بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
In the Name of Allah Most-Compassionate, Most-Merciful
Andalusia: A Shining Beacon of Civilisation (cont’d)
The eventual end of the Muslim presence in Andalusia is a sad reflection of the consequences of relinquishing our task to guide and instruct humanity. We lost our way and so they lost theirs. But this demise of ours was not to be found in scripture but in our neglect of scripture, our contentment with worldly success and the slow and gradual abandonment of inward and outward faith which left us bereft of the protection of God. The wisdom, guidance and protection that was once ours, with which the Muslims had created a vast civilisation, had been removed by God, as ruler and ruled alike became diverted by worldly power, wealth and success. And as more people strove for their own power rather than living their lives in recognition of the power accorded them by God, so God divested them of His grace and caused them to be overrun by the very people to whom their knowledge had been transferred. Thus, as well as being a reflection of our successes, the reason why the West is also a reflection of our failures is because by abandoning our teachings we enabled a people bereft of knowledge and wisdom to gain power. This occurred only because we abandoned that which we had been commanded to hold fast to because we forgot that this light was the only source of our power and success.
A Guiding Light Forward
One of the reasons why possessing this particular understanding of Western civilisation, in the context of Islamic history within the context of modern day injustices, is important is because it elevates us. It is not an elevation of pride but of gratitude to Allah for the station He has honoured us with and the prophet He has chosen us to follow. It tells us of our place in human history, of where we came from and why, it tells us of our past, and it shows us that everything the West has achieved has only been possible because of Islam.
There is another important point to consider in this which is that once we have understood that the West continues to reside under the shade of Islam then it gives us a completely different perspective when we view the injustices of the West against other peoples.
The reason why holding this perspective is important is because when we view such injustices we see them in the context of a historical picture which constantly reminds us that the existence of these injustices is only because we did not succeed. Far from being disempowered, we are empowered with the knowledge that if the present-day situation has been caused by our historical failures then we are in a position to shape the future through our present-day successes. The root of that success is the sincere desire to follow the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (sall’allahu alayhi wasallam), to love Allah and His Messenger more than anything else, to follow the middle course of tolerance and wisdom, and to hold fast to the religion in all matters. The Sunnah stills the heart which is necessary in order to see and accept the truth. This is necessary because in order to establish the truth requires a still heart and an objective mind, neither are possible to maintain if one filters vast amounts of injustice through one’s mind and heart which over time erode one’s confidence and in turn one’s belief. If one’s belief becomes eroded then the one that sought justice becomes the unjust. One of the reasons why so many well-intentioned people fall into the pitfall of injustice induced despair is because they lack the proper historical context of how and why these injustices are occurring – they are a reflection of our past.
The West gained from Islam, knowledge, and knowledge of how to gain power, however it did not gain knowledge of what to do with that power and nor what that power meant. Its acquisition, as the Muslims well understood was only to be used for the sake of God, the highest reflection in understanding was that of mercy towards others. Thus, bereft of this knowledge of the purpose of power the West did not possess the mechanisms which would have enabled it to recognise the natural boundaries of power and its accountability with God. Once we understand this key idea then we understand that much of the injustices perpetrated by the West are as a direct result of the legacy of previous generations abandoning the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (sall’allahu alayhi wasallam) who himself was reminded by Allah that his success was only by the power of Allah. It was out of this recognition of the absolute power of Allah that the Messenger of Allah (sall’allahu alayhi wasallam) and all those that followed him were granted a success that continues to thrive and endure centuries later. And likewise it was those people who abandoned the Prophetic Path whose works have disappeared, whose building have fallen and whose history lies in the ruins of those buildings.
It is only the adherents of the Messenger of Allah (sall’allahu alayhi wasallam) that are secured success but only so far as we hold fast to his guidance with contrite hearts and recognise above all else that the power of change is with us only if we see that we alone are the carriers of the light of the heavens and earth. A light we alone have been granted, a light that dispels all darknessess, a light that diffuses throughout the world and, by the power of Allah, once more brings light where there was only darkness. If the injustice of the West is the darkness then the light to dispel that darkness is the guidance of Islam, but that guidance and the light therein cannot burn brightly within the hearts of the believers until we see our light more than we see the darkness around us, and not until we are inspired by the words of our Lord more than we are angered by the actions of the ignorant, only then will true change will occur.
