No Compromise On Rule Of Allah
Dawn, Karachi. 13th October 1998.
LAHORE, Oct. 12: Jehad is a continuous struggle aimed at establishing the law of Allah on the land created by him, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the Amir of the Dawat-ul-Irshad told the members of the Lahore High Court Bar Association on Monday.
Explaining his concept of Jehad, Hafiz Saeed, who leads a sizable force of well-equipped volunteers based in Muridke, near Lahore, said those who believed in secularism, liberalism or any othe man-made system should first create a land for themselves and then set up a system of their choice there.
In the land of Allah, he added, only his system sahll prevail and non-believers or non-Muslims shall have to live as zimmis (subject people). They will be free to lead their lives in accordance with their own beliefs but would not be allowed to hold dominant positions or spread their beliefs. Whenever infidels have held the reins of government, they have wrought havoc and entrenched the forces of evil.
About the 15th Constitution Amendment or Shariat Bill, he said the move was welcome but may not yield the desired result. The government should have declared the Quran and Sunnat not only the supreme but the only law of the land to the exclusion of all other laws. The problem with such half-way measures, he said, was that they leave the infrastructure intact and try to impose a lable on the existing system. He also said the power to enforce the Shariat or Quwat-i-Nafiza should be in the hands of those waging Jehad.
Hafiz Saeed said Islam brooked no middle way or compromise on the question of enforcement of the divine law. It was a gross misconception, he said, that Jehad was confined to defence or liberation of Muslim lands. Islam, he said, did not permit co-existence with infidels or reciprocal security of borders. "We are nobody to allow any piece of Allah's land to be ruled by his enemies or recognize it as a safe haven for infidels on a mutual basis," he said. Citing Jehad campaigns launched by Mohammad, the founder of Islam, he said none of them was purely defensive in nature. There was, he said, no room for 'defence' ministries in the Muslim world.
He criticized the 1948 and 1965 ceasefires in Kashmir as also organizations like the PLO. Those waging Jehad, he said, had to fight on two fronts because of suhc half-baked movements in the Muslim world. Things, he said, are now improving. After its great triumph in Afghanistan, Jehad was attaining successes in Kashmir, Bosnia, Kosovo and other lands were also witnessing genuine Jehad for their liberation.
He decried the Indian claim that Kashmir was an integral part of that country and said Jehad was aimed at bringing about an Islamic revolution in entire India. The purpose, he said, was not acquisition of territory but establishment of Allah's rule.
Replying to a question, he said it was wrong on the part of some religious parties to have opposed the creation of Pakistan. About the sectarian divide and his own and his organization's affiliation with the Ahl-e-Hadith sect, he said these matters were not of much consequence and would vanish when Muslims joined hands in a real Jehad.
LHCBA president Kazim Khan requested the militant religious leader to use his good offices to bring about peace and reconciliation among the Muslims in Afghanistan and between Iran and the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
Hafiz Saeed invited lawyers to attend his organization's grand rally scheduled at Muridke for the first week of next month.