Islamic Revival

The following is a continuation from Exposing the call for the reformation of Islam - Part 1 Example 3: The claim that Islam doesn’t have a ruling system Ali Abdul Raziq (1888-1966 CE) of Egypt, a student of Muhammad Abduh attempted to confine Islam to ritual spiritual issues. He claimed that Islam did not define a ruling system or form of government thus denying the clear obligation of Khilafah (caliphate). He wrote in his book ‘al-Islam Wa Usul al Hukm’ (Islam and the principles of government): "Islam is innocent of this insitution of the caliphate as Muslims commonly understand it. Religion has nothing to do with one form of government rather than another and there is nothing in Islam which forbids Muslims to destroy their old political system and build a new one on the basis of the newest conceptions of the human spirit and the experience of nations." Islam, according to him, is a religion whose religious precepts are binding only on individual conscience and hav...

The Indian masses have no faith in the secular democratic government of their country. It is evident from the wide-spread corruption and null participation of the people in the participation of democratic process. If any ordinary Indian should be asked about the integrity of the public representatives and government servants, a majority of those would refuse to have faith in them except those having some vested interest. People have a belief deep down in their hearts that secular democracy doesn’t solve the problems of mankind. Similar is the case of Muslim community living across the globe having no faith in the secular democratic governments. Therefore we see that the Muslim minorities living in any part of the world try to preserve their culture, Islamic values and identity by separating themselves. Or sometimes they are separated by the establishments through prejudiced treatment with them. They have firm faith in Islam that it resolves the problems of mankind in the best way. Toda...

Rampur (U.P.) An irony of the age – Secular politics and Islamic charity runs in parallel. But this is happening in Rampur where people were executing the obligatory part of Islam i.e. paying of Zakat, by submitting their Zakat money at the office of “Samajwadi Party”. Till now we have some Islamic organizations conducting the affairs of collecting Zakat funds and distributing them to the needy people. Which is a temporary solution in the absence of the proper mechanism which the Shariah mandates which is under the functioning of an Islamic state. As exposed by an Urdu daily newspaper, Muhammad Azam Khan, a top leader of Samajwadi Party (SP), floated a foundation by the name of Muhammad Ali Jauhar University fund. It is collecting Zakat Funds to help the needy Muslim students of Muhammad Ali Jauhar University. As a chairman of Jauhar Trust, Mr. Azam issued an appeal to Muslims for depositing their Zakat to the Trust. The appeal also mentioned a Fatwa justifying the act but it did not d...

Question: Is it haram to wear garments that reach below the ankles, such as trousers? Answer: It is unfortunate that today people sometimes make a big deal about small issues and they condemn other Muslims as doing something Munkar (evil) even though they are following a legitimate opinion derived from Ijtihad. Imam Naysaburi one of the great Ulema in the past said, the Munkar is those of the haram which are definitive and not those which there is difference of opinion on. There is clearly difference of opinion amongst the Ulema on this issue. The strongest opinion is that the Prophet (saw) was cautioning the Muslims from the practise of Jahilliyya when people used to trail their garments below their ankles our of pride. If it is done without pride then it is permitted. Imam Muslim reported narrated Abu Dharr: The Messenger of Allah observed: "Three are the (persons) with whom Allah would neither speak on the Day of Resurrection, nor would look at them nor would absolve them, and ...

The following is an extract from the draft translation of the arabic book entitled 'Dawa ilal Islam' (Dawa to Islam) by Sheikh Ahmad Mahmoud, published by Al-Waie Publications in Lebanon. I will be posting the sections of the book related to this subject. Gradualism (tadarruj) We want to look at, treat and demonstrate the corruption of the idea of gradualism in the adoption of Islam, and the ideas that result from this idea, such as the permission for Muslims to participate in the current systems. The view that Democracy is from Islam is an attempt to make Islam more acceptable to the mind. This is because these thoughts have a strong relationship with the work of some groups in bringing change. So what is gradualism? What does it include according to those who hold this view? What are its justifications? What is the Shar’ee rule regarding it? When the Muslims reached the abyss of spiritual weakness, material and intellectual backwardness and political decline, their thoughts c...