News & Comment

وَاعْتَصِمُواْ بِحَبْلِ اللّهِ جَمِيعًا وَلاَ تَفَرَّقُواْ

“And hold fast, all of you together, to the Rope of Allah (i.e. this Qur'an), and be not divided among yourselves”

News

Russian experts have prepared a draft of a new Syrian constitution, said the Russian president’s special representative for Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev.
He said that the draft constitution was given to the Syrian armed opposition for study and is waiting for their reaction.

On January 23 and 24, negotiations on the situation on Syria were held in Astana. As a result of the meeting, Iran, Russia and Turkey agreed to create a tripartite mechanism to observe the ceasefire in the country.

In Astana the representatives of the rebels and the Syrian government participated in the talks, it was the first time that a delegation from the Syrian opposition was formed solely of representatives of armed groups. (Source: lb.ua)

Comment

The United States, with the hands of its puppets, has been able to achieve some success in Syria. It manages to sow confusion in the ranks of the rebels, without giving them the opportunity to come together. This technique showed the best results in the storming of Aleppo. Then, the US satellite - Turkey - withdrawn from Aleppo the part of the rebel forces to take part in “Operation Euphrates Shield”. Naturally, the protection of Aleppo was weakened. This enabled VKS (Russian Space Forces) with ground support of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Hezbollah and Assad’s residual force to take control of the city.

It is noticeable that this result inspired “liberators”. If earlier the actions aimed at splitting the Muslims on the Russian-speaking space had slightly weakened, then immediately after the fall of Aleppo this turmoil intensified. And again the voices of those who divide Muslims into “right” and “sectarian” actively sounded.

Moreover, these statements did not come only from those who positioned themselves as the leader of the “traditional” Muslims, but also from those who are considered “radical” Muslims. Apparently, these “scientists” do not know anything about Islamic law of “difference in views” in understanding of the controversial Islamic texts.

However, well-informed people know that “difference in views” were at all times, from the time of the Prophet (saw). And that did not prevent the Muslims from being united Ummah. For example, Abu Bakr and Umar - may Allah be pleased with them - have different views on the rule of dividing trophies. And it’s not the only “difference in views” of the Companions. In more recent times, the great Islamic scholars had different views on many issues. Each of them had a lot of followers, who looked at each other as brothers and not as enemies.

In the period of decline, colonizing countries actively sow ethnic and mazhab (religious school) discord. This enabled them to weaken Muslims and to grab Islamic land by the hands of Muslims themselves.

A similar situation prevails now. Under the specious slogans of protecting Islam from the “sectarians”, “apostates” (murtad) and “the wicked men” (fasiq) many hotheads actually do the work of disbelievers in splitting Muslims.

It is important to understand that a different understanding of Islamic texts is legitimized in Islam. Certainly, the right opinion can be only one. But the wrong opinion is not a sin (even more - no disbelief). The evidence for this is the speech of the Messenger of Allah (saw):

 «إذا حكم الحاكم فاجتهد فأصاب فله أجران وإذا حكم فاجتهد فأخطأ فله أجر

“If a judge makes a ruling, striving to apply his reasoning (ijtihad) and he is correct, then he will have two rewards. If a judge makes a ruling, striving to apply his reasoning and he is mistaken, then he will have one reward”. This hadith is in many collections, including collections of al-Bukhari and Muslim.

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ اتَّقُواْ اللّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ وَلاَ تَمُوتُنَّ إِلاَّ وَأَنتُم مُّسْلِمُونَ * وَاعْتَصِمُواْ بِحَبْلِ اللّهِ جَمِيعًا وَلاَ تَفَرَّقُواْ وَاذْكُرُواْ نِعْمَةَ اللّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ إِذْ كُنتُمْ أَعْدَاء فَأَلَّفَ بَيْنَ قُلُوبِكُمْ فَأَصْبَحْتُم بِنِعْمَتِهِ إِخْوَانًا وَكُنتُمْ عَلَىَ شَفَا حُفْرَةٍ مِّنَ النَّارِ فَأَنقَذَكُم مِّنْهَا كَذَلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ اللّهُ لَكُمْ آيَاتِهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَهْتَدُونَ * وَلْتَكُن مِّنكُمْ أُمَّةٌ يَدْعُونَ إِلَى الْخَيْرِ وَيَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَيَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ وَأُوْلَـئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ

“O you who have believed, fear Allah as He should be feared and do not die except as Muslims [in submission to Him]! And hold firmly to the rope of Allah all together and do not become divided. And remember the favor of Allah upon you - when you were enemies and He brought your hearts together and you became, by His favor, brothers. And you were on the edge of a pit of the Fire, and He saved you from it. Thus does Allah make clear to you His verses that you may be guided. And from among you there must be a party who invite people to all that is good and enjoin the doing of all that is right and forbid the doing of all that is wrong. It is they who will attain true.” [3: 102-104]

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Viktor Nikolaev – Ukraine