News Watch, Side Feature, South Asia

Once Bitten Twice Shy

On 23rd March 2021 Pakistan celebrated 81 years of the resolution passed for the creation of Pakistan. Message from President Dr. Arif Alvi for Pakistan Day. “On this Pakistan Day, we pay homage to the founding fathers of Pakistan whose services and sacrifices led to the creation of a separate homeland for the Muslims of the sub-continent.” (samaa.tv)

Comment:
23 March 1940 saw the demand made for a separate land for the 80 million Indian Muslims who have been struggling for their religious identity for some time. The Subcontinent, once ruled by the Muslims, had turned into a place where living and practising Islam became difficult for them. The English invasion wasn’t military; they had come as ‘wolves in the guise of sheep’, in the name of trade. In early 1600, a company set foot in India by the permission of Mughal Emperor Jehangir. India, under Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, comprised 27 percent of the world economy. It took more than 200 years for British to get a hold on the area and bring this elephant down. In 1857, the first major revolt took place and in 1858 Queen Victoria proclaimed taking over in the name of the Crown the governance of India from the East India Company. Meanwhile, railway tracks were being built for looting and moving of the treasures of India. In 1897, the Diamond jubilee of Queen Victoria was celebrated even though India was in the middle of a major famine. On one hand, India’s tea export to Britain reached 137 million pounds but on the other hand people of India got no benefit out of it and their situation deteriorated with time. It awakened unrest in the people and they seriously started to look for a solution, and a solution named ‘nationalism’ was introduced to them. Before that in 1920, the Khilafat movement started, and Mahatma Gandhi was a part of it. This shows that Muslims and Hindus of that area knew that they have a common enemy, until that enemy came between them and sow the seeds of hatred within them. They succeeded in it and Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs started fighting each other, and they lost their trust not only in each other but in themselves as well and they settled for whatever crumbs they were getting on whatever price they had to pay. So physically Britain left the area in 1947 but in spirit it still rules.

The purpose of this brief outline is to show the pattern of the whirlpool that we are trapped in. Resolution of 1940 for the Muslims of the Subcontinent meant to give them a land where they would be able to practice Islam. But did that happen? Of course not. What it actually gave us is a monument to worship, a holiday and God knows how much of taxpayers’ money is spent on the display of all the military force, which the authorities never intend to use for the defense of Muslims. All this treasure in the shape of brain and power is still under the use of the West. We still remain the slaves.

The mother of all losses that Muslims have faced happened on teh 3rd March 1924, when this Ummah lost its shield and its land became a party place for the trespassers. This is the date that we actually need to remember and this is the loss that we need to make up to. Our holy Prophet (saw) faced all kinds of hardships when he started working for his noble cause. It was his faith in Allah (swt), his knowledge of his actual aim and his resilience that helped him achieve his goal. We are his Ummah, and he is our role model and only by following in his footprints we can regain and retain the honour bestowed upon us by Allah Almighty. Indeed, there is a constant struggle for the Muslims because when you have something precious, you need to guard it carefully till you pass it on. Only the Khilafah (Caliphate) state will be able to serve right to the people of its Ummah. We have to collect our energies and focus on the goal of establishment of the Khilafah and demand the Muslim troops to work for the establishment of the Khilafah. If not, then we will keep commemorating the days and worshipping the monuments till we also become an outline paragraph in the history for people to wonder why they did not do the right thing. If we play our role right, then the same history will remember us as trailblazers, like the history of the Subcontinent remembers the Johar brothers. May Allah make us from the people who played some role in the reestablishment of the Khilafah.

Rasool Allah (saw) said:«لاَ يُلْدَغُ الْمُؤْمِنُ مِنْ جُحْرٍ وَاحِدٍ مَرَّتَيْنِ»“The believer does not allow to be stung twice from one (and the same) hole.”

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Ikhlaq Jehan