Note (1423 AH): This article was written several years ago before the infidel Zionist-Crusader alliance invaded Afghanistan. May Allah (tabarak wa'tala) give victory to the Mujahideen, and may He destroy the infidels and their apostate allies.

"Let those who would trade the life of this world for the life Hereafter fight in the Cause of Allah. And those who do fight in the Cause of Allah - whether they be killed or are victorious - will have bestowed on them, by Us, a great reward." [4: 74 Interpretation of Meaning.]
 

All Praise and all thanks are for and due to Allah (tabarak wa'tala).

As most Muslims are aware, the West is the opposite of Islam. How then can we Muslims counter the influence and power of the West? How can we create the Islamic society we need, based on the Islamic ideal of the Khilafa?

For some time, some Muslims have been trying to counter the influence and the power of the West by using Western ideas and Western methods. For instance, there has been, and sometimes still is, the desire (and sometimes practical attempts or practical plans) to 'overthrow' or somehow oust existing Governments (in the Middle East and elsewhere). There also has been, and still is, the desire and plan for Muslims to gain power in an existing nation-State through participating in what are falsely described as 'democratic' elections.

These desires, plans and attempts - while understandable - are not the only way we can achieve our aim of an Islamic society. What most existing attempts focus on is nation-States and the Governments of these States - and the idea of changing these States into Islamic societies once we have somehow gained control of, or obtained political power in, these States.

However, we need to understand that the very idea of such nation-States - of a sovereign country - run by whatever type of government, be they so-called 'democratic' ones or tyrannical ones, is Western and therefore un-Islamic. We also need to understand that the whole modern world is divided into separate nation-States or groups of such States, and that all these States are either controlled by the West, through military or commercial power, or so influenced by the ideas and so-called 'culture' of the West that they are in effect dominated by the West.
 

A New Alternative

Then, having considered our Islamic ideal, we can understand why - instead of concentrating on trying to gain influence or power in these modern States, these countries - we might concentrate on creating a new, pure and simple Islamic society founded on Islamic values and only Islamic values.

Our immediate task is to establish Islam as a Way of Life somewhere on this planet. This means a Muslim community - that is, a group of Muslims who live in a certain geographical area. We need this new community to enable us to live in an Islamic way, according to the Will of Allah (tabarak wa'tala). This community needs to govern itself according to Islamic ideals - that is, according to Islamic laws. It needs to have the freedom to do this - that is, it is an independent entity, existing in its own right. Perhaps most importantly, this community needs to be established on the basis of Muslim identity - that is, it needs to express, and only express, Islamic culture. All that happens in this community is and must be Islamic - and all the people in this community must live there because they want to, because they wish to strive to live according to the Will of Allah (tabarak wa'tala).

This new community does not need to be established from an existing nation-State, or even be part of an existing country. It does not and indeed should not take on or be part of the cultural identity, the 'history', of any existing country or State - for such nationalistic and ethnic identities are un-Islamic, contrary to the civilized idealism of the Muslim Ummah.

We need this community as an example of Islam - an example of the idealism of Islam in action in this world - and as a place where our Islamic culture and Muslim identity can be expressed and where they can flourish. Having established this free Islamic community, this Muslim homeland, we can then undertake Dawah, showing, by our practical example, what Islam actually is.

In this venture, our practical everyday example, our guide to daily life, should and must be the example of the Prophet (salla Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam) and the example of Al-Khulafa-ur Rashidun.
 

To establish this example - this living testimony to the truth and nobility of Islam - we do not need large industries or large cities bustling with commercial activity. We need a real community bound together by the Way of Life that is Al-Islam; we need our noble, civilized idealism to live through our own personal deeds. Above all, we need a purity of intention, a remembrance (dhikr) of Allah (tabarak wa'tala) and a desire for Jihad - a striving for the cause of Islam.

In brief, we need to live as the early Muslims lived - simply, with real sincerity, and living examples of our Way of Life, of Islam itself. This, perhaps, is the easy part - if we really believe, if we really do strive for taqwa. We may find it hard now, because we do not live in a real, independent Muslim community - most of us live either among other Muslims in some Western-dominated country, surrounded by the influence of Western culture, or we live in what once were Islamic countries where the majority profess to be Muslim but where our ideals, our Way of Life, are no longer practiced by a large part of this majority because they have forgotten, or forget, to remember Allah (tabarak wa'tala) in every moment of their lives.
 

Corrupted by the West

"He [Allah] created life and death that He might put you to the test and find out which of you acquitted himself best." [ Sura 67: 1-2 (Interpretation of meaning)]

"The life of this world is nothing - only play and amusement. What is best is the dwelling in the Life-to-Come - for those who are pious." [Sura 6:32 (Interpretation of Meaning) ]

"Renounce the world, and Allah will love you. Renounce what people possess, and the people will love you." (Hadith, related by Ibn Majah)

"Of those devoted to Me the one I favour most is the believer who is of meagre means and much given to prayer, who has been particular in his worship of his Rabb and has obeyed Him inwardly, who has remained unnoticed among the people and not pointed out, and whose sustenance was just sufficient to provide for him yet he bore this patiently." (Hadith, related by at-Tirmidhi and Ahmad ibn Hanbal)
 

Having forgotten the real purpose of our lives - or often forgetting this purpose in the course of our everyday lives - so it is that we desire and have desired a 'modern State'; some kind of modern society with the luxury, the wealth, the material goods, the plenty, that capitalism, usury and technology has brought to the West.
 

Of course, this new quest to initially return to the simple, pure, Islamic way will be seen by many Muslims as naively idealistic, or impractical in this "modern age". And I admit this is true. But that is the very point - the very essence of the argument, just as the objections to such a quest reveal the contamination of the West. For the very essence of the argument is that Islam is idealistic, pure, just as someone with taqwa is a "naive" person when viewed through the eyes and the mind of a modern materialistic Westerner.

The truth is that we must return to fundamentals and reject everything which is worthless and unnecessary because they are un-Islamic, even if this means some personal hardship, some personal frugality, some loss of 'luxuries' and personal comfort. Thus must we firmly re-state what the essentials of the Islamic Way of Life are - and strive for these essentials, and only them.
 

A New Beginning

I am advocating the creation of a community  which seeks to be an example for all other Muslims, and the world itself, a community where there is tolerance, justice, honour, nobility and a daily, hourly, remembrance of Allah (tabarak wa'tala) and our duty to Him.

I am advocating a rejection of everything Western and most things modern - to start with. From such a small beginning we can change the world, as our beloved Prophet Muhammad (salla Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam) changed the world.
 

Is this the path to follow? Do we reject the modern world, the West, to one day conquer what will still be "the modern world", the West, through taqwa, through living as Allah (tabarak wa'tala) has commanded us to live?

Or do we continue trying to fight the West, and the modern world the West has created, on unequal terms, letting ourselves be corrupted in the process? Do we do or plan to do what is ignoble, what is un-Islamic, and try to justify the un-Islamic things we do, because we feel we have no other option when fighting the terror, the injustice, the un-Godliness of the West?

Or do we undertake the Jihad that is creating a new community (or communities) wherever we can, the Jihad which is restraining our passion for immediate results and immediate worldly power, and the Jihad which is setting an example for others to follow, generation after generation, until we by sheer conviction, by sheer force of example, by sheer purity and taqwa, conquer our enemies?
 

In the increasing ethnic violence, chaos and selfish materialism of this modern world, those with good hearts are crying out for answers: for a pure example to follow - for a real guide to what is important and how they should live their lives. It is our duty, as Muslims, to guide them and guide them as we have been instructed to:

"Invite others to the Way of your Rabb with wisdom, and beautiful preaching, and argue with them in a way which is better (than their way)." [Sura 16:125 (Interpretation of meaning)]
 

Of course, they may one day need to be - and undoubtedly (Insha Allah) one day will be - some physical conflict between the new community (or communities) and its neighbours, and between this community (or communities) and the enemies of Islam. And then the striving will be physical, bloody and deadly - as it was before, in the very beginning during the time of the Prophet (salla Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam).
 

A New Start?

Perhaps the new community, based on pure Islam, which we need already exists in the new and still evolving Islamic society in Afghanistan, creating as this new Islamic community has been by the idealism of the Taliban. If so, then we are duty-bound to support it in every way we can, from giving financial and moral support, to moving there to live, if possible, and then if necessary undertake Jihad in physical support of the devout brothers who have fought and who do fight for the sake of Allah (tabarak wa'tala).

Perhaps, as many believe, the Taliban are a blessing to us from Allah (tabarak wa'tala) - guides to guide us back to the path of taqwa and righteousness.
 

All praise and all thanks are for and due to Allah (tabarak wa'tala). May Allah (tabarak wa'tala) in His Mercy forgive me for any and all errors, and may He in His Compassion guide me to a better understanding. For Allah (tabarak wa'tala) knows best.

Abdul Aziz

Ramadan 1420 AH