Islamic Resurgence
We are definitely indebted to the arduous and often un-acknowledged efforts by our Ulama, as they have succeeded in keeping the structure of traditional beliefs and rituals intact during the extremely unfavorable period of Western colonialism. However, the most significant aspect of the process of our revival concerns an entirely different type of response to the decline of Muslims. The forerunners in the revivalist movement include all those organizations and groups which were created with this very purpose in mind, i.e., to re awaken the Ummah and to re-establish the domination of Islam. Such groups and parties have categorically rejected the two common responses to Westernization: either withdrawing in the shells of tradition or blindly accepting whatever arrives from the West. Instead, they have emphasized again and again that Islam is not merely a collection of dogma, rituals, and customs, as are other religions, but that it is the God-given Deen, i.e., a complete way of life encompassing the whole spectrum of human activity, including its social, cultural, legal, economic, and political aspects. And, most importantly, like all other ways of life, Islam demands its complete and total ascendancy, and the struggle to establish that ascendancy is the duty of every Muslim For a number of centuries, India and Egypt have held the distinction of being the two most prominent centers of culture and learning in the Muslim world. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that the two major revivalist movements of the twentieth century Jama‘at-e-Islami and Al-Ikhwan Al-Muslimun rose from the Indian subcontinent and Egypt, respectively. Although, at a certain point in its history, the Al-Ikhwan Al-Muslimun of Egypt had become the focus of all revivalist aspirations due to its unprecedented fervor and widespread influence, the fact remains that the real superiority in this field too belongs to the Indian subcontinent.
The first person to invite the Muslims towards the struggle for Islamic revival in the Indian subcontinent was Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (1888-1958), who, during the early part of the present century, called for the establishment of “God’s Kingdom” through his pioneering magazines Al-Hilal and Al-Balagh, and, in order to reach that goal, formed a group known as Hizbullah. His ability to motivate the audience through a unique style of writing and oratory, which became especially prominent during the Khilafat Movement, made him a well-known public figure throughout the subcontinent, and his own sincerity and enthusiasm conquered the hearts of millions of Indian Muslims. If it were not for the opposition and obstructions created by some of the traditional scholars, he would have been selected as Imamul Hind (supreme leader of Indian Muslims) during the early 1920s. Disillusioned and frustrated by the lukewarm response from the religious establishment, Abul Kalam gave up his mission altogether, and, from then onwards, dedicated his life to the nationalist politics of India, until his death in 1958.
The echoes of his vehement and vociferous clarion call to the Qur’an and Jihad continued to reverberate in the four corners of Muslim India. Like the second runner in a relay race, another unconventional and courageous young man appeared on the scene with the firm resolve to continue the mission that was forsaken by Maulana Abul Kalam. He worked alone for nearly seven years as a journalist, presenting a methodology for the establishment of “God’s Kingdom” and the revival of Islam as a complete way of life. He then worked for sometime at Darul Islam an Islamic research academy established by Chaudhry Niaz Ali Khan, a devotee of Alma Iqbal. He finally laid the foundation of his own party in 1941, called Jama‘at-e-Islami, and started an organized movement. This young man was, of course, none other than Maulana Sayyid Abul A‘la Maududi (1903-1979).
The spirit of Islamic revivalism and the aspiration to establish the ideal Islamic system, as generated by the Jama‘at-e-Islami, has influenced a considerable section of Muslim youth in the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent. Simultaneously, the same spirit — initiated by Hassan Al-Banna when he established Al-Ikhwan Al Muslimun in 1928 — has been active throughout most of the Arab world. Although the widespread impact produced by these movements is beyond dispute, it must be realized that lack of a unanimous policy in relation to the all important matter of methodology has been responsible for the creation of a number of divisions among them, leading to the formation of various smaller parties and organizations.
For example, though the Al-Ikhwan Al-Muslimun in Egypt and Jordan has, in general, taken the path of peaceful social and political struggle, some of its dissatisfied offshoots have adopted violent and even terrorist methods for achieving the same objective.
However, such radical organizations, along with the enthusiasm of other non-violent but nevertheless revolutionary groups, have succeeded in bringing the goal of Islamic Resurgence a bit closer to reality at least in the eyes of the West. The whole phenomenon has produced a sense of alarm among the Western powers and their “Muslim” stooges, despite the fact that the actual achievements of parties like Takfir-wal-Hijra, Al-Jehad, Islamic Tendency Society, Jama‘a Islamia, Hizb-ut-Tahrir, and Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), are as yet far from the establishment of an Islamic state. One can have a number of disagreements with each of these organizations, but it has to be admitted that these movements represent, as a whole, the revivalist aspirations of the Muslim Ummah, and have become a force that has to be recognized at the international level. The role of the revolution in Iran and the rise of Shi‘ite fundamentalism is also significant in this respect.
Jewish Revival
As mentioned before, the beginning of the third and final phase of rise for the Muslims is coincidental with the temporary upswing of the Jews. It can be seen that, at the present moment, the upward trend in the history of the Muslim Ummah is not only very slow and gradual, but that it is still in its initial stages. On the other hand, the same trend among the Jews not only started much earlier, but that it has shown a far more rapid and swift progress. Thus, the ingenious scheme prepared by the “Elders of Zion” in 1897, and the political Zionism of Theodore Herzel (1860-1904), bore fruit within a short period of twenty years, resulting in the Balfour Declaration by the British Government on November 2, 1927, that paved the way for the “establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.” Finally, the illegitimate state of Israel was born on May 14, 1948, with the British Government acting as midwife.
The situation at the moment is that not only Israel herself is a formidable military power, but the entire Western world is also there to support and patronize her, both economically and with respect to arms supply. The “Supreme Power” of our time — the United States of America — is practically in the tight grip of a small Jewish minority, who is able to exert an immense amount of control over its international policies.
This last mentioned fact has been forcefully proved by former US Congressman Paul Findley, in his best- selling book They Dare to Speak Out. More importantly, the global financial system is virtually in the hands of Jewish bankers, who, through the institution of interest or usury, have become powerful enough to command the obedience of entire governments. Finally, the monarchs and rulers in most of the Arab countries have either made their peace with Israel or are desperately looking for opportunities to demonstrate their servile acquiescence. It seems, therefore, that there is no power on earth that can prevent the establishment of “Greater Israel.”
Under these apparently hopeless circumstances only the predictions of the Holy Qur’an and Hadith can reassure us. According to these predictions, the third phase of rise for the Muslims will be accompanied by the global domination of Islam, which will last till near the end of the world, whereas the present rise of the Jews is going to be ephemeral. Moreover, as mentioned before, the conflict between the Jews and the Muslims is going to result, ultimately, in the total extermination of the former, according to the Divine law of “annihilation of the worst.” However, the most significant role in this conflict which is gradually warming up to its grand finale is going to be played by a third power, the Christians.
Third of the Trinity: The Christians
An interesting theme that is common to all pagan religions is the idea of “henotheism”; wherever there was a group of people that worshipped a number of divine beings, we find that there was always a Supreme Deity that was considered to be above all other gods and goddesses. This trend is most prominent in Hinduism, in the Greek and Roman mythologies, and among the pagan Arabs of the pre-Islamic era. However, what is really important to note in such religions is that, in actual practice, the smaller gods and goddesses always get the lion’s share in the attention and devotion of their worshipers, while the Supreme God disappears in the background, as He is carelessly ignored and casually brushed aside by the worshipers.
Applying this analogy to the three Abrahamic faiths, we can say that although Christianity is the biggest among them in terms of the number of adherents, yet in reality except for the name and personality of Prophet Isa (AS) there is hardly any thing in this religion that can be described as “Christian.” That is to say, the doctrines and practices of Christianity, as they exist toady, have more to do with the innovations of St. Paul than with the real teachings of Prophet Isa (AS). As such, the present-day Christianity actually belongs to the realm of philosophical religions along with Hinduism, Taoism, and Confucianism instead of the domain of Revealed religions like Judaism and Islam.
Coming back to the original topic of our discussion, it is significant to note that the Christian nations have played a crucial role vis-à-vis the second phase of decline with regard to both the Jews and the Muslims. Thus, we find that the torture, persecution, genocidal killings, and exile suffered by the Jews during the last sixteen hundred years were caused exclusively by the Christians. Ever since the conversion of Romans to Christianity in the fourth century C.E., Jews have continuously been made the target of various allegations, and executed by the thousands on one pretext or the other. Similarly, it was the Christians who were responsible for the brutal massacre suffered by the Muslims during the Crusades, and then the subjugation and exploitation of the Muslims at the hands of Western Imperialism. From even a superficial survey of Jewish and Muslim histories, therefore, it becomes clear that Almighty Allah (SWT) has been using the Christian nations as an instrument of His punishment, or the whip of His retribution, for both the Jews and Muslims of the world.
However and this is vital for us to keep in mind there has been a profound metamorphosis in the nature of the relationship between the Jews and Christians; this change has started from the days of the Renaissance, reaching its climax only during the present century. As a result of this change, the Christian world particularly the White Angle-Saxon Protestants or WASP have become devoted comrades and staunch supporters of the Jewish nation, although they are, in fact, only being cleverly used and manipulated by the latter. On the other hand, the highly ruthless historical role of the Christians in relation to the Muslim Ummah is still very much intact. As such, there is a clear possibility of another massive assault, a ‘la Crusades, that can work havoc upon the Muslims, particularly the Arab world. Such an event can obviously result in killings and destruction on a huge scale, a minor glimpse of which has already been witnessed by the world during the Operation Desert Storm.
The way in which the “threat” of militant and fundamentalist Islam is being hyperbolized by the Western media betrays an attempt to create public hatred against the Muslims, as was done before and during the Crusades. This process of brainwashing is exemplified, at the popular level, by the PBS documentary Jihad in America and the Reader’s Digest article A Holy War Heads Our Way; prominent examples of the same trend at an intellectual level include The Clash of Civilizations by Samuel P. Huntington and The Roots of Muslim Rage by Bernard Lewis. Similarly, a campaign was recently launched in the Western media so as to inculcate the notion, with reference to the writings of Nostradamus, that the “Anti-Christ” is going to be a Muslim leader from among the Arabs.
The very idea of Muslims going back to their roots the Holy Qur’an and the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) is being depicted as a dangerous combination of extremism, terrorism, and fanaticism. Unfortunately, after the end of Cold War and the demise of Communism, Islam and Muslims are increasingly being used to fill the vacuum of the “Great Menace” against which the West can test her powers. With ever rising zeal, Islamic fundamentalism is being portrayed as the ultimate evil against which the forces of decency must unite. Despite this continuing campaign of disinformation about the horrible hazard of Islam, the fact remains that, in the history of Muslim-Christian relationship, it was always the Muslims who suffered heavily at the hands of various Christian nations and not the other way round. It appears that the history might repeat itself in the form of a real clash of civilizations.
According to the Qur’an, there has been only one true religion throughout human history, i.e., Islam; all other systems of belief and worship, as they exist today, are nothing but corrupted and distorted replicas of the originally pure and simple teachings of the various messengers of God. Most versions of these teachings have been perverted beyond recognition, and the historical continuity and doctrinal similarity of only two of them Judaism and Christianity can at present be linked with Islam. Among these three major faiths, as mentioned earlier, only the followers of Judaism and Islam can be described as Ummahs: Jews or the Israelites as the previous Muslim Ummah, and the followers of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) as the present and final Muslim Ummah. According to the prophecies as they appear in the Hadith literature, the ultimate conflict of the future is going to take place between the Jews and the Muslims, although a very significant initial role will be played by the Christian nations. In order to correctly interpret and fully comprehend these prophecies, it is imperative for us to understand the nature and history of Christian faith.
A set of three doctrines is common to the followers of most of the Christian denomination, viz., the Trinity, Crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and Atonement. The most basic creed of modern Christianity is, of course, the belief that God is one, in three persons, and in one substance: God the father, God the son, and God the Holy Spirit are not three gods, but one God. The Holy Qur’an emphatically rejects and condemns this polytheistic view.
O People of the Book, do not be fanatical in your faith, and say nothing but the truth about God. The Messiah who is Isa, son of Maryum, was only a messenger of God, and a command of His which He sent to Maryum, as a mercy from Him. So believe in God and His messengers, and do not say “Three.” For God is only one God. (Al-Nisa 4:171)
They are surely infidels who say: “God is the Messiah, son of Maryum.” …Disbelievers are they surely who say:
“God is the third of the Trinity”; but there is no god other than God the One. (Al-Ma’ida 5:72,73)
The Holy Qur’an also repudiates their belief that Prophet Isa (AS) was humiliated and executed on
the cross, and thus indirectly refutes the theory of Atonement the belief that the great sacrifice from the
so-called “Son of God” was necessary to remove the burden of the Original Sin from the shoulders of
humanity. According to the Qur’an: And (the Jews were punished, among other things, because) of saying, “We killed the Messiah, Isa, son of Maryum.” who was a Messenger of God but they neither killed nor crucified him. though it so appeared to them. They have no knowledge about it, other than conjecture, and surely they did not kill him. (Al-Nisa 4:157)
Although the myth of the Crucifixion of Prophet Isa (AS) is narrated in all the four Gospels, there is absolutely no substance whatsoever in them for the doctrine of Trinity or that of the Divine Sonship of Jesus. The earliest evidence of the last two doctrines first appeared in the writings of St. Paul, and these were adopted as official beliefs of Christianity only after extensive debate, and following a long-standing controversy which included, at times, violent episodes between Unitarians and Trinitarians. These dogmas were confirmed as official beliefs of the Church, after much deliberation, during the Council of Nicaea in 325 C.E., almost three centuries after the departure of Prophet Isa (AS).
As far as the personality of Prophet Isa (AS) is concerned, we find that there are at least five significant points which are common between the Holy Qur’an and the Hadith on the one hand, and the four Canonical Gospels on the other. It is indeed significant that more than half of the world’s population is in agreement regarding these points, three of which are in clear opposition to the normal physical laws of the universe. We shall discuss these points one by one.
(1) The Gospel of Matthew (1:18-24) and Luke (1:26-38) mention that Jesus Christ was conceived without a human father, as a miracle from Almighty God; so does the Holy Qur’an (Aal-e-Imran 3:45-47 & Maryum 19:17-21)
(2) Jesus Christ performed the most astonishing of miracles — unparalleled in the history of Prophethood with respect to their unambiguous and unmistakable nature. These miracles are described in various sections of the Gospels (see, for example, Matthew, Chapters 8 & 14) as well as in the Holy Qur’an (Aal-e-Imran 3:49 & Al-Ma’ida 5:110)
(3) Jesus Christ forcefully and incisively called upon his fellow Israelites to mend their perverted ways, to give up sinful and unethical practices, to repent with the true spirit of repentance, and to purify themselves from all spiritual and moral corruption. He severely criticized the pretentious religiosity, the emphasis on hollow but legally spotless rituals, and the servile adherence to the letter of the law with no regard to its spirit — the hallmark of the religious establishment of his time. (Matthew 23, and the Holy Qur’an Al-Ma’ida 5:78). As a result, he became the sole target of the acrimony and malevolence from the rabbis, the priests, and the pharisees.
(4) The message and proclamation of Jesus Christ attracted the attention of the population both in and around Jerusalem, but it was accepted only by a very minute section of the Jews, of which even fewer became his dedicated companions. The number of these close comrades, according to the Gospels, was twelve, although the matter of their names is controversial.
(5) Jesus Christ was raised up alive from the earth, and he will reappear some time before the end of the world. This has been mentioned in Matthew 28:6,7; Mark 16:19; Luke 24:51, John 20:17. Ascension and reappearance of Prophet Isa (AS) has also been alluded to in the Holy Qur’an (Al-Nisa 4:157, 158 and Al- Zukhruf 43:61), but these hints are explained more explicitly in the Hadith.
Innovations by Paul
Then we have two very important points, regarding which the Qur’an and Hadith as well as the four Gospels are unanimous, but which have been radically changed by St. Paul during the period immediately following the departure of Prophet Isa (AS). These innovations have transformed what was only a reform movement among the Jews into a philosophical religion full of pagan conceptions.
(1) It is abundantly clear from Matthew 5:17-19, Luke 16:17 and Mark 13:31, that Jesus Christ had no intention whatsoever to give any new law, nor to rescind and abolish the Mosaic law, as he was sent by Almighty God only to renew and reinforce the law of the Torah, to purify his people from spiritual and moral degeneration, and to revive the authentic spirit of Deen. He was, obviously, one of the Jews and was not supposed to become the founder of a new religion and a new community. However, preaching in the name of
Jesus Christ, the actual founder of Christianity, St. Paul, simply abrogated the Mosaic law (Romans 4:15). The historian Michael Hart has the following to say in his book “The Hundred”:
Paul, more than any other man, was responsible for the transformation of Christianity from a Jewish sect into a world religion. His central ideas of the divinity of Christ and of justification by faith alone have remained basic to Christian thought throughout all the intervening centuries ... Indeed, the influence of Paul’s ideas has been so great that some scholars have claimed that he, rather than Jesus, should be regarded as the principal founder of the Christian religion.
(2) According to the Holy Qur’an, Prophet Isa (AS) was appointed a prophet only for the Israelites (Aal-e-Imran 3:49 & Al-Saff 61:6), and this is confirmed by his sayings which appear in the Gospels (Matthew 10:5,6 & 15:24), where he forbids his disciples from extending their evangelistic activity outside that circle. However, a controversial step was taken in this respect by St. Paul, who persuaded the small number of early followers of Prophet Isa (AS) after a period of serious dispute to preach among the non-Jews as well. As it happened, Paul had met with little success among the Israelites, but his sweeping innovations made the new faith much more palatable for the neighboring pagan people, and thus his brand of Christianity rapidly gained popularity among these nations.
The Myth of Crucifixion
Last, but not the least, is the matter of the alleged crucifixion of Prophet Isa (AS), regarding which there is a crucial disagreement between the Islamic belief and the account of the four Canonical Gospels. According to the latter, the supreme Jewish authority in Roman Palestine the Sanhedrin convicted Jesus of blasphemy and insisted for death sentence, which was carried out by the Roman governor Pilate Pontius by way of crucifixion. Afterwards, on the third day, the dead body of Jesus Christ was miraculously resurrected and revived; the Christ then met with his disciples, and, after giving them some instructions, ascended into the heaven.
On the other hand, the Holy Qur’an strongly rejects the idea of Prophet Isa (AS) having been crucified, and according to the authentic Prophetic traditions or Hadith he was saved from such an accursed and humiliating death by direct Divine intervention and raised up alive into the heavens. It has also been unequivocally explained to us by Prophet Muhammad (SAW) that Prophet Isa (AS) will reappear on earth to live out the rest of his life, and then he will die like any other mortal.
The only void left in this Islamic tradition, however, concerns the “when” and “where” of the ascension of Prophet Isa (AS), and the question regarding “who” actually got crucified in his place. This vacuum can be satisfactorily filled with the help of the narration in the “Gospel of Barnabas” according to which, when the traitor Judas Iscariot came ahead of the Roman soldiers and entered the garden where Prophet Jesus Christ was hiding, God the Almighty caused his face and voice to be changed so that he looked and talked exactly like Jesus, while in the meantime the prophet himself was raised up into the heavens. Thus it was the traitor who was crucified, while Prophet Jesus Christ was miraculously saved by direct Divine intervention. It may be pointed out here that, unlike Barnabas who was a close disciple and companion of Prophet Jesus, none of the writers of the four so-called authentic gospels i.e., Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John ever met with the prophet himself. These gospels were written between 70 C.E and 115 C.E. but their earliest available manuscripts date back to the fourth century C.E, making their authenticity rather dubious. A number of different gospels were in circulation throughout the early period of Christianity, the manuscripts of which were freely altered and amended by the copyists in order to suit the doctrines of their particular sect. The four gospels that are included in the New Testament were accepted as genuine by the Church and the rest were rejected as apocryphal, and their possession prohibited not on the basis of merit, but only because these four books were in conformity with the official Church dogma. The Gospel of Barnabas was among the books that were banned in 325 C.E by the Nicean Council; it was forbidden by the Decree of the Western Churches in 382 C.E; it was again banned by Pope Innocent in 465 C.E, and then by the Glasian Decree in 496 C.E. To this day, Christian authorities refuse to accept the Gospel of Barnabas as authentic, despite striking similarities between this Gospel and the documents discovered in 1947 in the caves of Qumran, popularly called the Dead Sea Scrolls. This is because the Gospel of Barnabas proclaims absolute Divine Unity, criticizes the pagan innovations of St. Paul, declares the truth about the myth of Crucifixion, and, above all, contains unambiguous prophecies regarding the advent of Prophet Mohammad (SAW), all of which is enough to destroy the very foundations of the Christian faith as it exists today.
However, any unbiased comparative study of the New Testament, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Gospel of Barnabas is bound to reveal that this gospel is the correct and genuine account of the life and teachings of Prophet Isa (AS), notwithstanding the flimsy objections being raised by the Christians.
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