Political Concepts

The Time Is Now…

The world has witnessed an eruption of unparalled magnitude in the Muslim world over the past two weeks. Muslims the world over from Pakistan, to Tunisia, to Egypt, Yemen, Palestine, Jordan and even Albania have showed their utter mistrust and disapproval of the tyrant rulers imposed upon them. The demonstrators have shown great courage inspired by the Muslims of Tunisia. These demonstrations have erupted from the frustrated hearts of the Ummah and are a sincere display of the Islamic sentiment. Indeed, the videos from Cairo are riveting, with masses of Muslims flowing from the masajid after Friday prayer and overwhelming security forces. As a clear sign of the goodness of the Ummah, the world is witnessing the riot police allowing the Muslims to perform the Isha prayers in the streets; an indication that the very security forces that repress the Ummah are the same ones who will protect and defend it when its Islamic sentiment is evoked.

A sign of the the tyrant rulers in the Muslim world scrambling for legitimacy can be seen in Palestine. The secret documents and meeting notes gushing forth clearly illustrate how Western Nations are using the PLO to surrender the majority of Palestine. Everything in those documents emphasizes that the PLO was established to legitimize the recognition of the Israel and to surrender the majority of Palestine. Furthermore, it punctuates the reality that the Palestinian Authority’s goal is to protect the state of Israel while focusing on crushing the Islamic sentiments of the Muslims of Palestine. As if that weren’t enough, the Arab dictators fragile alliances are crumbling under the weight of their own words, as revealed by these recently released documents. The mis-trust and betrayal for each other is now in the open.

In Pakistan, the very lawyers who protested the detainment of Chief Justice Chaudry in 2007 by President Pervez Musharraf, are the very ones supporting Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, the admitted killer of Salman Taseer, the former governor of Punjab province. Their support is noteworthy because it indicates the Islamic sentiment across all segments of Pakistani society, from the underclasses to the young and educated class. The recent shooting by a US diplomat of two Pakistanis was the most recent flashpoint in the continued outrage Muslims have against the US presence in the Af-Pak region.

Clearly, what is happening in Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Yemen and Pakistan shows the desire that the Muslim Ummah has for change. The Ummah has adopted the numerous injunctions in the Quran and Sunnah to take their rulers to account and hold them to task for their transgressions:

كُنتُمْ خَيْرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ تَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَتَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ وَتُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللّهِ

“You are the best nation produced for mankind. You enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and believe in Allah” (Quran 3:110)

The Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم said: “By Him in whose hand is my soul, you must enjoin the Ma’aruf and forbid the Munkar, otherwise Allah will be about to send His punishment upon you. And then if you pray to Him (to ask Him), he would not answer you.”

The Messenger of Allah also صلى الله عليه وسلم said: “The master of martyrs is Hamza bin Abdul-Muttalib and a man who stood to an oppressor ruler where he ordered him and forbade him so he (the ruler) killed him.”

In fact, the Muslims have been taking their rulers to task since Abu Bakr became Khalifah to this very day, but what is new is that the Muslims have openly dared to call for change against their rulers. Acting upon their Islamic convictions the choke hold over the people has been loosened and they have gained confidence. These Western backed tyrants should take heed from the the anger of the Muslim Ummah, for she demands their removal and the Kufr system that produces their oppression. The issue is not to remove the individual tyrants like Ben Ali, Hosni Mubarak, King Abdullah, Asif Ali Zardari or any of the other Muslim rulers while the very system that they govern remains alive and well. It is rather the man made systems that they govern; the very system that produces such tyrants. For the past 90 years, the Ummah has tasted the bitter fruits of nationalism, communism, democracy and dictatorship. Now it yearns for the sweetness of Islam. The current protests should serve as the seeds to uproot the unjust man made systems and pave the way for the establishment of the rule of Allah, “the guided Khilafah” in its place.

 

Hizb ut-Tahrir America