Brothers in Islam!
Undoubtedly you often ask yourselves: Why is it that the Prayer, good and
beneficial as it is, seems to make no difference to our lives? Why does
it neither improve our morals, nor transform us into a force dedicated
to Allah? Why do we continue to live disgraced and subjugated? The usual
answer will be that you are not offering the Prayer regularly or in the
manner prescribed by Allah and the Messenger. Such an answer may no satisfy
you. I shall therefore try to explain the matter in some detail.
Parable of the Clock
Look at the clock fixed to the wall: there are lots of small parts in it,
joined to each other. When you wind it, all the parts start working and,
and as these parts move, the result appears on the clock face outside it
which you observe. Both hands move to denote each second and each minute.
The purpose of the clock is to indicate correct time. All those parts which
are necessary for this purpose have been fitted together and the winding
system has been made so that each of then moves as required. Only when
all the parts have been assembled correctly and the clock wound up properly
will it begin fulfilling the purpose for which it is made.
If you do not wind it, it will not show the time. If you wind it but not
according to the prescribed method, it will stop or, even if it works,
it will not give the correct time. If you remove some of the parts and
then wind it, nothing will happen. If you replace some of the parts with
those of a sewing machine and then wind it, it will neither indicate the
time nor sew a cloth. If you keep all the parts inside the case but disconnect
them, then no part will move even after winding it up. The presence of
all the parts will not serve the purpose for which the clock is made because
you will have disrupted their arrangement as well as their connection.
In all these situations, both the existence of the clock and the act of
winding it become useless, although an observer from a distance cannot
say that it is not a clock or that you are not winding it. He will surely
consider that it is a clock and will expect it to be useful as a clock.
Similarly, when from a distance he observes you winding it, he will take
it as a genuine effort on your part to do the job, hoping to notice the
result which comes from winding the clock. But how can this expectation
be fulfilled when what looks like a clock from a distance has in reality
lost its ‘existence’?
Aim of Muslim Ummah
Imagine Islam is like this clock. Just as the purpose of the clock is to indicate the correct time, so the aim of Islam is that you should lice in this world as the vicegerents of God, as witnesses of God unto mankind and as standard-bearers of truth. You must yourselves follow the commandments of God and bring all other people under Him:
You are indeed the best community brought forth for mankind: you enjoin the doing of right and forbid the doing of wrong, and you believe in God (Al ‘Imran 3:110).
And thus We have made you a just community, that you might be witness unto mankind (al-Baqarah 2:143)
God has promised those of you who believe and do righteous deeds that He will surely make you to accede to power on earth (al-Nur 24:55)
And fight them, until there is no rebellion [against God], and all submission is to God alone (al-Anfal 8:39)
Wholeness of Islamic Teachings
To fulfil this purpose, various parts as were required, like those of the
clock, have been brought together in Islam. Beliefs and principles of morality;
rules for day-to-day conduct; the rights of God, of His slaves, of one’s
own self, of everything in the world which you encounter; rules for earning
and spending money; laws of war and peace; principles of government and
limits of obedience to it – all these are parts of Islam. As in a clock,
they are linked to each other in such a way that as soon as the winding
is done, every part starts moving and, with the movement of all these parts,
the desired result is obtained. Rule of God’s law in the world, domination
of Islam, start manifesting just as, with the movement of the parts of
the clock in front of you. The time appears on its face.
In order to fasten together different parts of the clock, screws and small
pieces of metal have been used. Similarly, to join all the parts of Islam
together, there is and arrangement called the Jama’ah or organization.
Muslims should organize themselves, and have leaders equipped with proper
knowledge and endowed with taqwa; the brains should help them and the limbs
should obey them, as they all strive to live under God.
When all the parts
have been brought together and properly assembled, regular winding is necessary
to set then in motion and continue their movement: Salah which is offered
five times a day provides that winding, creating the energy which sets
an Islamic life in motion. Cleaning this clock is also necessary: fasting
observed for thirty days a year cleanses hearts and morals. Lubrication,
too, is required: Zakah is like the oil which is applied to its parts once
a year. Then it is also necessary to overhaul it periodically: Hajj is
that overhauling which should be performed at least once in a lifetime.
And the more often it is done, the better.
Abusing the Clock
The processes of winding, cleaning, lubricating and overhauling are of
use only when all the parts are present in the frame, when they are linked
in the order designed by the clock-maker, and when all are so trained that
immediately on winding they start moving and begin showing results.
Alas, today the situation has become very different. For a start, the very
Jama’ah, the organizational structure, which was supposed to link the parts
of the clock together has ceased to exist. The result is that all the fittings
have come apart, each has gone its own way. Everybody does whatever takes
his fancy. There is nobody to question anything. Everyone is autonomous.
If someone wants to follow the Islamic code, he can; if he does not want
to, he need not.
Since even this so-called freedom has not satisfied you, you have pulled
out many parts of the clock and in their place put anything and everything:
a spare part from a sewing machine, perhaps, or from a factory or from
the engine of a car. You call yourselves Muslims, yet insure you lives,
you file false lawsuits, your daughters, sisters and wives are forsaking
Islamic manners and your children are being given secular materialistic
educations. Some have become disciples of Gandhi; others are following
Lenin. Which un-Islamic gadget is there that you have not fixed into a
frame of the clock of Islam?
Despite this, you expect the clock to work when you wind it! And you suppose
that cleaning, lubricating and overhauling it will also be of use. With
a little reflection, however, you should see that in the condition to which
you have reduced the clock you can wind it, lubricate it, and overhaul
it, for the whole of your lives without any effect. Nothing will happen
until you remove the parts brought in from other appliances, replace them
with the original parts, and restore the original priorities. Then, and
only then, will the winding and so forth produce any results.
Why Worship Rites Are Ineffective
This state of affairs is the real reason why your Salah, Sawm, Zakah and
Hajj make no impact upon your lives. First, there are so few among you
who perform these acts of worship. Due to the dissolution of Islamic Jama’ah
everybody has become autonomous. Whether you fulfil you obligations or
not, there is nobody to care. Nor do those who do apparently carry out
their obligations do so in a proper manner. They are not constant in attending
the congregational Prayer. People are selected to lead the Prayers in the
mosques simply because they are fit for no other work: people who exist
on the free bread doled out to mosques, who are uneducated, who lack moral
caliber. How can congregations led by them turn you into the leaders of
mankind? Similar is the situation regarding you Fasting, Almsgiving and
Pilgrimages.
Despite all these facts, you may argue, there are nonetheless many Muslims
who do discharge their religious duties conscientiously. Why does that
make no difference? But, as I have said, when the parts of the clock have
become unhinged and numerous foreign bodies have been inserted in it, it
makes no difference if you wind it or not, clean it or not, lubricate it
or not, from a distance it does look like a clock. An outside observer
may say: this is Islam and you are Muslims. But what he cannot see is how
badly its inside machinery has been tampered with.
Our Deplorable Condition
Brothers! You understand why it is so that you pray and fast and yet remain
trampled under the heel of cruel tyrants. But, should I tell you something
even more distressing? Although most of you no doubt regret this situation
but, I would say, 999 people out of 1000 are not prepared to change their
situation. They have no urge in their hearts to assemble the clock of Islam
again properly. They are afraid that any such reconstruction would mean
that their own favorite imported parts would be thrown out, and this they
are not prepared to accept. They are afraid that any tightening of various
parts would mean that they will have to discipline themselves, and this
they are not willing to undertake.
Instead, they prefer that the clock remains a piece of decoration on the
wall for people to be shown and told how wonderful Islam is, what miracles
it can perform. Those who are supposed to love this clock more than others
would like to wind it repeatedly and zealously and to clean it most laboriously;
but they want to do nothing to reset its parts properly or tighten them,
nor will they seek to get rid of the extraneous parts.
I wish I could endorse you attitudes and behavior, but I cannot say anything
which I believe is wrong. I assure you that if, in addition to praying
five times a day, you were to offer Tahajjud (pre-dawn), Ishraq (post-sunset)
and Chasht (mid-morning) Prayers, read Qur’an for hours everyday, and observe,
over and above Ramadan, extra fasts for five and a half months in the remaining
eleven months, you would still achieve nothing. What is needed is to restore
the original parts to the clock and fix them firmly. Then even the little
necessary winding will make it work; and the minimal amount of required
cleaning and lubrication will be needed.
--Said Abdul A’la Mawdudi
Copyright © 1998, Yamin
Choudhury