Question 1: Read Hasan al-Banna’s “Between Yesterday and Today”. What is the cause of the economic, social, and political decline of the Muslim community (ummah)? What is its cure?
The earliest Muslim community ( ummah) was built upon by the principles of society as laid forward by the Quran and the holy apostle Mohammad(PBUH). This society was bound by these underlying principles for every aspect of the system whether social, political or economical. The Quran and Allah’s messenger defined all the rules that distinguished the Muslim society from any other community or empire. Muslim empire was a centralized system of government where brotherhood, mutual respect of rights and Quranic regulations for every issue was the basic characteristics. Unlike, other social or political systems this empire had religion at its core and encouraged everyone to adhere and follow the rules impose on them from The Allah and his book Quran. The Muslim empire continued to prosper until the rulers and leaders started forgetting their basic identification and the principles. The Quranic order proved to be the strength for the Muslims as an individual as well as in the community.
The downfall of this steady empire is associated with the regime of Tartars in the thirteenth century. The Tartar Muslims were immigrants and converted Muslims, their regime in comparison to the actual Arab Muslim leaders lacked the basic principles of the Islamic community. Tartar were not as strict followers of Islam as the previous leaders of the Muslim Ummah, thus their policies and regulation were not implemented and followed with strictness by the leaders as well as the people. The result was emergence of several school of thoughts and religious indifferences. They were ignorant towards Quranic order, the basic set of principles of Muslim life and the sunnahs preached by the Allah’s apostle Mohammad (PBUH). Allah had clearly indicated that Muslims were to consult the Quran and Sunnah for the solution of their every problem, instead the Tartars encouraged solutions based on the decisions forwarded by commissions and delegations often contradicting and conflicting with the actual preaching and regulations of Islam. This disregard for the basic principles was even more affected by their inherent nature of being competitive and aggressive. Unlike the teachings of Islam and strict prohibition by Allah to compete for supremacy and power, the Tartars were heavily involved in conquests and fights to gain power or imperialism not to spread Islam but to extend their empire showing their power and position. The quest for power led to confusion and controversies in the political beliefs of the people and in result the Tartars as well as the common people got more inclined towards power and in the quest of outperforming others to gain more power and better position a characteristic disliked by Allah. With power and position came indulgence in luxuries and comforts. The Arab leaders and the Khalifas of Islam led simple and modest life according to the preaching of Islam and kept Allah’s will at the core of their every deed. Unlike them, the Tartars led a lavish lifestyle full of pleasures and lust that take away their focus from establishing and maintaining a Muslim empire to decorating and enjoying their own lives. At this point protection and guidance of their fellow men, as instructed by Allah was a secondary chore for the Tartar leaders thus the empire started breaking down into several smaller components each demanding its own independence thus deteriorating the main doctrine of the Muslim community structure. The Tartars involved non Arabs heavily into the governance who themselves were not strict followers of Islam and didn’t quite understand the true spirit of the Quranic order. The governance was weak and full of unworthy people who advised the leaders wrongly and engaging them in useless activities when the world was engage in scientific discoveries and expedition The leaders of Islamic states in other oarts especially in the European and African continent were peaceful but were careless about the situation in their surroundings and continued to follow the same pattern of self devastating activities carried out by the Tartars. Most of the countries in the Ottoman Empire were invaded and became colonies of the European countries that erased any remaining traces of Islamic or Quranic order. Though these countries fought and got their independence sooner or later however the western power were so strong by this time that the economical system of the Muslim countries like others were also overwhelmed by the Western powers thus paralyzing the entire economical system forcing these countries to follow the rules and regulations of the west rather than their own.
The only solution for the Muslim empire to regain its power is to unite and adhere to the basic principles laid down by the Quranic order. All the Muslim countries heavily or lightly affected by the West have a responsibility to limit the access of these powerful western countries within their system to occupy the full control of their system. Currently, Muslims around the world have forgotten their roots and to revive their history every State needs to make measures to implement such rules that force and encourage good deeds and virtues. Islam’s doctrine include the concept of reward and punishment as a way to appreciate or discourage people through a defined mechanism, this strategy is now proven scientifically as a theory of psychology and is believed to reduce the bad deeds among people. Islamic states need to execute these regulations so that people are more attracted towards the Quranic teachings. Secondly, the Islamic countries need to make their economic situation stronger and their political environment more stable so that the foreign intervention can be kept at minimum. The Islamic countries need to invest among themselves thus cooperating at trade and business level more so that the western countries can be kept distant from the economic system. To conclude, it can be said that the Muslim ummah needs to act, believe and think as one ummah that has to operate on the basic principles of Islam as practiced by the prophet Mohammad and the Khalifas.
Question II
The Third Shi'i Imam, Husayn (d. 680), became an important symbol of both the sacrifice of the family of the Prophet and the necessity that each man and woman of conscience stand against injustice . Read the late Ayatallah Mutahhari's essay discussing Husayn ibn Ali's death at Karbala in 680 C.E. "The Truth About Al-Hussain's Revolt". How does this author transform the story of Husayn's decision to take a stand against injustice into a universal lesson for modern men and women?
Imam Husayn is regarded as a man of profound quality and justice among the Islamic leaders from the history. His objection and the revolt against Mu’aawiyah was in alignment with the Islamic teachings and more importantly was not carried out as an anger burst. Rather it included peaceful course of actions to clarify his stance in front of Mu’aawiyah. The role and actions that he took in his quest all imply in one direction showing him as a responsible and cautious leader. The Imam had a good majority of followers but he did not attempt to affect anyone for his cause. The Imam sent letters to Mu’aawiyah and Yazid as well as gave sermons to clarify and present his stance on Mu’aawiyah decision of changing the Islamic khalifa rule into dynasty model by pre selecting Yazid as the nest Khalifa. During all this time and even at the time when Imam Husayn was on the verge of the Karbala war he announced and allowed the people to go and leave the war if they wish so. Unlike any other leader, Imam Husayn did not give any false hopes to his people that might have discouraged them later nor did he gave them any hope of a monetary gain as that would be a lie anyway. Secondly though he was a true leader however his revolt was not a one man show, all his followers believed in his vision and conquest, his people got involved into the revolt as their choice. The Imam with all his power and strength followed the passage as instructed by the Quran and Sunnah, he initially just showed the passive rejections not taking advantage of his position or his descendents. Amidst all this the people of Kufa requested the Imam to establish Islamic order like that of the times when Ali ruled. The imam did what a true leader would do for his people, he accepted their request and thus revolted against Mu’aawiyah thus proving what he was obliged to do that is encourage good deeds but reject the bad.
The entire history of the Karabala war depicts the role of a responsible and humane leader. There was not an instant during the entire course of war when the Imam was careless of his followers and of his duty as a role model. It is also worth noting that though he enjoyed immense support and appreciation but he didn’t take that for granted and nor did he take any advantage out of it. In the modern era when countries and heads of states initiate a negotiation with strict warnings and threats the imam followed a passive response with the intent of avoiding anything that might be harmful for the people or the country. Likewise, during the war the Imam was more concerned about his people’s lives and did all he could to spare innocent lives to be affected by the war and related atrocities. The Imam showed that he put his people before his own life and well being. Today, several pacts and treaties are made to save people from war crimes or mass atrocities however the head of states seem to be less attentive to secure their people first. Likewise, he also proved himself as a true follower of the Islamic principles that he felt responsible of the betterment of his people by providing them an appropriate establishment according to the values they cherish. He showed that as a leader he was obliged to fulfill their just requests and deny every request that might be lucrative for him but be harmful for his people. Thus this revolt was justified as it had a righteous and significant reason behind it and his people followed him in his quest due to their trust on their leader.
This account of karbala war educates the people of the modern era in understanding their stance, their revolts or quests beforehand. This implies that they need to know what they want to do and why, avoiding hasty decisions and avoiding actions that might aggravta ethe issue in the initial stages rather than solve it. Negotiations and mediation should be considered before taking strict actions considering the long term harm that brings to everyone involved. More importantly the role of Imam shows that any person involved in a revolt should not abuse the position, trust or power he has for his gains rather he must put the betterment of others who trust them before his own personal wills.
