Some of you will remember what I wrote in July 2007 about the fitnah developing in the Swat Valley in the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan here and then here.
With the first-hand reports that I’ve been hearing over the last few months, the situation has become very bad, culminating a few days ago in the shocking attack on Muslim army soldiers in the capital of Swat district, Mingora, that left over 17 people dead. There is little doubt of the Mamderai Imam’s involvement in this, also known as “Imam Derai Imam” or “Maulana Fazlullah”.
We’ve mentioned before the mistakes of such clerics and people who believe that to establish Shari’ah at all costs is the key goal and objective of Islam. It is unbelievable that this man and his supporters have changed one of the most beautiful and religious places in the entire world to a den of chaos and anarchy, where militarised vigilante gangs roam the markets threatening to blow up shops that continue to shave customer’s beards, sell music tapes, and block high rent prices in the pursuit of justice.
Although these issues by of themselves might be Islamically warranted on the individual, for them to be implemented upon the community at large is the responsibility of the state and not the impressionable 20-year old with his AK-47 and two grenades. Indeed, how many people went astray and fell into extremism and sin by trying to enjoin the good and forbid the evil without the ability or sanction from Allah jalla wa ‘ala. If the sirah of our Prophet and the advice of our scholars concerning understanding the relationship between implementing Islam, ability and authority is not enough to explain to the extremists the errors of their ways, then all we have to look forward to is the killing and lawlessness that is becoming all too common in the Muslim lands.
That is not to say that it is all one-way traffic. There is no doubt about the West’s greater intention with respect to the Muslim world and its attempt to secularise and dampen down the religiosity of the Ummah. What better way to do it than to set the local Muslim population against their own practising Muslim army personnel and government employees, resulting in anarchy, lawlessness and massacre; this can only leave the psychologically shattered and terrified innocent folk caught in the crossfire clamouring for the State to get heavily involved and bring back ‘peace and security’ to the region, conveniently done with secular laws, rights and economic opportunities and the closing down of religious structures and institutions as is always the case.
All the enemies of Islam have to do is to light the fire – there are plenty of Muslim fanatics present amongst us who are all too willing to stoke the flames with their deviant oxygen of “Shari’ah at all costs”.
Of course it is a difficult situation, and no-one will deny the fitnah and reality on the ground now when your family and people are being attacked. The initial suicide attacks were probably instigated by outsiders, at the behest of Musharraf and his allies, which can only lead to the circle of violence and reprisals from the army against the villagers increasing. The villagers though are no ordinary people: they are a tough, proud, ultra-conservative nation of Pathans all possessing personal weapons and the stand-off that was feared has now been realised with last night’s news that they have hit back at the latest forays by the army into their villages by beheading suspected spies.
And this is exactly what we expected would happen wa Allahu musta’an. The army have now responded by intermittently cutting all electricity and mobile phone networks in the Bandai area close to Mingora and have launched aerial offensives against Fazlullah’s militant supporters, of which there are thousands, and of course the innocent folk, women and children are caught up in the middle. Add to this, as in Iraq and other places, the rapid proliferation of suspicion, petty crime, robberies, kidnappings and sectarian killings between Shi’ah and Sunni neighbours in Swat, and we see again the living hell that our Muslim lands are turning into at the hands of violent extremist factions and the instigations of the secular leaders and their Western counterparts.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news with articles such as these but I do it only for two reasons: to bring authentic reports of what is really going on, and to ask my brothers and sisters for du’a as my own mother asked me this morning. The Muslims around the world enjoy many daily highs and suffer many daily lows and that’s the nature of this Ummah in these last days – we have to try and combat our despair and weakness with what we learn from the Qur’an and Sunnah, which can possibly at this time be summarised into three things:
1. We must all together seek forgiveness from Allah; all of us need to recognise our own contributions to our downfall and punishment and turn back to Allah for safety. As Allah says, “And Allah would not punish them while you (O Muhammad) are amongst them, nor will He punish them while they seek Forgiveness.” (Al-Anfal 8:33)
2. We must seek the counsel of our senior scholars and wise elders and put our trust in their experience and wisdom in these times of fitnah and difficulty.
3. We must recognise the value of patience and be those who are steadfast upon His Deen jalla wa ‘ala through thick and thin, for this religion is nothing but patience if we but only knew.
Again, I request your du’as for your fellow Muslims. May Allah have mercy upon us all and forgive us our many mistakes and allow us to see more better days than the bad ones and give us strength to bear these trials together, ameen.
