Thursday 19 August 2010

The floods reveal the good in the Ummah and the evil in her rulers

As July ended and August began, during the monsoon seasons of Pakistan, heavy rains caused rivers and lakes to burst their banks, dams to be overwhelmed by the sheer weight of water, sending great flash floods which swept away the houses, bridges, roads and electricity power lines in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Baluchistan and Southern Punjab, with Charsadda, Nowshera, Peshawar, Mardan, Swabi, Swat and Shangla included amongst the worst hit areas. Thousands have been drowned and hundreds of thousands are now under the bare sky, starving and thirsty, now facing death through waterborne diseases of the stomach, such as cholera and typhoid.

As for the Muslims who have drowned and are now dying because of diseases of the stomach, they are of the status of martyrs with respect to reward, RasulAllah (SAW) said,

"Whom do you consider a shaheed among you? They said: O Messenger of Allah, the one killed in the way of Allah is a shaheed. He said: Then the shuhadaa (martyrs) among my Ummah would be few. They said: Then who are they, O Messenger of Allah? He said: The one killed in the way of Allah is a shaheed, the one who dies in the way of Allah is a shaheed, the one who died in plague is a shaheed, the one who died due to the stomach is a shaheed and the drowned person is a shaheed." [Muslim]
Indeed, it is the way of Allah (SWT) that the best and most pious of Muslims return to Allah (SWT) in the best manner.

As for the millions of Muslims who grieve for the sufferings of the Muslims, from all over Pakistan and beyond Pakistan, who seek paths through the chaos, to bring clean water, food, medicine and clothing to their brethren, all this is a great evidence of the good within this Ummah of RasulAllah (SAW). Truly this Ummah is as RasulAllah (SAW) described it,
"The similitude of the believers in their mutual love, compassion and sympathy is like that of a body: when one part hurts then the rest of the body calls out in sleeplessness and fever." [Muslim]

And what a contrast the rulers of the Muslims are, in Pakistan and outside it, to the Ummah over which they rule. Collectively the rulers command millions of soldiers and trillions of dollars of resources, yet what was their response to the sufferings of the Muslims in their time of great need?

As for the rulers of Pakistan itself, as the floods worsened and casualties mounted, the President, Asif Ali Zardari, actually left the country to smile and socialize with the rulers of Europe. Only after several days of a clear and obvious national emergency, did the Prime Minister, Yusuf Raza Gillani, decide to call for an "emergency" cabinet meeting. Was it not upon the rulers to immediately move to the affected areas, to personally supervise the management, rather than view television reports as if the disaster had occurred in another country? Was it not upon them to ensure the ample supply of food and water to prevent the huge rise in prices due to shortage of supply in the affected areas, such that one wheat roti was Rs. 25, whereas in the unaffected cities it is Rs. 2. Was it not upon them to mobilize tens of thousands of soldiers to assist the people, not merely thousands who are clearly overwhelmed by the scale of the disaster, rather than commit nearly 150,000 troops to America's war of Fitna in the tribal areas? And the oppressor rulers will turn the country upside down to secure the NATO supply line, providing wine and weapons for the crusaders in Afghanistan, but will hardly lift a finger to alleviate the suffering of the Muslims. As if this was not enough, these rulers are accepting nominal aid of America for flood relief, in an effort to improve her image in the eyes of the people of Pakistan, even though America is a crusader enemy who is killing Muslims of Pakistan daily through drone attacks.

As for the rulers outside of Pakistan, they are as the rulers of Pakistan. They are forced to utter the word "Ummah", because of the demands of the Muslims, but their words do not descend beyond their lips and throats. They are content to allow the Muslims to die as if they are animals, whilst they loot and plunder the immense resources of the Ummah and store their ill-gotten billions in the Western banks, safe for the time when they must escape from their own people. They will throw aid as little as they feel is required to prevent widespread rage against them, as one would throw some morsel to hungry animals through fear of their bite. But overall they will treat the Muslims in crisis, as they would treat them in the normal days, depriving them of the most basic of needs.

The rulers of Pakistan and outside Pakistan do not care for the Muslims, because the capitalist system which they implement is designed only to care for the ruling elite and its entourage. Throughout the world a select, band of elite deprive the billions of the world's important resources, leaving them to hunger, thirst and homelessness. So, worse must be expected in a time of crisis. This was witnessed clearly in 2005 during the time of President Bush, in America, the heartland of Capitalism, as the people of the southern states were abandoned to hunger, thirst and violence, after Hurricane Katrina. As such, Capitalism is a kufr system which secures the most outrageous luxurious needs of a small fraction, such as extravagant paintings and ostentatious residences, so that most of the people are denied their most basic of needs. Without doubt, Capitalism's time is at its end, as is the time of the rulers that implement it.

O People of Power in Pakistan! O officers in Pakistan's Armed Forces!

Have you not seen enough to move against these evil rulers? Will you forsake those you have sworn to protect? Does this Ummah that once sent a flotilla of ships to relieve the Irish of the suffering of famine, in the time of Queen Victoria, not deserve its basic needs secured? Does this great Ummah, that throughout the era of the Khilafah, provided sanctuary for oppressed non-Muslims, not deserve security and peace? Does this noble Ummah not deserve noble rulers, who share in her despair, crying until their hearts ache and move tirelessly for her needs, forsaking sleep, ignoring their aching limbs and sparing no effort to relieve suffering, as happened in the time of the famine in Madinah during the time of the Khaleefah Rashid, Umar (RA)? His Wali in far flung Syria, Abu Ubaydah bin al-Jarrah (RA), said that he would send a train of camels so long that he said, "I am sending you the caravans whose one end will be here at Syria and the other will be at Madinah." Moreover, later, Abu Ubaidah (RA) paid a personal visit to Madinah and acted as an officer of a disaster management cell, which was headed personally by Umar (RA). Tens of thousands of people from desert towns had already gathered in Madinah and once adequate supply of ration reached Madinah, Umar (RA) dispatched his men to the routes of Iraq, Palestine and Syria to take the supply caravans to the desert settlements deeper into Arabia, which in turn saved hundreds of thousands from annihilation. For the internally displaced people, Umar (RA) hosted a dinner every night at Madinah, which according to one estimate every night more than hundred thousand people use to attend. If all this could be achieved by Islamic ruling, in the age of the camel and messages by horse rider, what could be achieved by the Khilafah state in the era of the plane and internet?

O People of Power in Pakistan! O officers in Pakistan's Armed Forces!

It is not enough that you merely assist the people in the relief efforts. Allah (SWT) has given you far more capability than that, about which you will be asked when you face him on a day that no excuse will rescue you from His (SWT) Wrath and Punishment. It is upon you to make the bold step that will ensure for generations that the needs of your people are fulfilled, within crises and outside of crises, by a rightly guided Khaleefah, ruling by Islam, seeking the pleasure of Allah (SWT). So, when will you grant the Nussrah to establish the Khilafah, O brothers?

وَسَيَعْلَمُ الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا أَيَّ مُنقَلَبٍ يَنقَلِبُونَ


"And soon will the unjust know what change in circumstance their affairs will take" [Surah Al-Sha'raa 26:227] (Ends/)



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