September 2014

Editors: Lord Shahid Aziz, M.Sc. Mr Mustaq Ali, M.Sc. Contents: Page The Call of the Messiah 1 Beating Women, or Beating Around the Bush, or … by Edip Yüksel 3 Muhammad (pbuh), Part I by Prof. K. S. Ramakrishna Rao 5 West Leads the World in ‘Islamic Values’ by Ali SIna

م می

حالر

ن

م

ح اہلل الر

م س

ب

The Call of the Messiah

by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Promised Messiah and Mahdi

The second Messiah God Most High was then pleased to resolve that,

in accordance with the prophecy in the Torah

and the prophecy in the Holy Quran, another

Messiah like unto the former should be raised

towards the end of the Islamic order of the Khil-

afat. He therefore, in like manner, brought into

being this Messiah at the head of the 14th centu-

ry, and, as in the case of the first Messiah, news

about the advent of

the second Messiah

had also been com-

municated through

the Holy Prophet,

foretelling that he

would come at a time

when the Holy Quran

would have gone up

to heaven – that is to

say, when people

would have fallen into

various doubts and uncertainties and become

devoid of faith regarding the Day of Requital,

like the atheists – and that the Messiah would,

by means of his preaching, signs and spiritual

power, regenerate faith in them, deliver them

from doubts, and eliminate the work and activi-

ty of the Anti-Christ with his heavenly weapon,

without heaving any recourse to Jihad; that the

pure influence of the Holy Spirit would spread

in the world without the agency and force of

hands; that the cool breeze of truth-perception

would blow over human minds; that a major

revolution would come to pass, with peace,

goodwill and love of humankind; that Satan

would be overthrown and defeated, and the

Holy Spirit would be triumphant and victori-

ous.

Spiritual warfare Many prophets of God have uttered prophecies

about this, the last age, but it is regrettable in-

deed that our ignorant and witless maulvis

have unnecessarily thrust into it the doctrine of

Jihad. It had never been the intention of the

Holy Prophet (peace and the blessings of God

be upon him) and it should be remembered

that, for anyone who seeks to engage in Jihad,

this will not be a spiritual war between the

wind that heals and the wind that poisons, in

which the healing wind will at last be victori-

ous. The Promised Messiah has been raised

only for the purpose

of this spiritual war-

fare; and it is not nec-

essary that it should

reach its point of com-

pletion during his life-

time; rather this seed

which has been sown

in the earth will grow

up and enlarge slowly

until, in accordance

with the solemn word

of the God Most High, it will one day become a

big tree, and all those who hunger and thirst for

September

2014

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September 2014

2

innovated by the dajjal will become cease to ex-

ist.

The Antichrist It appears from a careful study of Hadith that

dajjal is in reality the name of Satan, and the peo-

ple by whom Satan will have his mission carried

out and fulfilled have also been called dajjal

metaphorically, for they function as his arms

and limbs. The Quranic verse خلق السموت والرض

khalq-us-samawati wa-l ,(40:57) اکبر من خلق الناس

-ardhi akbaru min khalq-in-nasi, “God’s works of

art and mechanisms are much bigger and better

than those of men”, make reference to those

people of whom it has been written that they

would, in the last age, make great mechanical

inventions, and thrust their noses into and in-

terfere with Divine works. The commentators

have written that by men is here meant the da-

jjal; and this statement is obviously an argument

for the fact that the dajjal is not one single man or individual, otherwise the term اس

(nas) ن

would not have been used for him; there is no doubt that the term اس

is used for a group of ن

men, and the group that will walk in the shadow

of Satan’s evil influence will also be known by

the name dajjal. To this fact also points the ar-

rangement of the Holy Quran, in that it has be-

gun with the verse رب العالمین al-hamdu l ,الحمد لل

-Illahi rabb-il-‘alamin, and ended with the state-

ment ور الناس من د الذی ی وسوس فی ص

alladhi ,(6–114:5) الجنۃ والناس

yuwaswisu fi-sudur-in-nasi min al-

jinnati wa-n-nas, “who whispers

into the hearts of men, of jinn and

men”. Here also the term نفاثات فی

قد ,naffathati fi-l-‘uqad ,(113:4) الع

“who blow on knots”, stands for

and denotes the dajjal. The sub-

stance of this chapter is that you

should seek refuge in God Most

High from the evil of the dajjal. The

chapter that precedes it is The

Dawn, which speaks of a dark age

and the deception and guile of

women; and, then, there is the Di-

vine direction to seek refuge in

God Most High from the kind of

people who walk in the way of Sa tan. It is, then,

plainly evident from this arrangement that it is

truth will rest and repose in its shade; and the

love of falsehood will vanish away from human

hearts, such that falsehood will meet its death

and cease to exist, and the spirit of truth will be

created in every heart. On that day will be ful-

filled all those scriptures in which it is written

that, like the sea, the earth will become filled

with truth. But all this, as is the Divine practice,

will be accomplished by degrees; and it is not

necessary, for this gradual growth, that the

Promised Messiah should be in living flesh-and-

blood form all the time; the existence of God

Most High will be sufficient and enough. Such

has not at any time been the requirement of God

Most High, and no change or alteration can ever

creep into the Divine Law. A man, therefore, who

would raise an objection at the time of the

Promised Messiah’s demise, saying, “What has

he done?”, will be utterly ignorant and un-

knowing; for, although not all at once, yet even-

tually all that seed that the Promised Messiah

has sown will begin to grow by degrees, and

attract minds towards itself, until it will, like a

circle, spread over the world. That time and

hour when this perfect and complete change

will come to pass is in the knowledge of God

Most High God only, just as you know that the

creed of the dajjal did not spread over the earth

all at once, but its seed grew up and flourished

slowly, in the same way, the world will turn to

truth but by slow degrees, like

lookers-on and spectators. You

should not assume that the

world will turn topsy-turvy

with one stroke; but just as

fields and trees grow and en-

large in a gradual manner, in

the same way will this also be

accomplished. It should be

remembered that, with regard

to the Messiah, i.e. the one im-

bued with spiritual blessings

of whose advent in the last age

the glad tidings had been given

to the Muslims, it is also writ-

ten that he will slay and de-

stroy the Antichrist. But this

destruction will not be accom-

plished by the edge of the sword or by rifle bul-

let; the significance, rather, is that the heresies

September 2014

3

trast to the verses in which God describes mar-

riage:

“Among His signs is that He created for you

spouses from among yourselves, in order to have

tranquillity and contentment with each other. He

places in your heart love and care towards your

spouses. In this, there are signs for people who

think.” (30:21)

Obviously, these mixed messages have both-

ered many contemporary translators of the Quran.

To avoid the moral and intellectual problems, they

tried to soften the word beat when they translate

the verse 4:34. For instance, Yusuf Ali uses a merci-

ful parentheses after beat to save women:

“… As to those women on whose part you fear

disloyalty and ill-conduct, admonish them (first),

(next), refuse to share their beds, (and last) beat

them (lightly) …” (4:34)

Many tried to beat around the bush to beat the

problem generated by the beat of 4:34.

When I finished the Turkish translation (of the

Holy Quran) (1991), this verse was on the top of

my orange list to study carefully. Whenever I en-

counter a problem regarding the understanding of

a Quranic verse, I remember 20:114 and pray ac-

cordingly:

“Most Exalted is God, the only true King. Do not

rush into (understanding) the Quran before it is re-

vealed to you, and say, My Lord, increase my

knowledge.”

Almost all of the transla-

tions have mistranslated

the four key words or

terms of this particular

verse. These are: Qaw-

wamune, Faddallallahu

ba‘dahum ala ba‘d,

Nushuzehunne, and

Fadribuhunne. In our

late book, “Errors in

Turkish Transla-

tions” (Istanbul, 1992) we have discussed the real

meaning of these words and the motivation and

reasons for mistranslating them. Here, we will fo-

cus on the last word, Fadribuhunne.

A famous multi-meaning word The problem comes from the word Idribuhunne

the same set of people who have, in other words,

been called Satan and, last of all, by mentioning

this horde, it is meant to indicate that in the last

age they will be dominant, and with them will be

missionary women such as will, by visiting homes,

try to separate wives from their husbands and

break and dissolve the marriage tie. These three

chapters of the Holy Quran, it should be clearly

remembered, speak of the age of the dajjal, and we

are commanded to seek refuge in God Most High

from the evil of this age so that we may be safe and

secure from it. Our attention, in this way, is called

to the point that those evils would be set aside and

removed only by the celestial light and blessings

that the heavenly Messiah will bear and bring with

him.

Perhaps the Sai Yuga that the Hindus have

been waiting for also refers to this age.

They have, in their commentaries, quoting

baseless traditions of the Israelites, deceived the

world.

Beating Women, or Beating

Around the Bush, or ….

by Edip Yüksel

(Editor’s note: Some 25 years ago, I came to the

conclusion that the verb DaRaBa used in 4:34 did

not mean beating the wife. Here is an article by a

Sunni brother who has deep knowledge and un-

derstanding of the Holy Quran, as he is a translator

of it, and who has in-

dependently come to

the same conclusion.

It is recommended

that, for a better un-

derstanding of the

thesis of this article,

you use the English

translation of the Holy

Quran to look up vers-

es mentioned here.)

“Verse 4:34 of the Quran orders believers to beat

their wives; so, Islam is a male dominant religion.”

Many of us have heard this criticism from Chris-

tians, atheists, agnostics, etc. Personally, every time

I read 4:34, I felt that something was wrong. How

does God, the Most Wise order us to beat our

women? What kind of solution is that? It is in con-

September 2014

4

which we used to translate as “beat them”. The

root of this word is DaRaBa. If you look at any

Arabic dictionary you will find a long list of

meanings ascribed to this word. That list is one

of the longest lists in all the Arabic dictionary. It

can be said that DaRaBa is the number-one mul-

ti-meaning word in Arabic. It has so many differ-

ent meanings, we can find numerous different

meanings ascribed to it in the Quran.

• To travel, to get out: 3:156; 4:101;

38:44; 73:20; 2:273

• To strike: 2:60,73; 7:160; 8:12; 20:77;

24:31; 26:63; 37:93; 47:4

• To beat: 8:50; 47:27

• To set up: 43:58; 57:13

• To give (examples): 14:24,45;

16:75,76,112; 18:32,45; 24:35; 30:28,58; 36:78;

39:27,29; 43:17; 59:21; 66:10,11

• To take away, to ignore: 43:5

• To condemn: 2:61

• To seal, to draw over: 18:11

• To cover: 24:31

• To explain: 13:17

As you see, in the Quran alone we can wit-

ness the verb DaRaBa having at least ten differ-

ent meanings. DaRaBa has also other meanings

which are not mentioned in the Quran. For ex-

ample, in the Arabic language, you do not print

money – you DaRaBa money, you do not multi-

ply numbers – you DaRaBa numbers, you do not

cease the work – you DaRaBa the work. In Turk-

ish we have many verbs similar to DaRaBa, such

as tutmak, calmak, vurmak etc. In English we

have two verbs which are almost equivalent to

DaRaBa. These are to strike and to beat.

Webster’s Dictionary gives fourteen mean-

ings to the verb strike: hit (against); ignite; (of

snake) bite; (of plants) (cause to) take root; at-

tack; hook (fish); sound (time) as bell in clock

etc.; affect; arrive at, come upon; enter mind of;

discover (gold, oil etc.); dismantle, remove;

make (coin); cease work as protest or to make

demands. The same dictionary gives eight mean-

ings to the verb “beat”: strike repeatedly; over-

come; surpass; stir vigorously with striking ac-

tion; flap (wings); make, wear (path); throb; sail

against wind.

At the beginning of this article (underlined)

I deliberately used beat in three different mean-

ings in a single statement just to show the varie-

ty of meanings in a single word. In English, when

we order someone to beat it we mean get out.

Similarly in Arabic, when we order someone

with the command form of DaRaBa, that is

iDRiB, we mean get out.

How can we find the appropriate meaning? When we encounter a multi-meaning word, we

select the proper meaning according to the con-

text, forms, and common sense. For instance, if

we had have translated DaRaBa in 13:17 as beat

instead of explain, the meaning would be ridicu-

lous:

“… God thus beats the truth and false-

hood” (13:17)

Another example of mistranslation of

DaRaBa can be found in the translation of 38:44.

All the translations (except Dr. Khalifa’s transla-

tion) inject a male-made story to justify their

silly translation. Here is how Yusuf Ali translates

the verse about Job:

“And take in the hand a little grass, and

strike therewith: and break not (the oath).”

Yusuf Ali, in the footnote narrates the tradi-

tional story: He (Job) must have said in his haste

to the woman that he would beat her: he is asked

now to correct her with only a wisp of grass, to

show that he was gentle and humble as well as

patient and constant.

However, without injecting this story, we can

translate it as the following:

Now, you shall travel the land to fulfil your

pledge (that is to deliver the message). We found

him steadfast. What a good servant! He was a

submitter (38:44).

Let’s turn back to 4:34

Additionally, the word Nushuz which is general-

ly translated as opposition has another meaning

which can be translated as degrees of disloyalty

ranging from flirtation to sexual liaison. If we

September 2014

5

study 4:34 carefully we will find a clue that leads

us to translate that word as flirting or cheating

or an extramarital affair. (Any word or words

that reflect the range of disloyalty in marriage.)

The clue is the phrase before Nushuz as reads: …

and observe God’s commandments, even when

alone in their privacy.

This phrase emphasises the importance of

loyalty in marriage life. Furthermore, the same

word Nushuz is used in 4:128, but it is used to

describe the misbehaviour of husbands not

wives as was in 4:34. So, the traditional transla-

tion of Nushuz, that is, opposition will not fit

here. In marital relations, opposition cannot be a

double-edged behaviour. So, translators try to

avoid this contradiction by ascribing just the

opposite meaning of opposition, i.e., oppression

in verse 4:128. However, the meaning of Nushuz

as disloyalty is appropriate for both cases de-

scribed in 4:34 and 4:128.

A coherent understanding When we read 4:34 we should not understand

idribuhunne as to beat those women. We must

remember that this word has many meanings.

God gives us three ways of dealing with extra-

marital-affair. In the beginning stage of such

misbehaviour husband should start from giving

advice. If it does not work and she goes further

and commit a proven adultery, that time hus-

band has the right to strike them out (4:34 &

65:1).

Let’s present our suggestion for the transla-

tion of verse 4:34

Men traditionally take care of women, since

God has endowed each of them with certain quali-

ties and men spend from their financial resources.

The righteous women are obedient (to God) and

during the absence (of their husband) they hon-

our them according to God’s commandment. As

for those women whom you are experiencing a

fear of disloyalty from, you shall first advice them,

then (if they continue) you may desert them in

bed, then you may strike them out. If they obey

you then don’t transgress against them. God is

Most High, Supreme.

Beating women who are cheating is not an

ultimate solution; but striking them out

[sending them away – Editor, The Light] from

your house is the best solution. And it is fair too.

Note by the editor of the original arti-cle In addition to all the well written information

from Mr. Yuksel (above), it must also be added

that those who interpret the word iddribuhhun-

na in 8:78 to mean physically beat are in fact vio-

lating three Quranic principles, and they are:

1- God prohibits all aggression. To physically

beat another person is an act of aggression no

matter what justification anyone may have: do

not transgress, God does not like the aggressors

2:190

2- God commands husbands and wives to

treat each other with love and mercy, once again

beating up the wife is not a merciful act: And

from His signs is that He created for you mates

from yourselves that you may reside with them,

and He placed between you affection and mercy.

In that are signs for a people who reflect. 30:21

3- In Sura 4 which is given the title Women

in verse 19 men are told specifically to treat

their wives bil-ma'ruf which means with kind-

ness. Needless to say, physically beating women

does not exactly qualify for anyone’s definition

of kindness.

4- To soften the issue, some scholars have

claimed that a husband may only beat his wife if

she commits adultery. But when we examine

this interpretation, once again we find that it

contradicts Quranic law. In the case of adultery,

God has already prescribed a fixed punishment

of 100 lashes (24:2). The important issue here is

that the same crime or sin should not entitle two

separate punishments. If a wife commits adul-

tery and is given 100 lashes, then her husband

beats her as well, she would have received two

separate punishments for the same sin.

Muhammad (pbuh), Part I by Prof. K. S. Ramakrishna Rao

Head of the Dept. of Philosophy, Govt. College for

Women, University of Mysore, Mandya-571401,

Karnatika, India

[Editor’s Note: The following is reprinted from Islam and

Modern Age, Hyderabad.]

In the desert of Arabia was Mohammad born,

according to Muslim historians, on April 20, 571.

September 2014

6

The name means highly praised. He is to me the

greatest mind among all the sons of Arabia. He

means so much more than all the poets and

kings that preceded him in that impenetrable

desert of red sand.

When he appeared Arabia was a desert – a

nothing. Out of nothing a new world was fash-

ioned by the mighty spirit of Mohammad – a

new life, a new culture, a new civilization, a new

kingdom which extended from Morocco to In-

dies and influenced the thought and life of three

continents – Asia, Africa and Europe.

When I thought of writing on Mohammad

the prophet, I was a bit hesitant because it was

to write about a religion I do not profess and it

is a delicate matter to do so for there are many

persons professing various religions and be-

longing to diverse school of thought and denom-

inations even in same religion. Though it is

sometimes, claimed that religion is entirely per-

sonal yet it can not be gainsaid that it has a ten-

dency to envelop the whole universe seen as

well unseen. It somehow permeates something

or other our hearts, our souls, our minds their

conscious as well as subconscious and uncon-

scious levels too. The problem assumes over-

whelming importance when there is a deep con-

viction that our past, present and future all hang

by the soft delicate, tender silk cord. If we fur-

ther happen to be highly sensitive, the center of

gravity is very likely to be always in a state of

extreme tension. Looked at from this point of

view, the less said about other religion the bet-

ter. Let our religions be deeply hidden and em-

bedded in the resistance of our innermost

hearts fortified by unbroken seals on our lips.

But there is another aspect of this problem.

Man lives in society. Our lives are bound with

the lives of others willingly or unwillingly, di-

rectly or indirectly. We eat the food grown in the

same soil, drink water, from the same the same

spring and breathe the same air. Even while

staunchly holding our own views, it would be

helpful, if we try to adjust ourselves to our sur-

roundings, if we also know to some extent, how

the mind our neighbour moves and what the

main springs of his actions are. From this angle

of vision it is highly desirable that one should

try to know all religions of the world, in the

proper sprit, to promote mutual understanding

and better appreciation of our neighbourhood, im-

mediate and remote.

Further, our thoughts are not scattered as they

appear to be on the surface. They crystallize around

a few nuclei in the form of great world religions and

living faiths that guide and motivate the lives of mil-

lions that inhabit this earth of ours. It is our duty, in

one sense if we have the ideal of ever becoming a

citizen of the world before us, to make a little at-

tempt to know the great religions and system of

philosophy that have ruled mankind.

In spite of these preliminary remarks, the

ground in these field of religion, where there is of-

ten a conflict between intellect and emotion is so

slippery that one is constantly reminded of fools

that rush in where angels fear to tread. It is also not

so complex from another point of view. The subject

of my writing is about the tenets of a religion which

is historic and its prophet who is also a historic

personality. Even a hostile critic like Sir William

Muir speaking about the holy Quran says that.

“There is probably in the world no other book

which has remained twelve centuries with so pure

text.” I may also add Prophet Mohammad is also a

historic personality, every event of whose life has

been most carefully recorded and even the minut-

est details preserved intact for the posterity. His life

and works are not wrapped in mystery.

My work today is further lightened because

those days are fast disappearing when Islam was

highly misrepresented by some of its critics for

rea sons political and otherwise. Prof. Bevan writes

in [The] Cambridge Medieval History, “Those ac-

count[s] of Mohammad and Islam which were pub-

lished in Europe before the beginning of 19th cen-

tury are now to be regarded as literary curiosities.”

To write this monograph is easier because we are

now generally not fed on this kind of history and

much time need be spent on pointing out our mis-

representation of Islam.

West Leads the World in ‘Islamic Values’

by Ali Sina

Ali Sina is the author of Understanding Muhammad and working on his new book The Life of Muhammad

under the Light of Reason, a comprehensive review of the life of the Prophet of Islam. In this article he criticis-

es Hossein Askarai view that non-Muslim states have adopted and espouse Islamic values whereas Muslim

September 2014

7

states do not. He goes on to criticise Islam for this state of affairs rather the fact that it is misunder-stood and misused by politicians to further their

own objectives.

Are non-Muslim countries more Islamic than

Muslim countries? That is what Hossein Askari,

an Iranian-born professor of International Busi-

ness and International Affairs at George Wash-

ington University, believes. Askari says Ireland

“leads the world in Islamic values as Muslim

states lag.” After studying 208 countries and

territories he found that the top countries in

both economic achievement and social values

are Ireland, Demark, Luxembourg and New Zea-

land. Britain also ranks in the top ten. The first

Muslim-majority nation is Malaysia ranking at

33, while the only other state in the top 50 is

Kuwait at 48.

Askari then concluded that the Quran’s

teachings are better represented in non-Muslim

societies than in Islamic countries, which, he

believes, have failed to embrace the values of

their own faith in politics, business, law and so-

ciety.

Askari said Muslim countries use religion as

an instrument of state control. “We must em-

phasize that many countries that profess Islam

and are called Islamic are unjust, corrupt, and

underdeveloped and are in fact not ‘Islamic’ by

any stretch of the imagination,” Askari asserted.

“Looking at an index of Economic Islamicity,

or how closely the policies and achievements of

countries reflect Islamic economic teachings –

Ireland, Denmark, Luxembourg, Sweden, the

United Kingdom, New Zealand, Singapore, Fin-

land, Norway, and Belgium round up the first

10”, Askari added.

Askari said:

“If a country, society, or community displays

characteristics such as unelected, corrupt, op-

pressive, and unjust rulers, inequality before the

law, unequal opportunities for human develop-

ment, absence of freedom of choice (including

that of religion), opulence alongside poverty,

force, and aggression as the instruments of con-

flict resolution as opposed to dialogue and rec-

onciliation, and, above all, the prevalence of in-

justice of any kind, it is prima facie evidence

that it is not an Islamic community.”

If Askari were right, the solution would be

simple. To get rid of corruption, oppression in-

justice and inequality in Islamic countries,

which according to Askari are not Islamic val-

ues, we could encourage Muslims to leave Islam

and follow the lead of non-Muslim countries. It

appears that the more a country is Islamic the

more it lacks “Islamic values.” Saudi Arabia, Iran

and Pakistan that are more Islamic are also

more oppressive.

But of course Askari is wrong. In Islam the

unbelievers are not equal to believers. “Is he,

then, who is a believer like one who is disobedi-

ent? They are not equal.” (Q. 32:18) In Islam

men excel over women. (Q. 4:34)

Also Islam honours the institution of slavery.

(Q 33:50, 23:5) Dawud reports a hadith

(14:2692) of a slave of Ibn Umar who ran away

to the enemy and when Muslims overpowered

them Muhammad returned him to Ibn Umar.

Dawud says that this slave was not distributed

(as a part of booty) among the rest of the cap-

tives who were also reduced to slaves.

As for freedom of religion, the Quran says

“No religion other than Islam will be accepted

from anyone.” (Q. 3:85) The argument that Islam

is tolerant because the verse 2:256 says there is

no compulsion in religion is a fallacy. This verse

has nothing to do with tolerance. According to

Islamic sources, the Jews of Medina had adopted

and raised the orphaned children of Arabs and

these children had embraced Judaism. When

Muhammad expelled the Jews from their city

the relatives of these children (now adults)

wanted to prevent them leaving but in loyalty to

their adopted parents they preferred to go. The

matter was brought to Muhammad who said, if

they want to go let them go, “there is no compul-

sion in religion.” Of course if they wanted to stay

they had to convert to Islam.

Askari’s argument that the prevalence of

corruption, oppression and injustice in a society

is prima facie evidence that it is not Islamic is

absurd. Governments are either democratic or

dictatorial. Corruption and oppression are more

likely in dictatorships. In democracies, people

have the power to remove corrupt governments,

unless they are so ignorant that they are easily

deceived, which is not the fault of democracy. In

democracy, laws are made by people. Islam does

not recognize the laws made by people. The

September 2014

8

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people. And as long as he adhered to the Islamic

law no one is allowed to criticize or oppose him,

even if he is unjust.

Muhammad said, “If Allah has on Earth a

caliph who flays your back and takes your prop-

erty, obey him; otherwise die holding onto the

stump of a tree.”[Dawud 35: 4232] So much for

freedom and justice!

The 18th century Muslim scholar Shah Wali-

ullah on the Obedience of the Caliph wrote,

The Prophet has said: “Hearing and obeying

is an obligation of every Muslim, whether he

likes the command or dislikes it, as long as he is

not commanded to commit a sin. If he is com-

manded to commit a sin, then he absolved of the

obligation to hear and obey.” [Sahih Muslim.]

(I say): Since an imam is installed for two

kinds of public weal, by which religious and po-

litical affairs are regulated, and since the Proph-

et was sent for their sake, and the imam is the

Prophet’s deputy and

an executor of his mis-

sion, therefore, obedi-

ence to the imam is

indeed obedience to

the Prophet. And diso-

bedience to him would

be tantamount to diso-

bedience of the Proph-

et except when he

commands to commit

a sin. For then it would

be evident that obedi-

ence to him is no long-

er in obedience to

God, and in that event,

he would cease to be a

deputy of God’s

Prophet. This is why the Prophet said: “Whoever

follows an amir, he indeed follows me, and who-

ever disobeys an amir, he indeed disobeys

me” [Sahih Muslim]. [Shah Wali Allah, Selection

from Hujjat Allah al-Balighah, English Transla-

tion, 2006, pp. 116-117]

As for economics, something Khomeini said,

“is for the donkey,” Islam has very little to offer.

Bukahri (3:39:541) reports Muhammad saying,

“There is no house in which these (agricultural)

equipment enters except that Allah will cause

humiliation to enter it.” The reason Muhammad

disparaged agriculture is because he wanted to

encourage his companions to earn their living

through jihad. He said that is the best bargain

and he who strives hard for Allah’s cause with

their wealth and in persons will reap the re-

wards. (Q. 6:11)

The irony is that Muslims can see something

is wrong with their societies, but can’t see its

cause. Western countries are not prospering

because they have embraced Islamic values.

How delusional is this thinking? They are pros-

pering because they drew a clear line

between religion and state, and have

embraced secularism. Muslims can’t do

such a thing. Islam is more than a reli-

gion. It is primarily a political system.

It is totalitarian as it controls all as-

pects of the life of the believer. Muham-

mad was not just a prophet but also a

dictator. His successors also ruled with

undisputed authority.

If Islamic countries are dictatorial, un-

just, oppressive and backwards we

should look for the cause of it in the

values that they espouse. Their failure

is evident even to them. But instead of

acknowledging the problem they keep

digging their heads deeper in the sands

of denial. Isn’t it time to wake up?