Today,
the Muslim Ummah (nation) is passing through a critical stage in
history. The decline of the Muslim nation has reached its lowest ebb.
There are various reasons for it. Sheikh Al-Hind, Maulana Mahmood
Al-Hasan (died in 1922 CE), who was imprisoned in the Island of Malta by
the British government in India, said that during his four years in
prison, he contemplated over the cause of the decline of the Muslim
Ummah and reached the following conclusion:
There
appear to be two reasons for the decline of the Muslim Ummah today:
1.
Muslims have forsaken the Qur’an.
2.
Muslims are disunited.
Allah
has sent down the Qur’an for the Muslims so that they would absorb and
integrate the teachings of the Qur’an into their character just as the
companions of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) did it.
Maryam Jameelah, an Islamic scholar, once mentioned that one of the
things she observed among the Muslims is that they can sacrifice their
life for the Qur’an but they cannot live their life according to the
Qur’an. This is a very profound observation. Today, Muslims have made
the Qur’an as a ceremonial book, i.e., they use the Qur’an on
special occasions for attaining blessings, but they do not use it as the
code for their life. The Prophet’s Companions, to the contrary, used
to apply every verse of the Qur’an on their characters.
The
second cause, which is related to the first one, is the disunity among
the Muslims. The cliché that “unity is strength” is nonetheless
true. The life history of nations shows that whenever there is disunity
in a nation, it is a crystal-clear indication of its decline. The Muslim
nation is not an exception to this rule. Allah’s “Sunnah” (way of
dealing) is the same for every nation.
(
So
no change will you find in Allah’s Sunnah (way of dealing).)
(Fatir 35:43)
The
Qur’an teaches us to learn from history and not to repeat the
mistakes of previous generations. The following examples from history
will elucidate the point:
When
Muslims conquered Constantinople (Istanbul) under the leadership of
Sultan Muhammad Al-Fatih in 1453 CE, the Christian popes and priests
were disunited and, instead of becoming united and making military
plans against the Muslims, they were arguing about the following
trivial issues in the Royal Court of Constantine:
1.
Did Mary (peace be upon her) remain virgin after giving birth to
Jesus (peace and blessings be upon him)?
2.
How many angels can fit on the tip of a needle?
3.
What kind of bread did Jesus eat in his last supper? Was it baked or
not?
The
consequences of this disunity among the Christians were horrible.
Muslims were easily able to conquer Constantinople, which was the
heart of the Christian empire.
When
the British were attacking and conquering the different Muslim states
of India around 1800 CE, Muslims of the Indian sub-continent were
disunited and they were busy in having debates among each other about
such issues as:
1.
Imkan Al-Kazib, which means “Is Allah Almighty able to tell
a lie or not?”
2.
Imtinaa` An-Nazeer, which means “Can Allah create another
person like Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)?”
The
consequence of this disunity among Muslims was not different than it
is for any other nation. The British were able to conquer all the
Muslim states in India by the year 1857 CE. Similarly, it was because
of this disunity that the Western imperial powers were able to convert
the united states of Middle East into the disunited states of Middle
East.
