Become a Standard Bearer

“Islam began as something strange, and it shall return to being something strange, so give glad tidings to the strangers.”

Saheeh Hadeeth [Ibn Maajah, Kitaab al fitan 3986

Like most thinking Muslims of our time, over the last few years, I have also been thinking about the sad state that the Muslim Ummah finds itself in. Like lost sheep we are large in number but distracted, disconnected, and dispersed, prey to every passing wolf. All the power, authority, wealth and influence seems to be in the hands of those who are arrayed against us, leaving us with little choice if any, even with respect to the wealth which is apparently in our hands. It is they who dispose of it at will even though on the face of it, we are its owners. Like most people I too complained, defined our ‘problem’ and re-defined it; discussed it, debated it and agonized over it until I came to the conclusion that none of this was getting me any closer to a solution. And frankly that is all that matters.

I read the Qur’an and the Seerah of Rasoolullahﷺ and our history, both ancient and modern because history has the potential to teach us lessons. I spoke to people wiser and more learned than I am and listened carefully to what they had to say; Ulama and others in several countries. I prayed and asked for the help of Allahﷻ to understand our situation and devise a way out of it.  As I thought about these times, I couldn’t help but see many similarities between the situation today and the situation as it existed in the time of Rasoolullahﷺ and his Sahaba during the major part of his life in Makkah. They too had almost no influence, power, or wealth. They were the victims of all kinds of persecution and deprivation. They were evicted from their homes, boycotted, and embargoed, tortured and some were killed. Yet in one generation, in less than 20 years, the situation completely transformed and Muhammadﷺ and his followers became the leaders of Arabia and the known world.

The big question is, ‘HOW DID IT HAPPEN? HOW DID THEY DO IT?’

The answer is very simple – this happened simply by Muhammadﷺ and his followers living Islam. All that they did was to be Muslims. They were living models of Islam, Standard Bearers of Islam. They did not spend time in giving speeches about Islam or holding seminars and symposia about points of Fiqh. They did not write momentous treatises on the hidden aspects of this Ayât or that. They lived the Qur’an. They did not lecture others about the importance of the Sunnah. They followed the Sunnah in every single aspect of their lives. They did not debate and create nomenclature to distinguish between what is Haraam and what is Makrooh and within Makrooh what is Tanzeehi and what is Tahreemi. They did not get stuck in minor matters of religious observance, thereby creating divisions. They simply did not do anything that was displeasing to Allahﷻ and His Messengerﷺ. They did not ask which sin was big and which was small. They avoided sin because in their mind it was not the quantum or nature of the disobedience but who was being disobeyed, that was important. And that is why when Allahﷻ used the word ‘Believers’ He meant the Sahaba. So, there it was the answer to my question, ‘What should we do to help ourselves?’ The solution was clear as daylight:

‘Be Muslims as the Sahaba were Muslim.

Become Standard Bearers of Islam.’

I realized that it was necessary for us to go back to the basics and see how Rasoolullahﷺ and his Sahaba practiced Islam and do the same with the hope that Allahﷻ would then change our condition when He saw that we were ready to do His work and to give it precedence over our own desires and pursuits. It is really quite simple. We are the ones who complicate it for ourselves and then suffer. The Qur’an is quite clear on the fact that the decisions of Allahﷻ that are made with respect to our lives in this world are related to our actions. Good begets good and evil begets evil.