The Causes of the Ummah’s Defeat - PART 1

Dr. Rāghib As-Sirjānī
At-Tibyān Publications
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We have heard in the last lesson, and in the previous lessons generally, we heard the causes for victory in the days of [Sayf Ad-Dīn] Qutuz, may Allāh have Mercy upon him. And they are the same causes for victory in all the battles of the Muslims. beginning from the days of the Messenger, صلى الله عليه و سلم، and continuing with all of the Muslims’ victories, and until our time today. Indeed, until the Day of Resurrection. And this is because the causes for victory are from the Divine Sunan, and the Divine Sunan do not change and are not exchanged. He, Ta’ālā, Said,
وَلَن تَجِدَ لِسُنَّةِ اللَّهِ تَبْدِيلاًAnd you will not find any change in the Sunnah of Allāh [1]
And the one who examines the causes of victory will see clearly that the Islāmic Ummah in the time of its defeat and weakness had greatly abandoned these causes. And it was tried with many dangerous illnesses, which are, simply, the opposite of the causes for victory that we mentioned in the previous lesson. Let’s flip the causes for victory and present the diseases the Ummah is suffering from now, and then [see] how we can free ourselves from these diseases.
The first disease : The absence of clarity about the Islāmic identity.
And the fundamental, sublime Islāmic rule that became clear to us after ‘Ayn Jālūt is that if you give victory to Allāh, Allāh will give victory to you. And the Victory of Allāh comes by implementing His Sharī’ah and rallying around one single Islāmic banner. And the banner must be Islāmic, with complete clarity. Islāmic. Not racial or tribal or nationalistic.
As for distance from the Manhaj of Allāh ‘Azza Wa Jall, and accepting the Eastern and Western substitution, and turning away from the Book of Allāh ‘Azza Wa Jall and the Sunnah of His noble Messenger, صلى الله عليه و سلم, then this is the root of the calamities and the location of the disease. And the Muslims did not change the situation of the Tattār until there appeared the one who called out with the beautiful, deep call, “Wā Islāmāh,” as we clarified before [when talking about] the causes of victory at ‘Ayn Jālūt. No matter how much any commander tries to incite his people with something other than Islām, he will never be successful, and his nation will never be successful.
Allāh, ‘Azza Wa Jall, refused to give us victory except if we bind ourselves to Him on the outside and the inside. Our outside is Muslim and our inside is Muslim. Our politics is Muslim. Or economics is Muslim. Our media is Muslim. Our judiciary is Muslim. Our army is Muslim. Like this, with clarity. Without concealment or dread or fear or apprehension.
My brothers and sisters, there is nothing for us to be ashamed of. Rather, the one who frees himself from the religion is the one who should be ashamed. Subhān Allāh, look at our present reality. Those who speak about the religion must be very careful, and every word is counted against them, and they must say the words with precision so the words do not have other [unintended] meanings. And as for those who speak about corruption and pornography, then as they wish. No restriction or condition. The music videos, and the shameless programs, and the dirty advertisements, without a watcher or a reckoner. How can a nation that lost its identity to this degree be victorious? How can a nation be victorious where the scholar feels ashamed to say the word of Truth, and the evil one does not feel ashamed to openly proclaim his evil and shamelessness? There must be a pause, O muslims. The loss of the Islāmic identity is the first and primary disease that enabled the enemies of the Ummah to overtake our lands.
OK, what is the second disease?
The second disease is: Division between the Muslims, the opposite of unity amongst the Muslims.
As the disputes, my brother, were present between all different Muslim provinces in the days of the Tattār, and as Jalāl Ad-Dīn [ibn Khawarizm-Shah] was causing mischief in the lands of the Muslims, while the armies of the Tattār were a few steps away from them, likewise we see differences and disputes creeping between all almost all the Muslim countries. Think, and you will not find two Islāmic lands neighboring one another except that you will find they are disputing over borders, or are differing about [another] issue. The Muslims have become completely busy with themselves. They left the occupying armies to carouse in the territories of the Islāmic world, and they made their preoccupation throwing words and sermons, and sometimes rocks and weapons, back and forth with their Muslim brothers. Subhān Allāh.
And there is no doubt that disputes between the Muslims is a companion of failure. As our Lord clearly Said in His book:
وَلاَ تَنَازَعُواْ فَتَفْشَلُواْ وَتَذْهَبَ رِيحُكُمْ وَاصْبِرُواْ إِنَّ اللّهَ مَعَ الصَّابِرِينَAnd do not dispute (with one another) lest you lose courage and your strength depart, and be patient. Surely, Allāh is with the patient ones [2]
So this is a one of the dangerous diseases that we definitely see with our eyes, and explains for us the ability of the Americans and others to [overpower] the Muslim lands.
The third disease: Luxury and attachment to the Dunyā:
The Dunyā became very large in the eyes of the Muslims in the days of the Tattār, and likewise in our time. There are whole generations of the Muslims who do not live except for their Dunyā, though this Dunyā is despised and lowly. Every individual lives for himself. Every individual lives to gather wealth, and to beautify and make his living nicer and to enjoy the different types of luxuries and food, drink, transportation, and housing, and to enjoy the different types of singing and the different new forms of music. And so on. The Muslims drowned in their Dunyā. Many of the youth, my brothers, memorize from the shameless songs more than what he memorizes of the Qur’ān. Many of the youth know in detail the lives of the male and female “artists,” the living and the dead of them, and know, with certainty, the life story of every athlete in our country or other countries, and do not know anything about the life stories of the heroes and scholars and commanders of the Muslims. Rather, they do not know anything on the life stories of the companions of the Messenger of Allāh. Rather they might not know anything about the life story of the Messenger of Allāh himself! Subhān Allāh. Is this not a disease that requires treatment?
Luxury, my brothers, is from the clear causes of destruction. Allāh, ‘Azza Wa Jall, says in His Book:
وَإِذَا أَرَدْنَا أَن نُّهْلِكَ قَرْيَةً أَمَرْنَا مُتْرَفِيهَا فَفَسَقُواْ فِيهَا فَحَقَّ عَلَيْهَا الْقَوْلُ فَدَمَّرْنَاهَا تَدْمِيراًAnd when We decide to destroy a town (population), We (first) send a definite order (to obey Allāh and be righteous) to those among them who are given the good things of this life. Then, they transgress therein, and thus the word (of torment) is justified against it (them). Then We destroy it with complete destruction. [3]
The extravagance in the Muslim countries today has reached to the level of the regular Muslims, it even reached to the poor. Can you imagine? To the poor. A man might not find his day’s sustenance, but will not be able to give up cigarettes. Subhān Allāh. It may be that he cannot find what will support himself and his children, but he will sit for hours at the cafes and cafeterias and coffee shops, and so on. He might not be able to educate his children, but he is avid and keen on obtaining a video [player] or a satellite dish.
And the ideological extravagance. Subhān Allāh. And what will make you know what is ideological extravagance? Very, very dangerous. It preoccupies the minds of many of those who consider themselves to be cultured with things that do not nourish or avail from hunger at all. Philosophical ideas, secular schools, materialistic notions, statements and insights from people who amount to nothing on the scale of Truth.
Should this be the case for an Ummah that is suffering from a crisis? Should this be the case for an Ummah that is occupied in more than one of its lands? Should this be the case for an Ummah that is backwards in most of the fields of life? The military, political, economic and educational fields, as well as the moral field? This can never be right. But this is the reality that we see with our eyes. Yes, it is a painful reality, but we do not wish to be like ostriches, burying our heads in the sand, and hide these realities from our eyes so that we can live in happiness. This cannot be, this is stupidity and foolishness. We cannot do this. Rather, we should confront these diseases and take a serious pause with our diseases so that we can cure them. And the state of the Muslims will not get better, and their lands will never be freed except through implementing the Sharī’ah of our Lord, and except with our conformity to our Lord’s Sunan of Victory. And this is witnessed in history, and is witnessed in the present.
The fourth disease from the disease of the Islāmic Ummah - and it is a very, very dangerous disease - is the abandonment of Jihād, my brothers…
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TO BE CONTINUED…