All Praise is due to Allah, the Lord of all the Worlds and the good end shall be for the pious. Peace and blessings be upon His servant, Messenger, and trustee on His revelation; our Prophet, leader and Master Muhammad ibn `Abdullah ibn `AbdulMuttalib, his family, Companions, those who follow his path, and are guided by his Sunnah until the Day of Recompense. To Commence:
Islamic thinkers, leaders, and pioneers have given great attention to the status of Muslims and their current conditions.
They have been greatly occupied with this matter, pondering on the causes of Muslims' weakness, and decline before their enemy, their scattering and difference and in the reasons why their enemies are victorious over them to the extent that they occupied some of their countries.
After they had identified the reasons, indeed they are obvious, they considered the proper ways for dealing with these causes that brought about decline and weakness that are also known. Such causes must be made public, because the diagnosis of a disease and then giving medicine is one of the greatest reasons for recovery and good health.
When a sick person recognizes his sickness and knows the medicine, he should hasten to take the medicine.
This is the nature of a reasonable person who loves life and desires to get rid of sicknesses; being interested in identifying the disease and trying to know the medicine.
Some people may be overcome by disease to the extent that they may be content with it and their feelings die. Thus, they do not care who described the medicine for them, as sickness becomes a part of their nature with which they feel comfortable and content. This is attributed to the declination of their mood, the weakness of their insight, and the dominance of fancy on their minds, hearts and behavior, as is the case with many people regarding their religionrelated maladies and cures.
They are satisfied with their sicknesses and their evil deeds that have weakened them, paralyzed their movements, and made them feel no sickness, unaware of the ultimate consequences, and neglectful to seek the cure even if it is described to them. This is because they do not care and diseases control them, at a time when they are indifferent.
Farsighted scholars, thinkers, and experts have explained the causes of Muslim weakness and decline and the means for cure, if properly adopted.
The causes of weakness and decline and the superiority of the enemies over the Muslims are due to a main reason with so many bad consequences, namely, ignorance; ignorance of Allah (Exalted be He), His religion, and the consequences which control most people and lead to lack of knowledge and the spread of ignorance.
Ignorance is caused by many factors, such as love of this world and hating death,
abandoning Salah (prayer), seeking desires, neglect of preparing for one's enemies, contentment with receiving their needs from their enemies, and weak spiritual energy in producing their own needs from the wealth of their countries that leads to division, indifference, disunity, and lack of cooperation.
This is due to these serious causes and consequences: weakness before the enemy, decline in everything, pursuit of prohibited desires, preoccupation with things that divert people from Allah's path and guidance, and failure to be prepared for the enemy in industry and armament to repel the enemies of Allah and protect people, religion, and homeland.
This disease resulted in seeking the world by every means and collecting it with every reason. Everyone cares only for himself and his country even if this results in the loss of whole or most of his religion.
This is the condition of the majority of people and Muslim countries. It is more likely to say that this is the reality, even though there are some preparations and precautions, but they are not perfect.
The proof that the most heinous cause is the ignorance of Allah (Exalted be He), His religion and the realities which a Muslim should hold fast to and apply, is the saying of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), If Allah wants to do good to a person, He makes him comprehend the religion. (Related by AlBukhari and Muslim in their two Sahihs (authentic) Books of Hadith).There are also some Ayahs and Hadiths in the same context indicating the bad consequences of ignorance and its end. The Qur'an is full of warnings against ignorance and the ignorant.
Allah (Exalted be He) says: but most of them behave ignorantly. Allah (Glorified be He) also says: and most of them have no understanding. In addition to other Ayahs indicating dispraise of ignorance of Allah (Exalted be He), His religion, the enemies, and the equipment we should prepare, such as armament, unity and cooperation.
As a result of ignorance and division; differences, seeking desires and neglecting one's obligations to Allah (Exalted be He) and failure to think of or work for the Hereafter sincerely followed. Most people care for this world as mentioned in the Ayah: Not [as you think, that you (mankind) will not be resurrected and recompensed for your deeds], but you (men) love the present life of this world, And neglect the Hereafter.
Allah (Glorified and Exalted be He) also says: Then for him who transgressed all bounds, (in disbelief, oppression and evil deeds of disobedience to Allâh). And preferred the life of this world (by following his evil desires and lusts), Verily, his abode will be Hellfire;
As a result of ignorance, these calamities and bad consequences emerge, such as loving the world, hatred of death, seeking desires, abandoning obligations, neglecting Salah and lacking preparation for the enemy by all means, not to mention division, difference, disunity and lack of cooperation.
The Prophet's saying: If Allah wants to do good to a person, He makes him comprehend the religion indicates that the sign of goodness and happiness to individuals, people and state is to understand religion because understanding religion; knowing its teachings, and perception of what they should do sooner or later is one of the most important duties of Muslims and a sign that Allah (Exalted be He) destined goodness for them.
Understanding religion also means besides preparing oneself for the enemies fulfilling Allah's duties, abstaining from His prohibitions
and abiding by His boundaries.
It also means that Muslim countries must have industry, equipment, and power so as not to take our needs from our enemies and so that our enemies will be afraid of us. This also helps prepare people physically.
Welfare should be abandoned, because it weakens hearts and discourages Muslims from fighting the enemies.
Understanding religion gives enough knowledge of the Hereafter, Paradise, and the great bliss therein. It also gives information about Hell, its torment and the types of torture therein in order to revive and urge the hearts to seek the Hereafter, abandon worldly matters, prepare for the enemy, and seek the ways of Jihad and martyrdom in the Cause of Allah.
Understanding religion provides the rulers and the ruled with full activity to fulfill what Allah (Exalted be He) desires and to stay away from all things that entail His wrath. It also gives the hearts the desire to be united with the rest of the Muslims, to cooperate with them against the enemy, to establish the ordinances of Allah, to rule by His Shari`ah and to abide by His boundaries. It also leads to cooperation to fulfill the duties of Allah (Exalted be He) and His servants. Useful knowledge exhorts to work, cooperation, advising one another and cooperation in goodness. It also gives them keenness on performing obligatory acts, keeping away from forbidden acts, longing for the Hereafter, not hating death in the Cause of Allah, Jihad in the Cause of Allah, fighting the enemies and restoring their rights.
Through knowledge, souls and properties are cheap means to bring about the pleasure of Allah (Exalted be He), make the words of Allah (Exalted be He) superior, save Muslims from the dominance of their enemy, save their own selves from all kinds of trials, save the weak from the control of their enemies,
keep Muslims safe and preserve their rights against their countries. If ignorance prevails, these rights, benefits, information, altruism and sacrificing of souls and property for the sake of the truth will be lost. A poet said:
What can enemies take from an ignorant beyond what the ignorant takes from his self
Ignorance is an incurable disease causing death of heart and feelings, weakening the body and power, and making the ignorant only care for their lusts and desires such as the desire for houses and clothing. The heart, feelings, and insight of the ignorant have become weak, so there is nothing beyond their current desire and urgent needs to look forward to. It is reported in the Hadith which wasrecorded by Imam Ahmad and others with a good chain of narrationfrom Thawban (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: The people will soon summon one another to attack you as people when eating; they invite others to share their food. Someone asked: Will that be because of our small numbers at that time? He replied: No, at that time, you will be numerous: but you will be scum and rubbish like that carried down by a torrent, and Allah will take out the fear of you from the breasts of your enemy and throw Wahn into your hearts. Someone asked: What is Wahn, O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him): He replied: Love of the world and dislike of death.
The weakness mentioned in the Hadith comes a result of ignorance, which turns them into worthless people like the foam of the sea; people do not have insight.
Weakness controlled them and settled in their hearts and they can not seek high status such as Jihad in the Cause of Allah and making His Word superior because of their love of the world. This discouraged them from seeking a high status or seeking Jihad because they fear to miss out on attaining these desires.
Ignorance pushed them forward to miserliness in order not to spend their wealth except on these desires and made them lose great righteous effective leadership, which does not care for anything except to make the Word of Allah superior and Muslims dominant over their enemies in order to preserve the religion, maintain and make it superior, and protect Muslim countries, lives, and offspring from their enemies.
Ignorance causes serious damage and bad consequences, such as the humiliation of Muslims before their enemies and describing them as the foam of the sea as the Prophet (peace be upon him) explained. The reason for this is that the enemies do not fear Muslims.
Enemies fear power, activity, high spiritual power, and sacrifice for principles. When the enemies see that their opponent does not have this spiritual power but only cares for his own desires, they give them more until their power collapses and their attention is driven away from fighting them by engaging in the world and seeking its pleasures.
Weakness controlled the hearts except those whom Allah (Exalted be He) saved. The enemies do not care for us or even treat us justly because they know that they have no power, jealousy, patience, power to help them to fight and that they do not prepare themselves for this. Therefore, the enemies despise the Muslims, do not care for them and treat them like a master who treats his slave. They are keen to seek their desires by all possible means, they take caution against death, and they are keen to cure themselves against all diseases for fear of death
and are keen not to take something that may cause death in order not to leave these desires.
Whoever desires the Hereafter and wishes to make the Word of Allah prevail and fight for His Sake, must not be in such a weak condition. We have a good example in the righteous predecessors who were at the time of the Prophet (peace be upon him), the time of his Sahabah (Companions of the Prophet) and those who followed their path of Jihad, prepared themselves for it and bore harm to make the Word of Allah prevail.
They fought in His cause to save the nation from the hands of enemies by means of patience, forbearance, Jihad, altruism, spending wealth in the Cause of Allah, training for Jihad, pursuing the Hereafter, fighting the enemies, cooperating with each other, being united to make the Word of Allah superior and saving the Muslims from their enemies.
When we know the disease i.e. ignorance, as we have elaborated, the duty is to cure it with useful knowledge which the Prophet (peace be upon him) brought. There are few people who care to prepare for the enemy in order that the state could find a substitute for the products imported from the enemies.
The disease is clear. It is composed of several diseases that are all the result of ignorance and negligence until death becomes dreadful, the world is desired, and Jihad is a terrible ghost and only few people opt for it. The target has become, not to make the Word of Allah prevail, but to fight for nationalism, patriotism or for anything other than raising the Word of Allah (Islam)
and eliminating opposite calls. Preparation is weak and targets are away from the right path. The path of success and progress against the enemy lies in seeking useful knowledge, understanding the religion, caring for what Allah (Exalted be He) desires, observing His obligations, turning away from His prohibitions, sincerely repenting to Him from previous sins and negligence, establishing full cooperation between the State and the people over the commands of Allah and His Messenger, abstaining from their prohibitions and being prepared. Allah (Exalted be He) says: And make ready against them all you can of power
There must be physical and material preparation in order to be selfsufficient with what Allah (Exalted be He) has granted us and not to seek the products of the enemies. This is because fighting enemies with the means they produce is very difficult. What will you do if the enemy denies you access to such means, not to mention lack of insight and knowledge?
It is necessary to be in a state of readiness as much as they can. This is sufficient for Muslims so long as they intend to dispense with their enemy, go for Jihad (fighting/striving in the Cause of Allah), save their countries, be willing to establish the Command of Allah, and gain the Hereafter according to their ability. Allah (Glorified and Exalted be He) says: And make ready against them all you can of power He does not say to make ready against them power equal to their, for this may not be possible.
If Muslims are sincere, united, preparing all what they can of power against their enemies and support Allah's Religion, He (Glorified and Exalted be He) will help, assist them and make them triumphant over the enemy. Allah, who is Honest in His Saying and Promise, says:
O you who believe! If you help (in the cause of) Allâh, He will help you, and make your foothold firm. Allah (Exalted be He) is not disable or in need of people; however, He tries His righteous Servants with evil ones, in order to discern the trustful and the liar and to test the Mujahid (one striving/fighting in the Cause of Allah) and the one seeking salvation. Undoubtedly, Allah is Able to support His allies and destroy His enemies without war and Jihad or preparation. Allah (Glorified be He) says: Thus [you are ordered by Allâh to continue in carrying out Jihâd against the disbelievers till they embrace Islâm and are saved from the punishment in the Hellfire or at least come under your protection], but if it had been Allâh's Will, He Himself could certainly have punished them (without you). But (He lets you fight) in order to test some of you with others.
Allah (Glorified be He) saysin Surah (Qur'anic chapter) AlAnfalabout the story of the Battle of Badr: Allâh made it only as glad tidings, and that your hearts be at rest therewith. It means supporting them with angels. He (Glorified be He) also says: And there is no victory except from Allâh, the AllMighty, the AllWise. In SurahAl `Imran,He (Exalted be He) says: Allâh made it not but as a message of good news for you and as an assurance to your hearts. And there is no victory except from Allâh, the AllMighty, the AllWise. Victory is from Allah (Glorified and Exalted be He), but He makes the provision with angels, arms, money, and large armies as means of victory, glad tidings and assurance; but victory is not dependant on this. Allah (Glorified be He) says: How often a small group overcame a mighty host by Allâh's Leave? And Allâh is with AsSâbirûn (the patient).
On the Battle of Badr, the Muslims were over threehundredandten men. They only had few arms and riding animals. It is said that there were only about seventy camels and the Muslims used to ride them taking turns. They had few weapons;
they had only two horses. Meanwhile, the army of the Kafirs (disbelievers) was about one thousand, and they had mighty and numerous arms. When Allah (Exalted be He) willed to defeat them, He did and their mighty army did not benefit them. Allah (Exalted be He) achieved the victory of the onethousand man army at the hands of over threehundredandten men. By Allah's Help and Support, Muslims achieved victory and captured seventy of the Kafirs, killed another seventy and defeated the rest. All this was part of Allah's Signs and Victory.
In the Battle of AlAhzab, the Kafirs invaded Madinah with ten thousand fighters from Quraysh and other tribes. They besieged AlMadinah and the Prophet (peace be upon him) built AlKhandaq (The Trench), which was of the means of material victory. They set AlMadinah under siege, then Allah (Exalted be He) removed them without fight; He cast terror into their hearts and sent down winds and forces (angels) from Him till they were indecisive and withdrew frustrated to their country due to Allah's Help and Support. They were let down and did not invade the Prophet (peace be upon him) in AlMadinah. The Prophet (peace be upon him) invaded them on the Battle of AlHudaybiyyah, when the wellknown peace treaty took place. Then the Prophet (peace be upon him) invaded them in Ramadan in 8 A.H. when Allah (Exalted be He) granted him victory in the conquest of Makkah. People entered Allah's religion (Islam) in crowds.
What is meant is that victory is at the Hands of Allah (Glorified and Exalted be He). Allah (Exalted be He) is the Supporter of His Slaves but He orders people to take the means leading to it. The greatest means is obeying Allah (Exalted be He) and His Messenger (peace be upon him). Obedience involves gaining knowledge of the religion to learn the Rule and Shari`ah of Allah with respect to yourself, others, striving against your enemy, preparing yourselves to face your enemy, give up the acts that Allah forbids, carry out the Obligations of Allah, observe the Limits of Allah, cooperate with your Muslim brothers, sacrifice what is dear and valuable for the Sake of Allah (Glorified and Exalted be He) and supporting His Religion and making the Word of Allah the uppermost, not for the Sake of people, a country, or nationalism.
This is the way to achieve triumph over the enemy by learning the Shari`ah and gaining knowledge about the Religion of Allah (Exalted be He). All this should be undertaken by the rulers and the ruled. Moreover, we should act upon this and give up what Allah prohibited. He says: Verily, Allâh will not change the (good) condition of a people as long as they do not change their state (of goodness) themselves (by committing sins and by being ungrateful and disobedient to Allâh). But when Allâh wills a people's punishment, there can be no turning back of it, and they will find besides Him no protector. So whoever wants to attain Allah's Victory, Support and make His Word Superior should be the first
to give up his sins and all that violates Allah's Commandment. Allah (Glorified and Exalted be He) says:
Allâh has promised those among you who believe and do righteous good deeds, that He will certainly grant them succession to (the present rulers) in the land, as He granted it to those before them, and that He will grant them the authority to practise their religion which He has chosen for them (i.e. Islâm). And He will surely give them in exchange a safe security after their fear (provided) they (believers) worship Me and do not associate anything (in worship) with Me.
Allah (Exalted be He) does not say that He promises those who belong to Quraysh or the Arabs or those who build palaces and extract oil, etc. Rather, He makes the judgment dependant on true Iman (Faith/belief) and righteous deeds, whether the people are Arabs or nonArabs.
These are the means of victory and ruling on earth. It is not Arabism or the like, but rather true Iman in Allah (Exalted be He) and His Messenger (peace be upon him) and righteous deeds.
Verily, Allâh will help those who help His (Cause). Truly, Allâh is AllStrong, AllMighty.
Those (Muslim rulers) who, if We give them power in the land, (they) enjoin Iqamat a sSalât [i.e. to perform the five compulsory congregational Salât (prayers) (the males in mosques)], to pay the Zakât and they enjoin A lM a' rûf (i.e. Islâmic Monotheism and all that Islâm orders one to do), and forbid AlMunkar (i.e. disbelief, polytheism and all that Islâm has forbidden) [i.e. they make the Qur'ân as the law of their country in all the spheres of life].
You [true believers in Islâmic Monotheism, and real followers of Prophet Muhammad ﺻﻠﻰ ﺍﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻭﺳﻠﻢ) and his Sunnah] are the best of peoples ever raised up for mankind; you enjoin AlMa'rûf (i.e. Islâmic Monotheism and all that Islâm has ordained) and forbid Al Munkar (polytheism, disbelief and all that Islâm has forbidden), and you believe in Allâh.