start enforcing Muslim rule across the land. The Talibaan, Al Qaeda and ISIS are in the forefront. In the process they left no stone unturned to challenge and refute this ayah. Muslims were their primary targets. Murdering was their main strategy; they relished videoing their crimes, reveled in their cruelty and boasted of their mass killings in order to terrorize their opponents. One of the most shocking of many sadistic videos shot and publicised by ISIS ……(Please see the main story)
It may be argued that these are small groups and do not represent general Muslim approach. I will agree. But what has been the response of the Ummah to the activities of these groups? How many of us were reminded of the index ayah at this time? Are we prepared to condemn these activities honestly and wholeheartedly? Dr. Israr is on record for admiring the Taliban for their attempt at promulgation of the Islamic Shari’ah. Do not Muslims in general think the same? While most of us do not have an appetite for the depraved and perverted style of beheadings, torture and mass murder, most of us, openly or tacitly elevate them as Mujaahids fighting for the supremacy of Muslims. They see in Khalifa Abubakr Baghdadi a General fighting for for our cause. The Taliban, Al Qaeeda and ISIS are thankfully seen as providing foot soldiers for the celebrated Grand Design of Muslim supremacy conceived, formulated and practiced by the great leader Maulana Maudoodi and fully supported by few of his contemporaries. Our strong sentiments against US as an anti-Muslim force has a very strong role in shaping our views. Hence none of us is prepared to clearly and outright condemn and disown these three organizations for the utmost damage they have done to the image and message of Islam and the death, destruction and catastrophe that they have brought over large section of Muslims.
Before I conclude I would like to recount a few examples from my personal experience to support my views expressed above. I feel they are samples of what is happening across the board in Muslim societies. All the brothers that I have referred to here are practicing, intelligent well placed and well respected Muslims. First, I asked a brother at the end of a halaqua with children “what was the topic today?” “Children asked today about Talibaan” was the reply. “And what did you tell them”? Out came the reply “they are not as bad as the media makes them. After all they fully controlled the production of poppy seeds!” Never mind if they have killed 3000 men, women and children, destroyed as many girl schools as they could, forced women to stay indoors at the cost of public slogging, forced men to grow beards and massacred one hundred and forty children at gun point in a public school. Second, I could see pain on the face of a brother when he was describing the plight of Palestinians. But in my discussion on ISIS with him, he had no hurt for the state of Iraqis and Syrians (who were worst hit) but came out with this shocking statement “why blame ISIS, blame US; if they had not manufactured all these weapons, ISIS could not have done all this damage”. Third, a shot in the head of a young girl defying the vicious Talibaan with her drive for female education was a very obvious sinister crime by any standards. It clearly and certainly comes within the range and orbit of the ayah under discussion. The day it happened I told about it to a brother sitting next to me at a dinner party. Listen carefully to the immediate answer from this respectable Muslim “Why do they not stop their drone attacks”. I rest my case here.
........and Allah knows best.
May Allah Ta’aala bless us with true understanding--“fahm”--of our Deen, Aameen.
THE MAIN STORY
“I am convinced about the veracity of my opinions, but I do consider it likely that they may turn out to be incorrect. Likewise, I am convinced about the incorrectness of the views different from mine, but I do concede the possibility that they may turn out to be correct.” — Imam Shafa’i
An ayah of the Quran frequently serves as the Unit of Quran. But as commonly, it needs the context before it for proper interpretation. This index ayah goes a step forward; it starts with “on that account” directing the reader to see what has been said earlier. It is the story of The Story of Habil (Abel)and Qabil (Cain), the two sons of Adam which the ayah is referring to.
Mufti Mohammed Shafi has delved on this story in his classical tafseer Ma’aariful Quran.3 Very briefly, there arose a dispute between the brothers on the selection of their marriage partners. Qabil refused to accept the official verdict. Hence they were asked to offer sacrifices to Allah; who ever’s sacrifice is accepted can have the disputed girl as his partner. They did so and that of Habil was accepted. Yet Qabil was adamant and rebellious; he went ahead and killed his brother, even though Habil had decided not to retaliate and had warned him of dire consequences in the Hereafter.
This story has a general lesson for all of us. If God Almighty favors somebody else with a blessing which you desired, accept HIS verdict gracefully without grudging the receiver; look within yourself for the reason. In other words hasad/jealousy is a total taboo for Muslims.
Also, the story brings out an important principle: the reward for your deeds and performance is subject to taqwaa. “The learned among the righteous elders (salaf) have said that this verse is a shot in the arms of those who are devoted to acts of worship and do deeds in the hope of finding the pleasure of Allah” according to Mufti Mohammed Shafi. Sayyidna Umar ibn Abdal Azizgave the following good counsel to a person in a letter he wrote to him: "I tell you to hold on to Taqwaa without which no deed is accepted; and mercy is not shown to anyone except those who observe Taqwaa and without it there is no Divine reward on anything. There are many who preach it but there are very few who practice it."
This story of Habil and Qabil tells the story of Israel as it unfolded. They rejected their Messengers, insulted them and even killed them. In effect they rebelled against God Almighty. When HE cancelled his favor to them and transferred it to their cousins, it threw them further into the ditch. In this background, the index ayah gives some commands for the Children of Israel. In the first place it justifies human execution only on two grounds: first, as a punishment for deliberate murder of a human being and second, in retaliation of spreading corruption in land; this includes mischief, disorder and persecution in religion ie forcing or preventing religious views on or from others. Apart from these two reasons, the ayah clearly announces that murder of a single soul is equivalent to the murder of the whole humanity. Conversely saving of one life amounts to protecting all mankind. It is difficult to imagine a stronger denunciation of homicide. In the final analysis this principle and perspective is critical and crucial for the survival of mankind. In this ayah Allah Ta'aala Subhaanahoo equates the life of one human being with all other lives. Also it has to be noted that God has made the perpetration of corruption on earth as ghastly as murder.
As Dr. Mohammed Asad points out in his excellent tafseer The Message of Quran “The expression ‘We have ordained unto the children of Israel’ does not, of course, detract from the universal validity of this moral: it refers merely to its earliest enunciation”. In other words this golden and forceful principle is as valid for Muslims today as it was on the Jews centuries earlier. “It is a pity that the precious words which embody God's ordinance are to be found nowhere in the Bible today. The Talmud, however, does mention this subject in the following words;……. The Talmud also mentions that in trials for murder, the Israelite judges used to address the witnesses as follows: Whoever kills one person, merits punishment as if he had slain all the men in the world.” comments Maulana Maudoodi in his remarkable tafseer “Tafheem-ul-Quran”.
The research scholar and mentor Javed Ghamdi emphasises this point further in his valuable tafseer Al - Bayan. He notes that this principle of one human death equal to that of whole mankind has always been a part of shari’ah of all the Prophets. Hence Sayyidna Nooh received the directives on this principle for his progeny in Genesis, Bible in the following words “ I will avenge the life of a man from the man and his community; whoever kills a man, his blood will be avenged from that man; because God has created man in HIS image”. He further elaborates a very crucial principle of Law from this ayah for any government or executive authority. Capital punishment is permissible in the shari’ah only for the two reasons—first degree murder and corruption/persecution in land. Apart from these two, Capital punishment cannot be given for any other crime.
This grand principle entails, as pointed by Imam Amin Hasan Islahi in his extensive tafseer Tadabbur-e-Quran a number of acts and undertakings by the community. First a single homicide should resonate in the whole community till the crime is avenged. Every soul should feel insecure till then. If law cannot be enforced and implemented, every soul is at risk. Second, the society as a whole is responsible for the search of the murderer for all of them are the virtual victims. Third, any soul cannot turn a blind eye if he sees somebody in danger as if it does not concern him. It is required of him to provide him whatever support and protection he can offer. As the ayah says, this deed will in effect will be for all the people including himself. Fourth, if anybody helps or protects the murderer in any form he will be tantamount to doing this to the killer of his father, brother or son as the crime has been committed against all of them. Fifth, one should try and and help the heirs of the victim and officials in the matter of “Qisaas”— compensation. This could be regarded as giving life to the victims. The Quran thus declares “there is life for you in Qisaas”.
Saving a life mentioned in this ayah can take many forms like rescuing somebody from fire or drowning. If a kin of a murdered person forgives the perpetrator or even if he spares his life and settles for compensation, it will be regarded as saving a life.
The outstanding scholar, Sayyid Qutb in the interpretation of this ayah in his monumental tafseer Fee Zilalil Quran makes a very controversial statement “It should be clarified here that this rule applies to people in the land of Islam, whether Muslim or not, as long as they are living under the rule and protection of the Islamic authority. As for those who are in a land hostile to Islam, neither their lives nor their properties are protected unless they have concluded a peace treaty with the land of Islam. This legislative rule should be well remembered. We should also remember that the land of Islam is that in which the rule of Islam prevails and Islamic law is implemented. The hostile land is that which does not implement Islamic law”. In the present day and age the division of the world into Dar-ul-Islam and Dar-ul-Kufr sounds very archaic and totally impractical.
After enunciating this important principle, the ayah declares that the children of Israel persisted in their conduct of committing excesses in the land despite the warning of the Messengers who were striving to lead them to the correct path. The last word of the ayah “la-musrifun” indicates their "continuously committing excesses” and has been rendered by Dr. Asad as "they go on committing” them. These excesses or crimes refer to their ruthless killing of humans.
This ayah is addressed directly to Bani Israel. But we have learnt that this Principle and its consequences are applicable to us Muslims also. I invite the members of Ummah to pause and think and do some soul searching. Unfortunately, the vast majority of us have completely blotted out this very crucial practice of self-analysis from our minds. Worse, we think otherwise. (Recently, during a discussion, a religious, bright and intelligent member of our social group shocked me by stating that introspection is a common practice among Muslims. I have migrated to US about ten years ago. We have monthly halaqua sessions. I cannot recollect any occasion of introspection in our meetings. Whenever I have tried to do this, I am abruptly cut off and the conversation is shifted to the behaviour of non-Muslims.) Are we Muslims not worst than our cousins, Bani Israel in our disregard and rebuff of this great Divine principle enunciated in the index ayah. We seem to justify and demand a human life without much thought at various levels and situations e.g.: “has left our religion”, kill him; “adultery by married people”, stone them to death; “desecrated the Holy Quran”, lynch him/her; (The tormented final hours of Farkhunda Malikzada, a 27-year-old aspiring student of Islam who was accused of burning a Quran in a Muslim shrine, shocked Afghans across the country. That is because many of her killers filmed one another beating her and posted clips of her broken body on social media. Hundreds of other men watched, holding their phones aloft to try to get a glimpse of the violence, but never making a move to intervene. Those standing by included several police officers.) “opposes blasphemy law of Pakistan”, shoot him. (Punjab governor Salman Taseer, was shot dead in January last year by one of his police bodyguards for opposing the blasphemy law. The funeral of his killer matched that of Qaid-e-Azam in numbers).
Our renowned and celebrated scholars like Maulana Maudoodi, Dr. Israr Ahmed, Sayyid Qutb and Hasan al Banna of the “Muslim Brothers” have unequivocally declared that the role of Islam and duty of every Muslim is to establish the rule of Islam over the whole world. According to these scholars non-Muslims are free to follow their own religion in their private lives. But they have no right to rule over the world because they have a fraudulent system (baatil nizaam). It is the privilege of Muslims to rule on the basis of their religion and to get there with force and violence. (Therefore, the goal of the Muslim Brotherhood is to ‘restore Islam’. “You all know that our main and overall mission as Muslim Brothers is to empower God’s religion on Earth, to organize our life and the lives of people on the basis of Islam, to establish the Nahda of the Ummah and its civilization on the basis of Islam, and to subjugate the people to God on Earth.”) Dr. Israr Ahmed declared in his Quran tafseer videos that it is “haram” for Muslims to accept and tolerate non-Muslim rule anywhere in the land. Except the minimum need for them and their families, he added they must use all their time, energy and money to prepare themselves for this task. (My respect for his scholarship was severely jolted when I heard this on the TV. I wonder if he does not realise the most natural reaction of the non-Muslims to his plan. Will they or should they not wipe out the Muslims while they can, if they take Dr. Israr seriously.) These scholars label the national states as “kufr” and visualize a single “khilaafat” over the whole planet. When I first read this view in Maulana Maudoodi’s marvelous Tafheemul Quran my immediate reaction as a young Muslim (who by the grace of God Almighty knew HIS book) was “how can that be” It is against the fundamental and basic teaching of Islam; in fact is a negation of them. It is also totally against democracy, the prevailing rule and style of governance. But this Maudoodi dictum turned out to be very popular and was very enthusiastically embraced by a large segment of Muslims. And why not; it catered to one 0f the two basic drives, as enunciated by Sigmund Freud that serve to motivate all human thoughts, emotions, and behavior ; simply put, these two are sex and aggression/the urge to dominate. Hence this popularity does not reflect the love for their religion in the masses. This movement caused a lot of agitation in the ummah in several countries and execution of many great leaders for a long time. On the whole this crusade has lost its vigour after the demise of the outstanding leaders mentioned above.
However, an offshoot of this struggle has resulted in stark disregard of the principles mentioned in the index ayah; this is the main reason for bringing this movement in our discussion. Inspired by the message of Maulana Maudoodi and others certain non-state groups took up on themselves the task of completing the unfinished job and start enforcing Muslim rule across the land. The Talibaan, Al Qaeda and ISIS are in the forefront. In the process they left no stone unturned to challenge and refute this ayah. Muslims were their primary targets. Murdering was their main strategy; they relished videoing their crimes, reveled in their cruelty and boasted of their mass killings in order to terrorize their opponents. One of the most shocking of many sadistic videos shot and publicised by ISIS in which its gunmen are seen executing their victims was at the Camp Speicher massacre on 12 June 2014 when ISIS murdered 1,700 army recruits in a former palace compound of Saddam Hussein. The period when ISIS held the most territory coincided with 35 ISIS-linked attacks in Europe and the United States, which killed or injured roughly 2,000 people. On 8 August 1998 the Taliban launched an attack on Mazar-i Sharif; of 1500 defenders only 100 survived the engagement. The ethnic cleansing that followed left an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 dead. A U.N report released on August 10 revealed that over 3,000 Afghan civilians have died in the shootings, killings, suicide bombings that the Taliban carry out with impunity in areas which they control. An average of 74 men, women and children were killed every day in Afghanistan throughout the month of August 2019, according to the BBC. A 2017 report by the PLOS Medical Journal estimated between 2,100 and 4,400 deaths and 4,200 and 10,800 abductions of Yazidi men, women and children. (All this will sound nonsense to those who prefer a state of denial. Totally ignoring the media takes you to a cave to live in.)
It may be argued that these are small groups and do not represent general Muslim approach. I will agree. But what has been the response of the Ummah to the activities of these groups? How many of us were reminded of the index ayah at this time? Are we prepared to condemn these activities honestly and wholeheartedly? Dr. Israr is on record for admiring the Taliban for their attempt at promulgation of the Islamic Shari’ah. Do not Muslims in general think the same? While most of us do not have an appetite for the depraved and perverted style of beheadings, torture and mass murder, most of us, openly or tacitly elevate them as Mujaahids fighting for the supremacy of Muslims. They see in Khalifa Abubakr Baghdadi a General fighting for for our cause. The Taliban, Al Qaeeda and ISIS are thankfully seen as providing foot soldiers for the celebrated Grand Design of Muslim supremacy conceived, formulated and practiced by the great leader Maulana Maudoodi and fully supported by few of his contemporaries. Our strong sentiments against US as an anti-Muslim force has a very strong role in shaping our views. Hence none of us is prepared to clearly and outright condemn and disown these three organizations for the utmost damage they have done to the image and message of Islam and the death, destruction and catastrophe that they have brought over large section of Muslims.
Before I conclude I would like to repeat a few examples from my personal experience to support my views expressed above. I feel they are samples of what is happening across the board in Muslim societies. All the brothers that I have referred to here are practicing, intelligent well placed and well respected Muslims.
First, I asked a brother at the end of a halaqua with children “what was the topic today?” “Children asked today about Talibaan” was the reply. “And what did you tell them”? Out came the reply “they are not as bad as the media makes them. After all they fully controlled the production of poppy seeds!” Never mind if they have killed 3000 men, women and children, destroyed as many girl schools as they could, forced women to stay indoors at the cost of public slogging, forced men to grow beards and massacred one hundred and forty children at gun point in a public school. Second, I could see pain on the face of a brother when he was describing the plight of Palestinians. But in my discussion on ISIS with him, he had no hurt for the state of Iraqis and Syrians (who were worst hit) but came out with this shocking statement “why blame ISIS, blame US; if they had not manufactured all these weapons, ISIS could not have done all this damage”. Third, a shot in the head of a young girl defying the vicious Talibaan with her drive for female education was a very obvious sinister crime by any standards. It clearly and certainly comes within
the range and orbit of the ayah under discussion. The day it happened I told about it to a brother sitting next to me at a dinner party. Listen carefully to the immediate answer from this respectable Muslim “Why do they not stop their drone attacks”. I rest my case here.
........and Allah knows best.
May Allah Ta’aala bless us with true understanding--“fahm”--of our Deen, Aameen.
Dr. Khalid Mitha
FOOTNOTES
(1) Surah 2/269
يُؤتِي الحِكمَةَ مَن يَشاءُ ۚ وَمَن يُؤتَ الحِكمَةَ فَقَد أوتِيَ خَيرًا كَثيرًا ۗ وَما يَذَّكَّرُ إِلّا أُولُو الأَلبابِ
(2) Surah 102/8
ثُمَّ لَتُسأَلُنَّ يَومَئِذٍ عَنِ النَّعيمِ
(3) The Story of Habil (Abel)and Qabil (Cain)
As for the expression, the two sons of Adam, it can be said that, for that matter, every human being, man and woman, is from the progeny of Adam and everyone can be identified as being from among the children of Adam. But, according to the judgement of the majority of authentic scholars of Tafsir, this expression means the two real sons of Sayyidna Adam, that is, Habil and Qabil. It was to relate their story that it was said: “and recite to them the story of the two sons of Adam truthfully”.Here, by adding the word: (bil-haqq : truthfully), stress has been placed on an important principle to be observed while reporting historical narratives. Great caution is mandatory in this matter. These narratives should have nothing false in them, nothing contrary to the truth, nothing dubious or deceptive, nor should there be any change, increase or decrease, of any kind, in the narration of the original event. (Ibn Kathir) . This is not the only place where the Holy Qur'an has identified this principle
The word “qurbanan”, in terms of Arabic lexical usage, refers to whatever is made the medium of nearness to someone; and in Islamic legal terminology, it means the Dhabihah or sacrifice which is offered to seek nearness to Allah Ta'ala.
When Sayyidna Adam and Hawa came to live in the world and started having children, it so happened that they had twins from every pregnancy, one of the two being a boy, while the other, a girl. That was a time when, among the children of Adam, there was no one other than brothers and sisters - and brothers and sisters cannot be married to one another. So, Allah Ta’alla Subhanahoo in terms of the need of the time, had promulgated a special provision in the religious law given to Sayyidna Adam that, as for a boy and girl born out of one pregnancy, they shall be regarded as real brothers and sisters among themselves and marriage between them shall be considered forbidden. But, for a boy born in the second pregnancy, a girl born in the first one shall not be legally taken as a real sister and marriage between them would be permissible.
But what happened was that the girl born with the first boy, Qabil, was beautiful while the girl born with the second boy, Habil, was not. When came the time of marriage, the ugly girl born with Habil fell to the lot of Qabil according to rules. This enraged Qabil. He turned hostile to Habil and started insisting that the girl born with him should be the one given in marriage to him. Sayyidna Adam, in view of the legal rule of procedure, did not accept the demand. However, to remove the division between Habil and Qabil, he proposed that they should both offer their respective sacrifice for Allah. Whoever, has his sacrifice accepted will be the one to have that girl. The reason is that sayyidna Adam was certain that the sacrifice to be accepted will be the sacrifice of the one who has the right to marry her, that is, the sacrifice of Habil.
In those days, an open sign of a sacrifice being accepted was that a fire would come from the sky and eat up the sacrifice; and the sacrifice which was not eaten up by the fire was the sign of its remaining
unacceptable.
Now the situation was that Habil was the owner of a flock of sheep and goats. He offered the sacrifice of a good spring lamb. Qabil was a farmer. He offered some grains as his sacrifice. As customary with them, a fire did come from the sky and ate up the sacrifice offered by Habil - and the sacrifice offered by Qabil remained lying where it was, untouched. Thereupon, hit by failure and disgrace, Qabil was further
enraged. Unable to restrain it, he told his brother openly: I will kill you.
Habil did not respond to his angry remark with counter anger on the spot. He rather said something which was peaceful and principled. It even had an element of sympathetic concern for him: Allah accepts only from the God-fearing, that is, if you had been God-fearing, practicing Taqwaa and piety, your sacrifice too would have been accepted. Since you did not do so, the sacrifice was not accepted. Why blame me for it?
