The religion of Allah is the cause of our renaissance, our prosperity and our success. This fact should not be absent from our minds and our hearts however hard the others try to change it. At present, when the world is suffering from tribulations and crises, minds are distracted by diverse causes, but the Exalted Allah, the One Who created man, and in Whose Hands the reign of all the world affairs, stated in the Holy Qur'an: "Mischief has appeared on land and sea because of {the meed} that the hands of men have earned" (Ar Rum, v.41).
He also said: "If the people of the towns had but believe and feared Allah, we should indeed have opened out to them {all kinds of} blessing from heaven and earth" (Al A'raf, v. 96).
Mouthed by Noah (PBUH), the Exalted Allah said: "I said, 'Ask forgiveness from your Lord; for He is Oft-Forgiving. He will send rain to you in abundance. Give you increase in wealth and sons; and bestow on you Gardens and bestow on you rivers {of flowing water}. What is the matter with you, that ye place not your hope for kindness and long suffering in Allah" (Nuh, vs. 10-13).
However the world information media and the callers of materialism try to tempt us using different means of distraction, we should not turn away from what the Exalted Allah directs us to.
When man is verified by religion, he becomes bountiful, his life becomes all gain, and everything he does becomes advantageous.
I have mentioned this before relating the Hadith of our Prophet (PBUH), transmitted by Imam Muslim in his Sahih, in which he said: "Islam initiated as something strange, and it would revert to its (old position) of being strange. so good tidings for the strangers". In an appendix related by At Tirmuhdi (GBH), the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: "Those who repair my Sunnah (tradition) after people have damaged it after me", and in another appendix mentioned by Al Haaken in his Mustadrak, "Those who escape with their religion will be resurrected with Christ, son of Mary, on the Doomsday".
I believe that we are living the alienation of religion anew. I do not mean the nominal and formal affiliation of an Ummah that exceeds a billion and a half. I rather refer to the alienation of the truths and purposes of religion; the purposes in which man should be a mere slave to the Exalted Allah.
Briefly speaking, I'll present some images of religion alienation in religious requirements as examples:
Alienation in purpose.
Alienation in behavior.
Alienation in doctrine.
Alienation in state.
1- Alienation in Purpose
This is exemplified in the alienation we are living in now. It is represented in the absence of doing the deed for the sake of Allah. Purpose is will. It is the pillar on which all deeds depend, and from which the value of all deeds is derived. This purpose or will might exist in this life or in the Hereafter. Moreover, it might be for the sake of the Exalted Allah who said: "Among you are some that hanker after this world and some that desire the Hereafter" (Al Imran, v. 152). He also said to His beloved (PBUH): "And keep thy soul content with those who call on their Lord morning and evening, seeking his face" (Al Kahf, v. 28).
Oh, Ummat Muhammad, where is such a purpose in our life?
Where is such a purpose that you feel and live in, in your worship or in your treatment?
Do you visit the others only for the sake of Allah?
Do you love the others for the sake of Allah?
Do you hate somebody for the sake of Allah?
Do you sell and buy with this purpose present in your heart?
Do you help the dependents on Allah and His creatures intending the sake of Allah?
Where is such a purpose at a time when purpose becomes the aim of getting interest, fame among people, and gaining more money even if this is at the expense of principle and religion?
The purpose should be that mentioned in the opening invocation of our prayer when we stand before the Exalted Allah saying: I have set my face, firmly and truly, towards Him Who created the heavens and the earth, and never shall I give partners to Allah. Truly, my prayer and my service of sacrifice, my life and my death, are (all) for Allah, the Cherisher of the worlds, Who has no partner.
Accordingly, we are living alienation.
Those who are verified by purpose are few, while there are many who belong to Islam nominally and are far from this type of purpose.
2- Plentitude of Examples of Alienation in Behavior
Where is the one who does his work dexterously and feels that bringing his work to perfection is a deed that causes him closeness to Allah?
Where is the one who feels that he is coming closer to Allah in his treatment, in his study if he is a student, in his teaching if he is a teacher, in his industry if he is an industrialist, in his trade if he is a merchant, in his worship when he stands before the Exalted Allah in his prayer niche?
Where is absolute sincerity to Allah in behavior, in treatment, in every personal state through which man feels closeness to Allah?
Where is the disciplined family that applies the laws of Allah, the family that derives its behavioral activity from the instructions of our Master, Muhammad (PBUH)?
Where is the obedience of the woman to her husband in the organization of the disciplined family?
We are living intellectual confusion. The people of the West, who were extremists in their treatment of the woman so that they held conferences in which they wondered whether the woman belonged to mankind or not, do the same mistake nowadays of going to the opposite extreme of raising the woman to a level higher than human beings.
This is the confusion that causes social system to disintegrate.
On the other hand, in a family disciplined by the order of Allah, the husband sponsors his children and his wife according to the Islamic law, recommends them to obey Allah, and instructs them to do good. Such a family in which all members obey the law of Allah, behave according to the instructions of our Master, Muhammad (PBUH).
It is allowed for a man to abandon his brother for three days only, but it is not allowed for the wife to abandon her husband even for one day. She should rather hold her husband's hand and say to him: 'I'll not leave your hand until we reconcile', so that the family's sins might be cancelled.
Where is such a familial behavior in a Muslim husband, a Muslim wife, and in a child who is reared on principles.
Once, Omar Ibn Adul Aziz wept when he found his son wearing a patched dress on a Festival day. His son asked him: "Oh, father, what makes you cry? Omar said: "I fear that your heart may break when you see the children of the Muslims wearing new clothes, while you, the son of the Caliphate of the Muslims, wear old clothes." The lad said: "No, father. Only the disobedient to his father and mother should have a broken heart."
This example has become something odd at the time of alienation of religion, in personal states, in treatment and in worship…
The examples of alienation are too many.
If man wants to know whether he is living religious alienation, let him compare his behavior with that of our Master, Muhammad (PBUH).
We have to follow the Sunnah in deed and states.
3- Alienation of Doctrine
Doctrinal alienation can be seen in the deformation of Islamic doctrine, especially through the media of space channels that are employed for that purpose, and in which we find the wonder of the wonders. We no more hear about the Governship of the Exalted Allah. We no more hear about the fact that the Exalted Allah does not accept any religion but Islam.
Nowadays, there are many abnormal mottoes, east and west, that call to unifying religions, disregarding the fact that the mission of our Master, Muhammad (PBUH) superseded all the other religions, and that after the mission of Muhammad (PBUH), the Exalted Allah does not accept any religion but Islam.
Alienation of doctrine appeared when flattery and compliments of the others at the expense of doctrine and its fundamentals became plenty, and after the adherents to the fundamentals of doctrine became alienated.
4- Alienation of State
In this type of alienation, there is, alas, a lot to talk about.
Where is reliance on Allah in which the salve depends on his Patron in his secret?
Where are our ancestors' trust and dependence on Allah alone?
Once the soldiers of the sultan knocked at the door of Al 'Iz Ibn 'Abdis Salam, the pious jurist. His children looked through the cracks of the door. When they saw the soldiers, they said to their father: "Oh father, don't go out, for the soldiers of the Sultan have come for you, and we fear that they might kill you." Al 'Iz hurried to open the door and said: "Don't think that your father deserves martyrdom. I see that I am not worthy of such a status."
Al 'Iz's state is that of the one who has trust in and dependence on Allah.
You should know that what befell you, would not have missed you, and what missed you would not have befallen you.
You should know that if all the Ummah gather to benefit you with something, they will not be able to do that unless it has been ordained for you by Allah; and if all the Ummah gather to harm you with something, they will not be able to do that unless it has been ordained for you by Allah.
Dependence is the truthfulness in which you say in your secret: Oh my God…You are my purpose, and Your satisfaction is what I seek. It is the state of constant awareness and fear of Allah.
"It is the practice of those who preach the Messages of Allah, and fear Him and fear none but Allah" (Al Ahzab, v. 39).
In conclusion, Oh youth, oh elders, oh children of today and of the future, we are in need for an educational project that makes us get out of this alienation.
Islam initiated as something strange, and it would revert to its (old position) of being strange.
Today, we live this alienation, but in order to move from this alienation into truthful interaction with the religion of Allah that would make us get out of crises, from confusion, from flattering and appealing to people, and put us in the state of slavery to Allah when we do not care in whichever state we are, I say what Khubaib said (GBH) when he was crucified in Mecca. They asked him: "Do you like to be safe in your home and the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) is in your place?" He answered: "I never wish to be safe in my home and the Messenger of Allah is pierced with a thorn". Then he recited the following verse saying:
I don't mind when I am killed as a Muslim,
In whichever way my assassination is
In the cause of Allah Who, when He wills,
He blesses torn off limbs.
Where can we find nowadays the case of the magicians of Pharaoh who changed into a state of truthfulness and to turning to Allah, and said to Pharaoh:
They said: never shall we regard thee as more than the Clear Signs that have Come to us; or than Him Who created us! so decree whatever thou desirest to decree: for thou canst only decree {touching} the life of this world (Taha, v.
72).
Where are these states that we nowadays relate as amusement, tales that have become alienated to us.
How far we are from the reality of religion in which we live only in its image!
It is indispensible to have an education scheme…
It is indispensible to have a true return to the Qur'an, to read it, meditate upon it and understand it…
It is indispensible to return to the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) to read it, understand it, meditate upon it, and apply it really in our behavior…
If we do that, we become really from those who are described by the Messenger of All (PBUH) as "good tidings for the strangers".
Allahum…, make us from the alienated, guide us to Your religion favorably, and make us from those who listen to wisdom and follow the best of it.
I say my words and ask Allah's forgiveness.