Hajj and Politics (Part I) - Introduction

Bismillahi Al-Rahman Al-Raheem

INTRODUCTION

Rasool Allah (saw) said: "The knots of Islam will be untied one after another. The first of these knots (to be untied) will be the Ruling (by what Allah (swt) had revealed), and the last will be the salah" (Collected by Imam Ahmed in his Musnad)

Accordingly, the 'knots' of Islam will be dismantled one after another. The first occurred at the beginning of the last century at the hands of Mustafa Kemal, and the British and French colonialists which resulted in the destruction of the entity that executed the entire rules and laws from Islam i.e. the Caliphate. The disappearance of such an entity meant the termination of the comprehensive implementation of the Ruling System of Islam. What was more of a danger to the muslims however, was not its mere termination, but along with it the loss of the urgency to re-establish it and the loss of clarity of its re-establishment.

As a result of the disappearance of the Islamic Shar'iyyah from practical life and the replacing it with man-made rules and laws, it led to a contradiction within the correct thoughts and emotions of the muslims. That is, the man-made systems imposed upon the muslims, would only tolerate the Islam of the people so long as that Islam did not call for the destruction and the termination from practical life of the very man-made systems imposed upon them. Thus, Islam had to be distorted in order to accept the ruling of man-made law, and this appeared in the type of Islam that we see today with its political and ruling aspects taken out giving it a secular form so that no contradiction between the clash of ruling systems is perceived.

This strategy was something perfectly natural because it was none other than the disbelieving colonialists who imposed these systems upon the muslims after they had systematically destroyed the Khilafah State and therefore the Ruling by what Allah (swt) had revealed. And to preside on behalf of these colonialists well into the next generations, careful selection took place by way of the current personalities presently found in the muslim world that occupy the positions of ruling, authority, and influence that would maintain this deviation as well as ensuring the preservation of such perversity, and thus ensuring the continuity of keeping Islam away from ruling and politics. Thus we find that the man-made systems which replaced the Islamic Ruling system, imposed a framework upon the muslims that led them away from the aspects of Islam that called for it to re-apply and re-assert itself into ruling once again, thus effectively resuming her initial authority that had been usurped from under her nose. Indeed if the man-made systems tolerated this political and ruling aspect of Islam then it would have resulted in a situation where the spoils and fortunes of the colonialists would have been short-lived, for the Islamic Ruling System would have been sought to be rightfully restored. Thus, they made sure that although the muslims remained close to their Islam, they would not seek to establish its rule and its state.

This plan was executed through various ways both directly and indirectly via the agent rulers of the muslims through education, twisting of the Islamic rules, over emphasis and exaggeration of the spiritual aspects, brutal political dictatorships, tyrannical military regimes, sponsoring of ideas that called for Islam not being political, Islam being about perfecting oneself, and so on. Thus, the Islam that exists within the people exists side by side with the systems of kufr to the extent that the muslims did not perceive that contradiction. So, although the muslims profess that the Legislator and Law-Giver is Allah (swt) alone, they however live by laws and accept to live by laws that are from other than Allah (swt), and the muslims did not smell the stench of this corruption nor did they perceive the grave sin in that until such a later time. Therefore, it was expectant to see that once the first 'knot' had been untied, and especially if were allowed to remain as such, then the rest would follow, ending at the prayer, indicating that anything in between would also be untied.

Indeed, many aspects of Islam that are in the form of commands and prohibitions from Allah (swt) (that would either lead someone to the Hellfire if he neglected it, or to the Gardens of Paradise if he performed it), lie untied or dismantled. And a manifest example of this reality is that of the Islamic Ruling System. For although it is present in the pages of books, it remains, and continues to remain, separate from the state, and hence absent from practical life.

It is in this fashion that the Hajj has been dismantled and remains that way, although it is being performed by millions of Hujjaj. Although the Hajj is being performed, it is nowadays being performed as a ceremony or as a ritual that one performs as a series of rites to be remembered and then to be forgotten. But, what has been missed nowadays is the essence of the Hajj, the essence of worship, and the essence of Islam as an ideology, that will lead the Hajji and the masses of Hujjaj to realise the greatness of such a message and the need and obligation for it to brought back comprehensively in life. Such awareness and momentum can only be generated today if certain aspects of the Hajj are considered and revitalised. What is meant here is not those aspects of the Hajj that are well known and where the rulers and tyrants give their permission and consent, but rather those aspects of Hajj that are forbidden from being mentioned today. Such that if certain issues of the Hajj were allowed to be discussed they would generate certain concepts that would lead to the revival of the muslim ummah, the shaking off of her burden in terms of rulers who betray her, the termination of the disastrous influence of the foreign states, and the gathering of all her resources such that she is transformed from a state of weakness and humiliation to a status of power and the number one leading state in the world. Thus, the present rulers, Kings, Presidents, and Superpowers would not allow any trace of such ideas to be circulated lest they wish power and dominance to taken from them and to be rightfully transferred to the muslim ummah through such an awareness. And this explains why the Hajj is made sure to be understood and performed in a certain detached way, while the critical, vital, and life-giving aspect is not only neglected but is forcibly prevented from ever finding its way into the minds of the muslims. And these are the political aspects of the Hajj, and we shall consider merely two of them to demonstrate this point and to demonstrate this deceitful treachery by those who pose as supervisors and custodians of the Hajj, that is, the rulers in the muslim lands.

TO BE CONTINUED....