What Victory in Tunisia Are They Talking About?!

Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings. All praise is due to Allah and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah.

Dear brothers, some people are showing joy and anticipation about what is happening in Tunisia. What is happening in Tunisia? A party that we assume is Islamic, whose members and cadres were in the basements of the Ministry of Interior and in prisons being tortured. When the regime of Ben Ali fell, these people became ministers, prime ministers, and so on. These people repeatedly state that they do not want to apply Sharia, that there is no place for the application of Sharia in Tunisia. Despite this, some people consider their transition from prison to the seat of power a great victory, a clear opening, and a significant triumph from Allah, the Exalted.

The Concept of Victory and Defeat in Islam

In reality, my brothers, the joy about what is happening in Tunisia is an indication of a lack of understanding of the concept of victory and defeat in Islam. Victory and defeat in Islam, in the religion of Allah the Almighty, victory is to stand firm on the religion of Allah until death, for the enemies of Allah to fail in moving you or tempting you away from your religion. As for defeat, it is to be tempted away from your religion, to abandon something of the religion of Allah, and for the enemies of Allah to succeed in turning you away from the religion of Allah.

According to this definition, what is happening in Tunisia is not a victory, nor an opening, nor a triumph, but it is a setback, a stumble, a free fall, and a terrible real defeat.

Examples from the Quran and Sunnah

The People of the Ditch

Then they lit fires for them and threw them into them to burn until death. Did Allah consider these people defeated? No, Allah said in Surah Al-Buruj, which describes the condition of these people of the ditch: "Indeed, those who have believed and done righteous deeds will have gardens beneath which rivers flow. That is the great attainment." So Allah clearly stated that they achieved a great victory even though they were burned to death.

How did these people believe? They believed when they saw the believing boy standing firm before the polytheistic king. When the polytheistic king tried to kill the believing boy but failed, the boy said to him, "You will not be able to kill me until you say, 'In the name of Allah, the Lord of the boy.'" So the king did that and said, "In the name of Allah, the Lord of the boy," and he was able to kill the boy. Was the boy's death a defeat for him? Never! But when he was killed, people believed. So what do you want a victory more than your death being the cause of people's belief in Allah?

Therefore, in the religion of Allah, victory is standing firm until death. Allah said: "But whoever is removed from the Fire and admitted to Paradise has attained [his desire]."

Haram bin Milhan, may Allah be pleased with him

In the hadith narrated by Bukhari, Haram bin Milhan, may Allah be pleased with him, whom the Prophet, peace be upon him, sent to teach people their religion, was betrayed and stabbed by someone with a spear that penetrated his chest. Imagine a person stabbed with a spear penetrating his chest, knowing that he is definitely dead, and yet what did he say at that moment? He said, "I have won, by the Lord of the Kaaba."

Applying the Concept to the Tunisian Situation

Therefore, he who relies on those who have been wronged is not given justice; he is defeated by the word of Allah, the Exalted. This repeated statement that there is no place for the application of Sharia and we will not apply Sharia is not relying on those who have been wronged, but this is the wrongdoing and war against the religion of Allah itself. This is the real wrongdoing.

Allah, the Exalted, says: "And never will Allah give the disbelievers a way over the believers." That is, Allah will not allow the disbelievers to defeat the believing Muslims. And indeed, if the believer's faith is firmly established in his heart, and the powers of the world fail to uproot it from his heart, and we have seen this, praise be to Allah, we have seen it in people who were tortured and imprisoned, but nevertheless, their faith was not uprooted from their hearts. Their faith in their hearts is as firmly established as the towering mountains. Allah will not allow the disbelievers to have a way over these believers.

But if a person is tempted away from his religion, and in pursuit of reaching power and maintaining it and appeasing internal and external powers, he makes statements that are a war against the religion of Allah, this is a defeat. This is because he has lost his faith.

O brothers, what is happening in Tunisia is not a victory; it is, unfortunately, a terrible defeat. A nation that is tempted away from its religion and follows illusions and hastens to reap the fruits even in an un-Islamic way will continue to move from one defeat to another. I ask Allah the Great to alleviate the distress of the nation.

The Danger of Justifying Compromises

O brothers, the past and present systems in the Islamic world state in their constitutions that Islam is one of the sources of legislation, and some say it is the main source of legislation, and yet we say this is never acceptable. Sharia must be the sole source of legislation, not one of the sources. What about those who say they do not want Sharia at all? A party that calls itself Islamic and yet does not want Sharia, not as a main source nor as a secondary source.

And yet, unfortunately, some people insist on turning a blind eye to these facts and are overcome by partisanship and tribalism that blind and deafen them, and they defend materialistic statements and find excuses and justifications for them. Brothers, justifying such statements is indeed very dangerous to the faith, religion, and belief of those who justify them.

In our Islamic definition, you may find a man stepping on another man with his shoe, and yet the one under the shoe is victorious because he is standing firm on his religion, and the one stepping is defeated because he is not on the religion of Allah, the Exalted. This is victory in Islam: standing firm on the religion. And defeat: being tempted away from your religion to appease the West, the East, the internal, and the external.

Conclusion and Supplication

So we ask Allah, the Great Lord of the Noble Throne, to return the Muslims to their religion in a beautiful return, to alleviate the distress of the Muslims everywhere, and to help us adhere to the truth and follow His religion until we come out of this bitter reality.

Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah.