News right Now: For the Love of Islam 

Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu. Welcome to News Right Now - For the Love of Islam

On Sunday December 12, millions of Muslims gathered at the National Monument in Central Jakarta in an event dubbed the "212 Reunion".

Muslim groups rallied to express their discontent with the current administration, particularly Basuki "Ahok" Purnama, Jakarta's governor, for blasphemous insults to the Quran.

It was easy to conclude that the rally was chiefly motivated by a love for Islam. A love that the Ummah has expressed time and again from Tunisia, to Egypt, to Syria, to Turkey, to Pakistan, and beyond.

Despite overwhelming, undeniable evidence of the size and scale of the millions of protestors, the government and media tried to downplay the crowds as numbering in the tens of thousands.

What made this rally different from others was the presence of the Islamic raya flag filling the sky. Aerial photos captured images of hundreds, if not thousands of raya flags hoisted by the swarms of protestors.

The presence of the raya flag also takes significance because of a video that surfaced showing a pro-government paramilitary trooper burning the flag a few weeks ago.

Despite attempts to denigrate the raya and make it appear a relic of terrorists and extremists, the Muslims of Indonesia overwhelmingly showed where their allegiance lies.

The banner (rayah) is black, on which it is written ‘la ilaha illa Allah, Muhammad Rasul Allah‘ with white script. The evidence is that the Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم , while being the leader of the army in Khaybar, he said:

لأعطينَّ الراية غداً رجُلا يحبّ الله ورسوله ويُحبّه الله ورسوله

“I will give the Raya tomorrow to a man who loves Allah and His Messenger, and Allah and His messenger love him”
and then he gave it to ‘Ali (RA).

The flag (liwaa’) is white, on which it is written ‘la ilaha illa Allah, Muhammad Rasul Allah’ with black script. It is tied to the amir of the army or the leader of the army. It is used as a sign of his location, and it goes along with this location. The evidence to tying the flag to the amir of the army is that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم entered Makkah on the day of its conquest while raising a white flag.

The question that must be asked: has not the time come for the Muslims to raise the raya flag of the Prophet (s) that we love alongside the Islamic Khilafah State that he (s) built with his own hands?

Jazakum Allahu khairan for joining us. Wassalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu.