The Present Day Islamic Movements

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

Over the last century, countless Islamic movements have sprung up in various parts of the
Islamic world.  The large majority of these movements have represented a reaction against
colonialism and western (economic) domination.  They have been political in nature.  The
fundamental message of Islam, which should provide the basis of any true Islamic movement
has been obscured beneath superficial and mundane issues.          

These movements have won extraordinary support amongst Muslim populations of the
world.  They have captured the Muslim imagination and spurred the masses to expend all
their energies in opposing what they saw as tyranny and oppression.  Yet despite the wide
popular support they enjoyed, the achievements of these movements have been negligible. 
This is in sharp contrast to the mission of the holy Prophet, on whom be peace and God's
blessings.  In 2 A.H. when the Battle of Badr was fought, he had under his command 313
dedicated and committed companions.  Within twenty years of his death Islam had spread
throughout the whole of North Africa and had made considerable inroads into Persia.  Not
only were these lands conquered, but the language, attitudes and intellectual framework of
their inhabitants were also radically altered.  Why is it that the Prophet's Islamic movement
was so immensely successful, while those that present-day Muslims initiate fail to establish
the theoretical and practical ascendancy of Islam in even a small portion of the globe?  There
is no doubt that the reason for this is that modern Islamic movements have been denied the
divine succor which is essential for success. There is also no doubt that God has withheld
His assistance because these movements have failed to accord to God's design which He has
made manifest on earth by means of multiple signs.          

God desires that the emphasis of any Islamic movement be laid on the importance of
preparation for the hereafter.  He has spread countless signs throughout the universe which
attest to the insignificance of this world in relation to eternity; He has sent prophets who had
constantly urged man to use his time on earth in cultivating his eternal crop and made this
the basis of their mission.  Yet modern Islamic movements have focused their attention on
worldly issues and have distracted people's attention from the very issue which Islam is
supposed to emphasize: that of eternity, an issue of fundamental and crucial importance to
all mankind.          

God desires that truth should be conveyed to man on an intellectual plane.  The Quran stated
emphatically that proofs of monotheism would soon be displayed to man in the cosmos  and
in his own being.  Islam opened the way for scientific progress which has established
emphatically man's limitations, and the existence in the cosmos of one all-pervading order
according to which all things function.  These conclusions are direct evidence in support of
the two basic tenets of Islam: the need for prophetic revelation and the oneness and
omnipotence of god.  There is no need for us to force the issue now; the weaponry of
knowledge is fully at our command.  Yet modern Islamic movements have not made use of
this weapon.  They have not operated on an intellectual level.  They have insisted on
pressing their demands in the infertile arena of political confrontation.          

God has decreed that His religion shall spread by virtue of compassion and forgiveness
towards one's fellow-man.  He sent a Prophet whose actions were an epitome of the divinely-
endowed title, "Mercy for the world"; who spared his most dire enemies when he had them
at mercy.  Yet modern Islamic movements have forsaken this prophetic pattern and dealt
brutally and inhumanely with their opponents.          

All this shows that Muslims' are concentrating their efforts on the wrong objective.  They
have failed to enact their fundamental responsibility: communication of the prophetic
message in a way that will leave no doubt in the minds of those they are addressing as to its
validity.  Their relationship with non-Muslims has been founded on the rocks of political,
social and nationalistic confrontation and has never been established on solid, fertile,
spiritual ground.  It is God's will that His religion should be supreme on earth.  He has
created the conditions necessary for this to be achieved, and has assigned to the followers of
the final Prophet the task of spreading the Faith.  But Faith can only reign supreme when
those who seek to propagate its work in accordance with God's design.          

The three hundred and thirteen companions who took the field at Badr had aligned
themselves with God's scheme.  That is why the Holy Prophet prayed for their survival in
such passionate terms.  "If", he cried out to God, "they perish, then You will be worshipped
no more on earth."  They survived and by virtue of their efforts the world saw a revolution
the like of which has not been seen on earth.  Not only did they conquer people's territories;
they won people's minds with the Quran and their hearts with their own actions.  They
established the intellectual dominance of monotheism, thus paving the way for scientific
research into natural phenomena which had until then been considered as inviolable objects
of worship.          

If a group of people emerge in this day and age who are as attuned to the divine will as they
were, and work in compliance with the conditions which God has prepared for the
establishment of His religion on earth, then there is no doubt that results can be achieved as
they were in the early days of Islam.