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Hadith 7
On the authority of Tamim Al-Dari that the Prophet, sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam, said:
"Religion is nasihah." We said: "To whom?" The Prophet, sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam, said: "To Allah and His Book, and His messenger, and to the leaders of the Muslims and their common folk."
[Muslim]
Background
The word "nasihah" cannot be accurately translated to English because it is a broad concept which cannot be traced in the English language. Some use the term "sincerity" but this is only part of the concept - to negate deception/cheating. According to Imam Ibnu al-Salah, nasihah is "truly seeking the best, in terms of intention and action, for the one whom he is making nasihah to".
This hadith is a profound statement as Sheikh Jamaal al-Din Zarabozo says that in this one brief statement the Prophet, sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam, described the essence of Islam. Nasihah hence forms the bulk and the most important pillar of Islam since it encompasses Islam, Iman and Ihsan.
Lessons
Nasihah to Allah
The nasihah should be to Allah first. This includes the fulfillment of the obligations in the best way possible (Ihsan).This should be the goal for every Muslim. This also includes striving to get as close to Allah as possible by doing not only the obligations but also the preferable good deeds, by forbidding the forbidden and avoiding the disliked acts.
Nasihah to Allah also involves:
•believing in Allah and denying any partners with Him.
•believing in His attributes.
•obeying Him.
•fulfilling His commands and abstaining from what He has forbidden.
•doing what is best to remember Him, under all circumstances.
•loving whatever He loves and hating whatever He hates, be it objects, persons, actions, sayings, etc.
• recognising the blessings He has bestowed upon us and properly thanking Him for these blessings.
To do nasihah to Allah one should have the correct intention in one's heart to fulfill the rights of Allah, even when one is excused and it is beyond one's ability to perform these obligations.
Sometimes a person may not be able to perform an obligation but at least he has good intentions in his heart to fulfill it in the first place. The actions of the heart (i.e. to have hope in Allah's mercy, to trust Him, to fear Him and to seek refuge in Him), and the actions of the limbs (prayers, Zakah, etc.) also fall under nasihah to Allah.
Honesty is also another aspect of this great concept. In whatever we do we should always be honest with Allah, similarly with ikhlas (sincerity). In fact ikhlas should be the first thing that a Muslim should attain when we talk about nasihah to Allah.
Nasihah to His Book
This includes:-
•Believing that the Qur'an is from Allah, that it is the Word of Allah and that it is not like the word of man.
•According to one's ability, to read and recite the Qur'an and to practice it.
•To study it's admonitions, lessons and parables.
•Calling others to believe in the Qur'an.
•To defend and protect it from any kind of distortion or misinterpretation.
•Defending the Qur'an against false claims made against it.
•Having proper respect and treating the Qur'an in a proper manner - e.g. to be careful not to throw away a piece of paper which has an ayat printed on it (magazine article, etc.) as it may be stepped on - we should also be aware if we see such a piece of paper on the ground to pick it up and keep it away safely or destroy it by burning it so that it is not subject to disrespect.
Nasihah to His Messenger
This includes:-
• Believing the Prophet's, sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam, message.
• Believing in all that he brought as being divinely inspired.
• Loving him more than we love ourselves and our families - it is the second level of love after the love of Allah.
• Our love for him should lead to other obligations like obeying him.
• Helping him and defending him (for those who were alive during his time) – defending his honour and respecting his status.
• For the people who came after the Prophet's, sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam, life, we should respect and love his Sunnah which is an implication of loving him.
• To say "sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam" whenever his name is mentioned.
• To accept his Sunnah as a scale by which we judge things, actions and sayings.
• To accept him as the true leader and only human's final word with respect to the religion
- he is the only true human authority and everyone else's statements/opinions come after his.
• To love those who love him and hate those who hate him.
• Reviving his Sunnah by learning, understanding, teaching and spreading it. However, when we call people to the Sunnah - as advised by Imam Ahmad - we should do it in a nice and proper way and not to end up fighting about it. One problem today is that many Muslims are unaware of the Sunnah and the status of the Sunnah - so one of the things we should do is to make these people love the Sunnah, and we should not do so in an aggressive or confrontational way as this might lead to the people being confused, offensive and rejecting the Sunnah. There are so many bid'ah being practiced today and the way to remove bid'ah amongst the people is to revive the Sunnah (The Salaf said: "Bid'ah only arises when the Sunnan is not known or practiced."). To revive the Sunnah, we should not start with the condemnation of bid'ah but rather with the introduction/presentation of the Sunnah. We have to set good role models of those who love, and follow the Sunnah and we should teach others in a nice, proper way so that others too can understand, love and appreciate the Sunnah. Then they will use the Sunnah as a scale to judge things. Slowly, insha Allah, bid'ah will be reduced and minimized. When we try to educate people about the Sunnah, we should be careful not to confuse them by focussing on minor issues. Sunnan can be broken into different levels and we should start from the highest level. We should not teach people about the lower levels (details) when they haven't been taught the higher levels (basic concepts). We should let the people understand and love the higher level Sunnan first before we go step by step into the lower levels, slowly covering more details. This, insha Allah, will lead to the
revival of the Sunnah.
• To love both his family and his companions. Most Islamic sects love one or the other and not both. There are some deviated Islamic sects who are propagating their false beliefs by creating doubts about the Sahabahs (Companions) with the intention of making people hate them. This will lead to the rejection of the Sunnah. Some sects only believe the Sunnah that comes through their imams, e.g. the Shi'ah. We should be aware of the sources of narrations about the Sahabah as some of these narrations are false and may create doubts.
• To love those who follow, defend and strive to revive the Sunnah of the Prophet, sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam.
Nasihah to the Muslim Leaders
The word 'leader' stands for both 'ulama and those in authority (at all levels). Nasihah should be given to all leaders, no matter how high or what the ranking is. No one is above the law in Islam and no one is above needing advice. Nasihah is for the benefit of anyone who is in authority. This means that a ruler, leader or scholar should be the first to accept sincere advice.
Making nasihah to Muslim leaders should include:-
• Helping them in whatever is good or beneficial.
• Obeying them in what is right.
• Reminding them if they should err or forget.
• Being patient with them if they do things which we dislike - we try to do the nasihah and at the same time we tolerate the leader because otherwise it may lead to instability in the Muslim community.
• Making jihad with them and not revolting against their proper authority.
• One should pray for their guidance and piety.
• Choosing the right way, manner and channel in advising them. The Scholars say giving nasihah to leaders should be done according to certain rules:
i. One must have good intentions (ikhlas).
ii. It should be done mildly, calling on them with respect.
iii. Avoiding harshness and not to embarrass them - our aim is to advise and correct them and not to show off.
iv. Not to divulge or inform others about their wrong-doings as this may lead to more problems in the society.
v. Give the nasihah privately and not publicly.
• If one is asked by the leader to do a maksiah or something which contradicts with Shariah, one shouldn't obey. However, we should disobey in a nice/assertive manner and not in an aggressive way because our aim is to remind them that this is wrong so that they will change and not ask us to do the maksiah.
• For the Scholars, our nasihah is seeking knowledge from them.
• We obey them if their opinion is based on sound proof and evidence.
• Not to seek or point out their mistakes. There are some people who search for the mistakes of Scholars - we shouldn't do this because Scholars are pious people and this act may cause Allah to be displeased with us. It may also create chaos in the community.
• Not to follow them blindly.
• Not to hollow them.
Nasihah to the Common Folk of the Muslims
This includes:-
• To observe the rights of other Muslims - fulfilling our obligations towards other Muslims. These obligations differ depending on the group of Muslims (e.g. our parents, children, relatives, neighbours, etc.) - e.g. greeting them, visiting them when they are sick, making du'a for them, giving advice if they ask for it, praying solat ul janazah for the one who dies, etc.
• To observe the concept of wala' which means:
i. to love every Muslim.
ii. to care for all Muslims.
iii. to help other Muslims.
iv. to defend/protect other Muslims .
If you do not love, you will not care. If you do not care, you will not help. If you do not help, you will not protect.
The reason why so many Muslims today do not care or help others is because there is something wrong with the wala' aspect of love. We should have love for other Muslims, especially those who are suffering, so we will care and help them.
The Scholars say one way to help and the least we can do is to make du'a (pray for them). There is a counter concept to al-wala' which is al-bara or disassociation with (for the purpose of leading others from doing evil). However we should not do it:
v. for our own interest.
vi. if it will not lead the other person to change his ways - we should not start with disassociation, we should start with giving advice and educating.
We should show love and concern and give nasihah in the proper way. If all else fails, then we can use the concept of disassociation (if it will lead to the person changing).
The Prophet, sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam, said that "he is a real Muslim if he is the one who the other Muslims are saved from his tongue and his hand" - the true Muslim is one who will not harm others verbally or physically, in any way or by any means.
• Having mercy for the young and showing respect to the elders - it is part of glorifying Allah that we respect the elder Muslims.
• Sacrificing one's time, effort, money, etc. for the betterment of the Muslim community.
• If we are the ones in authority, then we should act sincerely towards the rest of the Muslims and do whatever is in their best interest. We should give nasihah to the people by, e.g. doing what is best for the ummah, defending the community, putting the right
and qualified people in the right position and job. Any kind of leadership or authority, whatever the level or rank, is responsible for the people being lead - e.g. supervisors, managers, teachers, principles, etc.
Conclusion
From exploring all the obligations mentioned above, we can see that nasihah encompasses
everything in Islam, Iman and Ihsan.
Hadith 8
Abdullah bin Umar narrated that the messenger of Allah, sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam, said:
"I have been ordered to fight against people until they testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah and until they perform the prayers and pay the zakat, and if they do so they will have gained protection from me for their lives and property, unless [they do acts that are punishable] in accordance with Islam, and their reckoning will be with Allah the Almighty."
[Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
Background
The majority of Scholars say that the "people" here refers to the Arab polytheists. The same interpretation can also be found in the Qur'an in Surah An-Nasr.
Another opinion say that the Prophet, sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam, was referring to all people, excluding Ahlul Kitab, i.e. the people of the Book. It was said that this hadith was abrogated by the later rulings concerning jizziya (compensation).
A third opinion interprets the hadith as saying that people have to accept the domination or supremacy of Islam - that Islam is the dominant religion. This objective is to be achieved by whatever means, whether it is through fighting or through peaceful agreements.
Lessons
Islam is the only true religion. It is the truth; it is the path of Allah. One of the divine Laws since the earth was created: evil has always been fighting against truth. The truth has to be protected and it needs power to protect it. This is the main philosophy of jihad in Islam: Jihad is to establish and maintain justice and truth. Jihad is not confined to only fighting. It has many other unpracticed or weakly practiced forms:
da'wah, disseminating knowledge and educating others, maximizing the good and minimizing the evil, reconciling clashes and conflicts between Muslims, striving for the betterment of community are all forms of jihad.
How do we deal with the concept of jihad in our contemporary life? There are oppressed Muslim communities where fighting is a choice. However, generally speaking, we can answer the question based on dealing with two kinds of challenges: internal and external ones.
Internal Challenges encountering Muslims
Today unfortunately, the Muslim ummah is not united. It is divided and split into different groups and sects whether religious or political. Conflicts are every where between Muslims. In this situation jihad means to re-establish the unity of the Muslim communities and of the ummah at large. It means also to remove or minimize clashes and disputes.
Another issue is the lack of understanding of Islam by the Muslims themselves. The majority of Muslims today do not understand the true meaning of Islam, even the basic concepts. Here, jihad takes the form of disseminating the true message of Islam to the Muslims and educating them so that they fully understand their deen.
Since the majority of the Muslims do not truly understand Islam, they do not practice their religion correctly or completely. This means the shahadah of the ummah (i.e. being witnesses of the truth) is not activated today. We should be establishing ourselves as a role model to other nations but we are not doing so. We should be practicing the great values, concepts and principles of Islam and following its rulings and guidelines. If we do so, this will portray the real image of Islam and make us the perfect model for other societies, communities and nations. Only then will the non-Muslims feel attracted to Islam and may accept the dominance of Islam in their society because they see that the dominance of Islam means justice, good values, wellbeing of human kind, etc.
This is a great jihad which we should undertake though it needs great effort and may take a very long time, i.e. decades, to establish. We should embark on this jihad step by step, with different efforts happening concurrently: efforts to educate the Muslims their great religion; efforts to make them practice it and be good role models to others; efforts to make Muslims a great nation, and to make them united.
Looking at the Muslim ummah or community today, the basic concept which will lead to unity is missing - the concept of Al-Wala'. Al-Wala' contains 4 sub-concepts: love, care, help and protection. These basic concepts are missing from the Muslim ummah and therefore we need to revive these concepts in order to unite the ummah. This is the situation of the Muslims today. How can we talk about the supremacy and the dominance of Islam if the Muslims are in such a weak situation where there are so manydiscrepancies, contradictions, obstacles, shortcomings, etc. These are areas where great efforts and a great jihad are needed. But to do jihad in a forceful way, i.e. by fighting, does not work and may create even more problems. There are some groups of Muslims today who confine jihad to fighting as the main and only way to establish the previous mentioned goals and this is destroying the image of Islam and is not doing any favour to the Muslims. Those people interpret this hadith to mean fighting but this may not be applicable to the situation of the Muslims today where fighting may cause more and greater harm.
External challenges encountering Muslims
The Muslim community is encountering two kinds of challenges - the internal challenges (some of which were previously mentioned) and the external challenges which are being imposed on them by the opponents of Islam. Those opponents are coming up with different ways of 'fighting' and trying to rule the Muslim world. These external challenges include all aspects ofglobalisation, modernity, change of lifestyle, technology misuse, changing values, etc. The battle field of these challenges are the minds and attitudes of Muslims specially the young generation, where the focus is on influencing the attitudes of the Muslims through influencing their way of thinking and altering their perceptions.
The opponents of Islam are promoting evil and negative concepts through new ways and means.
One of them is changing our perception about things, where wrong-doings and evil deeds are being perceived as acceptable or even preferable. The latest findings of researches and studies, like cognitive psychology, are used to influence the world, including the Muslims, to change their attitudes, values and even beliefs. If we accept the situation as it is and not do anything about it, the negative consequences will be greater in the future. Today everything, including the future, is being preplanned and designed but the Muslims are not aware of this. We are not aware that we are the subjects of the schemes of others - that we are being used or victimised as target groups where the Muslim minds are being manipulated and brainwashed. Therefore we need to counter these external challenges. This is also a great jihad because these opponents of Islam are using such means and ways to threaten our values, beliefs and identities as Muslims. We need to be aware of the situation and think about what is being designed to influence us and we should use the same means to counter these negative influences.
The influencing method used by the opponents is similar to the insinuation of the Shaitan. This insinuation, as stated in the Qur'an, is done by the Shaitan to colour our perception. As Allah says, Shaitan will either promote evil by colouring our perception so that bad things are being perceived as good, or by influencing us and preventing us from doing good deeds. For example, if we want to give sadakah, Shaitan will insinuate to us that doing such a good deed will burden our finances and influence us into thinking about what better use we could have for the money if we did not give it away.
It is also mentioned in the Qur'an that Shaitan creates conflicts and disputes among the
Muslims, also through colouring their perception. A word or term may have different meanings and different interpretations which in turn will lead to different understandings. For example, if a person uses a double-meaning word, Shaitan comes in and insinuates by causing the other party to misinterpret the meaning and this leads to conflicts and disputes. That's why quarrels occur between husbands and wives, brothers, friends, community members, etc. This same method of colouring or manipulating our perception is being used today by evil doers to promote evil through many different means such as the media and technology. Whether it is through pictures or spoken or written words, these methods are used to change and alter our perception, influencing our attitudes and values and the way we view the world. This is one of the real areas of jihad today for Muslim educators and intellectuals. Technology can be used in both a negative and/or positive way. We must master it and be in control of it, using it for our benefit and not to merely be passive users. When we use technology, e.g. the Internet, we must use it in a way where we are the ones who control it, and not as a manipulation tool of others. We should use it in our da'wah, as a form of counter manipulation. We use it to alter the perception of our Muslim community back to its original,positive form, whether it is our values, beliefs or attitudes. We can also use the Qur'anic style of da'wah, using metaphors and analogies. This methodology is something which we are very weak at. Metaphorical Thinking and Analytical Thinking are powerful skills which we need to learn. These are actually Qur'anic styles. Even though these styles of thinking appear as products of the West, i.e. the products of Cognitive Psychology which was established about 50 years ago, they were actually established 1,500 years ago by Islam. But the Muslims themselves are not using these tools. Thus, we need to learn these methods and start using them. We need to use imageries and similes in our dialogue when we give da'wah as this makes it easier for people to understand the message. Part of our jihad and obligations is to update and equip ourselves with the right tools. Willingness and enthusiasm is not enough. We need to be able to learn and utilise the right tools to counter what is being imposed on us by the evil doers.
Conclusion
We need to understand ourselves, to understand Islam, to educate others about Islam, to understand the contemporary challenges, to equip ourselves with the right tools so that we can face and counter the contemporary challenges in the right way. When we talk about the concept of jihad we shouldn't just talk about the common understanding of jihad - we shouldn't get emotional about it, forgetting about ourselves or the world we're living in or the situation of our ummah or about the challenges we are facing. Thus it is not easy to truly understand the different aspects of the concept of jihad or how to implement these aspects in our world today.
When we discuss about the concept of jihad we have to resolve the conflicts that exist within ourselves - the conflicts between reality and the ideal situation. One of the biggest efforts we have to undertake is to determine how we can bridge the distance between these conflicts. We need to bridge the gap between the ideal situation and the real world.
To resolve these conflicts within us, we need psychological and social adjustments. We live in a society which is somehow corrupted but we still maintain our values and try to do something to improve the situation. Otherwise without these adjustments we may end up with either confrontation and aggressiveness or living a modern life and rejecting our values and beliefs.
Both extremes are not acceptable. What we need is assertiveness, a social and psychological adjustment. We need to determine how we can live in this modern world as a good Muslim, maintaining our identity and moral values. These are great challenges which we face today. We have to be practical in dealing with these challenges. When we talk about Islam we usually talk in the theoretical sense, e.g. what is taqwa (piety), ikhlas (sincerity), etc. We need to be able to implement these concepts in our everyday life activities and practices especially as we face all these different challenges. Thus we need to address Islamic concepts with reality, within the context of the actual situation of the society today.
On the authority of Tamim Al-Dari that the Prophet, sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam, said:
"Religion is nasihah." We said: "To whom?" The Prophet, sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam, said: "To Allah and His Book, and His messenger, and to the leaders of the Muslims and their common folk."
[Muslim]
Background
The word "nasihah" cannot be accurately translated to English because it is a broad concept which cannot be traced in the English language. Some use the term "sincerity" but this is only part of the concept - to negate deception/cheating. According to Imam Ibnu al-Salah, nasihah is "truly seeking the best, in terms of intention and action, for the one whom he is making nasihah to".
This hadith is a profound statement as Sheikh Jamaal al-Din Zarabozo says that in this one brief statement the Prophet, sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam, described the essence of Islam. Nasihah hence forms the bulk and the most important pillar of Islam since it encompasses Islam, Iman and Ihsan.
Lessons
Nasihah to Allah
The nasihah should be to Allah first. This includes the fulfillment of the obligations in the best way possible (Ihsan).This should be the goal for every Muslim. This also includes striving to get as close to Allah as possible by doing not only the obligations but also the preferable good deeds, by forbidding the forbidden and avoiding the disliked acts.
Nasihah to Allah also involves:
•believing in Allah and denying any partners with Him.
•believing in His attributes.
•obeying Him.
•fulfilling His commands and abstaining from what He has forbidden.
•doing what is best to remember Him, under all circumstances.
•loving whatever He loves and hating whatever He hates, be it objects, persons, actions, sayings, etc.
• recognising the blessings He has bestowed upon us and properly thanking Him for these blessings.
To do nasihah to Allah one should have the correct intention in one's heart to fulfill the rights of Allah, even when one is excused and it is beyond one's ability to perform these obligations.
Sometimes a person may not be able to perform an obligation but at least he has good intentions in his heart to fulfill it in the first place. The actions of the heart (i.e. to have hope in Allah's mercy, to trust Him, to fear Him and to seek refuge in Him), and the actions of the limbs (prayers, Zakah, etc.) also fall under nasihah to Allah.
Honesty is also another aspect of this great concept. In whatever we do we should always be honest with Allah, similarly with ikhlas (sincerity). In fact ikhlas should be the first thing that a Muslim should attain when we talk about nasihah to Allah.
Nasihah to His Book
This includes:-
•Believing that the Qur'an is from Allah, that it is the Word of Allah and that it is not like the word of man.
•According to one's ability, to read and recite the Qur'an and to practice it.
•To study it's admonitions, lessons and parables.
•Calling others to believe in the Qur'an.
•To defend and protect it from any kind of distortion or misinterpretation.
•Defending the Qur'an against false claims made against it.
•Having proper respect and treating the Qur'an in a proper manner - e.g. to be careful not to throw away a piece of paper which has an ayat printed on it (magazine article, etc.) as it may be stepped on - we should also be aware if we see such a piece of paper on the ground to pick it up and keep it away safely or destroy it by burning it so that it is not subject to disrespect.
Nasihah to His Messenger
This includes:-
• Believing the Prophet's, sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam, message.
• Believing in all that he brought as being divinely inspired.
• Loving him more than we love ourselves and our families - it is the second level of love after the love of Allah.
• Our love for him should lead to other obligations like obeying him.
• Helping him and defending him (for those who were alive during his time) – defending his honour and respecting his status.
• For the people who came after the Prophet's, sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam, life, we should respect and love his Sunnah which is an implication of loving him.
• To say "sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam" whenever his name is mentioned.
• To accept his Sunnah as a scale by which we judge things, actions and sayings.
• To accept him as the true leader and only human's final word with respect to the religion
- he is the only true human authority and everyone else's statements/opinions come after his.
• To love those who love him and hate those who hate him.
• Reviving his Sunnah by learning, understanding, teaching and spreading it. However, when we call people to the Sunnah - as advised by Imam Ahmad - we should do it in a nice and proper way and not to end up fighting about it. One problem today is that many Muslims are unaware of the Sunnah and the status of the Sunnah - so one of the things we should do is to make these people love the Sunnah, and we should not do so in an aggressive or confrontational way as this might lead to the people being confused, offensive and rejecting the Sunnah. There are so many bid'ah being practiced today and the way to remove bid'ah amongst the people is to revive the Sunnah (The Salaf said: "Bid'ah only arises when the Sunnan is not known or practiced."). To revive the Sunnah, we should not start with the condemnation of bid'ah but rather with the introduction/presentation of the Sunnah. We have to set good role models of those who love, and follow the Sunnah and we should teach others in a nice, proper way so that others too can understand, love and appreciate the Sunnah. Then they will use the Sunnah as a scale to judge things. Slowly, insha Allah, bid'ah will be reduced and minimized. When we try to educate people about the Sunnah, we should be careful not to confuse them by focussing on minor issues. Sunnan can be broken into different levels and we should start from the highest level. We should not teach people about the lower levels (details) when they haven't been taught the higher levels (basic concepts). We should let the people understand and love the higher level Sunnan first before we go step by step into the lower levels, slowly covering more details. This, insha Allah, will lead to the
revival of the Sunnah.
• To love both his family and his companions. Most Islamic sects love one or the other and not both. There are some deviated Islamic sects who are propagating their false beliefs by creating doubts about the Sahabahs (Companions) with the intention of making people hate them. This will lead to the rejection of the Sunnah. Some sects only believe the Sunnah that comes through their imams, e.g. the Shi'ah. We should be aware of the sources of narrations about the Sahabah as some of these narrations are false and may create doubts.
• To love those who follow, defend and strive to revive the Sunnah of the Prophet, sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam.
Nasihah to the Muslim Leaders
The word 'leader' stands for both 'ulama and those in authority (at all levels). Nasihah should be given to all leaders, no matter how high or what the ranking is. No one is above the law in Islam and no one is above needing advice. Nasihah is for the benefit of anyone who is in authority. This means that a ruler, leader or scholar should be the first to accept sincere advice.
Making nasihah to Muslim leaders should include:-
• Helping them in whatever is good or beneficial.
• Obeying them in what is right.
• Reminding them if they should err or forget.
• Being patient with them if they do things which we dislike - we try to do the nasihah and at the same time we tolerate the leader because otherwise it may lead to instability in the Muslim community.
• Making jihad with them and not revolting against their proper authority.
• One should pray for their guidance and piety.
• Choosing the right way, manner and channel in advising them. The Scholars say giving nasihah to leaders should be done according to certain rules:
i. One must have good intentions (ikhlas).
ii. It should be done mildly, calling on them with respect.
iii. Avoiding harshness and not to embarrass them - our aim is to advise and correct them and not to show off.
iv. Not to divulge or inform others about their wrong-doings as this may lead to more problems in the society.
v. Give the nasihah privately and not publicly.
• If one is asked by the leader to do a maksiah or something which contradicts with Shariah, one shouldn't obey. However, we should disobey in a nice/assertive manner and not in an aggressive way because our aim is to remind them that this is wrong so that they will change and not ask us to do the maksiah.
• For the Scholars, our nasihah is seeking knowledge from them.
• We obey them if their opinion is based on sound proof and evidence.
• Not to seek or point out their mistakes. There are some people who search for the mistakes of Scholars - we shouldn't do this because Scholars are pious people and this act may cause Allah to be displeased with us. It may also create chaos in the community.
• Not to follow them blindly.
• Not to hollow them.
Nasihah to the Common Folk of the Muslims
This includes:-
• To observe the rights of other Muslims - fulfilling our obligations towards other Muslims. These obligations differ depending on the group of Muslims (e.g. our parents, children, relatives, neighbours, etc.) - e.g. greeting them, visiting them when they are sick, making du'a for them, giving advice if they ask for it, praying solat ul janazah for the one who dies, etc.
• To observe the concept of wala' which means:
i. to love every Muslim.
ii. to care for all Muslims.
iii. to help other Muslims.
iv. to defend/protect other Muslims .
If you do not love, you will not care. If you do not care, you will not help. If you do not help, you will not protect.
The reason why so many Muslims today do not care or help others is because there is something wrong with the wala' aspect of love. We should have love for other Muslims, especially those who are suffering, so we will care and help them.
The Scholars say one way to help and the least we can do is to make du'a (pray for them). There is a counter concept to al-wala' which is al-bara or disassociation with (for the purpose of leading others from doing evil). However we should not do it:
v. for our own interest.
vi. if it will not lead the other person to change his ways - we should not start with disassociation, we should start with giving advice and educating.
We should show love and concern and give nasihah in the proper way. If all else fails, then we can use the concept of disassociation (if it will lead to the person changing).
The Prophet, sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam, said that "he is a real Muslim if he is the one who the other Muslims are saved from his tongue and his hand" - the true Muslim is one who will not harm others verbally or physically, in any way or by any means.
• Having mercy for the young and showing respect to the elders - it is part of glorifying Allah that we respect the elder Muslims.
• Sacrificing one's time, effort, money, etc. for the betterment of the Muslim community.
• If we are the ones in authority, then we should act sincerely towards the rest of the Muslims and do whatever is in their best interest. We should give nasihah to the people by, e.g. doing what is best for the ummah, defending the community, putting the right
and qualified people in the right position and job. Any kind of leadership or authority, whatever the level or rank, is responsible for the people being lead - e.g. supervisors, managers, teachers, principles, etc.
Conclusion
From exploring all the obligations mentioned above, we can see that nasihah encompasses
everything in Islam, Iman and Ihsan.
Hadith 8
Abdullah bin Umar narrated that the messenger of Allah, sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam, said:
"I have been ordered to fight against people until they testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah and until they perform the prayers and pay the zakat, and if they do so they will have gained protection from me for their lives and property, unless [they do acts that are punishable] in accordance with Islam, and their reckoning will be with Allah the Almighty."
[Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
Background
The majority of Scholars say that the "people" here refers to the Arab polytheists. The same interpretation can also be found in the Qur'an in Surah An-Nasr.
Another opinion say that the Prophet, sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam, was referring to all people, excluding Ahlul Kitab, i.e. the people of the Book. It was said that this hadith was abrogated by the later rulings concerning jizziya (compensation).
A third opinion interprets the hadith as saying that people have to accept the domination or supremacy of Islam - that Islam is the dominant religion. This objective is to be achieved by whatever means, whether it is through fighting or through peaceful agreements.
Lessons
Islam is the only true religion. It is the truth; it is the path of Allah. One of the divine Laws since the earth was created: evil has always been fighting against truth. The truth has to be protected and it needs power to protect it. This is the main philosophy of jihad in Islam: Jihad is to establish and maintain justice and truth. Jihad is not confined to only fighting. It has many other unpracticed or weakly practiced forms:
da'wah, disseminating knowledge and educating others, maximizing the good and minimizing the evil, reconciling clashes and conflicts between Muslims, striving for the betterment of community are all forms of jihad.
How do we deal with the concept of jihad in our contemporary life? There are oppressed Muslim communities where fighting is a choice. However, generally speaking, we can answer the question based on dealing with two kinds of challenges: internal and external ones.
Internal Challenges encountering Muslims
Today unfortunately, the Muslim ummah is not united. It is divided and split into different groups and sects whether religious or political. Conflicts are every where between Muslims. In this situation jihad means to re-establish the unity of the Muslim communities and of the ummah at large. It means also to remove or minimize clashes and disputes.
Another issue is the lack of understanding of Islam by the Muslims themselves. The majority of Muslims today do not understand the true meaning of Islam, even the basic concepts. Here, jihad takes the form of disseminating the true message of Islam to the Muslims and educating them so that they fully understand their deen.
Since the majority of the Muslims do not truly understand Islam, they do not practice their religion correctly or completely. This means the shahadah of the ummah (i.e. being witnesses of the truth) is not activated today. We should be establishing ourselves as a role model to other nations but we are not doing so. We should be practicing the great values, concepts and principles of Islam and following its rulings and guidelines. If we do so, this will portray the real image of Islam and make us the perfect model for other societies, communities and nations. Only then will the non-Muslims feel attracted to Islam and may accept the dominance of Islam in their society because they see that the dominance of Islam means justice, good values, wellbeing of human kind, etc.
This is a great jihad which we should undertake though it needs great effort and may take a very long time, i.e. decades, to establish. We should embark on this jihad step by step, with different efforts happening concurrently: efforts to educate the Muslims their great religion; efforts to make them practice it and be good role models to others; efforts to make Muslims a great nation, and to make them united.
Looking at the Muslim ummah or community today, the basic concept which will lead to unity is missing - the concept of Al-Wala'. Al-Wala' contains 4 sub-concepts: love, care, help and protection. These basic concepts are missing from the Muslim ummah and therefore we need to revive these concepts in order to unite the ummah. This is the situation of the Muslims today. How can we talk about the supremacy and the dominance of Islam if the Muslims are in such a weak situation where there are so manydiscrepancies, contradictions, obstacles, shortcomings, etc. These are areas where great efforts and a great jihad are needed. But to do jihad in a forceful way, i.e. by fighting, does not work and may create even more problems. There are some groups of Muslims today who confine jihad to fighting as the main and only way to establish the previous mentioned goals and this is destroying the image of Islam and is not doing any favour to the Muslims. Those people interpret this hadith to mean fighting but this may not be applicable to the situation of the Muslims today where fighting may cause more and greater harm.
External challenges encountering Muslims
The Muslim community is encountering two kinds of challenges - the internal challenges (some of which were previously mentioned) and the external challenges which are being imposed on them by the opponents of Islam. Those opponents are coming up with different ways of 'fighting' and trying to rule the Muslim world. These external challenges include all aspects ofglobalisation, modernity, change of lifestyle, technology misuse, changing values, etc. The battle field of these challenges are the minds and attitudes of Muslims specially the young generation, where the focus is on influencing the attitudes of the Muslims through influencing their way of thinking and altering their perceptions.
The opponents of Islam are promoting evil and negative concepts through new ways and means.
One of them is changing our perception about things, where wrong-doings and evil deeds are being perceived as acceptable or even preferable. The latest findings of researches and studies, like cognitive psychology, are used to influence the world, including the Muslims, to change their attitudes, values and even beliefs. If we accept the situation as it is and not do anything about it, the negative consequences will be greater in the future. Today everything, including the future, is being preplanned and designed but the Muslims are not aware of this. We are not aware that we are the subjects of the schemes of others - that we are being used or victimised as target groups where the Muslim minds are being manipulated and brainwashed. Therefore we need to counter these external challenges. This is also a great jihad because these opponents of Islam are using such means and ways to threaten our values, beliefs and identities as Muslims. We need to be aware of the situation and think about what is being designed to influence us and we should use the same means to counter these negative influences.
The influencing method used by the opponents is similar to the insinuation of the Shaitan. This insinuation, as stated in the Qur'an, is done by the Shaitan to colour our perception. As Allah says, Shaitan will either promote evil by colouring our perception so that bad things are being perceived as good, or by influencing us and preventing us from doing good deeds. For example, if we want to give sadakah, Shaitan will insinuate to us that doing such a good deed will burden our finances and influence us into thinking about what better use we could have for the money if we did not give it away.
It is also mentioned in the Qur'an that Shaitan creates conflicts and disputes among the
Muslims, also through colouring their perception. A word or term may have different meanings and different interpretations which in turn will lead to different understandings. For example, if a person uses a double-meaning word, Shaitan comes in and insinuates by causing the other party to misinterpret the meaning and this leads to conflicts and disputes. That's why quarrels occur between husbands and wives, brothers, friends, community members, etc. This same method of colouring or manipulating our perception is being used today by evil doers to promote evil through many different means such as the media and technology. Whether it is through pictures or spoken or written words, these methods are used to change and alter our perception, influencing our attitudes and values and the way we view the world. This is one of the real areas of jihad today for Muslim educators and intellectuals. Technology can be used in both a negative and/or positive way. We must master it and be in control of it, using it for our benefit and not to merely be passive users. When we use technology, e.g. the Internet, we must use it in a way where we are the ones who control it, and not as a manipulation tool of others. We should use it in our da'wah, as a form of counter manipulation. We use it to alter the perception of our Muslim community back to its original,positive form, whether it is our values, beliefs or attitudes. We can also use the Qur'anic style of da'wah, using metaphors and analogies. This methodology is something which we are very weak at. Metaphorical Thinking and Analytical Thinking are powerful skills which we need to learn. These are actually Qur'anic styles. Even though these styles of thinking appear as products of the West, i.e. the products of Cognitive Psychology which was established about 50 years ago, they were actually established 1,500 years ago by Islam. But the Muslims themselves are not using these tools. Thus, we need to learn these methods and start using them. We need to use imageries and similes in our dialogue when we give da'wah as this makes it easier for people to understand the message. Part of our jihad and obligations is to update and equip ourselves with the right tools. Willingness and enthusiasm is not enough. We need to be able to learn and utilise the right tools to counter what is being imposed on us by the evil doers.
Conclusion
We need to understand ourselves, to understand Islam, to educate others about Islam, to understand the contemporary challenges, to equip ourselves with the right tools so that we can face and counter the contemporary challenges in the right way. When we talk about the concept of jihad we shouldn't just talk about the common understanding of jihad - we shouldn't get emotional about it, forgetting about ourselves or the world we're living in or the situation of our ummah or about the challenges we are facing. Thus it is not easy to truly understand the different aspects of the concept of jihad or how to implement these aspects in our world today.
When we discuss about the concept of jihad we have to resolve the conflicts that exist within ourselves - the conflicts between reality and the ideal situation. One of the biggest efforts we have to undertake is to determine how we can bridge the distance between these conflicts. We need to bridge the gap between the ideal situation and the real world.
To resolve these conflicts within us, we need psychological and social adjustments. We live in a society which is somehow corrupted but we still maintain our values and try to do something to improve the situation. Otherwise without these adjustments we may end up with either confrontation and aggressiveness or living a modern life and rejecting our values and beliefs.
Both extremes are not acceptable. What we need is assertiveness, a social and psychological adjustment. We need to determine how we can live in this modern world as a good Muslim, maintaining our identity and moral values. These are great challenges which we face today. We have to be practical in dealing with these challenges. When we talk about Islam we usually talk in the theoretical sense, e.g. what is taqwa (piety), ikhlas (sincerity), etc. We need to be able to implement these concepts in our everyday life activities and practices especially as we face all these different challenges. Thus we need to address Islamic concepts with reality, within the context of the actual situation of the society today.
