The blessed month of Ramadan is upon us and the Muslim Ummah across the world has responded to the call to fast and gain the reward from Allah (swt). We in Hizb ut-Tahrir send our warmest congratulations to the Muslim Ummah on this great occasion. May Allah (swt) accept our fasts and prayers and all our good deeds and elevate us in taqwa so that we gain closeness to our Lord. Peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah (saw) who conveyed this Deen to this Ummah.
The month of Ramadan truly demonstrates the oneness of this Ummah and the power of the ayaat of the Qur’an to motivate this Ummah in fulfilling the command of Allah (swt).
O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may become Al-Muttaqun (TMQ Surah Baqarah:183)
This year the Ummah has faced extraordinary trials and tribulations. Across the entire Middle East the Ummah has risen up against the tyrants and dictators who have oppressed her for decades. Thousands of people, including women and children, faced bullets, tanks and mortars in order to liberate themselves from the torture of the regimes that have ruled us for the last 90 years. This was the year that the Ummah threw off fear and silence and moved towards a much-needed liberation – and the struggle is continuing in this blessed month of Ramadhan.
Muslims in Afghanistan and Pakistan have continued to be subjected to the brutality of America’s war in the region. Drone attacks, bombing campaigns, killings and kidnappings have brought death and destruction to the Muslim Ummah on an unprecedented scale. At the same time the Muslims of Palestine continue to suffer under the occupation of the Zionists. In the last few weeks we have seen the extreme suffering of the Muslims in Somalia and the horn of Africa from famine and drought. We feel the pain and suffering of Muslims across the world as we are one Ummah with one Aqeeda and as the Messenger (saw) described this Ummah,we are ‘one body.’
As we fast and pray in this month of Ramadan, we should reflect on these events and think of why our Ummah is suffering across the world despite the fact that Allah (swt) guided this Ummah with the Qur’an and the Sunnah of the Messenger (saw) and described this Ummah as the ‘khaira (best) Ummah.’
Allah (swt) clearly described the revelation of the Qur’an in the month of Ramadan.
The month of Ramadhan [is that] in which was revealed the Qur’an, a Guidance [Huda] for the people and clear proofs of Guidance and Criterion [Furqaan] (TMQ Surah Baqarah:185)
The Qur’an has been revealed as a Huda and Furqaan for mankind.
We will hear the recitation of the glorious Qur’an every night in our masaajid this month and Muslims will recite the Qur’an as much as we can. The question is, are we taking this Qur’an as a Huda and Furqaan in our Ummah’s affairs?
The sad truth is that we have not. For decades now, laws and rules that are not from Islam have governed our countries. Rulers who are the most corrupt of men in the Ummah have run our countries. They have ruled us by laws based upon other than the Qur’an and Sunnah i.e. the secular man made laws of capitalism. Our political systems have been dominated by dictators who have unilaterally made oppressive laws or so called democrats who have collectively made laws in parliament to suit their interests and benefits. In all cases we have seen a political system ravaged by corruption, nepotism, cronyism and slavery to western powers. Our economies have been enslaved to the capitalist states that have treated our counties simply as ‘markets’. The rich have gotten richer and the poor have gotten poorer. Poverty, inequality, lack of decent public services, mass unemployment and no industrialization is the legacy of decades of economic mismanagement based upon IMF and World Bank policies. This, despite the Muslim Ummah being blessed with dedicated human resources, vast agricultural lands and huge reserves of natural gas, oil, coal etc.
This situation has occurred after the Qur’an was removed from our public life and just left to guide us in our salat and fasting. Whilst the Qur’an is recited in our prayers and in the masaajid, our political, economic and social lives has been led by manmade laws and policies based upon secular capitalism. As an Ummah we have been aimlessly running from one western policy to another, to one institution to another, without fundamentally looking to the Islamic system to solve our problems, which is consistent with our beliefs, culture, history and heritage.
Allah (swt) said:
“Do you, then, believe in one part of the Book and reject the other?” (TMQ Surah Baqarah: 85)
“And We have revealed to you the Book explaining all matters” (TMQ Surah An-Nahl: 89)
“And rule them by what Allah has revealed and follow not their desires away from the Truth that has come to you” (TMQ Surah Maidah: 48)
These ayaat clearly illustrate that this Qur’an came to address all of our affairs. It has been the relegation of the Qur’an to only individual acts of worship (important though they are) and replacing the societal and political rules with kufr man made laws which has led this Ummah to this state of affairs. Have the decades of implementing man-made western laws and systems brought any goodness to our Ummah? It cannot be right that we worship Allah in our fasting and salah yet take Shaytan and his allies to lead us in the rest of our affairs!
As we fast this month, this Ummah is crying desperately for real change. This change will not come unless we take the Qur’an as our sole guidance and Furqaan. The Qur’an and Sunnah demand that the Muslim Ummah have a leadership (Khalifah or Ameer) that implements the Shariah and addresses all our problems from the Shariah perspective. It is only an Islamic leadership – the Khilafah – that can stand up to America’s aggression in our lands, end our dependency to the western banking systems and unify and lead our countries on a path to progress and prosperity. Without this Islamic political leadership we will continue to be ruled by western backed corrupt rulers who will keep this Ummah weak, divided and enslaved to other nations. Both dictators and ‘democrats’ alike have destroyed our countries. As all these have failed in our countries, we must reach out to the system revealed by Allah (swt).
Here in the West we need to be part of that change. We should build our communities on a strong understanding of Islam as a complete guidance for mankind. Every Muslim should know that Ramadan is the month that Allah revealed the Qur’an as a complete Guidance not just for fasting and salah but for all our issues. Every Muslim should know that Islam has its own unique political system that prevents politicians from making laws to suit their patrons in business; an economic system that can end poverty and inequality; a social system that elevates women from the status of sexual objects to mothers, wives and full members of society; and a global system that will end nationalism and racism and end the hegemony of colonial powers. Building our communities on these strong foundations means that we will not only ensure that we live by our Deen, but will join our brothers and sisters who are struggling in the Muslim countries to bring real change and carry the Message of Islam to the non-Muslims in the West.
Our fasting in the month of Ramadhan surely represents our determination to worship Allah (swt). This worship of Allah must mean we rush to work to implement His Deen and re-establish the leadership of Islam – the Khilafah.
May Allah (swt) accept our fasts and prayers in this month and May Allah (swt) give this Ummah the victory she desperately needs. Ameen.
Hizb ut-Tahrir
Britain
Britain
1st Ramadhan 1432 / 1st August 2011
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