Numbering the Zero

Try to add zero to another zero, what will you get? Correct! A zero. Try to add millions of zero, what will you get? Still, a definite zero. A definite zero without a value. This is what a renowned Muslim scholar from the past, Syakib Arsalan had been trying to explain when the Muslim scholars all over the globe sent him a letter, which regard to returning the caliphate to its state. He said; “what is the use of gathering the weaklings? What is the use of adding up the zeros?”

The reality

The fact is, at that time, all Muslims were drown by the influence of the British Colonials to overthrow the caliph from his place just because he was a Turkish, with the propaganda that if the caliph was to be established, it should be the Arabs to hold the position, not the Turkish! While in Turkey itself, the propaganda by the Zionists and the backstabbers had also contributed to the banishment of the last caliph Sultan Abdul Hamid II. By the time the Muslims had realized it, it was too late.

It is still fresh in my mind, the words of our beloved last caliph, Sultan Abdul Hamid II when Theodore Herzl came up to him to buy the Palestinians land with a tremendous amount of money, he said; “I am not going to give one inch of Palestine to the Jews as Palestine is not mine give, but it belongs to the Ummah, and Ummah have shed blood to defend this land, but if one day the Islamic State falls apart, then you can have Palestine for free, but as long as I am alive, I would rather have my flesh be cut up than cut out Palestine from the Muslim land. I will not allow any carving up while I am alive!”

Until the end of his life, he is still fighting not for himself, but for the ummah. And we shall mark the day when the caliphate fell as the darkest day in the Islamic History.

The work

Even when the Abbasiyyah’s Caliphate had been attacked by Hulagu Khan, and the Muslim world in chaos, the work to rebuild this ummah had started since then. Ibn Taimiyyah had started rebuilding the individuals after almost 1 000 000 Muslims had been massacred by the 10 000 Tartar armies in Baghdad. Why did he make the effort and struggle to build the individuals while he could actually do more than that?

Simple! Let’s look at this analogy. If one wishes to build a tower, what should he first do? He should learn about the space, the area, the site, what are the advantages and disadvantages of the specific area. He then, must identify what are the materials essential to build a tower. Before proceeding to building the tower, he must build a very strong base. Why is this necessary? Because without a strong foundation or base, it will never be able to hold the weight of the tower thus, would actually cause the tower to fall down, and then only he can build the tower on it.

The same with this ummah. We are very far behind from the previous ummah who had preceded us in civilisation, technologies, knowledge etc. Therefore, we must identify the weaknesses and the strength of this ummah. We are fallen apart, we are not united, we are separated by barriers created by the colonials, what we are proud of is our own race and nation, despite the irony that Islam has made us brethrens with the tie of faith, the tie of iman! Our strength is that when we understand the true message of Islam, and we then unite again as an ummah, we are strong! Therefore we are now set to build the foundation.

Who are the foundations? We are! The Muslims are, the individuals who are called Muslims and wanted to learn about Islam. It is very important to build the individuals, not to create individuality, but to produce the individuals who can work for his ummah, not merely his desire. Because, there is no use in having an Islamic state if the ummah is weak to protect and defend it.

This is what Syakib Arsalan tried to tell us, the modern Muslim Ummah, the end-of-time ummah! We may have 1.8 billion Muslims, but if we add them up, we gather them up, they are no more than a definite zero! Due to the fact that Islam is very far away from their life, that Islam is no more than a ritual to them, that their iman or faith is like a submarine of which always submerges and only resurfaces during Syawal, Dzulhijjah, or even Friday Prayer. All these can simple be defeated because we are weak inside out.

Comparison

I wish to compare the present ummah with the first ummah established in Makkah and Madinah by our beloved prophet Muhammad (PBUH) despite of the fact that it is universally known these two can never reach equality in comparison. They are very much better than us.

Imagine, they had suffered days in hunger, and yet they are still strong, and they can still fight for the sake of Allah, compared to us, even when the hunger is only for an hour or two, we are barely able to survive it. Shame on us, who called ourselves Muslims!

Compare, they are more than willing to put their materials and belongings (even lives!) at stake, while us, would be counting fingers to take a dollar or two out from out pocket! Shame on us the end-of-time Muslims!

To them, what is the most worthy of protection and honours was their faith, which they can never trade it with something else, except to Allah. While us, what are our precious? Our house, money, car, and all the sorts of stuffs that will never remain with us forever! Shame on us Muslims!

Verily, we can never reach them for equality in iman, they were what Allah has said in the Quran as the best ummah, the cream of the cream, they lived for the sake of Allah, they also died for the sake of Allah, their deeds and ‘amal, were all for Him, alone. If I would to make anymore comparisons, none of them will win them, we are far behind.

What Maududi said

Abul ‘Ala al-Maududi said that being a Muslim is not what is presented by our names, or clothing, because what is the use of having those if our lives are no different than the non-Muslims? even worse, some of us are very bad in behaviour compared to the non-Muslims! Even if we pray, what different would it make if we still commit sins? Islam is not merely saying the syahadah, but to understand it, living it, and implementing it. Islam is not presented by simply names, and clothing, but also our way of life, as Islam is not same with other religion, Islam is not simply ritual, but it is the way of life, of which Allah has written what is allowed and what is not.

Living the life as prescribed by al-Quran and as-Sunnah has never stopped us from living a luxurious life, or earning wealth, but there are ways in living it. We are taught to be moderate and share what we have with the poor as what we earn includes their share; therefore we are to purify it by giving out zakat. Islam is a complete and holistic religion, therefore we are to accept the deen as a whole not refusing some and accepting the parts where we like most. Islam teach us to be the real human.

In fact, we ought to be grateful to Allah and being a Muslim because our way of life is set by and sent down by the Almighty Allah, and is not interrupted by the human hands, or even their limited minds.

The efforts

The struggle, the effort in returning the righteous place for the Muslims and returning Islam its dignity, is nevertheless only by building up the individuals, individuals who understand Islam thoroughly, and then work for the creation of a Baitul Muslim (the Muslims Families) of which the understanding of Islam and its teaching are practiced and implemented. Thus, creating the Muslims community of which reminding each other of what is right and what is wrong, of the al-Haq and separate it from al-Bathil. All these people will then govern the state by the ruling of Allah and Islam. Hence, from there, creating a Muslim state or country whereby all the citizens abide to the rule of Islam. And then, the caliphate can be restored to its honour. Thus, Islam then, can lead the world again, under its umbrella (Asy-Syahid Imam Hassan al-Banna).

All Muslims are obliged to re-learn Islam and practice it, because Islam is not the deen of utterance, the proof of faith is by confessing it by heart, utter it by the tongue, and practice it with deeds. There are more about Islam than what we know today. There are more about our history we need to reread, so we could learn lessons from them, not merely as morals and values but also as reinforcement to bring back what is ours. We will be really surprise to know that we don’t know much about our deen. The deen of which we are very proud of. We are now returned to the phase where the prophet Muhammad had started, and we shall continue his effort to rise up Islam to the the top.