Today there are some within the Muslim community (Ummah), that blame all our problems on others. Be it America or Israel, consumerism or globalisation, communism or capitalism etc. While all this time we’re not facing up to the fact, that many problems our community faces, are self-inflicted! There are some calling for jihad, yet they neglect the real jihad… Jihad means struggle or striving, although there are those who only interpret it as warfare!

Our Beloved Prophet (PBUH) said, “the greatest Jihad is against your ego (Nafs)”. Our greatest struggle or striving is against our own bad characteristics, against our arrogance, greed, pride, selfishness, cruelty, narrow-mindedness, etc. Is it any wonder that our communities are suffering so badly, when we have neglected this jihad? These are the main things our Beloved Prophet (PBUH) was calling us to struggle against! If you have any doubts about this just study his biography (Sirah)…

However, there is another element in this concept of the enemy within… Plato, a famous Greek philosopher once compared a nation to a human being. He was illustrating how a state, as a natural institution, reflects human nature. The state will reflect the character of the people within. If we use his analogy, and apply it to our community (Ummah), we will see there exists not only the enemy within ourselves but within our community too!

Before I go any further, I must stress I am not in any way judging individuals… I have not been appointed as a judge at any court of law of any city or state, nor am I qualified to do so. As I don’t know anyone else’s mind, I believe I should leave that up to Almighty God. Conversely though, I believe it is my duty to expose false ideologies, foisted upon our community in the name of Islam!

Since the collapse of the Ottoman Caliphate, false teachings have filled the vacuum left behind. We have for the last couple of hundred years, been under attack, from a wave of counterfeit versions of our religion. Well funded by petrol dollars, these have become especially well organised and effective within the latter half of the 20th Century. The most obvious of these is Wahabism, started by Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahab of Najd. A man denounced by his own father for his heresy, yet supported by the Saud family, who now sit on the throne of Saudi Arabia.

Due to this new found power and generous funding, they were able to promote their poison all over the world. Their literature given the impression of genuineness, coming as it does from the nation, in which are found two of the three holiest places in Islam, Mecca and Medina. Wahabis have done more to radicalise the Muslim community than any other. But these heretics are conspicuous, they openly condemn those who don’t follow their ways, even condemning Muslims as infidels (kafirs).

There are many counterfeits around today. Fortunately most are easy to identify, there are those who believe in extra prophets, which are of course obvious frauds! Then those who are so grumpy, arrogant and hypocritical as to turn most away from following them! Indeed if Muslims didn’t feel so threatened by external influences, who would? But the most dangerous are those who pretend to be Sunni, join in some traditional practices, but inwardly are out to destroy us. What better description could be found to describe them than Jesus’ (PBUH) words “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves”? Such are the ’scholars’ of “Deoband” and their spin-off the “Tableeghi Jamaat”!

The Deobandis claim to be Sunni, they claim to follow the madhab of Imam Abu Hanifa, yet they consistently cause great troubles (fitnah) in our community. They criticise traditional Sunnis, for listening to music (which are often just nasheeds), for praising The Prophet (PBUH) too much, for saying Salutations upon him, for celebrating his birthday (Milad), for doing too much zikr (meditation on God’s names) etc. They claim these are against religious law (Shari’ah), they say they need to follow the religious law (which we don’t dispute). But these are not against our religious law, there is good evidence that they are neither forbidden (haraam), or that they are even allowed. Also, the general guideline of Islamic law, is that anything which is not explicitly forbidden is allowed. So are they being genuine, or simply trying to make life difficult for their brothers and sisters in Islam?

 

“Is one whose heart Allah has opened to Islam, so that he has received Enlightenment from Allah, (no better than one hard-hearted)? Woe to those whose hearts are hardened against celebrating the praises of Allah! They are manifestly wandering (in error)!” Holy Qur’an [39:22]

 

Recently, especially since 9/11, Deobandis have started joining Sunnis in many activities they previously claimed were forbidden, such as singing nasheeds and sufi meditations. So if they really believed what they preached before, why don’t they practice it? Or have they had a sudden change of heart? While I would be overjoyed if this were true! I find hard to believe, as it would go against so much of what they have said or done previously. Remember, most of the madrasahs of the hard line Taliban were Deobandi!

Maybe the Deobandi are really “Dualbandi”! Like dual-band mobile phones which operate on two networks? But in their case, its Wahabism while faining to be Sunni? In this way they can infiltrate our Sunni communities until the political climate has calmed, and once they’ve earned our trust, indoctrinate another generation in their counterfeit teachings. This is how many of the current Deobandis ended up that way. Many mosques built in the UK were built by them, often with funding from the Gulf, others were gradually infiltrated and taken over by them. This is may be why many Deobandi mosques celebrate Eid with Saudi, even when it is not possible to see the moon in the UK, and the rest of the Muslim community is celebrating the day after (on Eid)! In this way, they’ve turned our blessed Eid Al-Fitr, into Eid Al-Fitnah!!! Instead of our community being united at this blessed time, they are busily arguing over what day it should be on!

Many Sunnis have unwittingly sent their children, to be taught in Deobandi madrasahs (thinking them to be Sunni!) Only to find their children grow up, to have very different views on Islam than themselves. It’s not unusual for Tableeghis to encourage youngsters to go on ‘Jamaat’ with them, sometimes separating them from their families for up to 4 months at a time! It is well known that the young are more easily influenced, and in such an environment they inevitably often become Tableeghis / Deobandis.

 

“A man came to the Prophet asking his permission to take part in Jihad. The Prophet asked him, ‘Are your parents alive?’ He replied in the affirmative. The Prophet said to him, ‘Then exert yourself in their service.’” Sahih Bukhari [4:248]

 

“…We have enjoined on man (to be good) to his parents: In travail upon travail did his mother bear him, and in years twain was his weaning: (hear the command), Show gratitude to Me and to thy parents: To Me is (thy final) Goal.” Holy Qur’an [31:14]

 

I do not blame the majority of individuals who take part in these groups, as like the followers of other cults, they are themselves quite innocent to the larger agenda. They are unwitting participants in someone else’s game. However, that does not take away from the fact the Deobandi cult is spreading like cancer through our community, and we Sunnis have allowed it to get that way…

 

“It is true thou wilt not be able to guide every one, whom thou lovest; but Allah guides those whom He wills, and He knows best those who receive guidance.” Holy Qur’an [28:56]

 

Islam doesn’t encourage formalised hierarchical priesthoods, like those found in some other religions. We shy away from such rigid structures in our religion due to the potential problems inherent in them, in a similar way to many Protestant churches. In Islam religious leaders are trained, and chosen by responsible members of the community for their knowledge and piety. Unfortunately this has been exploited by those who wish to control our community for their own ends. We need to wake up to this attack on our community and educate people on the teachings of classical Islam. So brothers and sisters will be able to identify what is the genuine article, and the counterfeit.

We need to realise something very important. I’ll illustrate with an example; Some countries don’t have the same trading standards as we do in the UK, and fake inferior products, such as medicines are openly sold. We know it is potentially dangerous if we use counterfeit medicines. Islam is the medicine for our heart and soul. What will be the effect of Muslims following it’s counterfeits?

 

“Shall We treat those who believe and work deeds of righteousness, the same as those who do mischief on Earth? Shall We treat those who guard against evil, the same as those who turn aside from the right?” Holy Qur’an [38:28]

 

God, Most Gracious has promised to protect His religion. “We have, without doubt, sent down the Message and We will assuredly guard it (from corruption)” Holy Qur’an [15:9]. God, Most High will not allow people to corrupt His religion unchecked indefinitely, and the accounts of those involved in this calamity (fitnah) are being recorded to be read on the Day of Judgement! But as Muslims of the traditional “Ahl As Sunnah Wal Jamaat”, are we going to leave it all up to Allah to defend our religion, or are we going to do something about this ourselves? This is our choice, but we are all answerable to Our Lord for whatever we do, and we will all have to answer for our shortcomings…

 

“…if ye believe and guard against evil, He will grant you your recompense, and will not ask you (to give up) your possessions” Holy Qur’an [47:36]

 

“…If ye turn back (from the Path), He will substitute in your stead another people; then they would not be like you!” Holy Qur’an [47:38]

 

 

Quotes from the Holy Qur’an taken from the translation by Abdullah Yusuf Ali.

 

 

 

“A nation can survive its fools and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and he carries his banners openly against the city.

But the traitor moves among those within the gates freely, his sly whispers rustling through all alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself.

For the traitor appears no traitor; he speaks in the accents familiar to his victim, and he wears their face and their garments and he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men.

He rots the soul of a nation; he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of a city; he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to be feared. The traitor is the plague.”

 

Marcus Tullius Cicero

 

From a speech to the Roman Senate