Episode 11 - Great Goals Unleash the Energies of Nations

Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah, my dear beloved.

Great Goals Ignite the Energies of Peoples

We are still in the series of defending the Sharia. Do you remember in the ninth episode when I told you: The workers for Islam may not demand the declaration of jihad to liberate the occupied Muslim lands from the very first day of their assuming power. And I told you at the time: "May" this has a story to come.

Saladin and the Great Goal

What is the story of "may"? When Saladin assumed the rule of Egypt, its condition was painful, and it may not differ much from its current condition. It was groaning under the occupation of the Fatimid state, a deviant state from Islam that worked to obliterate the creed of Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jama'ah in Egypt and to spread debauchery and corruption. The other Muslim lands were also subjected to the campaigns of the Crusaders.

And when Saladin assumed power, the Crusaders began to launch campaigns against Egypt. What did Saladin do? Did he appease the Crusaders and say, "Let us gradually teach the people the religion, for its landmarks have been obliterated during the rule of the Fatimids"? No, he declared jihad and set a clear goal for the people of Egypt: to liberate Jerusalem and the other occupied Muslim lands.

Nur ad-Din had made a pulpit to be placed in Al-Aqsa, so the people of Egypt had a lofty, high, and clear goal: to place the pulpit in Al-Aqsa. The exhausted, hungry, terrified, and torn people of Egypt, as a result of the rule of the heretical Fatimid state for 200 years, when a lofty, great goal was set for them: to liberate the Muslim lands, became a great people, with great aspirations, great concerns, and great morale. The effects of the Fatimid rule vanished, and the liberation of Jerusalem was by the hands of this people. The army of Hattin was mostly Egyptians.

A Great Lesson for Islamic Rule

This is a great lesson for any Islamic rule that will be established one day: set a great goal for the people, and the small problems will vanish.

The prevailing notion these days is that any Islamic rule should improve the economic, social, and moral conditions, and gradually wean the people away from their forbidden habits before taking any military step. While history teaches us that the opposite usually happens. The great goal charges the spirits of the people, ignites the energies, and extracts the hidden powers.

Abu Bakr and the Igniting of Energies

Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, at the death of the Prophet, peace be upon him, and the apostasy of the tribes, set a great goal for the people of Mecca, Medina, and Taif, many of whom were recent converts to Islam, as their Islam was not more than two years old. He set for them a great goal: he sent Usamah to fight the Romans, acting upon the command of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him.

The companions said to him: O Abu Bakr, recall these people, turn these people towards the Romans, and the Arabs around Medina have apostated. He said: "By Him in whose hand is my soul, if the dogs of the wives of the Messenger of Allah had moved, I would not have recalled an army that the Messenger of Allah had sent out, nor would I have undone a banner that the Messenger of Allah had tied." So he sent Usamah to fight the Romans, and he made it so that no tribe passed by without saying: Were it not that these people have strength, such people would not have come out from them. Meaning, were it not that Abu Bakr and the companions have many armies, they would not have sent this army to fight the Romans at this difficult time. They said: But let us leave them until they meet the Romans. So they met the Romans, defeated them, killed them, and returned safely. Thus, many of those who thought of apostasy were confirmed in Islam.

A great goal, absolute obedience to the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him. It was not a realistic or logical goal by human calculations, but it ignited the energies and charged the resolves.

Applying the Principle in the Modern Age

Imagine with me if a Sharia rule were to be established in Egypt, for example, and the rulers raised the slogan: "Egypt is the hope of the nation," "Egypt is the hope of the nation," or "The salvation of the nation is in our hands," or "We shall not break except for Allah," or "We shall restore it as a caliphate according to the prophetic method." A great, lofty, nation-level slogan, how much effect would that have on the hearts of the people of Egypt or any other country?

At that time, would anyone from the people of Egypt demand that their rulers give freedom to artists and singers? Would the woman who wears makeup at that time demand the right to wear what she wants? Would the issue of tourism, beaches, and the income that tourism brings be raised? Would the issue of freedom of expression in criticizing Islam be raised? As soon as a lofty goal is set, people will forget these trivialities and nonsense, and public opinion will monopolize these ideas. We want to save the nation, and you say singing! You want to wear makeup in a state that aspires to re-establish the caliphate again!

The people of these trivial ideas will become outcasts because they are talking about trivial matters in front of a people who seek the sublime. Indeed, people will doubt their motives and accuse them of working for foreign powers and hating the nation because with these ideas they weaken the jihadi spirit of the nation and corrupt the morals of its youth, which is what the enemies want. So there is no choice for the secularists, hypocrites, and followers of desires and lusts except to adopt the high slogans or to silence their mouths and hide their rotten, detestable merchandise. Societies with high ambitions reject such ideas.

Did the hypocrites raise such ideas in the time of the Prophet, peace be upon him? Of course not, because the jihadi society preoccupied with the sublime will look at them with disgust and disapproval.

Turning the Forbidden into Obstacles

Here is a very important point: when the rulers and the Islamic rule set a great goal, the trivialities and forbidden things that were goals in themselves become, in the eyes of their possessors, obstacles that prevent them from their great goal. Instead of the state wasting efforts, instead of the state wasting its efforts in convincing people to stop mixing, wearing makeup, singing, smoking, fashion, and imitating the disbelievers in clothing and haircuts, and fearing the people's reaction to weaning them from their habits all at once, the Muslims will see these trivialities as obstacles that prevent them from their lofty goal, so they will trample them and proceed to their goal.

They were goals in themselves when the people were weak, their concerns were lowly, and their aspirations were lowly. But now they have been turned into obstacles to the lofty goal, so the people will not find any difficulty in getting rid of them, but rather they will hate and despise them. People will occupy themselves with falsehood if the state does not occupy them with truth.

Examples from Non-Islamic Peoples

Brothers, this talk is not a mere imagination, but look at how some disbelieving peoples set great false goals for themselves and yet ignited their energies. The communist leaders set for the people of Russia the goal of eliminating class distinctions, so they became a great power, even though most of them were disbelievers and the goal in reality was false.

The Muslim peoples themselves, when they raised great slogans from leaders who were not worthy of them, had a great effect. Look at the effect of the slogan "No voice is louder than the voice of battle" when it was raised in Egypt, even though it was accompanied by deception and exploitation of falsehood and lowly national desires. So how would it be if it were raised sincerely by a sincere Islamic state?

The Spirit of Challenge and Determination

When a great goal is set and enemies stand in your way, masks fall, revealing their grim faces, and the people begin to make sacrifices, then the spirit of challenge and determination ignites, and what was once forbidden by the enemies becomes desirable.

Observe the countries where Islamic systems have been established or where the banner of Islam is raised, regardless of the validity of these systems' methodologies. Consider Gaza, Afghanistan, and Somalia. Despite the differences in their methodologies, models that are considered Islamic by people have risen in all of them. The world has stood still, sieges have been imposed, bombardments intensified, various weapons used, and the fifth column has been relied upon. Yet, all of this has only increased the determination of the peoples of these countries to hold fast to those who raised the Islamic banner. They were given a choice: abandon these systems to gain life, support, and peace, or face hunger, deprivation, and terror. Thus, the spirit of challenge ignited, and these peoples rallied around their leaders, whom they viewed as Islamic, despite the differences in these models. The important thing is that the people felt they were being challenged in their faith, bargained over their faith, and extorted because of their faith. This is despite the fact that the mentioned countries are torn apart by famine, poverty, and ignorance.

Confidence of the Leaders of the Islamic Project

This great goal may seem like a dream to the shortsighted, unrealistic by human standards, but it is certain that faith makes miracles happen. So, in this time when fear has fallen and ambitions have risen, and the argument has been established against the cowards, if the proponents of the Islamic project are not confident in the ability of their religion to unleash the energies of the peoples and achieve miracles, they are not worthy of leading these peoples, and the law of Allah will not allow them to do so. Islam must be great in their hearts to be great in the hearts of the peoples they lead, otherwise, one who lacks something cannot give it.

These were lessons from the first man in the story of the three men. The first man had a great ambition to save his wife and children from the fire and to fight his enemies, so he declared it and strove for it with all his ability and strength. What about the second man? This we will know in the next episode, God willing.

Episode Summary

Episode summary: For any Islamic rule that is established, setting a great goal will be the best means to extract the energies of the peoples, educate them, rid them of their problems, wean them off their negative habits, and unite them around this goal.

Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah.