Chapter Four

The Problem of the Claim that the Islamic State Is Absent

We Muslims speak a lot and aloud about the Islamic civilization, and we are proud of our approach to civilization.  We believe that we have to be proud for two reasons.  The first is that our Islamic civilization has been based on the values, principles, and controls of our religion, which we believe to be the system of our Lord, the Lord of all people, and the Lord of Heavens and the Earth and everything between them, and the system that our Lord, the Most Glorious, has chosen for us and for all people.

The second is that our historical record and our contemporary conditions testify to our cultural merit, contribution, and creativity.

I do not think any just, objective, or neutral person would deny or dispute any of that, except for what few people, and not the majority, say.  These tell us:

We are ready to go along with you and accept what you say about a great and bright civilization you had in the past.  We testify, on the basis of what history tells us and what some of the preserved remnants you have, that you had a past civilization and that your forefathers made contribution to the human cultural structure.  Your present condition, however, confirms that you are incapable of keeping up with the progress of civilization and with its requirements and tools.  You and your culture and life style have failed to carry on the cultural contribution you started, which was a point in your favor at one time.  But you have failed and the progress of civilization has sidestepped you and followed another party.  That is because you have committed yourselves to a particular system, Islam, and locked yourselves within the cell of its teachings and principles.  You have convinced yourselves that it is a good system for every time and place, although the logic of things and the standards of modernity and development say something different; they say that change, development, and renovation are necessary, required by the changes of time and place conditions.

We are told this also by a group of our own people, who believe in our religion and call themselves by the same titles we use.  They are convinced of what the other says; they believe it, are enthusiastic about it, and struggle to spread it and influence our generation to get convinced of, adhere to, and apply it at the expense of their values and the principles of their religion and its divine system.

There is a third party that argues with us about our present conditions and insists that the approach of our civilization has nothing to do with it.  They claim that the history of our civilization, at best, came to an end with the end of the Ottoman Caliphate.  The caliphate state disintegrated and was divided into mini-states established as a result of the Crusader-Zionist conspiracy and representing the false deities of that conspiracy who founded them.  Those mini-states and their rulers have nothing to do with the Islamic nation and the sovereignty of its peoples.  They are illegitimate states that guard the interests of the enemies of Islam and represent our current situation in its backwardness, weakness, and shameful cultural absence.

The members of this group differ from others who speak of the absence of the good character of this nation in that they still believe in Islam, its values, and its principles, stress that Islam is good for every age and every place.  They set out – in their conviction of the loss, on the part of the Islamic nation, of the attribute of being best of and the discontinuity of its civilization – from a belief in the theory of infinite conspiracy interpretation of successive events in the nation’s life and from a conviction that the false deities of the Crusader-Zionist conspiracy are the actual decision makers in Islamic countries.  They believe that the attribute of being the best nation was lost at the end of Islamic Caliphate, and they are the only thing that remains of that attribute.  I am not referring here to any particular faction, group, party, organization, movement, or school of thought.  All the groups that carry one of these names agree in their belief that the Islamic nation’s attribute of being best is vanished, except for the exclusive possession of that attribute by them or the agency they belong to.  They hold that the intentions and claims of governments and agencies are suspect.

I repeat that I am not talking here about a particular group or agency, but about an irksome phenomenon that has developed within our nation.  The promoters of that phenomenon, divers as their tastes and conceptions are, agree on one thing, namely, stripping the nation of its attribute of being the best with which God has favored it over all other nations, and attributing being best to their own persons or the groups they belong to.  They stress that the Islamic nation has been absent from the centers of authority and from the state as an institution, and that authority in Islamic countries is now held by the devil and his subordinates.  They claim that the rulers of Muslims and of the Islamic states today are followers of Zionist and Crusader false deities, who are the allies of the devil and his subordinates.  They are illegitimate governments that have attached them­selves to infidels and false deities.  Therefore, they are, with no exception, to be treated as those infidels and false deities.  Thus, according to these, nothing remains to reflect the attribute of being the best nation and God’s authority on earth other than what each of these claims for himself and his group.  Meanwhile, each of them insists on discrediting the other claimants who resemble him.  Hence, they are partners who squabble with and curse each other in regards to what they claim and what they comprehend.  Of course, all these groups base their interpretation and belief in the loss of the nation’s attribute of being the best on their wrong interpretation of a tradition of God’s Messenger, blessings and peace be upon him, which says, “A group of my nation continue to be prominent until they receive God’s will while they are prominent.”[1]  In another version, the tradition says, “A group of my nation continues to be prominently upright until Doomsday.”[2]  They also base their belief on an abnormal interpretation of the tradition that says, “At the beginning of every one hundred years, God sends someone who renews for Muslims the state of their religion.”[3]  They insist on comprehending and believing that only individuals and groups are meant by “a group which is prominently upright.”  It is they who represent what has remained of the attribute of being the best nation.  This group, they believe, cannot exist at the level of state authority, politicians, rulers, and leaders, and there is no exception.  They persist in saying that when politicians and states speak about following Islam and adhering to it in their lives, and when states affirm that they are founded on Islamic ground and are committed to God’s Book and the sunna of his Messenger, blessings and peace be upon him, these politicians and states are, to begin with, suspect in regards to their intentions and sincerity, and their claim that they follow Islam and its Law is a type of deception, but their reality is known and exposed.

In answering these two groups of Muslims – the first that is deceived and fascinated by the statements of malicious non-Muslims, and the second that is full of illusion, conceit, and exaggeration, and that is unjust to itself and its people: the members and leaders of the Islamic nation – I say, “Slow down!  Woe unto you!  That is not the way things are done!”  As already mentioned, the first group adopts the statements of malicious and unjust non-Muslims that Islam has used up its energy and validity and has expired with the death of its herald, Muhammad, son of Abdullah, and is no longer suitable, because of the changes in time and place.  This group accepts the claim that Islam is incapable of meeting the requirements that result from the ongoing development of people and of their needs.  I say to these, “You are not to be blamed, since you are lured by your whims, malice has blinded your vision, and your eyes are too blurred to see the evident, pure truth.  You are not to be blamed, as your minds and thoughts are captive to the logic of trends, the chemistry of canned products, and the crazes of change for change sake, and since you have committed yourselves to the methodology of those who tamper with the cultures of nations and are busy with deforming the immortal divine values to satisfy the devil and their abnormal whims and caprices.  Out of pity for you and because we are eager to carry out the duty of reminding and advising, I tell you that the Islam that you claim to belong to past long-gone time and is no longer capable to meet the requirements of people due to the changes of time and place is the same Islam that, shouting at the top of its voice and addressing all human beings, continues to urge you and urge all people, promoting the following.

1.     Mutual acquaintance and coexistence in a state of security:

People, We have created you from a male and a female and made you into nations and tribes in order to know each other.  The noblest among you in God’s consideration are those who fear Him the most (Al-Hujuraat XLIX: 13).

2.     The administration of justice for all people:

God commands you to deliver trusts to their owners, and if you judge between people, be just in your judgment (Al-Hujuraat XLIX: 58).

3.     Respecting human dignity:

We have honored the children of Adam (Al-Israa XVII: 70).

4.     Observing the inviolability of human life:

… if a person kills a soul, unless in punishment for murder or corruption on earth, it is as if he has killed all people, and if he saves a life, it is as if he has saved the lives of all people (Al-Maidah V: 32).

5.     Respecting the freedom of belief:

There shall be no coercion in religion. The right way is now distinct from error (Al-Baqarah II: 256).

6.     Respecting ecological security:

Do not spread corruption on earth after it has been so well ordered (Al-A'raaf VII: 56).

7.     The alliance of nations to face corruption:

And had it not been for God using people to check each other, the Earth would have been corrupted (Al-Baqarah II: 251).

8.     Mutual service among people:

We promoted some of them in ranks, so that they would use each other in service (Al-Zukhruf XLIII: 32).

9.     Competition to do good deeds:

To each of you We have given a code of law and a way of life. Had God so willed, He could have made you all one nation; but He wants to test you by means of that which He has bestowed on you (Al-Maidah V: 48). 

10.       Observing covenants and agreements:

Believers fulfill your contract obligations (Al-Maidah V: 1).

11.       Pursuit of learning and research:

From among God’s servants, the ones who fear him are knowledge­able people (Faatir XXXV: 28).

Say, “Look to see what the heavens and earth contain” (Yunus X: 101).

12.       Exploitation of the resources of the earth:

So, walk around its regions, eat of His provision, and to him is the resurrection (Al-Mulk LXVII: 15).

13.       Social solidarity:

He does not believe in me: the person who is full when he sleeps, while his neighbor next to him is hungry and he knows that.[4]

Gabriel, peace be upon him, kept commending neighbors to me until I thought he was going to tell me they would inherit.[5] 

14.       War on slavery and famines:

Would that you knew what the Ascent is. ◘ It is the emancipation of a slave, ◘ or the feeding, on a day of famine (Al-Balad XC: 12-14).

15.       Respect for the property of others:

Do not consume your property among yourselves in vanity (Al-Baqarah II: 188).

16.       Focusing on security:

If something related to security or fear comes to their knowledge, they make it known to all and sundry; whereas, if they would only refer it to the Messenger and to those from among them entrusted with authority, those of them who are engaged in obtaining intelligence would know it (Al-Nisaa IV: 83).

17.       War on drugs and charlatanism:

Believers, intoxicants, games of chance, idolatrous practices and divining arrows are abominations devised by Satan (Al-Maidah V: 90).

18.       Respecting the right of self-defense:

Permission to fight is given to those against whom war is waged, because they have been wronged (Al-Haj XXII: 39).

19.       Refraining from aggression against others:

Fight for the cause of God those who fight you, and do not commit aggression. God does not love aggressors (Al-Baqarah II: 190).

20.       Common benefit:

The best people are those who benefit people.[6]

21.       Encouragement of commerce:

God has made trade lawful and usury forbidden (Al-Baqarah II: 275).

Nine tenths of livelihood comes from commerce.[7]

22.       War on monopoly:

A person who monopolizes an item, aiming to make it expensive for Muslims, is sinful and deprived of the custody of God and His Messenger.[8]

A person who monopolizes is sinful.[9]

A person, who monopolizes food, keeping it from Muslims, will be stricken by God with leprosy and bankruptcy.[10]

23.                               War on corruption:

Do not cause mischief on earth, spreading corruption (Hood XI: 85).

24.       Sea navigation:

It is God who subjected the sea to you for the ship to sail on it by His command (Al-Jaathiyah XLV: 12).

He has subjected to you rivers (Ibrahim XIV: 32-33).

25.       Fish resources:

It is He who subjected the sea to you so that you may eat out of it tender meat (Al-Nahl XVI: 14).

26.       Safeguarding the honor of other people:

Stay away from fornication; it is an indecent act and an evil course to take (Al-Israa XVII: 32).

27.       Refraining from false statements:

… those who never give false testimony (Al-Furqaan XXV: 72).

28.       Observing honesty in business:

Give just weight and full measure (Al-An' am VI: 152).

29.       Giving special attention to agriculture:

If Doomsday arrives while one of you is holding a sapling in his hand and he is able to plant it before he is resurrected, he should do so.[11]

30.       Focusing on professionalism:

God loves a believer with a profession.[12]

31.       Being rational in spending:

…And who, whenever they spend their money, are neither wasteful nor niggardly, but always maintain a just mean between the two (Al-Furqaan XXV: 67).

32.       Forbidding shameful deeds:

Do not commit any shameful deed, whether open or secret (Al-An' am VI: 151).

33.       Supporting orphans:

Do not touch the property of an orphan before he comes of age, except to improve it (Al-An' am VI: 152).

34.       Kind speech:

Speak kindly to people (Al-Baqarah II: 83).

35.       Focusing on the dialogue culture:

Reason with the People of the Book only in a graceful manner (Al-'Ankaboot XXIX: 46).

36.       Modesty in dealing with people:

The true servants of the Most Merciful are those who walk gently on earth, and who, whenever the ignorant address them, say: “Peace” (Al-Furqaan XXV: 46).

37.       Appreciation of the work of others:

…and do not deprive people of what rightfully belongs to them (Al-A'raaf VII: 85).

38.       Valuing honesty and condemning lying:

Honesty leads to piety, and piety leads to Paradise.  A person keeps telling the truth until he is labeled by God as an honest man.  Lying leads to dissipation, and dissipation leads to hell fire.  A person keeps lying until he is labeled by God as a liar.[13]

39.       Praising ethical behavior:

Among those of you I love the most are those with the best ethical behavior.

40.       Tolerance:

…but the one who pardons and effects reconciliation will get his reward from God (Al-Shura XLII: 40).

41.       Being merciful:

Have mercy on the ones on earth, and you will receive mercy from the One in Heaven.[14]

42.       Complementary responsibility of man and woman:

Male and female believers are supporters of each other; they enjoin what is good and forbid what is wrong (Al-Tawbah IX: 71).

43.       Emphasis on the unity of a human family:

People, fear your Lord, Who created you from one soul, and from it created its mate.  From the two of them, He filled the earth with many men and women (Al-Nisaa IV: 1).

People, your father is one and the same.[15]

44.       Cooperation

Cooperate in charity and piety and not in sin and aggression (Al-Maidah V: 2).

These points are just a fragment from a great block, whose words have no end, and whose riches know no limits.  Now I say this to you: if justice, security, prosperity, peace, equality, freedom, social solidarity, mutual mercy, tolerance, cooperation, competition, human dignity, the sacredness of human life, respect of individual property and privacy, dialogue, mutual acquaintance, commerce, industry, agriculture, technology, research, creativity, investment, economy, ecological safety – if a war on corruption, vice, shameful deeds, drugs, and crime – if all these, and the other things that are promoted by Islam do not meet the needs of the age and of contemporary life and do not respond to the aspirations for renovation, development, and modernization in the lives of individuals and communities, what then does respond to these needs, I wonder!  What are the requirements of modernization and contemporary life as you see them?  Is it the permission of anal sex and same-sex marriage and passing the laws and constitutional regulations that give legal foundation to these practices and to their culture?  Or is it your advocacy of sexual chaos among children and adolescents?  Or is it social permissiveness, the abolition of the legitimate family, and the promotion of shameful types of family, which is a dangerous course that leads to community destruction?  Or is it the encouragement of crime, theft, and greed?  Or is it spreading the culture of consumption anarchy at the expense of the culture of production and rational consumption?  Or is it the militarization of international relations at the expense of coexistence and peace?  Or is it the madness of cows, fish, fowl, and vegetables?  Or is it land, sea, and air environmental pollution?  Or is it the increasing rates of human poverty and starvation?  Or is it the phenomenon of incurable diseases unknown in earlier human history?  Or is it destructive universal wars?  Or is it the code of annihilation and racial and religious extermination all over the earth?  Or is it the organized crimes of robbery that have become characteristic of the largest city in the world?

If this in your view is part of contemporary life and of the response to the requirements of cultural advancement, for which Islam is, as you think, unsuitable, I would thank you for this testimony of which we are proud and to which we hold on.  It is true that Islam is not suitable for and does not approve those perversities, nor to those social and ecological diseases and the like.  It rather loathes and rejects them.  It even aims at purifying individuals and societies from their filth and blights.  Here are the wise and rational men of the world joining us in the war on social evils.  They warn against a state of imbalance between the movement of cultural and material construction and the process of the behavioral construction of rising generations.  You will be alone the allies of absurdity and value disorder in the trenches of the devil and his associates, unless you regain your common sense, which I sincerely hope for.  I like to remind you here of the statements of some politicians and wise men that warn against any disruption in the balance between science and values in the equation of the contemporary progress of civilization and against the hazards of moral and value decline of the security and the progress of societies.

I begin with the testimony of President Mikhail Gorbachev, the former leader of the Soviet Union, as it was called at the time.  I quote some paragraphs from his famous book Perestroika, in which he refers to the causes of destruction that afflicted the Soviet empire at the time.  He also refers to the material edifices of civilization that the soviet built at the expense of values, principles and human nature.  He tries to prevent that destruction, but it is too late.  He says:

§        Our rockets may reach Halley’s Comet and fly to Venus with astounding accuracy.  But beside these scientific and technological advances, we find an evident shortage in the competence to use scientific achievements for economic needs.  Moreover, many Soviet house appliances are of poor quality.  Unfortunately, that is not all.  A gradual decline of our ideological and moral values have started.  Corruption has invaded public ethics, and the rate of alcoholism and crime is rising (pp. 18-19).

§        Our main mission today is to enhance the individual’s morale, respect his privacy, and give him moral power.  We are striving to make the intellectual abilities and all the cultural potential of society work to create a socially-active, spiritually-rich, straightforward, conscientious individual (p. 29).

§        The world does not only live under nuclear threat, but in the climate of major, unsolved social problems and pressures caused by scientific and technological advance and the aggravation of world problems.  Mankind faces to day unprecedented problems, and hazards and dangers will continue in the future unless we find joint solutions (p. 80).

§        Through the years of our heroic and brilliant history, however, we failed to give attention to the special rights of women and the needs arising from their roles as mothers and housewives, and from their educational function which children cannot do without.  While women work in research, on construction sites, and in production and services, and while they contribute to creative activities, they no longer have the time to perform their daily household duties, i.e. housework; educate their children; and establish a healthy family atmosphere.  We have discovered that many of our problems – in the behavior of our children and young people, and in our morale, culture, and production – are partly due to the decline of family relations and of the lax attitude we have towards family responsibilities.  This is a result opposite to our sincere and politically-justified desire to have women equal to men in everything.  Now in the Perestroika process, we have started to control this situation.  For this reason, we are having hot debates in the press, in public organizations, at work, and at home, over what we should do to ease another problem, which is the employment of women in strenuous jobs that are hazardous to their health.  This is the heritage of the war in which we lost huge numbers of men.  Now we are beginning to cope seriously with this problem.  One of the most pressing social problems for us and most serious missions is the campaign against intoxicants which will reflect on the improve­ment of family health and the augmentation of the role of the family in society (pp. 138-39).

Faced with this horrible disorder, Gorbachev tries to forestall and listen to reason, to deal objectively with the serious and painful reality which his country, as well as the whole world, has come to.  He cautions and warns people, telling them the only chance they have is to be up to the collective responsibility that would keep them from the threat of drowning and destruction which everybody faces.  In spite of all the contradiction in the world today, the variety of social and political systems it has, all the different options on which countries have been founded through the ages – this world is one entirety, and all of us are passengers on the same vessel, the Earth.  We must not allow it to sink, for there will be no second Noah’s ark.

Now having quoted these selected passages from the testimony of President Gorbachev, the president of the wall of civilization that has fallen down due to the imbalance in the sensitive relationship between the elements of science and values, I turn to selections from the testimony of President Richard Nixon, former president of the United States of America.  Here are my selections from his famous book Seize the Moment.  He says:

§        America is now moving downward in a vortex towards scientific and technological illiteracy, not because Americans have lost their ability to learn, but because part of the knowledge they receive has been bypassed by time.  We are raising – whether in the heart of cities or within the Middle and Upper Classes in the suburbs – a new generation which can be called the MTV generation.  The amazing ignorance of many members of this generation does not result from the limited intelligence of young people, but from the failure to exploit their intelligence.  They live in the world of loud music, which is played at such a volume that it pierces the ear, and of television that displays fast-changing images that can hardly be followed by the eyes, and successive, sexually arousing scenes.  Mottos, which used to be displayed as stickers on bumpers, are now printed on shirts, but they are still as hollow” (p. 259).

§        The richest country in the world cannot possibly accept that its drug consumption is almost equal to the consumption of all the countries of the world together, although its population is not more than one twentieth of the world population.  The richest country in the world cannot have the highest crime rate in the world , nor can it accept that the number of people who die in America is twenty times the number of those killed in the Gulf War over the same period” (p. 267).

§        The richest country in the world cannot possibly accept to have a class of villains that make our major cities so unsafe that life becomes unbearable.  Dealing with these problems does not need new ideas, but rather a renewal of our belief in the principles that have made us what we are (p. 268).

While in his book 1999: Victory without War, President Nixon says:

§        In the twentieth century, our technological progress took a few steps ahead of our political progress, and that is something we should not allow to happen in the next century, in order to reduce the chances of war and enhance the participation in the benefits of peace (p. 327).

§        One day Stalin, mockingly and with contempt, questioned the Church power in influencing world events, saying, “How many brigades are under the Pope’s command?”  This comment shows his failure to understand the world and what drives it.  Ultimately, history is determined by ideas not arms (p. 331).

In this context:

§        The great Indian poet Tagore said in a conversation with a Western thinker, “It is true that you have been able to soar in the air like birds and to dive in the sea like fish, but you have not managed to walk on earth like human beings.”

§        American novelist John Steinbeck says, “America’s problem is in its wealth.  It has too many things, but it does not have an adequate spiritual message.  We need a blow on the head to make us wake up from our wealth.  We have conquered nature, but we have not conquered ourselves.”

§        The well-known former U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles says, “It is not a matter of material things; we have the greatest production of material things in the world.  What we lack is sound, strong faith, without which all what we have remains too little.”

§        Mr. Eden, a well-known British prime minister in contemporary history, says, “It is absurd that countries and nations spend millions of pounds to protect themselves from a lethal machine that frightens them, but they spend nothing to control it.”

§        Alexis Carrel, a scientist and Nobel laureate, says in his book Man the Unknown: “Our knowledge of life and of how a human being should live is a far distance behind our knowledge of material things, and this lagging behind is what makes us suffer.”

§        Professor Judd, head of the Department of Philosophy at London University, says, “Physical sciences have given us a power that is worthy of the great, but we use it with the mentality of children and beasts.  This discrepancy between our amazing scientific conquests and our embarrassing social infanthood is something we face at every turn in our lives.”

§        Former U.S. President Roosevelt says, “It is not what we have that will make us a great nation; it is the way in which we use it.”

§        In a long essay with the title “The Value Crisis Has a Heavy Cost,” published in the daily Asharq Alawsat (No. 5730, 10.7.1994) with permission from the Los Angeles Times service, former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker says, “The decline of social values that we have is the cause of the rise of explosive corruption in America.  73% of the Americans are worried, and have the right to be worried, that the nation is suffering a moral decline.  According to some estimates, crime alone costs the American economy more than 600 billion dollars annually.  The abuse of funds and corruption add to that uncountable billions more.  The human price – paid in the form of death, human life destruction, and frustrated hopes – is, how­ever, much higher and is bitterly suffered, in varied degrees, due to our lack of immunity.  The current value crisis dates back to the sixties, when cultural relativity and moral permissive­ness began.  America began its ominous experiment with social permissiveness thirty years ago.  Criticism of that process may require three more decades.”  Baker concludes his essay with an impressive statement; he says, “Personal responsibility is what made us a strong nation, while the persistence of the value crisis will turn us into a weak one.”

§        Confucius is known to have said, “A government has to provide people with three things: order, food, and military gear.”  He was asked once, “If you have to give up one of these three, which would you start with?”  He said, “Military gear.”  “How about if you had to choose between food and order, which would you give up,” he was asked.  He answered, “I would give up food.”

Confucius is right and his answers are sound.  He chose to sacrifice military gear and food for the sake of order, because he realized, as other rational and wise men do, that weapons without order are destructive and fatal, and that when order disappears, food would be lacking and growth would stop.

After this long and detailed discussion to show the invalidity of the claim of a group of our nation that Islam is not suitable to meet the requirements of the age and of cultural continuity, I will go on to show the invalidity of the claim of the other group that says the Islamic state does not exist in the lives of Muslims today.  They maintain that Islamic countries are mini-states ruled by illegitimate regimes and created by the Zionist-Crusader conspiracy.  They are, according to this group, mini-states allied to the enemies of God and the nation.  To this group of Muslims, whose minds are possessed and whose reasoning is paralyzed by an extreme conspiracy interpretation, which tempts them to suspect the intentions and inward thoughts of their fellow Muslims, and encourages them to violate the sacredness of their faith and beliefs and to accuse them of hypocrisy and alliance to parties other than God and His Messenger, blessings and peace be upon him—to this group I say: To begin with, I do not and cannot deny the conspiracy, nor the influence of conspiracy in human progress, past and present.  Like them I believe in it and also believe that it is being served and its purpose facilitated by agents within the Islamic nation and outside it. 

But I do not support the mania that uses conspiracy as the ultimate interpretation of all events within and around the nation, which is, unfortunately, the habit and approach of this group.  For me, the assumption of the good intentions of Muslims takes priority over suspicion, and this is in conformity with the Islamic approach and ethics which we are commanded to adopt in the Glorious Qur'an, as when God, the Most Sublime, says, “Believers, avoid much conjecture, for some conjecture is a sin.  Do not spy, and do not backbite one another…” (Al-Hujuraat XLIX: 12).  God, the Most Glorious, also says, “Most of them follow nothing but mere conjecture. But conjecture can in no way be a substitute for truth. God has full knowledge of what they do” (Yunus X: 36).  I also comply with the command of God, blessed are His Names: “… and do not, out of a desire for the fleeting gains of this life, say to one who offers you the greeting of peace, ‘You are not a believer,’ for with God are abundant gains. Thus have you been in days gone by. But God has bestowed on you His grace. Therefore, seek out the truth. Indeed God is always aware of what you do.” (Al-Nisaa IV: 94).  He, the Most Sublime, also says, “… and weigh with even scales, ◘ and do not deprive others of what is rightfully theirs, and do not act wickedly on earth, causing corruption” (Al-Shu'araa XXVI: 182-83).

Concerning your odd understanding and disagreeable statement that the word “group” in the tradition of God’s Messenger, blessings and peace be upon him, that says “A group of my nation continue to be prominently upright until Doomsday,”[16] refers to individuals and religious groups exclusive­ly, and does not cover governments and states at all, this is ingrate singling out that constitutes an onslaught against the approach of God’s Messenger, blessings and peace be upon him, and on the interpretation of the Well-Guided Caliphs, the Prophet’s other Companions, and early genera­tions of Muslims in general, may God have be pleased with them all.  It is even an onslaught against the Islamic approach, which cannot accommodate such sterile, morbid interpretation that completely contradicts the statement of God, the Most Sublime: “Among those whom We have created there is a nation who guide others by means of the truth and with it administer justice” (Al-A'raaf VII: 181). 

This verse confirms the extensive implications of the word “group” as used in the tradition of God’s Messenger, blessings and peace be upon him.  These implications make the meaning of the word embrace the nation in its general sense, rather than in any particular sense, which may refer to one individual, as in the words of God, the Most Sublime, “Abraham was a nation” (Al-Nahl XVI: 120), or a group of individuals: “…he found there a nation of people drawing water” (Al-Qassas XXVIII: 23).  The meaning even includes, specifically, the state and government, because establishing and enforcing justice is something that the state and leadership assume and that requires an active authority of the state and the ruler.  This is the firm basis of the way that the early generations of the nation understood the Book of God, the Most Sublime, and the Sunna of His Messenger, blessings and peace be upon him.  For example, they understood well the Messenger’s injunction: “When one of you sees an abomination, let him alter it with his hand; if he cannot, then with his tongue; and if he cannot, then in his heart, and that is the weakest level of belief.”[17]  The majority of scholars understand this tradition to have a specific, rather than a general, significance, in the sense of specifying authority, rather than generalizing it.  They say that change with the hand is to be undertaken by the leader and government; change with the tongue, by scholars and reformers; and change in the heart, by people in general, or as the situation requires.

By referring to Ibn Kathir for the interpretation of God’s words, “Among those whom We have created there is a nation who guide others by means of the truth and with it administer justice,” we find the following:

-       The phrase “Among those whom We have created” means part of the nation.

-       The phrase “a nation who guides others by means of the truth” means that they do so by words and action, that is, they tell and promote it and invite others to it.

-       The phrase “with it administer justice” means they apply it and base their judgment on it.

Traditionally, it is said that the nation mentioned in the verse is Muhammad’s nation.  Sa'eed Ibn Qatadah, interpreting this verse says, “We have learned that when the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, recited this verse he would say, ‘This one refers to you.  The people before were allotted a similar one.’  He was referring to the followers of Moses, peace be upon him, as evident in God’s statement, ‘… among the people of Moses a nation who guide others by means of the truth and with it administer justice’ (Al-A'raaf VII: 159).”

In regards to God’s statement, “Among those whom We have created there is a nation who guide others by means of the truth and with it administer justice,” Abu Ja'far Al-Razi quotes Al-Rabee' Ibn Anas as saying that God’s Messenger, blessings and peace be upon him, says, “A group of my nation continue to be prominently upright, unaffected by those who fail them and those who oppose them, until Doomsday.”[18]  In another version, it is “until God’s Will is done, and they are still as they are.”

That is what Ibn Kathir says in interpreting the verse “Among those whom We have created .…”  It is clear from what is quoted above concerning the interpretation of “who guide others by means of the truth” that it means that they tell and promote the truth, and that “with it administer justice” means that they apply it and base their judgment on it.  The words of God’s Messenger, blessings and peace be upon him, ‘This one refers to you’ confirms the meaning that includes the state and leadership, as the judiciary is a concern of the state and the leadership.  Said while the Messenger is still alive and in charge of Muslim affairs, being the head of state, confirms that the reference in the statement “Among those whom We have created there is a nation who guide others by means of the truth and with it administer justice” is that the state and the authority of God’s Law will persist in the lives of people; that the authority of God, the Most Sublime, will not disappear from these lives; and that He, the Most Glorious and Sublime, will destine, in all times and places, some of his believing servants to assume the responsibility of applying His Law and establish His justice.

The gist of what is signified by the tradition of God’s Messenger, peace be upon him, “A group of my nation continue to be prominently upright …” is that this group includes, in general, individuals and groups, and, in particular and most especially, the state.  This is because it is the state and the ruler that are concerned with God’s command to assume the responsibilities of establishing His Divine Law and applying justice among people.

With this understanding, I assert that the authority of God, the Most Sublime, will continue on earth and that the Islamic state and Law will not disappear from human life until God’s Will is done.  It is true that over time and with the change in place, the Islamic state might suffer a state of weakness and backwardness, and it might have some types of impurity and disorder, as it is clear in a tradition narrated by Hudhaifah Ibn Al-Yaman, may God be pleased with him.  He says:

People used to ask God’s Messenger, blessings and peace be upon him, about good, and I used to ask him about evil, fearing that I would be exposed to it. 

I said, “God’s Messenger, we were in a dark and evil age and God sent us this good, but is there after this good any evil?” 

He said, “Yes.” 

I said, “And is there after that evil any good?” 

He said, ‘Yes, and it will have some impurity’ 

I said, “What kind of impurity will it have?”

He said, “People who promote something other than my guidance, some of which you would recognize and some you would censure.”

I said, “And is there after that good any evil?” 

He said, ‘Yes, people who will invite others to the gates of Hell, and when someone listens to them, they will cast him inside it.”

I said, “God’s Messenger, describe them for us.”

He said, “They are of our own people and speak our language.”

I said, “What do you order me to do if I live to witness that?”

He said, “You stay with the society and leader of Muslims.”

I said, “What if they have no society and no leader?”

He said, “Then keep away from all those groups, even if you have to abide by the stump of a tree until death comes to you in that condition.”[19]

As mentioned above, the gist of what is signified by the tradition of God’s Messenger, peace be upon him, “A group of my nation continue to be prominently upright …” is that this group includes individuals, groups, and the state.  With this understanding, I assert again that the authority of God, the Most Sublime, will continue on earth and that the Islamic state and will not disappear from human life until God’s Will is done.  It is true that, as implied in the tradition narrated by Hudhaifah Ibn Al-Yaman, may God be pleased with him, that the nation may be afflicted by weakness and impurity, but that does not make it disappear or cancel its existence.  Its condition is contingent on the condition of its rulers, be it weakness, strength, sincerity, non-involvement, justice, oppression, uprightness, or immorality.  Yet, whatever the condition is, positive be it or negative, that state remains an Islamic one, representing the strength and banner of Islam, the continuity of Islam’s leadership, and the presence of the Islamic nation.  It maintains the rights and obligations of Muslims, protects their heritage and history, and guards their sovereignty among nations, which is possible only with the existence of the state and the leadership.  On this basis, the argument that the establishment of a cultural presence of the Islamic state is not possible is refuted, and with it the argument that the absence of the Islamic nation from contemporary civilization is inevitable is also refuted.

However, there remains a question we are confronted with by a third group who want to be fair to us after being convinced, in theory, by what we say of Islam and its cultural approach.  The say: You speak of Islam’s values, principles, purposes, and teachings.  You present to us passages from the Qur'an and Sunna, and historical field samples of Islamic justice, equality, freedom, counsel-seeking, security, social solidarity, and research and its various applications, as well as other virtues and positive points, which support and confirm your statements about Islam and its cultural efficiency.  We are thus inclined to be convinced by what you say and driven to see that model in your lives and believe in it and its cultural competence even more strongly.  However, we look right and left, but we find no contemporary, live example that serves as evidence supporting that.  We see no example that offers people a field model they can follow and use as a practical guide, and also use as evidence against the stubborn attitude of rejecters and antagonist of Islam’s values and teachings, those who try to keep people away from that great approach.  What is then the secret of this estrangement and absence from real life?

In response I say, I am, to begin with, shocked by this question, which arouses in me certain questions.  I ask: where does this feeling of estrangement originate?  What evidence of it do those who pose the question have?  What is the secret of this ignorance or overlooking of the condition in the Islamic countries close to and far from them?  What are the causes of this estrangement that fails to recognize the nature of the current regimes in these countries?  Are such questions realistic, based on investigation, scrutiny, and an objective picture of conditions in Islamic countries?  Or do the questions stem from a deliberate oversight and an open denial of what they do know and conceive?  Or are they questions raised for the sake of obstinate argument and unreasonable contention, or for envious and malicious purposes?  I will assume good intention, for it is worthy of a Muslim to do so and it serves to make the dialogue objective.  I will regard such questions as resulting from ignorance of reality, i.e. the absence of actual observation of the real conditions of certain Islamic communities, or that the questions result from a negative campaign in the media, from a failure of the concerned party in the field of information, or from a media blackout imposed by malicious parties, which, for purposes of their own or goals they are trying to achieve, are embarrassed and grieved when rising generations have the chance to learn about a field situation that represents the values, principles, and approach of Islam.

I will try to clear the ambiguity, regardless of its causes; to end the mystification, whatever its motives are; and to answer the questions, despite what we believe to be behind their emergence, at least in the minds of those who live the reality which I offer as an answer to this question, which is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.  It is not an exclusive example, for, in my estimation, all Islamic countries have a certain degree of good and uprightness.  I choose it, however, because Saudi Arabia is where I live, and thus it is the model and the reality which I experience, witnessing the impact of its system in people’s personal, family, social, cultural, political, security, agricultural, industrial, and commercial lives.  I also feel how all this is related to Islam as a faith, an idea, a system, and a way of life.  It is, by God’s will, a field demonstration to which everyone who has passed through or resided in this country testifies, if he is inclined to fairness, objectivity, and impartiality in evaluating what he experiences.  I believe such people are, by the grace of God, many.

By the grace of God, the Most Sublime, and as a fulfillment of the promise He undertook when He said, “Among those whom We have created there is a nation who guide others by means of the truth and with it administer justice,” the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is, praise be to God, the fort of this Islam which will be maintained till Doomsday.  God, blessed are His Names, says, “It is We Who revealed the Qur'an, and We shall preserve it” (Al-Hijr XV: 9). God’s Messenger, blessings and peace be upon him, says, “A group of my nation continue to be triumphant, unaffected by those who fail them, until Doomsday,” and he says,

“At the beginning of every one hundred years, God sends someone who renews for Muslims the state of their religion.”  He, best blessings and peace be upon him, also says, “Arabia is not a place where two religions can coexist.”  God has chosen the land of Arabia and its sacred heart, honored Makkah, to be the location of His pure revelation, Most Sublime is He; the source of the light of His great message: the message of Islam; and the lighthouse of divine guidance on earth.  He destined for Arabia, throughout the ages, men selected by Him, the Most Glorious, to receive that great, blessed light; to declare, with it, their servitude to their Lord and Creator; to introduce it into their lives and the lives of following generation; and to invite the people around them to it. 

The first of these men was the master of all creatures and the last prophet and messenger, our Master, Prophet, Messenger, and Leader, Muhammad, son of Abdullah, the illiterate messenger and prophet, the chosen one, best blessings and peace be upon him.  Next came his dutiful caliphs, the rational, well-guided leaders – Abu Bakr, Omar, Othman, and Ali, may they all receive God’s satisfaction and blessing – and those leaders of Muslims who followed their pattern through successive ages.  Then, the Islamic nation suffered some disorder and weakness.  It was fragmented; the intrigue, cunning, and malice of its enemies intensified; the awe they had felt towards Muslims was shaken; and they gained control over most of Muslim lands, looted Muslim resources, and tampered with the education of Muslim generations in an attempt to spoil their faith and deform their culture.  However, this malicious abuse was always confronted with the adherence of this nation to its faith and the firmness of its belief in its identity and originality.  Movements of liberation, reform, and resistance emerged in many Islamic countries, which regained their freedom, independence, and sovereignty.

To Arabia, which, as the rest of the Islamic nation, had suffered some flaw in its faith and some slackening in its strict adherence to Islam and its system, and which was afflicted with division and fragmentation – God, the Most Sublime, sent two venerable leaders – as I think them to be, without commending anyone beyond God’s assessment – namely, Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud and, supporting him, Imam Muhammad Ibn Abdul-Wahab, may God have mercy upon both of them.  They pledged to each other to undertake reform, revival, and guidance to rectify the damage suffered by the land and people and to counter the departure from Islamic Law.  They were, by the Grace of God and assistance, successful in their efforts, and the nation began to regain its health, in its faith, worship practices, conduct, and responsibilities.

That blessing grew and its beneficial, sanctified effects spread.  Later, the leadership of this revivalist reform movement was assumed by King Abdul Aziz Al Saud, may God have mercy upon him, and he resumed the efforts and the undertaking to follow the course of reform, revival, and construction, on the basis of God’s religion and Law.  He unified the parts of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and, by this, laid once again the foundations of a contemporary Islamic state, reaffirming the basics and starting points of such a state, basing on Islam and its Law its values and ideals in all the fields of its internal structure and foreign relations.  What he did was a translation of the approach of Islam, with its integration and inclusiveness in governance and politics, an approach based on a balance between the world of values, principles, and behavioral rules, and the world of materials, tools, and skills.  This balance was in turn based on the systematic teachings of Islam and on an emphasis on, and protection of, the distinctive character of Islam, and also on an emphasis of adherence to the principles of the Islamic principles of coexistence, competition, and cooperation with others in everything that may help to protect against corruption on earth and in human communities.  The framework of such coexistence was mutual respect and appreciation, as well as positive cooperation to achieve the common interests of human communities, and maintain their security and stability, and the development of their resources, to guarantee, by all possible means, human dignity and freedom, and to administer justice among people.

Thus, on these principles and values, the structure of Islamic society has been firmly founded in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.  The ethics and restraints of the relations between its sectors and forces have been given a firm foundation within a framework that clearly defines the standards and controls of full and pure loyalty on the part of both ruler and subjects to Islamic Law and to Islamic faith, values, and principles.  It also defines the standards and controls of patriotism and the protection of the nation’s sovereignty and all what is sacred to it.  Thus, the edifices of this pioneer Islamic state has risen high on the cultural, social, political, development, and security levels.  In reference to this kingdom, one of the most prominent Islamic scholars in contemporary history, Sheikh Hasan Al-Banna, may God have mercy upon him, says, “Who could have thought that King Abdul Al-Aziz Al Saud – after his family had been sent into exile, his people scattered, and his dominion usurped – would be able to regain that dominion with twenty odd men?  Then that dominion turned into one of the hopes of the Islamic World to restore its glory and revive its unity.”[20]

The Saudi movement towards realizing that great Islamic hope has been going on.  The sons of King Abdul Al-Aziz Al Saud, may God have mercy upon him, have succeeded him in flying the banner, confirming their adherence to the blessed movement, renewing the pledge to follow the immortal divine system and to observe Islamic Law in their actions and judgment, and to apply Islamic values, principles, and teachings to all affairs of their country.  God has blessed this progression, and the Kingdom achieved record development in record time in all fields: education, construction, health, industry, agriculture, and trade.  The infrastructure of the country, with all its cultural components, has been accomplished at the highest level, both in extent and in quality.

Once, while I was discussing a subject in a symposium on “The Islamic Nation and the Crisis of Cultural Resumption,” I cited the Saudi experiment as an Islamic model that is moving forward, overstepping that crisis and its causes.  An honorable friend, who has been residing in the West for a long time, addressed me, saying, “Sir, you are telling us about things we regard as dreams, while the information available to us asserts that there is not a single country in the Arab and Islamic World today that wants Islam to begin with, not to mention the reluctance to apply it and adhere to it the way you are describing.  In spite of my confidence in you, I am afraid that what you mention is one of those exaggerations we are used to hear, that soon are belied and refuted by reality, causing embarrassment to the person who has spoken and to any of his listeners who happens to quote him out of confidence in him.  Therefore, I am sorry to tell you how I feel, but I hope you can give us some evidence that supports what you say.  I thank you and apologize if there is any offense in what I am saying.”

I said to that friend:

By God, brother, you have not offended me.  You merely stated what you felt, and that is a manly, objective, and sincere search for the truth.  I hope that God will reward you, and that there are many people like you.  As for the evidence of what I have said, if you mean theoretical, written evidence in the jurisprudence (Fiqh) sense, that is evidence from the Qur'an and sunna, I admit, and declare at the outset, that I have no evidence from these sources that refers to the Saudi experiment by name, because, as you know, revelation stopped at the death of God’s Messenger, blessings and peace be upon him.  If, on the other hand, you mean field evidence and facts from practical everyday life, which I believed you do, I say that such evidence is manifest and visible to all people, whether they are close by or far away.

I can only talk here of things and facts, which I do not believe any member of this audience who has visited, resided in, or worked in the Kingdom would deny or disregard unless he is an ingrate or malicious person.  I believe the members of the honored audience are too decent to be ingrate or malicious, although I do not commend anyone beyond God’s assessment, but that are what I think of you, and when God, the most Glorious, is on your side, you will need nothing.  You all know, my God look after you, that the cultural purposes in Islam are defined by Muslim jurists and scholars as the purposes and necessary requirements of the Law.  These are the protection of

1.     religion,

2.     reason,

3.     the soul,

4.     family honor, and

5.     Property.

This quintuple set, and its requirements and enhancements constitute the Islamic approach in cultural progress.  Believing in, applying, and adhering to this set, and striking a balance between its element that results in their integration, is the standard by which we can measure the accuracy of the cultural progress of people, and which we use as a foundation for any cultural experiment in the life of our Islamic nation, past and present.  One exception to this is the centuries when its character of being best was definitely established, of which we are told by God’s Messenger, blessings and peace be upon him, when he says, “The best of all centuries is mine, then the one which will come after it, then the one which will come after that.”  Another exception is the ages in which the nation is characterized as being best by the consensus of Muslim scholars, such as the reign of the well-guided caliph Omar Ibn Abdul Al-Aziz, may God be pleased with him.  Other ages have to be evaluated by the cultural set I have mentioned and by its components, requirements, and enhancements.  It is my opinion that any cultural condition of our nation in any Islamic country is deemed worthy in as much as it adheres to this set and improves itself on its basis, and it is deemed unworthy in as much as it departs from it and commits itself to some other cultural set.

Like other countries, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is subject to evaluation by this standard, by which its current conditions have to be examined and judged to determine, with full objectivity and impartiality how much of the character of being best it has.

Let us start with the first component, the protection of religion.  As you know, religion is a faith, acts of worship, a Law, and the way of dealing with others.  Let us take first the question of faith.  Does any of you have some first-hand or learned information to the effect that people’s faith in the Kingdom is in danger? or that the system followed there strives to violate, deform, drive astray, or enfeeble that faith?  Is that recommended, directly or in­­di­rect­ly, by educational curricula, which, as you know, are the most critical field of education and most sensitive to positive and negative influence.

I will give my own testimony as a person who has worked in the field of education and has had a direct experience with Saudi curricula for over twenty-five years.  I have here in the audience honorable colleagues in the same field, who have formerly been in the Kingdom.  I say in front of them and with full confidence and responsibility that I do not know of one single word that is contrary to, or in conflict with, the belief of the Followers of Sunna and Consensus in all elementary, intermediate, and secondary level curricula.  I even know that some retired educationists use, jokingly, a colloquial Egyptian expression to the effect that the Saudis have gone a little bit too far, referring to the great emphasis on the question of faith and monotheism.  I also know that some Saudi scholars and young people are accused of being too strict and of expanding the set of primary principles of jurisprudence (Fiqh) to include some of the secondary sources, doing so out of zeal and to emphasize the question of monotheism and primary principles.  Here, to vindicate myself and give a true testimony, I say that the scholars of the Kingdom are innocent of this charge, that this kind of strictness is characteristic of some students and zealous youths, which, I assume, has been known throughout the history of the Islamic nation.

As for worship practices, the foremost of these is prayer, whose performance is the pledge of believers to their Lord and faith, as stated by God’s Messenger, blessings and peace be upon him, who says, “The pledge between us and them is prayer; those who uphold it uphold religion, and those who extinguish it extinguish religion.”  What I know, and is known to those who have resided in the Kingdom, is that the question of prayer is officially written down in the state’s administrative system and included in the official daily duties of every worker in public administration.  Every prayer has an officially determined hour in the workday.  Government agencies of all levels and all public institutions suspend their work to perform prayer on time.  Even shopping areas and marketplaces are closed for every prayer, so that everyone may perform it.  Any person, who deviates from this, exposes himself to official questioning and to the prescribed penalty for his action.

The same applies to the obligation of fasting, with which, depending on the conditions of the time, the schedules and hours of public administration offices change, in order to serve this annual rite of worship and its special spiritual climate.  The same is true of the pilgrimage obligation, but there is no sufficient time to go into the details of what is offered and paid to allow its performance to be at the highest possible level and safest possible way.  As for Zakat, it is an integral part of the system in the country.  Those who can afford it – and they are, praise be to God, many in the Kingdom – pay, in some cases, as much as scores of millions per person.  The benefit of these funds reaches Muslims throughout the world through Islamic institutions inside and outside the Kingdom.  Anybody who desires to have details on this point can refer to the programs and activities of the International Islamic Relief Organization and other charity institutions.  In regards to transactions, the King­dom, since it was founded, has been applying the text and spirit of Islamic Law.  In fact it is sometimes taken against the Kingdom that it has no constitution that is written in the international conventional form, and that it is content with the Glorious Qur'an and the sunna of God’s Messenger, blessings and peace be upon him, as a constitution and a basis for all its administrative and executive bylaws.  This is a false, unacceptable charge.  [Of course this presentation of mine took place before the date of the Kingdom’s basic system and also the date of the Advisory Council System and the Province Council System.]  Commercial, industrial, and investment transactions, as well as the Judiciary, punishment, and other systems all follow the stipulations of Islamic Law and the teachings of Islam in general.

What I have said is just a fragment from a great block.  To go into details about it, I would need much longer time than this meeting offers.  For example, I have not spoken about the Two Holy Mosques and their affairs; King Fahd’s Compound for the publication and free distribution of the Glorious Qur'an, as well as Qur'an studies and translations to various world languages; schools for learning the Qur'an by heart and Glorious Qur'an societies, which exist in every part of the Kingdom; the annual contest for learning the Qur'an by heart, held in Makkah; the activities and institutions of Islamic advocacy; mosque activities, symposia, and periodical lectures all over the Kingdom, and their blessed valuable effects; or Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University, its activities inside and outside the Kingdom, its institutes in various parts of the Islamic World and in Europe and America, and the study and advocacy courses on Islam and its teachings and values, offered in every continent.  [This presentation was also at a time before the creation of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Advocacy, and Guidance, and the tasks and programs undertaken by it, whose advantages and positive ambitions have been recognized by all, locally and internationally.]

Nor have I spoken of the Islamic University in Medina, which admits students from the Islamic World; or the activities and endeavors of the Muslim World League (MWL), which was founded by King Abdul Al-Aziz in Makkah in 1926 and is the oldest international institution registered by the United Nations.  The MWL, of which I have the honor of being the Assistant Secretary General, undertakes two major tasks: the enhancement of Arab and Islamic solidarity and the initiation of dialogue between cultures and civilizations.

Nor have I spoken of the Muslim World League and its offices in many countries of the world, the World Assembly of Muslim Youth and similar institutions, the Agency of Qur'an and Sunna Scientific Miraculous Nature, the Islamic Jurisprudence (Fiqh) Assembly, the World Higher Council of Mosques.

Now in the time remaining, I will briefly go through the conditions and facts relevant to the five purposes of Islamic Law.  As already mentioned, adhering to and striking a balance between these purposes is the standard of cultural progress and refinement.

Let me speak of the component of “protection of the soul.”  As you know, protection of the soul is achieved through maintaining a balance between spirituality (the spirit) and material aspects (the body).  The nature of the spirit is protected by creating a spiritual climate for it and enforcing its characteristics.  This can only be through Islam, as a faith, acts of worship, and a way of dealing with others.  This is something I have spoken of in discussing the component of “the protection of religion.”  As for the body, it is protected by guarding its safety and refraining from assaulting its constitution in any way that harms it and paralyzes the functions for which God has created it.  Therefore, it should be given only wholesome food and drink; it should eat no foul food and drink or take no harmful or fatal substances, such a drugs, intoxicants, and the like.   Such foul and harmful things are, by the Grace of God, prohibited in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.  Because the Kingdom’s scholars waged an early war on smoking, this was received with jokes and surprise by many regional and international parties.  But today, by the Grace of God, the whole world says what Muslim scholars have been saying about the hazards of smoking, and is making arrangements and enacting laws to prohibit and fight it.  Voices are now loud everywhere, calling for avoiding it.  “No Smoking” warnings and signs are seen every­where in the West.  The Kingdom has been doing these things as means to protect the soul and purify it from all harmful and fatal blights.

What is followed to protect the human soul from the aggression and belligerence of others is represented by the death penalty pronounced as retribution against murderers to abide by the words of God, the Most Sublime: “There is life for you, men of understanding, in just retribution” (Al-Baqarah II: 179), and “… if a person kills a soul, unless in punishment for murder or corruption on earth, it is as if he has killed all people, and if he saves a life, it is as if he has saved the lives of all people” (Al-Maidah V: 32), and “The punishment of those who make war on God and His Messenger, and endeavor to spread corruption on earth, is that they should be killed or crucified, or have their hands and feet cut off on alternate sides or that they should be banished from the land. Such is a disgrace for them in this world, and grievous suffering awaits them in the life to come” (Al-Maidah V: 33).  Applying this prescribed punishment in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia signifies first servitude to God, the Most Sublime, and enforcing His Law.  It also establishes security and protects human souls from the aggression of criminals and saboteurs.  By the Grace of God, this has a tangible merit reflected in stability and security, and in people’s reassurance that their lives, interests, and livelihood are stable and protected to the extent that the Kingdom has become an example cited everywhere and by every fair person.  This penalty has been criticized by some cultural establishments in the word, some people describing prescribed penalties of Islamic Law as cruel and barbaric, as they say.  However, wise people and political leaders affirm today that the only way to curb crime and cut down the crime rate, which is a source of concern and a threat to the security and culture of their communities, is through the stipulation of firm and severe penalties.  This is clear in the statements and writings of President Mikhail Gorbachev in his book Perestroika and President Richard Nixon in his book Seize the Moment.

I will be brief in speaking about the component of the “protection of honor.”  As you know, this is achieved through criminal procedures and preventive procedures.  One of the latter is good upbringing that is based on Islam and its teachings and values.  By the Grace of God, this is followed very stringently in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.  As mentioned before, educational curricula are based on Islam and teach Islamic values and ethics.  In the Kingdom, schools of all levels (elementary, intermediate and secondary) and universities observe the separation of the sexes.  This entails a great educational, financial, and administrative burden, whose dimensions can be appreciated only by experts and specialists.  For every educational facility for male students, there is one for females.  For example, the Kingdom has a number of universities with various departments and institutes for the two sexes.  Each has campuses that are fully separated in construction and instruction.  The only thing they share in common is top administration.  In addition, there is a separate establishment for female education called the General Presidency for Girl Education.  It has its own institutes and specialized colleges that are administered by females, except for the presidency’s headquarters in Riyadh.

Wearing the veil is, by the Grace of God, observed in the Kingdom, both inside and outside educational institutions and in shopping areas.  There are even shopping centers specialized in goods for women.  They are run by women and have only female customers.  There are also special banks for women that are also run by women and have only female customers who take care of their financial affairs in investments there.  There are even special clinics for females, where medical specialists are women; the service and administration are also undertaken by women; and treatment is offered to female patients only.  There are special recreation centers and children playgrounds that are run by women and frequented only by women.  This is true about many utilities.  All what enhances modesty has been provided for women, so that they can preserve their values and ideals, be spared any harm, and have their honor and dignity protected.  As for penalty procedures in the Kingdom, by the Grace of God, the prescribed penalties for moral crimes are enforced, like the penalty for adultery and other crimes.  Thus, females are surrounded by a strong shield in their upbringing that provides them with protection.

“Protection of the mind” receives the same attention as other purposes of Islamic Law.  The mind is protected by respecting its competence, maintaining its construction material, and following a sound method in dealing with it.  All this, by the Grace of God, can be achieved through the enforcement of Islamic Law, and its teachings and values, and it is what the Kingdom does.

Islam gives the mind great and basic attention.  It entrusts the mind with the responsibility for religious obligations and stipulations, and for their application.  Responsibility in Islam – whether in politics, the judiciary, economy, guardianship, or other areas is restricted to rational and sane adults, while it is waived in the case of younger or mentally retarded people.  Islam addresses, in its arguments in affirming its system and teachings, people of understanding and reason.  Frequently, a Qur'an verse, dealing with a particular subject, concludes with a phrase that upholds the mind and its functions, such as conception, understanding, contemplation, etc.

In addition, Islam promotes preventive measures to protect the mind and maintain its competence.  For example, drugs, intoxicants, and tranquilizers, as well as every foul material that confuses the mind and paralyzes its functions, are strictly prohibited.  For this reason, the Kingdom the Kingdom applies the death penalty to dealers in drugs, intoxicants, and harmful materials, as prescribed in Islam and its teachings.  It has achieved, by the Grace of God and by observing His Law, great benefit and outstanding cultural achievements, which are admired by others.  The Kingdom has managed to limit these dangerous afflictions and, God willing, is about to eradicate them completely.

While I apologize for taking so much time with my presentation, I am going to conclude with some notes on the “protection of property.”  The inviolability of property is maintained like that of other vital components: “People, to you, your blood and property are inviolable.”  The inviolability of property is reflected in the legitimacy of its existence, growth, and spending.  I believe that all this, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, follows the relevant Islamic teachings and controls, and that the economic philosophy of the Kingdom is within the framework of the Islamic economic philosophy.  The Kingdom, through the King Abdul Al-Aziz University in Jeddah, hosted the first international conference of Islamic economics.  Other conferences and symposia have followed, and Islamic economic centers and departments of Islamic economy at universities have been founded, in order to establish the foundations for and to confirm the Islamic methodology of economics.  From the kingdom, the idea of Islamic banks emerged, developed, and grew considerably.  These banks are effective in their field inside and outside the Kingdom.  They have a union called the International Union of Islamic Banks.  Even foreign banks operating in the Kingdom have now Islamic investment programs and offer current accounts that observe Islamic teachings to be in harmony with the Kingdom’s Islamic climate.  Praise be to God.

I am, dear brothers, going to stop at this point.  If I go into details, I will need much more time.

Here a handsome brother with a thick beard stood up and said, “Sir, we have heard what you told us.  I am a person who has been to the Kingdom and visited some of its major cities, namely, Makkah, Medina, Riyadh, and Taif, and I have had audiences with some of the elite and with common people.  From what I have known and experienced, I want to add my testimony to yours and say, in front of my fellow members of the audience, that there are other positive points and details which you have not mentioned, and they can be added to what you have said.  I believe everybody has now formed a good idea of the Kingdom from what they have heard and is beginning to accept and believe the idea you have endeavored to demonstrate and confirm which is that the kingdom is a model contemporary Islamic state and a model for contemporary cultural progress.  A question that persists however is whether that means the Kingdom is free from all error and flaws and whether it is similar to the age of the Prophet’s Companions and the well-guided caliphs.”

I thanked my noble brother for testifying on what he has known and seen of the character of being best that characterizes the Kingdom and for his valuable question.  In reply I said:

Except for the centuries defined by God’s Messenger, blessings and peace be upon him, in which the nation enjoyed the character of being best and those in which it also enjoyed that character according to the consensus of scholars, every age or every Muslim state has to be evaluated – as to enjoying that character and being upright, and as to refinement or backwardness – by a fixed standard based on the degree of observing the integrated aspects of the Islamic system and Law.  Thus, the Kingdom is an Islamic model which is subject to evaluation by the same standard.

In principle, the Kingdom has established its regime on a foundation of the Islamic faith and the application of Islamic Law, and that is how it is today.  The levels of application, their extensive range, and their deep effects on society are growing and field foundations are being established, turning Islam into the temperament and way of life of every individual, in his house and with his family; in the street; on his job, in his factory, shop, or camp; and in all the spheres of his official and popular responsibilities.  I believe all this needs time, particularly if we take into consideration the obstacles on the political, cultural, information, and economic levels, regionally and internationally.  This means that the country is not free from negative points or blemishes.  After all, if we make an exception for the best-of-nations centuries defined by God’s Messenger, blessings and peace be upon him, has there been an age free from negative points and blemishes?

In general, we should not regard Islamic society as a society of angels, free from every flaw and failing.  We know that the Qur'an has made rulings and prescribed penalties for crimes such as adultery, theft, corruption, individual assaults, violations of personal and financial rights, and others.  This means any Muslim society is expected to have murderers, thieves, adulterers, saboteurs, drunkards, etc.  The point, however, is not whether the flaw exists; it is at what rate the flaw or crime exists, how tolerant of its existence the state is and how much facilitation the state provides for that flaw or crime.  What I know is that there are official statistics – but I do not know the exact numbers – and there are evident facts that affirm that the crime rate in the Kingdom is one of the lowest in the world.  In fact, the rate of crime in the Kingdom is negligible, if we take into consideration the size of the kingdom and the percentage of the expatriate workforce, with its variety of cultures and modes of behavior, which is too high in comparison with the number of native citizens, but it is made necessary by the requirements of the current stage in the plans that aim at self sufficiency in the Kingdom.  At the same time, the rate of crime is also negligible when compared with the astounding crime rates in the countries of the “civilized” world.

Because of all this, the degree of security in the Kingdom, as everybody testifies, is unique in the world.  The phenomena of stability and security and of respect for properties and the rights of other people are regarded as things that surpass the imagination, particularly when compared with what prevails in near and far countries of the world.  Does anybody believe, for example, that at some money exchange shops, the proprietor hangs banknotes with clothes pegs in the street over his head, while he sits on a high corner in the open.  He buys, sells, and negotiates, which distracts his attention from watching the pegs, with the dollar, mark, and other local and international notes hanging from them, but nobody thinks of attacking and stealing the notes.  Even if someone does think of it, he would not dare do it, because he knows the severity with which Islamic Law and teachings are applied, allowing no courtesies and no loopholes that can be exploited by lawyers to dilute the judiciary system as known in other countries.

And I do not think any one will believe the story of the “Rug Supermarket.”  Do you have any idea what kind of a mobile shop that moves in security this is?  The owner, usually an expatriate, spreads a rug outside a mosque shortly before prayer time.  He places his merchandise – electric equipment, such as recorders, radios, wall alarm clocks, and other simple house hold appliances, and also some accessories and other things – on the rug.  When it is prayer time, he covers all this with a piece of material, which he has for that purpose and which he fixes it its place by some stones, so that it would not fly with the wind.  For the only things he fears concerning his goods are air and dust.  He goes into the mosque to pray, and when he comes back, he finds nothing missing of his merchandise.  Even the boys of the neighborhood do not try to play with it.  Is this not something that makes you amazed, gentlemen?  Is it not one of today’s wonders?  Is it not unbelievable in this world, whose defects and shortcomings you know very well?  But here Islam is established and it has great power.  Reverence towards is implanted in people’s hearts, and generations are raised with its values, ethics, and teachings.

I have hardly concluded my answer when the whole place resounded with applause and the chants of “God is great.”  The meeting was concluded, and members of the audience approached me to find more about this cultural model, which suffers underestimation through the attitude of some of its own people, injustice through the intrigue of malicious people and antagonists, and some anonymity due, first of all, to the modesty of its people and their reluctance to speak and inform others about the conditions of their Muslim, well-guided state. 

I do not know why the exhibition of The Kingdom: Yesterday and Today was stopped.  It was, in my estimation, one of the best and most successful and rewarding contemporary methods of introducing the cultural situation in the Kingdom, especially when compared with other methods.  With its intelligent and pioneering concept, this exhibition introduced the Kingdom and the wonders of its balanced cultural ascendance that combines originality and modernity.  Through it, people were able to see the parallelism and coexistence between the minarets of the two holy mosques and the towers of industry and technology in Jubail and Yanbu.  They perceived how universities and mosques comple­mented each other without conflict or aversion.  This was evident in the combination of toil and recreation, toil and productivity, in all agricultural and commercial fields, and in the integration of creativity and technical refinement, between spiritual soliloquies in the niches of worship and devotion.  In other words, it is the delicate balance between material and spiritual concerns, between tools and praises of God.  Therefore I hope the exhibition of The Kingdom: Yesterday and Today will soon resume its activities and programs in the Arab and Islamic world, and in other countries, so that the achievements of this contemporary model of the Islamic state will not be hidden from people.

After this round of dialogue and explanation, which I was led to elaborate by the question of that member of the audience at a meeting in a Western country, I go back to speak of the components of the life style in the Kingdom.  This life style is the cultural system of a contemporary Islamic state, which I am offering as live evidence and a real contemporary example of Islamic civilization.  This supports my point of view that the Islamic state is never absent from the lives of people, God forbid that His authority would be absent from the earth.  Therefore, what I have said about Islam and its values, principles, literature, and cultural activities is not unfounded, nor is it a sort of singing the praises of something that time has forgotten and history has left behind, being too helpless to meet the responsibilities, requirements, and innovation of modernity or to interact with it.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, by the Grace of God first and last and by virtue of its enforcement of Islamic Law and commitment to Islam and its values and principles, is a high cultural edifice that reaffirms what has been mentioned concerning the best-of-nations character of the Islamic cultural approach, as well as its realism and ability to keep up with new developments.  This is contrary to what some people claim and imagine: that the competence and aptitude of the Islamic civilization is limited, has expired with the expiration of that civilization, and is no longer capable of constant cultural interaction.  Yes, the real cultural situation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a live and real Islamic model of a high cultural edifice the belies the unjust and ungrateful argument that the Islamic state is absent from the Globe and to prove to all people that the Islamic system is effective and is ever-renewed in its competence, contribution, and creativity.  It is rich in content, active in its interaction with new developments, and highly efficient in meeting the requirements of time and place.  It is balanced, takes a middle point, and is comprehensive and international in the sense that promotes the complementarity's of civilizations, calls for cultural reform and rationaliza­tion, and calls upon Muslims to attend and be cultural witnesses, in compliance with God’s declaration: “We have made you a middle nation, so that you will be witness for Mankind and the Messenger be a witness for you” (Al-Baqarah II: 143).  The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in its contemporary presence and role as a cultural witness, relieves the embarrassment of all Muslims and raise them from their stumble.  It offers a bright picture of Islamic civilization and achieves a practical situation in the field that combines originality and modernity, the constant and the variant, adherence and discretion, and the past and the present.  The past is a source of pride but not a jailhouse, and the present is the daily life, but without a blinding effect.  In light of the past and present, their data and their aspirations, the Saudi system draws the horizons of the future with calmness, balance, objectivity, and wisdom.  It makes plans and preparations for future requirements and new developments within a framework of disciplined cultural distinctiveness, which does not imprison this system and isolate it from the other, and, at the same time, within as framework of flexibility and sober cultural openness towards the world, without any embarrassment or detraction from its basic principles, sources, and starting points.  While it coexists with the other, it enjoys a clear identity, a firm and constant distinctiveness, a high confidence in its cultural components, political abilities, and cultural activities and skills.  It also enjoys a clear vision, a deep-rooted best-of-nations character, balanced policies, and flexible diplomacy.  It knows what it wants and compre­hends what others want from it.  It accepts partnership and sharing, but refuses submissiveness.  It respects and is respected.  It gives and takes.  It commits no aggression and does not accept any aggression against it.  It does good deeds and cooperates with others in doing them.  It fights evil and corruption and supports whoever asks for help against them.

That is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.  It is so by adhering to Islam, and it has made its achievements through Islamic Law.  With the values of Islam it is rising.  Its existence, security, and stability are due to Islam, and its prestige and glory will continue as long as it is committed to Islam and Islamic Law.  This is what the people of Saudi Arabia believe, and this is the pledge they have all made and their covenant with God, the Most Sublime, and among themselves.  Their leader is a servant of God and the sacred places of Islam, and all of them are faithful soldiers undertaking that blessed and honorable service.  That is a worthy field for contestants to compete in.

As I have mentioned earlier, the example of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as model and as a reality is not exclusive and is offered here to support my viewpoint that the Islamic state continues to exist on earth and that God’s authority is never absent from people’s lives.  All the other existing entities that rule the lives of Muslims are Islamic states, representing the continuity of God’s authority on earth, with a difference between them in the degree of adherence and application.  They are Islamic states because their constitutions stipulate that Islam is their religion and the source of legislation in their lives.  I personally know of no Islamic state whose constitution does not include a declaration that “Islam is the state religion, the religion of the head of state, and the source of legislation,” or “a major source of legislation,” or other statements to the same effect.  On this basis, I reaffirm my argument that the it is an invalid claim which says that the Islamic state is absent from people’s lives, and the same applies to the claim that the existing regimes in Muslim countries are non-Islamic and illegitimate, or, as expressed by some people who want to modify the term “illegitimate,” at least not fully legitimate.

Can this claim be accepted in reference to countries which are today rising, on the official and the popular level, in various parts of the earth and without exception, in support of their religion and out of jealousy for the sacredness of their Messenger, Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him?  This has been in reaction to the audacity of some journalists in certain Western countries – Denmark, Norway, and others – where offensive caricature representations of our Messenger, Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, were published?  Is it acceptable to claim that the legitimacy of a country like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is void when it raises the banner of “There is no deity but God, and Muhammad is the Messenger of God;” when it declares every morning and every evening how proud it is of being founded on God’s Book and the sunna of His Messenger, and that it observes Islamic Law in its life and policies; when its leaders have given up the title of king, sultan, president, or prince, and feel honored to have the title of “the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques”?

Is it acceptable that such a state should be described as devoid of legitimacy, or not fully legitimate, as some people who use less extreme terms maintain, when it has firmly reused certain stipulations in UN charters because they are in conflict with Islam and its teachings?  Examples of these stipulations are:

       Article 2 of the UN charter on economic, social, and cultural rights; and

       Articles 16 and 18 of the international declaration of human rights.

Is this ingratitude and renunciation acceptable in the Kingdom’s case when its leaders, with utmost pride and dignity, insist on adherence to Islam and its values?  Here are some of the stands they have taken of which every Muslim on earth should be proud.

       Once the UN Secretary General addressed a letter in which he asked the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to reconsider its reservations in regards to the above mentioned articles.  He concluded his letter saying, “Let me remind you that the UN charters prevail over international covenants.”  The late King Faisal Ibn Abdul Al-Aziz replied, with utmost pride and dignity, “The constitution of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the Qur'an, and the Qur'an prevails over UN charters.”

       When Amnesty International waged its well-known campaign against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, claiming that “The enforcement of Islamic Law and prescribed penalties is in conflict with human rights,” Prince Naif Ibn Abdul Al-Aziz replied, “If your remarks concern our method of applying Islamic Law that is open for discussion, because we are human and may be right or wrong.  If, however, your remarks touch upon the content and values of Islamic Law, this is something we strongly reject, and we refer our case with you to 1.3 billion Muslims in the world.”

       At a meeting with His Royal Highness Prince Salman Ibn Abdul Al-Aziz on the occasion of the Symposium on Islam and Dialogue among Civilizations, held in Riyadh, with many of the prominent intellectual and political dignitaries participating in the symposium attending the meeting, his highness said, “Some people ask us to reconsider our relation with Islam.  These people are unaware, or they ignore, that Islam is first of all our religion and faith, of which we are proud.  Islam is also the basis of legitimacy for the existence of our country, for it has been based on Islamic values, it is ruled by Islamic Law, and it follows the guidance of Islam.  I would like to ask these people, is there any country on earth which is ready to give up the legitimacy of its existence?”

       The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah Ibn Abdul Al-Aziz (who was the Crown Prince then), at a similar meeting attended by prominent intellectual and political dignitaries from all over the world, said, “Islam is the religion of God, the Most Sublime, and, by God’s assistance, it is going on, going on, going on.  It needs nobody, but we need it.  We, in this country, have been favored by God to serve His religion and His Law, and that is something we are proud of, and of nothing else.”

       As for President Muhammad Husni Mubarak of the Republic of Egypt, I remember this noble attitude on his part.  At a meeting with the Presidential Committee of the Islamic Council for Da'wa and Relief, headed by former Sheikh of Al-Azhar, His Eminence Dr. Jaad Al-Haq Ali Jaad Al-Haq, may God have mercy upon him, President Mubarak asked about the conditions of Muslims.  The Sheikh of Al-Azhar reviewed some of their conditions and, in the course of his talk, he mentioned that the International Islamic University in Islamabad, Pakistan, was suffering from scarcity of recourses.  When the Sheikh of Al-Azhar concluded, President Mubarak summoned his Chief of Staff and told him, “Assign one million Egyptian pounds in aid from Egypt to the International Islamic University.  The Sheikh of Al-Azhar said, “This is not what we came for, Your Excellency.  We know that Egypt has considerable debts.”  The President said, “So what?  Egypt has a debt of seven billion pounds, so let it be seven billion and one million.”

       In a similar meeting that Sheikh of Al-Azhar Jaad Al-Haq and the members of the Presidential Committee of the Islamic Council for Da'wa and Relief, with King Hussein, the late king of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Dr. Jaad Al-Haq explained the advocacy, intellectual, and relief mission of the Council.  The King was highly pleased and said, “Do we have in our nation men who think this way and in this wise manner, which is worthy of Islam and its esteemed international message?  Please accept me as one of your members.”

       One time I was with my friend, His Excellency Dr. Abdullah Ibn Omar Naseef and a few honorable friends in a special meeting with His Excellency Muhammad Zia Al-Haq, President of the Islamic state of Pakistan, may God have mercy upon him, in his house at Rāwalpindi, a suburb of Islamabad.  The conversation at the meeting was about the future of Islam in Pakistan.  At the end of the meeting, which was relatively long, President Muhammad Zia Al-Haq took up the conversation and told us:

I do not see any future for Islam in Pakistan and the surrounding areas except with taking immediate steps to make the application of Islamic Law complete, serious, and full, so that we can offer people the model that would attract them to Islam, its just values, and its magnanimous message for humanity.  I have to begin with myself and my country, Pakistan, which was founded in the name of Islam, which compels us to be faithful to the purpose for which Pakistan was established, namely, adherence to Islam and enforce­ment of its Law.  To be frank with you, I tell you that I have taken a decision on this matter a few days ago to realize a recurrent dream I have had since I decided to join the armed forces.  Now, God has helped me to be in the position of making decisions, and the all the people of Pakistan want this dream to be realized.  How can I meet God if I do not hasten to realize my and my people’s dream when I am in a position of authority and decision-making.

He then turned to two honorable, outstanding members of the group, a Pakistani and an Arab, both of whom are outstanding scholars and law specialists.  He said, “You know that I have invited you to finish the conversation about implementing my decision to enforce Islamic Law in Pakistan.  I made a pint to let these honored guests, whom you and I trust, contribute their opinions on this.”  He, May God have great mercy upon him, was told by some members of the group, “Mr. President, you must be aware of our great desire to see Islamic Law enforced.  However, we believe in the method of gradual enforcement that avoids the incite­ment and provocation of others, who now surround Pakistan as a bracelet surrounds a wrist.”  The president interrupted the speaker while reaching for his moustache, as if he wanted to hold it the same way as one does to signal that he is making a pledge.  He said, “I have told you this is a dream I have had since boyhood.  I am now in a position of responsibility, and I will not let the opportunity pass without doing what pleases my Lord.  I know that the price of this is one of two things, assassination or a military coup.  Both, however, are low prices to pay for the enforcement of the Divine Law.  Therefore, I am going ahead, with God’s blessing, and what will be, will be.” 

He turned to the two scholars whom he had entrusted with this and said, “I want you to draft a preliminary scheme and a proper and brief declaration about the enforcement of Islamic Law and I will announce it this coming Sunday, by God’s will.”  The meeting was on a Thursday, three days earlier than the date he set.  We tried to persuade him to take his time, but he declined.  We took our leave, feeling so apprehensive for him that one of us said, “It seems that his soul is summoned for martyrdom.”  It was “the last supper,” as expressed by one of those present at the meeting, for soon after, President Zia Al-Haq met his fate at the hand of the forces of tyranny and corruption on earth.

       His Excellency Kamil Al-Shareef told me of a similar stand taken by His Excellency President Ahmad Abellow of Nigeria, may God have mercy upon him.  He was advised by Mr. Al-Shareef to take his time in enforcing Islamic Law, and follow a gradual approach, particularly despite the number of non- Muslim in Nigeria are not small.  The late president refused and insisted on his plan of immediate enforcement.  What followed is well known.  God alone has all the capability and power.

       It is useful to mention an example that may seem curious and that emphasizes the insistence of the nation and its countries to adhere to God’s religion and Law.  It is, however, an example of a different type and it concerns one of the rulers in the Islamic World who are identified as secularist.  They themselves have no objection to being identified as such, and even declare themselves as adopting a democratic and secular system.  Still, they keep inside them a fund of loyalty and love towards Islam, although they have an internal conflict, whether to protect their regime and maintain their gains or to pay the cost of adherence to their religion and its Law.  They take the first option and are satisfied with the little they can do.  That was what a former Iraqi leader declared at a special meeting with a delegation formed by the International Committee to visit Iraq and commissioned to make an effort to end the war between Iraq and Iran.

The meeting was a preliminary one and another meeting was pending, this time with the Iraqi president at the time, President Saddam Hussein, to pave the way to an end of that fierce war.  The delegation was composed of His Eminence Sheikh Muhammad Al-Ghazali, may God have mercy upon him; His Excellency Dr. Rashid Al-Mubarak, and myself.  A similar delegation went to Iran to prepare, with the Iranian leadership for the achievement of that noble objective.  Since the Iraqi president was out of Baghdad at the time, we were told we would have a meeting with the Vice-President, Mr. Taha Yaseen Ramadan.  At the meeting, Sheikh Al-Ghazali, may God have mercy upon him, made, as was his habit, a very impressive speech, highly fluent and eloquent, very profound in meaning, and very powerful in argument.  We all listened attentively; as if we were listening to him speak for the first time.  Dressed in the uniform of a military general and decorated with so many medals that suggested the authority and embellishment of leadership, the Vice President, as his face belied, was greatly moved.  He started to bow his head little by little, and his features were relaxing at hearing those eloquent, inspiring words flowing from the mouth of the venerated Sheikh Al-Ghazali as water flows from a mountain spring.  I saw the Vice President drag his chair from behind his huge and elegant desk and get as close to us as possible.  Addressing Sheikh Al-Ghazali, he said in a low voice, “Sir, by God our religion is dear to us and fills our heart.  But enforcing it, sir, has a great international cost which we cannot afford.  Therefore, pray for us, sir.”  The meeting was concluded with his promise to deliver our wish and message to the president.

       As for the story of His Excellency President Shazli Bendjedid, the former president of the Algerian Republic, with Islam, I will quote His Eminence Sheikh Muhammad Al-Ghazali, may God have mercy upon him, who told it to me.  I was once traveling in his company to a certain country on an intellectual occasion.  While we were sitting in comfortable chairs in the nicely furnished and decorated lobby of a major hotel, I told him, “I am anxious to hear from Your Eminence something related to Islamic advocacy which you have not written down and still keep to yourself.  I promise to keep your secret and tell it to nobody without your permission.”

He, may God have mercy upon him, smiled and said, “And what have made you think of such a request.”

I said, “First, it is my keen desire to learn from you and your experience all I can.  Second, it is the desire to be the first to hear from you about something you have not written for people to read.”

He said:

This pleasant company that have brought us together for a serious matter that pleases God and His Messenger, gives you the right to have your wish satisfied.  So listen, my brother.

One day I received an invitation from President Shazli Bendjedid to visit Algeria.  I wondered, ‘What could it be?  Have intrigue and calumny against me reached Algeria?  What is the relationship between the rulers of Algeria and the citizens of another country?  Or could this be globalization and its long sharp teeth?’

I headed to Algeria and was received with so much warmth, affection, courtesy, and respect that my apprehen­sions about the invitation soon vanished.  I had sufficient rest at the hotel chosen for me, and on the following day, someone came to take me, with all respect and esteem, to meet the President.  He received me in a way different from anything I had known before.  He shook my hand very warmly and embraced me kindly and affectionately.  I heard from him expressions of respect and venerations that I had not heard from the closest and most intimate people.  I felt warm towards the man and had no qualms or misgivings.  After additional expressions of welcome and thankfulness, and the hospitality procedures familiar in presidential office, he closed the door and had a private audience with me.

He said, ‘Sheikh Muhammad, I trust your learning, understanding, and wisdom, and I and all Algeria need you.  As you know, Sheikh Muhammad, Algeria lost more than one million martyrs in its fight for independence and for maintaining its religion and its Arab, Islamic identity.  Now, the enemies of Algeria and of Islam are striving to spoil the purposes of the great Algerian struggle.  I reveal no secret in telling you that since the early days of Algeria’s independence, attempts have been made to ruin the achievements realized with the blood of Algerians and of Muslims from everywhere who supported Algeria, sacrificed all what they possessed, and did all what they could do.  Now we are facing the climax of intrigue and conspiracy to undermine our independence and diminish our sovereignty.  I have though about the way out of this.  How can we shield our nation and its independence and identity from this malicious intrigue?  I reached the conclusion that the only way is to fortify our generations with their religion and teach them to cling to their Arab, Islamic identity.  I looked left and right and saw no other scholar, thinker, or wise man to help me realize this great task other than you.  I hope you will not fail me or make excuses about this.  Here is Algeria in your arms, so say what you will about.  Sow and plant in the Algerian soil the way you want.  But kindly avoid two things: sectarianism and the brand of fundamentalism that regards all others as infidels.’

I said, ‘Mr. President, you have chosen me, weak as I am, for a grave matter and a serious and enormous duty.  Is this a trial or a test for me in the autumn of my life?’  He said, ‘I will be your partner in the test and trial.’ 

This made me feel good, and I made a decision and started the work, with the blessing of God.  God guided me, the weak servant of His that I am, to something beyond my expectations.  It was the unequaled turnout, as Algerians turned to God, thirsty for the output of Islamic springs and eager to learn Islamic values and principles.  Something like a miracle occurred, as young men and women crowded in the niches of worship and religious learning.  Mosques and streets were too small for them, so we turned to athletic fields, which soon were filled up.  We made time and place schedules, but the problem of big crowds and competition was not solved.

This continued for a few years, and I got exhausted.  I thought of asking the President to relieve me, having achieved some of the things he aspired to.  I told President Bendjedid of the exhaustion and difficulty I suffered and asked for his permission to go back home.  He was greatly saddened when he heard me, ‘To whom are you going to leave me, Sheikh Muhammad?  To myself?  I am too helpless to cope with these crowds that are turning to God.  Do not leave me in the middle of the trip.’  I told him, ‘I have thought of a substitute.’  He said, ‘Who can replace Al-Ghazali and follow the same course?’  I said, ‘I have chosen someone whom I confidently believe to be better, more giving, and higher in spirits than me.’  He asked, “And who is that who is better than you?”  I said, “Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi.  By God, he is more capable than me to complete this task and more vigorous and skillful in dealing with young people in the fields of advocacy, guidance, and education.  I will bring him to you, and you can try him.”

And I did.  Sheikh Al-Qaradawi came to Algeria and was successful, by the Grace of God, the Most Sublime.  He did better than what I had done and greatly surpassed me, praise be to God.  Undoubtedly you hear today, brother Hamid, about what is going on in Algeria and about the extraordinary expansion of the phenomenon of young people’s adherence to their religion and their pride in Islam.  President Shazli Bendjedid took a bold step on the political level and, for the first time, issued licenses for the establishment of Islamic parties.  He called for free elections.  And here are the Islamists winning the municipality elections.’

Sheikh Al-Ghazali, may God have mercy upon him, stopped at this point.  His story made me more interested in Algeria.  I have learned of the good seed planted by His Excellency President Shazli Bendjedid in cooperation with the two venerated sheiks, Al-Ghazali and Al-Qaradawi, may God reward them all on earth and in the coming life in the best way.

Later, His Eminence Dr. Abacas Madani, whom I used to meet at intellectual symposia and international gatherings since the early 1970s, visited me.  He told me about the situation in Algeria, and I listened to his explanation of the phenomenon of the great number of people, particularly young men and women, turning to God.  He spoke about the phenomenon of rising numbers of girls wearing the veil, and the phenomenon of mosques being filled with people, particularly young people.  He concluded that Algeria is turning to God and that Algerians prove everyday the genuineness of their identity as Muslims, for which their grandfathers made many sacrifices.  I asked him, “But what is it that caused this sudden change in favor of Islam among the Algerian people?  What instilled this new spirit in young people of both sexes in Algeria?”  He said, “This is the impact of the Islamic Awakening?”  I said, “But, brother Abbas, who caused this awakening that you mention?”  He said, “It is a spontaneous phenomenon, an extension of the awakening wave that is overrunning the Islamic World today.”

I did not wish to discuss with him the secrets of how that awakening started.  I feared to spoil the sincere efforts of the Algerian president in the service of Islam and Muslims.  My meetings with Abbas Madani, Ali Balhaaj, and others continued.  The secret of Shazli Bendjedid was disclosed, but instead of being offered thanks, support, and encouragement from the leaders of Islamic activity, although they were advised to show such support, they insisted on competing with him in an immature way that brought them all down.  Consequently, Algeria witnessed the tragic blood baths and the failure of Islamists to take advantage of golden opportunities, learn from experience, and benefit from recurring experiences and lessons.

       I conclude with a glorious example from the biography of a venerated king, a learned scholar, and an outstanding thinker.  That is how I knew and felt him to be, but God needs not my recommendation.  The man is King Hasan II of Morocco, known for the Hasanian classes which he held in Ramadan every year and to which he invited a large number of the scholars, politicians, and thinkers from Morocco and the Islamic Nation at large.  I was invited once to this grave meeting held with him, may God have mercy upon him, as chairman.  It was attended by his crown prince, other members of his staff and family, and some close friends.  I also had the honor of giving a lesson in that grave scholarly gathering.

The king insisted that scholars in this grave scholarly gathering should focus first on exploring the treasures embedded in the objectives of the message of Islam and its benign Law, and also on every point that confirms the ability of Islam to meet the challenges of the changes brought with the change of time and place.  He was eager for Muslim and non-Muslim generations to find out the greatness of Islam and the competence of its values and principles in coping with the problems and challenges of human progress.  One also felt his desire to report the creative findings that resulted from the efforts of scholars, thinkers, and people in general.  The studies of the Hasanian classes were directly broadcasted on the radio in several languages, and were published and audio-taped, also in several languages.

Once he surprised the audience by giving an improvised lesson himself, using as a title the tradition of God’s Messenger, blessings and peace be upon him, that says, “Pray as you have seen me pray.”  He said to the audience: “Imagine that God’s Messenger, blessings and peace be upon him, says, “Pray as I pray.”  Who, among all people and among us, can pray the way he, peace be upon him, prayed?  Is not the phrasing of “as you have seen me” a gesture of the mercy of God’s Messenger, blessings and peace be upon him, for God’s creatures, following his Lord’s command?  Is not this phrasing a basis to admit the variety of forms in which God’s Messenger, blessings and peace be upon him, which is the source of mercy for Muslims, allowing them to perform their prayers without any pressure as long as they observed the basic, pillars of prayer agreed-upon by all Muslims?”

As for the way he treated scholars and how he respected and venerated them, I cite this interesting story concerning the position at which he held them.  This story was told to me by His Excellency Dr. Abdul Al-Kabir Al-Alawi Al-Madghari, the Moroccan Minister of Endowments and Islamic Affairs.  He said:

King Hasan II ordered the man in charge of organizing the procedures of the Hasanian lessons to get a grand and high chair for the scholar giving the lesson to sit on.  The man carried out the order and had the chair brought and placed to face the couch on which the king sat.  As those who have seen that couch know, it is just a mattress no more than eight centimeters thick, on the floor.  When the Chief of Protocol saw the chair, with its huge size and elaborate ornaments, and noticed that the feet of the person sitting on it would be higher than the king’s head, he objected strongly to it and ordered it to be removed and replaced by a chair that would not be higher in level than the king’s place.

The two men argued, and the matter was referred to His Majesty the King.  He asked the Chief of Protocol, ‘What is your objection to the scholar chair?’  He said, ‘Sire, according to protocol, it is wrong for the seating place of any person to be higher than yours.’  The king, may God have mercy upon him, replied, ‘Does anyone have the right to lower the status of someone when God has elevated it.  Do you not know that God elevates the status of people of learning?  “God will raise in position those of you who believe and are given knowledge.  God knows what you do” [Al-Mujaadilah LVIII: 11].  Keep the chair where it is and add to its decoration and ornament.’

May God have mercy upon King Hasan II, who insisted on being called “Prince of the Faithful,” to confirm the authenticity and identity of his regime, for his people consisted of believing Muslims, and his was an Islamic country of believers.  That made him “Prince of the Faithful.”  May God bless his successor, His Majesty King Muhammad VI, who is following his father’s example and keeping up the Hasanian lesson tradition.  I was again invited, under his reign, to participate in that annual Ramadan activity.  From that high chair, I gave in his presence a lesson, while he sat on his father’s couch, spread on the floor, facing the speaker.  May God bolster their faith and guidance, as well as their adherence to His religion and Law.

And now, dear brothers, followers of the great Islam, I wanted by citing the stories of these magnificent stands of taken by leaders of this nation to remind you that the nation is in a good shape.  It still adheres to it covenant with its Lord, and its religion is still dear to it.  So let us think well of, and find excuses for, each other.  Each of us has his position and responsibilities, as well as his circumstances and conditions.  The situation is very delicate and intricate, and it is most threatening at every regional and international level.  It calls on all of us to look well and think, not to simplify things, and not to underestimate reality.  Let us all work together to free the suspended nation’s will.  The worst thing that suspends the nation’s will and incapacitates its potential is its division and fragmentation.  Let each of us work, from his own position, to unify the nation’s stand, pull its ranks together, and integrate its potentials.  Let us reconsider the method of blame and accusation exchange.  Let us free ourselves from the illusion of conspiracy and conspirators.  I neither deny that conspiring does take place, nor that the conspiracies affect the lives of nations.  I strongly reject, however, the obsession with the infinite conspiracy-based interpretation of the course of events in our lives, which, in my view, stems as a result of helplessness and failure to cope with our difficult and painful circumstances, both regionally and internationally.

Therefore, I advise my brothers who promote the theory that the Islamic state is absent, that the legitimacy of existing Islamic governments is void, that the nation has no leaders at present, that it is moving from a state of loss to another state of loss—I advise them to reconsider their interpretation and their concepts.  I warn them against persistence in that interpretation.  Such a serious verdict against the governments of Islamic countries would entail other serious verdicts.  These are verdicts related to international and regional sovereignty, to covenants and treaties, and to security and the inviolability of individual life, of property, and even of honor.  A general and very dangerous state of chaos would prevail in the nation, and the gates would stand wide open for sedition and rebellion.  We are already confronted with examples of that chaos.  Young men here and there are declaring themselves and their comrades legitimate leaders of the nation.  They are demanding allegiance to them and their approach.  They permit themselves to tamper with the lives of Muslims, including their own kin.  They also permit themselves to seize the property of Muslims and to defile their honor on the pretext that they, according to their degenerate claim, are in a state of war with the enemies of Islam, having misled themselves and others with claims that the existing governments are illegitimate, that they are allies of God’s enemies.  According to that claim, deranged as it is, the ruling concerning fighting enemies of God’s religion applies to those countries and their peoples: their lives, property, and women are legitimate gains.

At the same time, some of these groups deny the claims of others.  They exchange accusations and allegations of infidelity and immorality.  One of the most devastating cases of sedition that are destroying the nation and its security is that, regrettably, some young scholars of Islamic studies are siding with these groups, claiming that the approach they are following is legitimate, and justifying the extreme exaggeration, departure from faith, deviation, and extremism of  those groups.

Therefore, I invite them all to renounce this exaggeration and deviation, and I ask them to fear God in their dealing with themselves and their nation.  I urge them not to turn into assistants of the devil and troops in his army.  I also invite them to what our Lord, blessed are His Names, invites us: “Call [people] to the path of your Lord through wisdom and pleasant preaching” (Al-Nahl XVI: 125).  I advocate that we all adhere to the principle of mutual advice, which we are ordered to follow by our master and Messenger, the one who guides us and bring us good tidings, our Prophet Muhammad, son of Abdullah, blessings and peace be upon him.  He says: “Religion is good advice.”  He was asked, “To whom. God’s Messenger?”  He said, “To the leaders of Muslims, their laymen, and their notables.”  Let us keep away from the method of exposing the defects of each other, mutual fighting, and other behavioral practices that are in conflict with the Islamic approach and its lofty message.  Let our approach be in harmony with the words of God: “If something related to security or fear comes to their knowledge, they make it known to all and sundry; whereas, if they would only refer it to the Messenger and to those from among them entrusted with authority, those of them who are engaged in obtaining intelligence would know it. Were it not for God’s bounty to you and His grace, all but a few of you would have followed the Devil” (Al-Nisaa IV: 83). 

Prof. Dr. Hamid bin Ahmad Al-Rifaie

President, International Islamic Forum For Dialogue

    Assistant Secretary General, Muslim World League

From His Book (Partners ... not Guardians)  Part Four / Chapter Four

All Rights Reserved For The Author Prof. Dr. Hamid Al-Rifaie