** - State of Muslim Ummah
Why are Muslims Struggling Today?
From the day messenger of Allah publicly announced the message of Islam and invited people to its teachings, life for him and other Muslims was made difficult. The message itself was one of peace and the freedom of choice to pray to the One Deity, Allah the Merciful. This included the freedom to invite others to hear the teachings and essence of Islam. They were, however, not only not given this choice, they were ridiculed, persecuted and denied even the basic rights.
This Deen was the first to acknowledge equality of humans irrespective of their race, color, or place of origin 1400 years ago.The messenger of Allah was the first one to declare unequivocally that all people are equal in his last khutbah. He was also the first to preach equality and respect for women in a way that made sense. That is, that you can not compare men and women. It is like comparing apples and oranges. The problem in case if a conflict, was solved by Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala who declared in the Quran that men are qawwam (قَوَّام), meaning they have the upper hand and, final decision resides with the man who was made the head of the household, in case of a conflict. Surah Nisaa' Verse 34 says:
الرِّجَالُ قَوَّامُونَ عَلَى النِّسَاءِ بِمَا فَضَّلَ اللَّهُ بَعْضَهُمْ عَلَىٰ بَعْضٍ وَبِمَا أَنفَقُوا مِنْ أَمْوَالِهِمْ ۚ
If a woman does not agree with the decision, she has the option of asking for separation called khula' or have a contract at the time of Nikah, what one would call here a pre-nuptual agreement regarding this matter.
It is also to note that no war was started by the messenger of Allah, despite what you may have heard/read from propaganda and orientalists. Look deeper in the seerah of the messenger of Allah to understand why any of the actions was taken. He was sent as a Mercy to Mankind and he was the kindest and noblest human being of all time.
Since that auspicious day in Mecca in the 5th year of the first revelation, Muslims have been targeted, bullied, misrepresented, attacked and socially boycotted. This process continued and is still alive and the hatred keeps on growing stronger. Throughout history, Muslims had to defend themselves which in a way helped them, as they say, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
In the end, this defensive posture gave rise to the idea, that to have peace, one has to be strong, hence the rise of Muslim civilization and building of a large Islamic state.
What is happening today to the Muslims have many causes rooted in several areas.
1 Muslims loosing the understanding and practice of the fundamental teachings.
2. Arab and Muslim culture going back to tribalism which messenger SAW cleaned up in just 23 years.
3. Interest in the worldly gains and forgetting their fundamental purpose of serving Allah SWT.
4. Islamic state turning to gaining power and wealth rather than following the Sunnah of prophet SAW and his companions like Abu Bakr Siddique and Omar bin Khattab.
5. As more and more distant territories became part of the Islamic state, the local language and culture seeped in to the degree that the practices outright became totally opposite to Islamic teachings
6. This combined with pursuit of wealth and power, they forgot that their only connection with Allah SWT left for them is the Qur'an. The non Arabic speaking people stopped learning the language of the Qur'an and hence the understanding and basic tenets. They would memorize this final revelation and recite it in their Salah without understanding. What a tragedy!
7. The other damaging factor was the development of the fake versions of Sufism. This was the final nail in the coffin. The Muslims started using Qur'an as a book of magic and healing, believing that an ayah wrapped in a piece of paper would help them in succeeding. They started using Qur'an as means of healing and book of shifaa' using its verses not as a message for how to live your life. Rather its use was to reading a particular verse 100,000 will achieve certain goals without even understanding it. Wherever the messenger of Allah guided us to recite something multiple times, it was for understanding and solidifying our faith. Added to this was the shirk of asking for help from the creation rather than from the Creator and grave worshiping of scholars and Sufi saints.
8. The rise of industrial west helped in diverting the philosophical thought even among Muslim thinkers. Although there is a lot to be learned from this development, it could be done without loosing the fundamentals principles of Islam.
In-shaa'-Allah, more on the subject of history of Muslim persecution, misrepresentation, history and fall of Muslim influence to come later.
