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Muslims
have lost their power and become a weak nation because faith no longer
has a place in their lives and behavior.
The
majority of Muslims follow Islam in name only. They become Muslims
because their families are so, or because they have been born in a
Muslim country by Muslim parents. They lack strength in faith and
enthusiasm to follow its teachings. Could people in such a feeble state
manage to revive their power and restore their strength?
In
fact the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) referred to the
causes that would weaken the Ummah and belittle it in the eyes of its
enemies. With the elapse of time, the Prophet's words in that regard
have proved to be true. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Nations
are about to scheme against you in the same way as greedy eaters vie
with one another at the dining table.” One of the Companions (may
Allah be pleased with them all) asked, “O Messenger of Allah! Will
that relate to being few in numbers?” The Prophet said, “No, but
your huge number will be of little effectiveness, and (Allah) will cast
al-wahan in your hearts.” They said, “O Messenger of Allah, what
does al-wahan mean?” He said, “Your hearts are strongly attached
to the luxuries of life and you feel a strong aversion to death.”
See
what causes weakness in hearts! It is running after the worldly
pleasures and yielding to temptations of this life. When one does so,
one becomes a slave to one's desires, and can no longer have control
over oneself. One, in such a case, gets lost and has no real objects to
seek in life.
It
is temptations that turn a strong person to be a slave to a woman he is
in love with, or to a worldly pleasure or benefit he is greedily
seeking.
It
is also people’s aversion to death that makes them prefer a
humiliating life to an honorable death, unaware of the fact that their
very humiliating life is a kind of death in disguise, while honorable
death grants them eternity.
There
is a line of verse that goes:
He
who hasn’t died an honorable death in battlefield
let him suffer humiliation in life.
Also,
the real problem Muslims are suffering from is a moral and a spiritual
one. Also, we are lagging behind in the economic, political,
administrative, scientific, and technological fields. But this is no
more than a reflection to our main problem, that is, our moral and faith
deterioration.
Tens
of years ago we would complain about the tyranny of our rulers and the
way they would treat their people as animals, not as respectable human
beings. We would also complain about lacking democratic bodies that
might protect us against the rulers’ oppression.
You
know why we would suffer from that. It is because of both rulers’ and
subjects’ degenerating faith and morals. It is because of the rulers
greedily vying to be superior to others, following in the footsteps of
the tyrants Pharaoh, Haman, and Qarun. In addition to that, the moral
and spiritual weaknesses that have afflicted people have helped those
rulers to subject them further and further. Allah Almighty says about
the people’s humiliation at the hands of Pharaoh:
[Unto
Pharaoh and his chiefs, but they did follow the command of Pharaoh, and
the command of Pharaoh was no right guide], (Hud: 97) and [Thus he
persuaded his people to make light (of Moses), and they obeyed him. Lo!
they were a wanton folk.]
(Az-Zukhruf: 54)
It
is being strongly attached to this world and having an aversion to death
that made one grow selfish and unwilling to sacrifice anything for
one’s Ummah.
It
is our rulers' covetousness to stay in power that has made them
manipulate people and employ hypocrites and evil people to help them in
that regard. They may do anything to achieve that end even if it is to
cooperate with the very enemies of their country. That is what has led
to the fall of our countries and the humiliation of their people.
The
disintegration the Muslim and Arab countries suffer from is not due to
difference in ideologies or policies so much as it is due to difference
in personal interests among those who are in authority.
It
is those irresponsible people in authority that brought about the
immense debts that some Arab countries owe to foreign ones and that are
estimated at about tens of billions. Such debts add to the humiliation
the Arab countries already suffer from. Those who have caused this do
not fear Allah Almighty, nor do they give heed to the punishment that
will afflict them in the Hereafter due to that. All what they aspire to
is to fulfill their personal interests even if this is to be at the
expense of their countries.
The
spread of intoxicants and drugs among the youth and the purchase of such
destructive substances by hundreds of millions reflects another aspect
of the great moral degeneration we are suffering from.
Another
reflection of the moral deterioration is that huge number of people who
no longer bother if the means through which they earn their livelihood
are lawful or not. Many people, for example, do not care about doing
their duties at work as they should be done, and many others find
nothing wrong in harming others if this will bring them more money.
Many
of the dictatorial policies and wrong decisions that brought about
domestic disasters in many countries have been motivated by the personal
interests of many people in authority. Such people do not care whether
their policies are in the interest of their countries or not, so long as
they achieve their personal goals.
Another
aspect of the problem we are facing is reflected in the maddening race
of consumption, especially of imported goods, and the slow process of
production, especially in the fields of agriculture and industry.
We
have, unfortunately, turned to be useless. We speak and do not act; we
import and do not produce. We are passive receivers; we imitate others
and do not try to devise something ourselves. In a word, we destroy, not
build; we sink into oblivion, not revive.
All
what I have said emphasizes that our very task to overcome all our
problems is to revive our faith and moral ethics and breathe life into
our deadening state, so that we can restore our ability to act and help
our nation progress.
Our
nation is in need of a new spirit that can revive it and change its view
towards life and things, so that it can get rid of the state of
dependence it suffers from and become productive itself.
We
should combat materialism, selfishness, opportunism, defeatism,
favoritism, and all forms of cheating and deterioration in the fields of
trade, culture, education, policy, et cetera.
We
should combat such devices in the same way as we combat chronic diseases
like bilharzia, tuberculosis, et cetera. We, moreover, should deal with
such vices with more seriousness than we treat such diseases with.
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