The Idea of ​​Gradualism is the Main Obstacle to the Restoration of Islamic Rule

The speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, Mustafa Shentop, said that Ankara could withdraw from the Montreux Convention on the Status of the Straits, signed in 1936, just like it withdrew from the Istanbul Convention. (https://regnum.ru/news/polit/3227266.html)

Every time when Turkish President Erdogan and members of his party make such statements, the discussion about the so called "success of moderate Islamists" in Turkey is reviving the Ummah.

Undoubtedly, the task facing the Islamic Ummah today and every Muslim, is a return to the full implementation of the requirements of the Quran and Sunnah, so that Islam is not shackled within the walls of a mosque, not limited only to prayer and fasting, but to regulate the economy and politics. This is precisely the current political agenda of the Ummah: to establish Islamic rule in Muslim-majority countries.

Nevertheless, 100 years after the abolition of the Caliphate, Muslims did not respond to this challenge, did not abolish this greatest sin, for which every Muslim carries responsibility.

Yes, undoubtedly, help and victory from Allah and He gives it to anyone He wishes. But we also need to understand the law of life established by Islam, which is that victory comes only when Muslims follow the true path and take the actions provided for by the Sharia to solve the problem, and do not act by improvising or following their passions and desires.

Today, we can hear among Muslims the words that ‘we should wait for Mahdi, only he will solve this problem.’ Someone limited themselves only with teaching the reading of the Quran, deliberately avoiding political issues, considering them as fitnah. Someone rejoices that the unjustly called ‘servants of the two shrines’ are spreading around the world millions of copies of the Quran and books about basics of Tawheed. And someone is glad that the president of an 80 million Muslim country (Turkey), which is governed by secular laws, has hung a photo of Sultan Abdul Hamid II in his office.

However, the biggest obstacle to the restoration of the Caliphate today is the idea of ​​gradualism in implementation of Islam.

It was this idea that made Muslims began to rejoice the essentially insignificant “advances in the revival of Islam” authored by some rulers of Islamic countries, not noticing the great crimes that are being committed with this rulers’ participation.

Today we see how some Muslims consider the rulers of the Muslims to be the saviors of the Ummah, while they are smiling with its worst enemies in the same row, taking photos and selfies together.

Did the Prophet (saw) or the Sahaba (ra) stand together smiling with the enemies of the Ummah in one photo?

We rejoice at the rulers who implement an insignificant part of the laws of Islam, and the rest are taken from the laws of capitalism.

But what is the position of Islam on this issue? What does Islam say about gradual implementation of Sharia?

Dear brothers, let us truly, and not only in words, but to follow Rasul (saw), and obey the following words of Allah Almighty:

[لَقَدْ كَانَ لَكُمْ فِي رَسُولِ اللَّهِ أُسْوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ لِّمَن كَانَ يَرْجُو اللَّهَ وَالْيَوْمَ الْآخِرَ وَذَكَرَ اللَّهَ كَثِيرًا]

“The Messenger of Allah was a wonderful example for you, for those who hope in Allah and the Last Day and remember Allah very much.” [Al-Ahzab: 21].

Turning to the Seerah of the Prophet (saw), we all read how he was offered to enter into power, sharing it with the Quraysh.

The Messenger of Allah (saw) refused to give up even one single law, as was the case when asking Nusra from the tribe Amir bin Sa'sa'h. This tribe agreed to give him (saw) power in return for the implementation of one non-Islamic law, which was that after the death of the Prophet (saw) power should be inherited in their tribe. But what was the answer of the Prophet (saw)? He declined with his famous words: "Power belongs to Allah, and He gives it to whomever He wishes!"

Another example: The request for Nusra from the Banu Shayban tribe is a further confirmation that the Prophet (saw) did not agree with the conditional and partial implementation of Islam, even if it concerned only one law.

So the leaders of this tribe agreed to help the Prophet (saw), but only in establishing power over the Arab tribes, refusing to oppose the Persian Khosrow. But the Messenger of Allah (saw) refused and said:

«إِنَّهُ لَا يَقُومُ بِدِينِ اللَّهِ إِلَّا مَنْ حَاطَهُ مِنْ جَمِيعِ جَوَانِبِهِ»

“Verily, the religion of Allah is borne only by the one who embraced it from all sides.”

The responses of the Amir bin Sa’sa’ah and Banu Shayban tribes are the most eloquent confirmation that Islam requires Muslims to fully implement its laws, without any gradualism, even if it concerns one law, such as the limited implementation of Islam within certain boundaries or the transfer of power by inheritance.

But what do we hear today?

"He who does not follow gradualism is not wise, he is a literalist."

Addressing those who say this, we say: "Fear Allah, because according to your words, the Prophet (saw) was a literalist."

Did the Sahabahs say to the Prophet (saw) when he gave up limited power offering from Quraysh that “If not you, then Abu Jahl will rule over us”. Nevertheless, during every election in Turkey, we hear "If Erdogan's AKP party does not win in Turkey, then the Kemalists will come to power."

You can also hear the following statement today:

“Now, through the implementation of capitalism and democracy by the hands of the so called moderate Islamists, we will solve all economic, scientific and logistic problems of our country, and then we will completely convert the Sharia". But this is nothing more than a mirage. After all, such rulers are not playing their own game, they are playing a game written according to such rules that will surely lead to the defeat of Muslims. Otherwise, the Messenger of Allah (saw) would have been the first to begin reforming society by agreeing to a partial implementation of Islam.

O dear brothers, have we really stopped believing that the revival of the Ummah is possible only through the complete and comprehensive implementation of Islam and began to believe that the Ummah will be revived under democracy and Capitalism?

Perhaps someone will say: why do you look at the glass as half empty, and not as half full. The answer is that here we are not engaged in some kind of sophistic psychological tricks, here we are discussing Sharia law in implementing change, which every Muslim is obliged to follow.

Dear Muslims, we should not look at the relative calm in Turkey as a sign of Muslim success. The Ummah is indivisible. How long will we determine the correctness or incorrectness of the actions of certain rulers by the "gifts" that they presented to the citizens of their countries, while literally 10 kilometers from the Turkish-Syrian border, Muslims die from the bombing of Muslim enemies, and women and children, our mothers and sisters, are exhausted in rag tents from heat and cold, seeing their children die of hunger and disease in their arms?

Let's define and evaluate the rule of Erdogan, for example, by those Muslims who were extradited by the Turkish regime into the hands of the tyrant Sisi, let's assess those citizens of Russia, representatives of the Caucasian peoples who were extradited to Russia, let's assess through the eyes of the Uyghurs and Muslims of Central Asian countries who are sitting today in deportation prisons in Turkey. Are we not one Ummah?

It is for this that the West allows this partial, relative and indicative success of some countries, in particular Turkey, so that after the failure of Baathism, Nasserism, socialism and dictatorship, now it tries to deceive Muslims with the ideas of the so called moderate Islam.

And this while in Turkey itself, today, in the best traditions and precepts of the enemy of Muslims Ataturk, women with babies in their arms are being detained for a video shot on the 100th anniversary of the collapse of the Caliphate.

As far as we have grinded, our consciousness has become smaller that we rejoice at some individual Islamic symbols, like a beard, reading the Quran of so called Muslim rulers, observance of the demands of Islam by members of their families, we are glad that a portrait of Abdul Hamid II hangs in the office of such a ruler. But we do not notice, we turn away from the fact that the state ruled by Abdul Hamid II is dead. Isn't khamr sold in Turkey, aren't usurious loans issued, aren't the streets of Ankara and Istanbul full of debauchery?

Is it not from the Incirlik Air Base in Adana that NATO planes take off to kill Muslims of Sham and other Muslim countries.

Dear brothers, undoubtedly, Islamists without Islam, or rather with Islam which clearly fits into the Western model, the restriction of religion by a mosque, prayer, fasting and headscarf is the West's last hope and bulwark in the Islamic world, with which they want to keep Muslims from fully embodying Islam.

Dear brothers, until we follow the method of the Prophet (saw) in making changes, we will continue to wander in darkness, and our Ummah will be tortured before our very eyes.

The question of following the method of the Prophet (saw) in the matter of making changes, namely in the matter of restoring the Caliphate, is not just a matter of reality, but first of all it is a matter of responsibility before Allah. Will Allah be pleased that we pay attention to some personal qualities of the ruler, while we ignore the crimes that occur with his sanction at the level of the whole state, which affect millions of Muslims?

Allah Almighty says in the Qur'an:

[وَمَنْ أَعْرَضَ عَن ذِكْرِي فَإِنَّ لَهُ مَعِيشَةً ضَنكًا وَنَحْشُرُهُ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ أَعْمَى]

“And whoever turns away from My Reminder, a hard life awaits him, and on the Day of Resurrection We will resurrect him blind.” [Ta-Ha: 124].

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Fazyl Amzayev
Head of the Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in Ukraine