India at War with Islam

News:

Around 20 academics wrote a letter to the Prime Minister Modi demanding a ban on books related to political Islam at state-funded universities. There have also been other incidents of Muslim youth being arrested on suspicion of being involved with ISIS.

Comment:

There has been an accelerating hatred against Islam and Muslims in India in the past decade. Recently, this has reached new heights with a number of academics and professors writing a letter to the Prime Minister demanding a ban on books based on Political Islam. [manushi.in] The letter focuses on the ideas of Mawdudi (rah) and how his ideas have influenced the various Islamic movements which includes various Jihadi movements.

It must be clearly understood that Political Islam is not a monopoly of certain thinkers or groups; rather, Political Islam is one of the core aspects of Islam. Muslims in general have rejected the extremism of groups like ISIS, but that doesn’t mean that Muslims have abandoned some core aspects of their Deen which includes politics. It is not strange that most of the movements or groups present in the Muslim Ummah are political in nature. Politics in Islam is the way of our beloved Prophet (saw). It is the sunnah of the various Anbiya (prophets) of Bani Isra’eel as mentioned in the hadith. The Prophet (saw) said,:

‏«كَانَتْ بَنُو إِسْرَائِيلَ تَسُوسُهُمُ الأَنْبِيَاءُ، كُلَّمَا هَلَكَ نَبِيٌّ خَلَفَهُ نَبِيٌّ، وَإِنَّهُ لاَ نَبِيَّ بَعْدِي، وَسَيَكُونُ خُلَفَاءُ فَيَكْثُرُونَ‏.‏ قَالُوا فَمَا تَأْمُرُنَا قَالَ فُوا بِبَيْعَةِ الأَوَّلِ فَالأَوَّلِ، أَعْطُوهُمْ حَقَّهُمْ، فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ سَائِلُهُمْ عَمَّا اسْتَرْعَاهُم»‏

“The Israelis used to be ruled and guided by prophets: Whenever a prophet died, another would take over his place. There will be no prophet after me, but there will be Caliphs who will increase in number." The people asked, "O Allah's Messenger! What do you order us (to do)?" He said, "Obey the one who will be given the pledge of allegiance first. Fulfil their (i.e. the Caliphs) rights, for Allah will ask them about (any shortcoming) in ruling those Allah has put under their guardianship." [al-Bukhari 3455]

The current government has problems with the Qur’an and Islam itself, and not with specific thinkers or groups. It censures and criminalizes any kind of discussion related to the political aspects of Islam and how Islam provides solutions to the various contemporary problems created by the man-made capitalist framework.

Islam is the Haq (truth) revealed from the Lord of the Worlds. Islam has a rational Aqeedah built on definitive rational foundations which convinces the mind and satisfies the Fitra of man. Islam does not encourage blind and arrogant allegiance to the faith of the forefathers.

[وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمُ ٱتَّبِعُوا۟ مَآ أَنزَلَ ٱللَّهُ قَالُوا۟ بَلْ نَتَّبِعُ مَآ أَلْفَيْنَا عَلَيْهِ ءَابَآءَنَآ ۗ أَوَلَوْ كَانَ ءَابَآؤُهُمْ لَا يَعْقِلُونَ شَيْـًۭٔا وَلَا يَهْتَدُونَ]

“When it is said to them, “Follow what Allah has revealed,” they reply, “No! We ˹only˺ follow what we found our forefathers practicing.” ˹Would they still do so,˺ even if their forefathers had ˹absolutely˺ no understanding or guidance? [2:170]

Islam’s laws and teachings have established peace and justice from the day Rasoolullah (saw) founded the Islamic State in Madinah. Its just social, economic and judicial laws had spread peace among the people including the non-Muslim citizens of the Islamic State. M.K Gandhi rightly said that India would prosper when ruled by a leader like Khaleefa Umar (ra), but it should be understood that such an exemplary model shown by Umar (ra) was the outcome of the true representation of the politics mentioned in the Qur’an and the Sunnah. So it is actually the laws of the Qur’an and Sunnah that would guarantee India peace, progress, justice and prosperity.

The current Hindu extremist government fears the concept of the unity (singularity) of truth. Hate rather than debate and discussion of ideas and concepts related to Islam is the norm. The usage of Urdu language, Azaan and changing holidays to Fridays are seen as extremism and a potential rise of the Islamic State [timenownews.com]. These actions are nothing but fear-mongering and using Islam and Muslims as a scapegoat to achieve political goals. The built-in majoritarianism of Democracy and the global war on terror are catalysts for this extremist government to consolidate power.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Abdul Fattaah ibn Farooq